BEGG-172 Solved Question Paper for the June 2026 term-end exam answers all 11 questions of the official IGNOU Language and Linguistics paper, each written to the word limit the paper prints. Two answers are open below so you can judge both lengths, and the complete file comes on WhatsApp 9899436384.
BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics: key facts for the June 2026 paper
- Course code: BEGG-172
- Subject: Language and Linguistics
- Programme: IGNOU Bachelor of Arts (General), BAG
- School: School of Humanities, English discipline
- Credits: 6
- Blocks and units: 4 blocks, 17 units (Block 4 has five units, the rest four each)
- Maximum marks: 100
- Duration: 3 hours
- Questions in the paper: 11 (Section A: 4, Section B: 7); you attempt 6
- Samples on this page: 2 (Question 1 and Question 5)
- Questions in the paid file: All 11 (9 of them not shown on this page)
What the BEGG-172 Solved Question Paper June 2026 covers
BEGG-172 Solved Question Paper June 2026 is our fully answered copy of the official IGNOU term-end paper for Language and Linguistics, a six-credit English course in the Bachelor of Arts (General) programme. BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics studies how human language works, moving from the nature of language to the sounds of English, word formation and sentence structure.
The June 2026 paper printed 11 questions, four in Section A and seven in Section B. You attempt six of them, two short answers and four long ones, for 100 marks in three hours. Our file answers all 11, so you can practise whichever six you would pick in the exam hall.
Read against the course, this paper leans hard on grammar. Five of the 11 questions (4, 8, 9, 10 and 11) come from Block 4, three (2, 6 and 7) from the phonetics of Block 2, two (1 and 5) from Block 1 and one (3) from Block 3. In marks that means Block 4 alone offered 90 of the 100 on the table.
Block 1 was cut back sharply this session. Only its first unit was tested, through Question 1 on the features of human language and Question 5 on the origin of language. The other three units went unasked: the structuralist and mentalist debate, which had appeared in six of the eight earlier papers we checked, along with language variation and multilingualism.
BEGG-172 sample solved questions from the June 2026 paper
Two June 2026 answers are shown in full here: Question 1 from Section A and Question 5 from Section B. One short and one long answer let you check both lengths IGNOU asks for before you contact us. The other nine questions follow as printed, with their answers kept for the full file.
Question 1 Section A Block 1, Unit 1 10 marks 150–200 words Human vs animal communication set in 3 of 8 papers
1. Describe in detail the features of human communication.
Human communication is the sharing of ideas, needs and feelings through language. Linguists describe it through a set of design features, drawn up by the American linguist Charles Hockett in 1960 to show what sets human language apart from animal signals. The main ones follow.
Arbitrariness: there is no natural link between a word and its meaning. The same object is ‘tree’ in English and ‘ped’ in Hindi.
Duality: a small set of meaningless sounds combines into thousands of meaningful words. The sounds /p/, /ɒ/ and /t/ give both ‘pot’ and ‘top’.
Productivity: speakers make and understand sentences they have never heard before.
Displacement: we can talk about the past, the future and distant things. A vervet monkey’s alarm call warns of a leopard that is present, but it cannot discuss the leopard it saw last week.
Cultural transmission: language is learnt from the community, not inherited. A Punjabi child raised in Chennai can grow up fluent in Tamil.
Interchangeability and feedback: every speaker can also be a listener, and can hear and correct their own speech.
Together these features make human communication open-ended and creative, while animal systems stay fixed and limited.
Question 5 Section B Block 1, Unit 1 20 marks 400–450 words Origin theories set in 2 of 8 papers
5. Write in detail about the various theories of origin of language.
How language began is one of the oldest puzzles in linguistics. Speech leaves no fossils, so every account is a reasoned guess, and in 1866 the Linguistic Society of Paris even banned papers on the subject. Even so, scholars have proposed several theories, which can be grouped as divine, natural-sound, social and gestural explanations.
1. Divine origin theory. Many traditions hold that language was a gift from God. In the Bible, Adam names the animals, and in Indian tradition Sanskrit is honoured as the speech of the gods. Herodotus reports that the Egyptian king Psammetichus raised two infants in isolation; their first word, ‘bekos’, meant bread in Phrygian, so he declared Phrygian the oldest language. None of these claims can be tested scientifically.
2. Bow-wow theory. Language began when early humans imitated natural sounds, giving words such as ‘cuckoo’, ‘buzz’ and ‘moo’. Onomatopoeia supports the idea, but such words are few and differ between languages: a dog says ‘bow-wow’ in English and ‘bhau-bhau’ in Hindi.
3. Pooh-pooh theory. Speech grew out of instinctive cries of pain, surprise or disgust, such as ‘ouch’ and ‘oh’. Yet interjections sit outside normal grammar and form only a tiny part of any vocabulary.
4. Ding-dong theory. Put forward and later dropped by Max Müller, it claims a natural harmony between sound and sense, as if every object gives out its own ring when struck. Most words, however, show no such link between sound and meaning.
5. Yo-he-ho theory. Linked to Ludwig Noiré, it traces the first words to rhythmic grunts made during shared physical work, such as hauling logs together. It explains the social side of speech but not how grunts came to carry meaning.
6. Ta-ta and la-la theories. Sir Richard Paget argued that tongue movements copied hand gestures, so ‘ta-ta’ mirrors a waving hand. Otto Jespersen suggested instead that language grew out of play, love and song.
7. Gestural and evolutionary views. Many researchers now think gesture came first and speech took over when the hands were busy with tools. Biologists point to the lowered larynx and the FOXP2 gene as part of the physical base for speech, though no single cause is accepted and research continues in both linguistics and genetics.
No theory explains everything on its own; each captures one strand, whether imitation, emotion, shared work or gesture. The safest conclusion is that language arose gradually from several of these sources together, as the human brain and social life grew more complex over many thousands of years.
Questions answered only in the full file
The nine questions below are printed as they appear in the June 2026 paper. Their answers are kept for the full file.
Section A — Answer any two of the following in 150 to 200 words each: 2 × 10 = 20
2. Elaborate the usage of stress in sentences.
3. Explain the word building processes including prefixes and suffixes.
4. Describe the structure of the noun phrase.
Section B — Answer any four of the following in 400 to 450 words each: 4 × 20 = 80
6. Describe the syllable and the strategies of identifying stressed syllables.
7. Explain the rhythm in connected speech.
8. Describe in detail the grammatical categories associated with English verbs including person, numbers, aspect, mood and voice.
9. Explain the basic sentence patterns in English.
10. Elaborate the different forms of verbs.
11. Elaborate the formation of compound and complex sentences.
These nine answers follow the same word limits as the two above. Questions 6 and 7 together carry 40 marks from Block 2 alone, and Questions 8 and 10 both test the English verb, so a weak grasp of the verb phrase can cost you two long answers at once.
BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics blocks and units at a glance
BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics has four blocks and 17 units, and the June 2026 paper drew questions from all four. Block 4 is the largest with five units, and it supplied five of the 11 questions.
| Block | Units | Core topics | June 2026 questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block 1: The Nature of Language | 4 units: What is Language? Unique Features of Human Language; The Structuralists, Mentalists and Sociocultural Perspectives; Language and Society-1: Understanding Variability; Language and Society-2: Multilingualism | Design features of human language; theories of the origin of language; Saussure’s langue and parole | Q1, Q5 |
| Block 2: The Sounds of English | 4 units on English sounds, the syllable, word stress and rhythm | Vowels, diphthongs and consonants with IPA symbols; syllable structure and word stress; stress and rhythm in connected speech | Q2, Q6, Q7 |
| Block 3: Word Formation Strategies | 4 units, opening with Unit 1 Word Patterns | Etymology and word loans; inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs; derivation, conversion and compounding | Q3 |
| Block 4: Sentence Types: Form and Function | 5 units: Basic Sentence Patterns in English; The Noun Phrase; The Verb Phrase; Compound and Complex Sentences; Sentence Transformations | Obligatory and optional sentence elements; head, pre-modifiers and post-modifiers in the noun phrase; coordination and subordination | Q4, Q8, Q9, Q10, Q11 |
The official course material for every block sits on IGNOU’s eGyanKosh repository. Start with Block 1, The Nature of Language, on eGyanKosh, since both Unit 1 questions on this paper come from it.
Short of time? Read our BEGG-172 Study Material alongside the units on stress and the verb phrase, because those two areas alone produced five of the June 2026 questions.
How the IGNOU BEGG-172 Question Paper is set and marked
BEGG-172 carries 100 marks over three hours, split into Section A worth 20 marks and Section B worth 80, and you answer six of the 11 questions. Both sections are compulsory, so you cannot skip the short answers and write five long ones.
| Section | Questions printed | Attempt | Word limit | Marks each | Section total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section A | 4 (Q1 to Q4) | Any 2 | 150–200 words | 10 | 20 |
| Section B | 7 (Q5 to Q11) | Any 4 | 400–450 words | 20 | 80 |
| Whole paper | 11 | 6 | 1,900 to 2,200 words | Mixed | 100 (3 hours) |
(2 × 150–200) + (4 × 400–450) = 300 to 400 + 1,600 to 1,800 = 1,900 to 2,200 words in 180 minutes
One thing is worth working out before you revise. In Section A the four questions come one from each block, so any two blocks you know will give you those 20 marks. In Section B, four of the seven questions, Q8 to Q11, were all Block 4 — and four is exactly how many you need. So in June 2026, Block 4 on its own would have filled the whole 80-mark Section B, and it also offered Q4 in Section A. Read Block 4 properly and one other block for a single short answer, and the paper was covered. Next session’s spread may differ, but Block 4 is the biggest block with five units and has carried the most questions for several sessions, so it is where revision should begin either way.
Section B also pays less per word than Section A, roughly 0.047 marks against 0.057, yet it holds 80 of the 100 marks and most of your writing. So choose your four long questions in the first five minutes and stop each one near 450 words.
A workable plan is about 15 minutes for each Section A answer and 35 minutes for each Section B answer. That uses 170 minutes and leaves ten for reading the paper and checking spellings of terms such as diphthong and morpheme.
Older papers number things differently. The June 2025 and December 2024 papers restart Section B at 1, while June 2026 runs straight from 1 to 11, so check the numbering when you compare it with any other BAG Question Paper.
Language and Linguistics topics IGNOU keeps repeating in BEGG-172
Word building is the most repeated BEGG-172 topic, appearing in seven of the eight IGNOU papers we checked from June 2022 to December 2025. We counted the number of papers in which a topic appeared, not the number of questions, so a topic asked twice in one paper still counts once.
The papers used were June 2022, December 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024, December 2024, June 2025 and December 2025, all taken from IGNOU’s own question paper archive.
| Topic | Block | Sessions where it appeared | Papers (of 8) | June 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word building: derivational prefixes, suffixes, compounding, conversion | Block 3 | Jun 2022, Dec 2022, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 7 | Q3 |
| Structuralist, mentalist and sociocultural views (Saussure, Chomsky) | Block 1 | Jun 2022, Dec 2022, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 6 | Not asked |
| Verb forms, verb types and verb phrase structure | Block 4 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Dec 2025 | 5 | Q10 |
| Inflectional affixes and inflectional morphology | Block 3 | Dec 2022, Jun 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Dec 2025 | 5 | Not asked |
| English vowels, consonants, phonetic symbols, sound vs spelling | Block 2 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Dec 2025 | 5 | Not asked |
| Syllable structure and word stress | Block 2 | Dec 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Dec 2024 | 4 | Q6 |
| Noun phrase structure and types | Block 4 | Jun 2022, Dec 2022, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 4 | Q4 |
| Compound and complex sentences, coordination and subordination | Block 4 | Dec 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2025 | 4 | Q11 |
| Multilingualism in India | Block 1 | Jun 2022, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Dec 2025 | 4 | Not asked |
| Human language vs animal communication | Block 1 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023 | 3 | Q1 |
| Grammatical categories of the English verb | Block 4 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Jun 2025 | 3 | Q8 |
| Basic sentence patterns in English | Block 4 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Dec 2024 | 3 | Q9 |
| Language variation | Block 1 | Dec 2022, Jun 2023, Jun 2024 | 3 | Not asked |
| Theories of the origin of language | Block 1 | Jun 2022, Jun 2025 | 2 | Q5 |
| Sentence stress and rhythm in connected speech | Block 2 | Dec 2023, Jun 2025 | 2 | Q2, Q7 |
Every June 2026 question matched a topic IGNOU had already asked at least twice. Word building returned for the eighth time in nine papers, and the noun phrase and compound sentences questions each made a fifth appearance.
Five topics were skipped, and they rank cleanly for December 2026. At the top is the structuralist, mentalist and sociocultural debate, set in six of eight papers and the second most repeated topic on the course — the clearest gap on this paper. Next come two topics at five appearances each: inflectional affixes and morphology, and the vowels, consonants and phonetic symbols of English. Then multilingualism in India at four, and language variation at three.
Two of those gaps are worth reading twice. Block 1 gave only its first unit this session, so three of its four units produced nothing at all. And inside Block 2, all three questions went to stress, rhythm and the syllable, while the actual sounds of English and their IPA symbols — a five-paper topic — were passed over completely. Our IGNOU Solved Guess Paper sets track gaps like these for the next term-end exam.
How our BEGG-172 answers are written and checked
Each BEGG-172 answer is written to the word limit printed for its section, checked against the IGNOU block it comes from and reviewed before it goes into the file. Nothing is padded to look long, and nothing is cut short of the marks on offer.
Prateek Talwar drafts the answers from the official course units, using the terms the blocks themselves use, such as duality, displacement, morpheme and head of the noun phrase, so examiners see course language rather than guesswork.
Phonetics answers use IPA symbols and mark stressed syllables, because Block 2 tests sounds, not spellings. Grammar answers use short example sentences from everyday Indian contexts that are easy to reproduce in the exam.
Before writing, we read the eight earlier BEGG-172 papers from IGNOU’s archive, the same kind of sets listed in our IGNOU Previous Year Question Paper section, to see how examiners phrase each topic.
Sheetal Kirola then reviews every answer for accuracy, length and structure, so the file you receive reads like a clean exam script.
BEGG-172 solved file index for all 11 June 2026 questions
All 11 June 2026 questions are in the full file: 2 are answered on this page and 9 are in the full file only. The index below shows where each answer sits in the course, so you can revise the matching unit next to it.
| Q no. | Section and marks | Question topic | Course block and unit | Where to read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A, 10 marks | Features of human communication | Block 1, Unit 1 | On this page |
| 2 | A, 10 marks | Stress in sentences | Block 2, stress in connected speech | Full file only |
| 3 | A, 10 marks | Word building with prefixes and suffixes | Block 3, Unit 1 and the derivation unit | Full file only |
| 4 | A, 10 marks | Structure of the noun phrase | Block 4, Unit 2 | Full file only |
| 5 | B, 20 marks | Theories of the origin of language | Block 1, Unit 1 | On this page |
| 6 | B, 20 marks | Syllable and identifying stressed syllables | Block 2, syllable and word stress | Full file only |
| 7 | B, 20 marks | Rhythm in connected speech | Block 2, stress and rhythm | Full file only |
| 8 | B, 20 marks | Grammatical categories of English verbs | Block 4, Unit 3 | Full file only |
| 9 | B, 20 marks | Basic sentence patterns in English | Block 4, Unit 1 | Full file only |
| 10 | B, 20 marks | Different forms of verbs | Block 4, Unit 3 | Full file only |
| 11 | B, 20 marks | Compound and complex sentences | Block 4, Unit 4 | Full file only |
BEGG-172 is a theory course with one 100-mark written assignment and no practical record, so this index maps the solved answers rather than practical work.
Programmes that carry BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics
BEGG-172 is an English course in IGNOU’s BAG programme, and IGNOU also offers it as a generic elective in BA (Honours) Psychology. The course units are identical in both, which makes this solved paper useful across programmes.
In the IGNOU Bachelor of Arts (General), BEGG-172 sits in the English discipline under the School of Humanities, and its assignment carries 100 marks across Blocks 1 to 4.
eGyanKosh also lists BEGG-172 as a Semester II generic elective for BA (Honours) Psychology, BAPCH. Check the course list in your own programme guide before you order, since generic electives differ between honours programmes.
Get the full BEGG-172 Solved Question Paper on WhatsApp
Send ‘BEGG 172 June 2026’ to WhatsApp 9899436384 to get all 11 answers as one PDF, including the 9 not shown on this page. Our team replies with the file details and payment steps on the same chat.
The PDF holds both sample answers you read above plus the nine remaining answers, in question order with section labels, so you can revise straight through or jump to the six you plan to attempt.
BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics FAQs
These answers cover the questions BAG students ask us most about BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics. If yours is not here, ask on WhatsApp 9899436384.
Is this IGNOU BEGG-172 Solved Question Paper based on the official June 2026 paper?
Yes. Every question comes from the official IGNOU June 2026 term-end paper for BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics, printed exactly as it appears and with the same numbers. Our subject team then wrote full answers to the word limits on the paper: 150 to 200 words in Section A and 400 to 450 words in Section B. The answers are our own, not IGNOU model answers.
How many BEGG-172 answers can I read on this page?
Two. Question 1 on the features of human communication and Question 5 on theories of the origin of language are answered in full on this page, giving you one Section A and one Section B sample. The other nine June 2026 questions are listed as printed, and their answers are kept for the full file that we share on WhatsApp.
How do I get the full BEGG-172 solved file on WhatsApp?
Send a message saying 'BEGG 172 June 2026' to WhatsApp 9899436384. Our team replies with the file details and payment steps, then shares the PDF on the same chat. The full file contains all 11 answers from the June 2026 paper: the 2 samples on this page plus the 9 answers not shown here, arranged in question order with section labels.
How many questions do I attempt in the BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics exam?
You attempt six out of 11. Section A prints four questions and you answer any two in 150 to 200 words for 10 marks each. Section B prints seven and you answer any four in 400 to 450 words for 20 marks each. Both sections are compulsory, the paper carries 100 marks and you get three hours to finish it, which comes to roughly 2,000 words of writing.
Which block of BEGG-172 should I read first?
Block 4, Sentence Types: Form and Function. It is the largest block with five units and it supplied five of the eleven June 2026 questions, worth 90 of the 100 marks on offer. More usefully, four of the seven Section B questions, Q8 to Q11, were all from Block 4 and four is exactly how many Section B answers you need, so Block 4 alone could have carried the entire 80-mark section. After Block 4, read whichever of Blocks 1, 2 or 3 you find easiest, since Section A offers one question from each block and you only need two.
Which BEGG-172 topics come up most often in IGNOU exams?
Word building through prefixes, suffixes, compounding and conversion leads clearly, appearing in seven of the eight IGNOU papers from June 2022 to December 2025. The structuralist and mentalist views of language follow with six papers, while verb forms, inflectional morphology and the sounds of English each appeared in five. June 2026 asked about word building again in Question 3.
Which BEGG-172 topics are most likely in December 2026?
The structuralist, mentalist and sociocultural views of language. That topic sits second on the repeat list with six appearances in eight papers, and June 2026 asked nothing on it. Behind it come inflectional affixes and morphology, and the vowels, consonants and phonetic symbols of English, each set five times and each skipped this session, then multilingualism in India at four and language variation at three. Two patterns make these gaps clearer still: Block 1 gave only its first unit this time, and within Block 2 all three questions went to stress and rhythm while the actual sounds of English were passed over.
Which programmes include BEGG-172 Language and Linguistics?
BEGG-172 is an English course in the IGNOU Bachelor of Arts (General), BAG, under the School of Humanities. eGyanKosh also lists it as a Semester II generic elective for BA (Honours) Psychology, BAPCH. Students in either programme study the same course units and can use this solved paper, though you should confirm your own course list in your programme guide.
Can the BEGG-172 June 2026 answers help with the December 2026 exam?
They can help, because BEGG-172 repeats its topics often. Every June 2026 question matched a topic IGNOU had asked at least twice in the previous eight papers, so these answers prepare you for the same themes in new wording. No one can promise which questions will appear in December 2026, so use the file alongside the full course units.
Who writes and reviews the BEGG-172 answers?
Prateek Talwar writes the BEGG-172 answers from the official IGNOU course units, and Sheetal Kirola reviews each one for accuracy, length and structure before it goes into the file. Phonetics answers use IPA symbols and stress marks, and grammar answers use short example sentences, so the file reads like a clean exam script you can learn from and reproduce.
About the authors
Prateek Talwar is Academic Head at Unnati Educations and writes the IGNOU solved question paper series for the English discipline. He has worked with IGNOU BDP, BAG, BAM and BAEGH students for over a decade on term-end exam preparation and assignment writing.
Sheetal Kirola reviews the English papers at Unnati Educations. She checks every answer against the course blocks on eGyanKosh, verifies IPA symbols, stress marks and linguistic terms against the course material, and confirms that each answer matches the marks and word limit printed on the paper.