Reading Comprehension

PT107 · S2 · P2 · Q15 Traditional Languages

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Tribal communities in North America believe that their traditional languages are valuable resources that must be maintained.

Topic

The challenges and methods involved in preserving traditional tribal languages in North America.

Framework

Problem / Solution

Main Point

Traditional tribal languages in North America are under threat due to the influence of majority culture, but communities can address this challenge by documenting and teaching their languages, even while facing obstacles like writing systems and dialect differences. (The most valuable sentence appears at the end of paragraph 1: )

P1: The Problem of Language Loss

Many tribal communities value their traditional languages, but these languages are threatened by cultural changes that interrupt traditional ways of life. Some communities have taken action to preserve their languages through self-teaching when they've realized the seriousness of language loss.

P2: Documenting the Language

Before teaching younger generations, a community must first formally document the grammar of its language. The example of the Northern Utes is given, who analyzed and organized their language rules to develop effective teaching methods suitable for their culture.

P3: Challenge of Developing Teaching Methods – Writing Issues

A big challenge in creating teaching materials is transcribing oral languages, since some sounds don't have easy written equivalents. Problems especially arise when people try to assign a unique written symbol for every sound—something no language has actually accomplished.

15.

Based on the passage, which one of the following appears to be a principle guiding the actions of those attempting to preserve their traditional languages?

  1. In writing down an oral

    Opposite, if anything

    This doesn't reinforce any of our Support Window from the 2nd paragraph. It sounds very extreme: we should always be primarily concerned with matching spoken sounds to written symbols. And it seems to go against the 3rd paragraph's ending, in which the author says that it's basically a hopeless pursuit to try to get every sound in the language to have a unique correspondence with written symbols.

    3% picked this

  2. Correct

    In deciding whether and how

    Why this is right

    This answer also has the scary-strong "always", but a quick glance at the five answers reveals that all five of them use "always", so that can't really be the way we disqualify any of them. This at least reinforces part of our Support Window: 1. document grammar first 2. go from simpler to more complex 3. devise methods that are appropriate to the culture There is further reinforcement in the 4th paragraph, when we hear that the Northern Utes decided not to standardize their language: the lack of standard orthography made sense in the context of the community's needs

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

    80% picked this

  3. In determining whether to preserve

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: most effective Contradicted: ignore influence The final paragraph takes up the question of whether languages should be preserved in writing or continue only as an oral tradition. The final sentence is saying that they would ideally just keep it in oral form, but because majority culture has led to a general decline in oral traditions, they feel the need to commit to a written form out of necessity. If a community could eschew (avoid / reject) the aspects of majority culture that make oral preservation difficult, then they could continue to keep the language only in oral form. So the passage is sort of saying the opposite of "ignore the influence of the majority culture when you're making this decision". It is saying, "the decision is based on the influence of the majority culture. If majority culture is leading to a decline in oral traditions, you should write down the language. But if you can actively shield the community from aspects of the majority culture that are doing this, then you can continue to preserve the language in oral form."

    14% picked this

  4. In considering how to present

    Contradicted

    This goes against the 2nd part of our Support Window 1. document grammar first 2. go from simpler to more complex 3. devise methods that are appropriate to the culture This is saying to tackle difficult concepts first.

    1% picked this

  5. In adjudicating among variant spellings

    Contradicted

    In the 4th paragraph, we hear that the Northern Utes decided not to standardize their language, "agreeing that various phonetic spellings would be accepted as long as their meanings were clear". This answer is saying that you shouldn't accept variant spellings. You should pick the one that the majority uses.

    1% picked this

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