DLAB Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield DLAB facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. From Trevish data: 'Prenu nak-om.' = 'Fires fly.' 'Prenu nak.' = 'Fire flies.' 'Mako nak.' = 'Tree flies.' What does 'Mako nak-om.' mean? → Trees fly.
2. Study: 'bon' = 'good,' 'bon-tat' = 'goodness,' 'mal' = 'bad,' 'mal-tat' = 'badness,' 'bel' = 'beautiful,' 'bel-tat' = ? → beauty/beautifulness
3. What does "vibenan" mean if "vibe" in Chelonian is a synonym for "play"? → Do not play
4. A fictional writing system uses symbols tilted right for voiced sounds and upright symbols for voiceless sounds. A tilted 'P' symbol represents: → /b/ (voiced stop)
5. What does the linguistic term 'syntax' refer to? → The rules governing how words are combined to form sentences
6. A phonetic code has 5 vowel symbols and 15 consonant symbols. Which statement about a four-symbol word is necessarily true? → It has exactly 4 phonemes
7. Language T uses: 'nu' = 1, 'mu' = 10, 'ku' = 100. What does 'ku-mu-nu-nu' most likely equal? → 112
8. In Bruntic, comparative adjectives are formed by repeating the adjective and adding '-er' to the second copy. 'Fast' is 'drep'. How do you say 'faster'? → Drep dreper
9. You hear: [na-lu] = singular, [na-lu-lu] = plural (the last syllable is repeated). You hear [bre-nu-nu]. Given [bre-nu] = cloud, what does [bre-nu-nu] mean? → Clouds
10. In Language X, 'ban' and 'pan' are different words with different meanings. What does this tell you about /b/ and /p/ in this language? → They are separate phonemes (distinctive sounds)
11. A language has the rule: /n/ becomes [ŋ] before /k/ and /g/. 'Anka' is pronounced [aŋka]. What type of rule is this? → A nasal place assimilation rule
12. In the context of the DLAB, 'stress' refers to which linguistic concept? → Emphasis placed on a particular syllable in a word
13. In Language Z, questions are formed by moving the verb to the beginning. If 'nara kito pem' means 'she reads books,' how would you say 'Does she read books?' → kito nara pem
14. Given: 'na pu ki' = 'I see him,' 'na pu ki lo' = 'I see him today,' 'ji na pu ki lo' = 'Did I see him today?' What marks a question? → Adding 'ji' at the beginning
15. Given: 'domek' = 'small house,' 'kotek' = 'small cat,' 'dom' = 'house,' 'kot' = 'cat.' What is the diminutive suffix? → -ek
16. Study: 'dala mir oku' = 'birds fly south,' 'mir oku dala' = 'fly south birds' (same meaning). What does this tell you about Language T? → It uses word order for emphasis, not grammar
17. In a language, stressed syllables are louder, longer, and higher-pitched than unstressed syllables. Which type of stress system does this describe? → Dynamic stress (multiple acoustic correlates)
18. In an invented writing system, a symbol enclosed in brackets [ ] indicates a plural noun. If 'dren' means 'a tree,' then '[dren]' means: → Many trees
19. Given: 'pela osta rana' = 'the cat sits here' and 'pela osta finu' = 'the cat sits there.' What element changes to indicate location? → The final word
20. A test language assigns one unique sound per symbol with no exceptions. A word written with 7 symbols contains exactly how many sounds? → 7 sounds
21. You hear Zorathi words: [PREL-ok] = he speaks, [prel-OK] = he spoke. [BREN-ok] = he flies, [bren-OK] = he flew. You hear [TALO-ok]. What does it mean? → He sings (present)
22. Heard in Trelvan: [ma-KO] = 'a dog', [MA-ko] = 'the dog'. Stress shift changes definiteness. You hear [bre-NU]. What does this mean, given [BRE-nu] = 'a fish'? → The fish
23. Study this pattern: 'A bira C' means 'A sees C' and 'C bira A' means 'C sees A.' The word 'bira' never changes position. What can you conclude? → Word order determines meaning with a fixed verb position
24. In a fictional script, writing a symbol backwards gives the opposite meaning. If '→' means 'forward,' then '←' means: → Backward
25. Observe: Delvori 'Mako vel' = 'The tree bends.' Delvori 'Mako vel-om' = 'The trees bend.' Delvori 'Prenu vel' = 'The fire bends.' What does 'Prenu vel-om' mean? → The fires bend.
26. "Flux" means "sing" in the Andromedan language. How do you say "do not sing"? → Flux nix
27. The DLAB includes a section where test-takers listen to spoken passages in invented languages. What cognitive ability does this primarily assess? → Auditory discrimination and phonological processing
28. In a language, the vowel /i/ causes the preceding consonant /s/ to become /ʃ/ (like 'sh'): 'sima' → [ʃima]. What phonological process is this? → Palatalization (consonant moves toward palatal position due to /i/)
29. What is the maximum possible score on the DLAB? → 176
30. In phonetics, what is the difference between 'voiced' and 'voiceless' sounds? → Voiced sounds involve vibration of the vocal cords; voiceless sounds do not.