DLAB - Defense Language Aptitude Battery Deducing Rules from Audio Questions and Answers 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You hear a speaker in a constructed language say the following phrases: 'gorbl flum' means 'the dog runs'. 'gorbl zorb' means 'the dog jumps'. 'sluvu zorb' means 'the cat jumps'. Based on these examples, which of the following would most likely mean 'the cat runs'?
- gorbl sluvu
- zorb flum
- sluvu flum (Correct answer)
- flum zorb
Correct answer: sluvu flum
By comparing 'gorbl flum' (the dog runs) and 'gorbl zorb' (the dog jumps), we can deduce that 'gorbl' means 'the dog', 'flum' means 'runs', and 'zorb' means 'jumps'. Comparing 'gorbl zorb' (the dog jumps) and 'sluvu zorb' (the cat jumps) confirms that 'zorb' is 'jumps' and shows that 'sluvu' means 'the cat'. Therefore, to say 'the cat runs', you would combine 'sluvu' (the cat) and 'flum' (runs) to get 'sluvu flum'.
Question 2: In an audio segment, you learn the following rules for a new language: 1. The verb always comes last in a sentence. 2. Adjectives follow the noun they modify. 3. The word for 'big' is 'norg' and 'small' is 'kree'. You hear the phrase: 'wex norg vims'. If 'wex' means 'house', what is the most probable translation?
- The house is big. (Correct answer)
- The big house.
- Big house runs.
- The house big is.
Correct answer: The house is big.
Following the rules, 'wex' is the noun ('house') and 'norg' is the adjective ('big'). Rule 2 states the adjective follows the noun, giving us 'wex norg' for 'big house'. Rule 1 states the verb is last, so 'vims' must be the verb, likely meaning 'is'. This constructs the sentence 'The house is big'.
Question 3: You are presented with audio examples from an artificial language where possession is indicated by a suffix. 'kalen' means 'car'. 'kalen-vo' means 'my car'. 'bota' means 'book'. 'bota-ga' means 'his book'. 'kalen-ga' means 'his car'. Which phrase would mean 'my book'?
- bota-vo (Correct answer)
- kalen-bota
- vo-bota
- bota-ga-vo
Correct answer: bota-vo
The examples show that possession is marked by a suffix attached to the noun. From 'kalen' and 'kalen-vo', we see '-vo' means 'my'. From 'bota' and 'bota-ga', we see '-ga' means 'his'. To say 'my book', you would take the word for 'book' ('bota') and add the suffix for 'my' ('-vo'), resulting in 'bota-vo'.
Question 4: In a fictional language, the tense of a verb is changed by altering its first letter. You hear: 'pash' means 'I walk'. 'fash' means 'I walked'. 'tov' means 'he sees'. Based on this pattern, how would you say 'he saw'?
- pov
- fash
- fov (Correct answer)
- tash
Correct answer: fov
The rule demonstrated is that changing the initial 'p' to an 'f' changes the verb from present tense to past tense ('pash' to 'fash'). Applying this rule to the verb 'tov' (he sees), we change the initial 't' to an 'f' to create the past tense form, resulting in 'fov' (he saw).
Question 5: You hear a series of statements in a made-up language where word order determines the meaning. 'plim tok glee' means 'the man eats the apple'. 'glee tok plim' means 'the apple eats the man'. 'zup tok nar' means 'the dog eats the bone'. Which of the following is the most likely rule for this language's sentence structure?
- Object-Verb-Subject
- Verb-Subject-Object
- Subject-Object-Verb
- Subject-Verb-Object (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Subject-Verb-Object
By comparing 'plim tok glee' (the man eats the apple) and 'glee tok plim' (the apple eats the man), we can see that 'tok' is the verb 'eats'. The word before the verb is the subject (the one performing the action), and the word after the verb is the object. This is a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure, the same as in English. 'zup tok nar' (the dog eats the bone) confirms this pattern.
Question 6: In an audio test, you deduce that the suffix '-im' pluralizes a noun and the suffix '-et' makes it small. You hear 'roka' means 'rock'. How would you say 'small rocks'?
- roka-et-im
- roka-im-et (Correct answer)
- et-roka-im
- im-roka-et
Correct answer: roka-im-et
In many languages with multiple suffixes, the order matters. Typically, the suffix that modifies the core meaning of the noun (pluralization) is attached first, followed by suffixes that add more descriptive qualities (diminutive). Therefore, 'roka' (rock) becomes 'roka-im' (rocks), and then 'roka-im-et' (small rocks). While 'roka-et-im' (the small rock, pluralized) might seem logical, the common linguistic pattern is to pluralize the base noun first.
You hear a speaker in a constructed language say the following phrases:
'gorbl flum' means 'the dog runs'.
'gorbl zorb' means 'the dog jumps'.
'sluvu zorb' means 'the cat jumps'.
Based on these examples, which of the following would most likely mean 'the cat runs'?