Mexican Americans share with speakers of Spanish throughout the world a rich and varied repertoire of proverbs as well as a vital tradition of proverb use. The term “proverb” refers to a self-contained saying that can be understood independent of a specific verbal context and that has as its main purpose the to the common proverb tradition of Europe and have exact equivalents in English-language proverbial speech.
Each use of a proverb is an individual act whose meaning varies depending on the individual speaker and the particular social context in which the use occurs. Nonetheless, it is important to recognize that proverb use is also shaped by the larger community with which the individual interacts. The fact that proverbs dealing with older children especially, parents need to appeal to traditional wisdom to bolster their authority.
Another dimension of proverb use within Mexican American communities is that proverbs often serve to foster a consciousness of ethnicity, that is, of membership in a particular ethnic group possessing features that distinguish it from other groups within a multiethnic environment. Even those Mexican American proverbs that do not have an explicitly enhancing Mexican American young people’s familiarity with their heritage, thereby strengthening their ties to Mexican tradition.
What this question is testing
Your task
Identify why the author included the referenced detail at that point in the passage — its function, not its content.
Common trap
Answers that merely repeat or summarize the topic of the detail instead of describing the role it plays.
Winning move
Ask what job the detail does for the paragraph, then for the passage's broader point.
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