Lost for Words Reading Answers
IELTS Reading is one of the four sections in the IELTS exam which tests the proficiency of language of students in reading. For every candidate who wants to study abroad, clearing the IELTS examination is essential as it is one of the standard English proficiency tests. IELTS Reading checks the reading ability of the individuals by providing him/her with some passages and then asking questions regarding the same. Students willing to appear for the exam need to enable their preparation actively through IELTS reading practice papers. Several topics are included in IELTS Academic Reading based on which students need to read a passage and then answer respective questions. Accordingly In order to guarantee good marks in this section, individuals should practice as much as possible through sample passages and articles. Lost for Words Reading Answers is the topic of the passage which includes the following type of questions:
- One/two words from the passage
- Matching
- Yes/No/Not Given
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Section 1
Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions
Lost for Words Reading Answers
Many minority languages are on the danger list.
In the Native American Navajo nation which sprawls across four states in the American south-west, the native language is dying. Most of its speakers are middle-age or elderly. Although many students take classes in Navajo, the schools are run in English. Street signs, supermarket goods and even their own newspaper are all in English. Not surprisingly, linguists doubt that any native speakers of Navajo will remain in a hundred years’ time.
Navajo is far from alone. Half the world’s 6,800 languages are likely to vanish within two generations - that’s one language lost every ten days. Never before has the planet’s linguistic diversity shrunk at such a pace. “At the moment, we are heading for about three or four languages dominating the world”, says Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading. “It’s a mass extinction, and whether we will ever rebound from the loss is difficult to know.’
Isolation breeds linguistic diversity as a result, the world is peppered with languages spoken by only a few people. Only 250 languages have more than a million speakers, and at least 3,000 have fewer than 2,500. It is not necessarily these small languages that are about to disappear. Navajo is considered endangered despite having 150,000 speakers. What makes a language endangered is not the number of speakers, but how old they are. If it is spoken by children it is relatively safe. The critically endangered languages are those that are only spoken by the elderly, according to Michael Krauss, director of the Alaska Native Language Center, in Fairbanks.
Why do people reject the language of their parents? It begins with a crisis of confidence when a small community finds itself alongside a larger, wealthier society, says Nicholas Ostler of Britain’s Foundation for Endangered Languages, in Bath. ‘People lose faith in their culture’ he says. ‘When the next generation reaches their teens, they might not want to be induced into the old tradition.’
The change is not always voluntary. Quite often, governments try to kill off a minority language by banning its use in public or discouraging its use in school, all to promote national unity. The former US policy of running Indian reservation in English, for example, effectively put languages such as Navajo on the danger list. But Salikoko Mufwene, who chairs the Linguistics Department at the University of Chicago, argues that the deadliest weapon is not government policy but economic globalization. ‘Native Americans have not lost pride in their language, but they have had to adapt to socio-economic pressures’ he says. ``They can not refuse to speak English if most commercial activity is in English". But are languages worth saving? At the very least, there is a loss of data for the study of languages and their evolution, which relies on comparisons between languages, both living and dead. When an unwritten and unrecorded language disappears, it is lost to science.
Language is also intimately bound up with culture, so it may be difficult to reserve one without the other. ‘If a person shifts from Navajo to English, they lose something' Mufwene says. ‘Moreover, the loss of diversity may also deprive us of different ways of looking at the world’, says Pagel. There is mounting evidence that learning a language produces physiological changes in the brain. ‘Your brain and mine are different from the brain of someone, who speaks French, for instance’ Pagel says, and this could affect our thoughts and perceptions. ‘The patterns and connections we make among various concepts may be structured by the linguistic habits of our community.’
So despite linguists’ best efforts, many languages will disappear over the next century. But a growing interest in cultural identity may prevent the direst predictions from coming true. ‘The key to fostering diversity is for people to learn their ancestral tongue, as well as the dominant language’ says Doug Whalen, founder and president of the Endangered Language Fund in New Haven, Connecticut. ‘Most of these languages will not survive without a large degree of bilingualism’ he says. In New Zealand, classes for children have slowed the erosion of Maori and rekindled interest in the language. A similar approach in Hawaii has produced about 8000 new speakers of Polynesian languages in the past few years. In California, ‘apprentice’ programmes have provided life support to several indigenous languages. Volunteer 'apprentices' pair up with one of the last living speakers of Native American tongue to learn a traditional skill such as basket weaving, with instruction exclusively in the endangered language. After about 300 hours of training, they are generally sufficiently fluent to transmit the language to the next generation. But Mufwene says that preventing a language from dying out is not the same as giving it new life by using it every day. ‘Preserving a language is more likely preserving fruits in a jar’ he says.
However, preservation can bring a language back from the dead. There are examples of languages that have survived in written form and then been revived by later generations. But a written form is essential for this, so the mere possibility of revival has led many speakers of endangered languages to develop systems of writing where none existed before.
Section 2
Solution and Explanation
Question 1 to 4:
Fill in the blanks with not more than two words:
There are currently approximately 6,800 languages in the world. This great variety of languages came about largely as a result of geographical 1) ____________. But in today’s world, factors such as government initiatives and 2) ____________ are contributing to a huge decrease in the number of languages. One factor which may help to ensure that some endangered languages do not die out completely is people’s increasing appreciation of their 3) ____________. This has been encouraged through programs of language classes for children and through ‘apprenticeships, in which the endangered language is used as the medium of instruction to teach people a 4) ____________. Some speakers of endangered languages have even produced writing systems in order to help secure the survival of their mother tongue.
Question 1:
Answer: Isolation
Supporting Statement: Isolation breeds linguistic diversity: as a result, the world is peppered with languages spoken by only a few people.
Keywords: Variety, diversity
Keyword Location: Para 3 line 1
Explanation: A statement in the paragraph clearly indicates that linguistic diversity is induced by geographical isolation which matches with the statement in question.
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Question 2:
Answer: Economic globalization/ Socio-economic pressures/ Globalization
Supporting Statement: “But Salikoko Mufwene, who chairs the Linguistics department at the University of Chicago, argues that the deadliest weapon is not government policy but economic globalization. ‘Native Americans have not lost pride in their language, but they have had to adapt to socio-economic pressures,’ he says”
Keywords: Globalization, decline, Socio-economic
Keyword Location: Para 6 line 3 to 4
Explanation: Here, the given space can be filled with the answers given as the given statement is similar to the given supporting statement.
Question 3:
Answer: Cultural identity
Supporting Statement: “A growing interest in cultural identity may prevent the direst predictions from coming true.”
Keywords: Interest, preserve
Keyword Location: Para 9 line 1 to 4
Explanation: Languages that are slowly vanishing can only be saved by their native speakers who love their language and cultural identity.
Question 4:
Answer: Traditional skill
Supporting Statement: “Volunteer ‘apprentices’ pair up with one of the last living speakers of a Native American tongue to learn a traditional skill such as basket weaving, with instruction exclusively in the endangered language.”
Keywords: Apprentice, classes
Keyword Location: Para 9 line 6 to 8
Explanation: In the passage, it is mentioned that, in order to preserve these languages, programs of language classes for children and apprenticeship programs were organized.
Question 5 to 9:
Look at the following statements (Question 5-9) and the list of people in the box below. Match each statement with the correct person A-E.
Write the appropriate letter A-E in box 5-9 on your answer sheet.
NB: You may use any letter more than once.
- Endangered languages cannot be saved unless people learn to speak more than one language.
- Saving languages from extinction is not in itself a satisfactory goal.
- The way we think may be determined by our language.
- Young people often reject the established way of life in their community.
- A change of language may mean a loss of traditional culture.
- Michael Krauss
- Salikoko Mufwene
- Nicholas Ostler
- Mark Pagel
- Doug Whalen
- Endangered languages cannot be saved unless people learn to speak more than one language.
Answer: Doug Whalen
Supporting Statement: “Most of these languages will not survive without a large degree of bilingualism, says Doug Whalen.”
Keywords: Endangered, bilingualism, survive
Keyword Location: (Para 8 line 3-4)
Explanation: Doug Whalen, founder, and president of the Endangered Language Fund, said these lines in the context of bilingualism in an attempt to preserve endangered languages.
- Saving languages from extinction is not in itself a satisfactory goal.
Answer: Salikoko Mufwene
Supporting Statement: “But saying that preventing a language dying out is not the same as giving it new life by using it every day.”
Keywords: Preserving, extinction, dying out
Keyword Location: (Para 8 line 9-10)
Explanation: Salikoko Mufwene clearly says in the passage that saving a language and frequently using that language are two different things. It is possible to preserve a language not by speaking but only by writing it.
- The way we think may be determined by our language.
Answer: Mark Pagel
Supporting Statement: “The loss of diversity may also deprive us of different ways of looking at the world,’ says Pagel.”
Keywords: Thinking, diversity, preserve
Keyword Location: (Para 7 line 1)
Explanation: According to Mark Pagel a loss or extinction of a language may also mean loss of culture as cultural diversity is very much related to language.
- Young people often reject the established way of life in their community.
Answer: Nicholas Ostler
Supporting Statement: “People lose faith in their culture,’ he says. When the next generation reaches their teens, they might not want to be induced into the old traditions.”
Keywords: Faith, culture, generation
Keyword Location: (Para 4 line 2-3)
Explanation: The rejection of any language begins with the “crisis of confidence” among its speakers as they interact with a large and wealthier community. With the decrease in confidence younger generations tend to reject older languages.
- A change of language may mean a loss of traditional culture
Answer: Salikoko Mufwene
Supporting Statement: “Language is also intimately bound up with culture, so it may be difficult to preserve one without the other.”
Keywords: Diversity, culture
Keyword Location: (Para 8 line 1)
Explanation: Salikoko Mufwene correlates culture with language. He also fears that if one of these is lost, it would be tough to preserve the other. Additionally, loss of diversity means a change in the point of view for a person as well as a community.
Question 10 to 13:
Do the following statements agree with the views of the author in the given passage?
YES If the statement agrees with the view of the writer
NO If the statement contradicts the view of writer
NOT GIVEN If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.
- The Navajo language will die out because it currently has too few speakers.
Answer: NO
Supporting Statement: “What makes a language endangered is not just the number of speakers, but how old they are.”
Keywords: Endangered, spoken, speaker
Keyword Location: (Para 3 line 4-6)
Explanation: Navajo language is not endangered because of having a low number of speakers but due to the fact that most of its speakers are middle-aged or elderly. As the statement suggests a language is relatively endangered if it is not spoken, frequently, by children.
- A large number of native speakers fails to guarantee the survival of a language.
Answer: YES
Supporting Statement: “If it is spoken by children it is relatively safe.”
Keywords: Endangered, children, speaker
Keyword Location: Para 3 line 4-6
Explanation: The given statement is true as a language may be endangered despite having a huge number of speakers if and only if most of them are relatively older.
- National governments could do more to protect endangered languages.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
- The loss of linguistic diversity is inevitable.
Answer: YES
Supporting Statement: “So despite linguists’ best efforts, many languages will disappear over the next century.”
Keywords: Disappear, prediction, bilingualism, prevention
Keyword Location: (Para 8 line 1-4)
Explanation: As the supporting statement suggests, the loss of many languages is inevitable. This is due to economic globalization, loss of cultural diversity, migration into developed cities, etc. No matter how much effort we make, many languages will disappear, sooner or later.
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