DLAB Morphological Analysis 2

Question 1

In this language: 'tari' = 'water,' 'tari-mu' = 'watery/of water,' 'beni' = 'stone,' 'beni-mu' = 'stony/of stone.' What does '-mu' do?

Accepted Answer

Creates an adjective from a noun

Answer

'-mu' transforms nouns into adjectives: water → watery, stone → stony. This is a denominal adjective suffix — it derives an adjective meaning 'having the quality of X' from a noun. English uses '-y' similarly (water → watery).

Question 2

Given: 'sila' = 'speak,' 'silaba' = 'speak to each other,' 'dora' = 'look,' 'doraba' = 'look at each other.' What does '-ba' express?

Accepted Answer

Reciprocal action

Answer

'-ba' converts verbs into reciprocal forms where two or more participants perform the action toward each other: speak → speak to each other, look → look at each other. This marks mutual, bidirectional action between participants.

Question 3

Study: 'kita' = 'read,' 'pan-kita' = 'readable,' 'tulis' = 'write,' 'pan-tulis' = 'writable.' The prefix 'pan-' creates what type of form?

Accepted Answer

A passive participle/potential form (able to be done)

Answer

'Pan-' transforms verbs into potential passive adjectives: read → readable (able to be read), write → writable (able to be written). This is a potential/abilitative derivation creating adjectives that indicate the possibility of the action being performed on something.

Question 4

In this language: 'kasa' = 'house,' 'kasa-ni' = 'at the house,' 'kasa-kara' = 'from the house,' 'kasa-made' = 'to/until the house.' These suffixes express what grammatical category?

Accepted Answer

Case (grammatical relationship)

Answer

The suffixes '-ni' (locative/at), '-kara' (ablative/from), and '-made' (allative/to) mark different spatial cases on the noun. They indicate the grammatical relationship between the noun and the verb — specifically, the spatial role the noun plays. Japanese uses these exact particles.

Question 5

Given: 'foto' = 'photo,' 'fotograf' = 'photographer,' 'fotografi' = 'photography.' The root is 'foto.' What do '-graf' and '-grafi' derive?

Accepted Answer

-graf creates the practitioner, -grafi creates the practice/field

Answer

'-graf' derives the agent/person (photographer — one who does photography), while '-grafi' derives the abstract noun/field (photography — the practice itself). These derivational suffixes create two related but distinct word classes from the same root.

DLAB - Defense Language Aptitude Battery Practice Test

DLAB - Defense Language Aptitude Battery Practice Test

DLAB Morphological Analysis 2