Linkage is the tendency of genes present close on the chromosomes to be inherited together and not to assort independently in the offspring. It gives only parental combinations in the offspring. Since, complete linkage is a rare phenomenon, the linked genes sometimes show tendency of independent assortment and results in production of new combinations in offspring in lower percentage. Hence, production of parental characters combinations in the offsprings of a dihybrid in excess to non-parental combinations is due to "linkage". Option "C" is correct.