Reading Comprehension

PT104 · S3 · P2 · Q14 Hopi Personal Names

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Personal names are generally regarded by European thinkers in two major ways, both of which deny that names have any significant semantic content.

Central Topic / Purpose

significance of Hopi Names / Clarify Misconception (or Highlight Something Overlooked)

Main Point

Unlike Mill's point of view (that names are meaningless) or Strauss's (that names confer social rank), the correct view of Hopi names is that they were extremely meaningful things that not only helped to indicate social relationships but also provided aesthetic delight because of their poetic beauty or significance.

Passage Map

P1 - Introduce other views on function of names before pivoting into Passage's focus: Hopi Names.

P2 - Background information on when and how Hopis receive names

P3 - Elaboration on naming process, illuminated by an example, culminating in a takeway that the names are like tiny poems

P4 - Author's summary of Hopi names, showing how neither of the views on function in names from P1 are adequate in describing Hopi names.

Other Commentary

In trying to solve the passage from the 1st paragraph, there are a few foreshadowing hints: 1st sentence:

The fact that there are two views on how to regard personal names would prompt us to think, .

The wording that "X is generally thought of as Y" foreshadows a Clarify a Misconception / Highlight Something Overlooked type passage.

When we see the 3rd sentence say, "Consequently, X has been neglected", we would think, .

In this sense, we could see the passage as a Illustrate by Example, in which the discussion of Hopi names is just the example used to illustrate the broader point that some societies use names for functions that go beyond what our two guys enumerated in the 2nd sentence.

14.

The author's primary purpose in writing the passage is to

  1. present an anthropological study of

    Wrong Purpose

    This passage definitely presents a lot of information about Hopi names, but there's no anthropological study cited, and this answer would lose the broader context of contrasting how the Hopi use names with how other societies and European thinkers typically think about names.

    26% picked this

  2. propose a new theory about

    Out of Scope: new theory / origin

    No one is discussing the origins of names. We're talking about the function of names. And the author isn't proposing a new theory. She's just highlighting some often overlooked examples of how names are used in non-European ways.

    6% picked this

  3. describe several competing theories of

    Too Neutral

    The author isn't just laying back and describing several (3 or more ) theories. She introduces the 2 mainstream theories (Mill and Levi-Strauss) and then switches into kickin' their butts around the room by showing how the Hopi, among others, use names in ways that transcend these Europeans' overly narrow conventions.

    7% picked this

  4. Correct

    criticize two influential views of

    Why this is right

    This reads a little harsh for me at first, even though I like the gist of "refuting the idea that Mill and Levi-Strauss (who are identified as influential views of names) have about names having no semantic content". What makes me feel better about this as the overall purpose is that the author circles back in the final paragraph to make sure she lands a knockout blow: this view of Hopi names is thus opposed not only to M's but also to LS's. And since the last sentence is normative / prescriptive (what interpreters need to do is ...), it's obliquely criticizing Mill and Levi-Strauss for having not done that.

    Skill tested: Primary Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    58% picked this

  5. explain the cultural origins of

    Too Broad

    The debate here is about the function of names, not their cultural origins. Also, the author isn't thinking that what is true of the Hopis is therefore "the cultural origin of names". She explores the Hopi's naming conventions simply to show that the way names are defined by Mill and Levi-Strauss is too limiting to accommodate certain frequently overlooked societies.

    3% picked this

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