Q11

[rishisb]

Hello again, Atlas:

Could you please explain why (c) is the answer choice to this inference question?

I understand that the passage says that there are SOME parts of a majority culture that can interfere with a tribe's traditions and community (See, e.g, lines 3-6). But that, however, is not the same thing as saying that ALL parts of a majority culture interfere with a tribes’ culture. I do not, then, see how C is really all that incompatible with "traditional-language preservation in the passage."

If you could also explain why A is not as good as an answer as C, I’d be appreciative.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Hey Rishi,

Let's look at answer choice (C) very closely. We're not just talking about random aspects of the majority culture. Instead, answer choice (C) is talking about the incorporation of words from the language of the majority culture into the language that is going to be preserved.

How is incorporating words from the majority culture into the language that is going to be preserved, compatible with traditional-language preservation? That just seems like the opposite of what you would want to do if you were trying to preserve a traditional language.

Answer choice (A) seems like a perfectly acceptable strategy to preserve the traditional language, because it is the community deciding how best to preserve their own language, and it must be said that most of these languages belonged to an oral tradition anyway. Notice in lines 57-60, "Defenders of the practice ... concede that languages could be preserved in their oral form, if ..."

Clearly, preserving a language through oral culture is acceptable to the author. Does that help clear up this question? Let me know if you still need some help with it!

[rishisb]

Hello, Matt:

Thank you for help with this question.

But here's why I did not think answer C was a "slam-dunk" answer: The passage no where suggests that every aspect of a majority culture hurt a tribe's quest to preserve its language. In fact, the last lines of the passage hint that only some -- not all-- parts of the majority culture hurt tribal language perservation.

The question, then, for me is: Does borrowing/incoporating words from majority culture necc mean we act against traditional-language preservation? The answer would be a clear 'yes' had the author said that any such incorportion would hinder language preservation. But, as I said above, the author doesn't make such a broad claim.

As such, I don't think it's necc true that a tribe that "incorporates" some words of the majority culture in order to make that tribe's language easier to teach is automatically acting in a way incompatible with tribal language preservation. After all, one could argue that such an incorporation enhances tribal language preservation.

Where have I erred in my reasoning?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

You're reasoning for the most part is fine. But I don't think we need the author to explicitly link the incorporation of words from the majority culture with a diminished ability to preserve traditional language.

Keep in mind that the question stem says "LEAST compatible." Think of that as akin to the strength we would look for in a "most strongly supported by the stimulus" question. The answer choice doesn't have to be proven false, but if the answer choice were true it would be "LEAST compatible" with the passage?

[ttunden]

so are these least type of questions pretty similar to an except question? or at the very least should be handled in the same manner? I wasn't sure how to handle this type of q since I have never seen a least q stem before in RC.

[missbenyamin]

@ttunden

I would like to know the answer to this question as well, BUT I personally did use a very similar strategy to what I would do for EXCEPT questions, and that worked out well for me.

What I did for this question was find support for each of the incorrect answer choices, after which I was left with only one answer that was NOT supported by the passage and that's the answer I chose (answer choice C). This is the strategy I use for EXCEPT questions as well (especially when I'm doing Blind Review and have time to eliminate every single answer using support) and I've found it works well since all but one of the answers (the correct answer in this case) will usually have a line or more in the passage that supports it, making it easy to eliminate four of the five answers.

To apply that to this question, here was my elimination process:

(A - rejuvenate oral culture) eliminated because I found support on lines 57-60, where it is stated "they [defenders of written language] concede languages could be preserved in their oral form if a community made every effort to eschew aspects of the majority culture that makes preservation difficult."

(B - arrange grammatical structure sequentially/in order of complexity) eliminated because I found support on lines 18-19, which states "grammatical information...arranged in sequence from simpler to more complex..."

(C - incorporate words from majority culture) I found no support for this statement in the passage, and ultimately chose it as this was the only answer with no support.

(D - most appropriate methods for presentation) eliminated because I found support on lines 37-8, which states "which one is to be written down and taught?" - I think this alludes to a method for presentation, and thus, I eliminated this answer choice.

(E - which dialect should be taught) eliminated because I found support on lines 36-38, which states: "another obstacle is dialect. there may be many...which one is to be written down and taught?"

HOPE THIS HELPS! If any of the instructors can provide feedback regarding the strength/weakness of my analysis, I would really appreciate it! (I'm particularly not fully confident in my support for eliminating answer choice D.)

Good luck!