This passage is based on an article published in 1996.
Of the 300 indigenous languages spoken when
European explorers reached what is now the
United States, fewer than 150 survive today. Of these,
one third are near extinction, with fewer than
(5) 100 surviving speakers. The decline of many of these
languages is due in large part to misguided U.S.
government policies: between the 1930s and the
1960s, the U.S. mandated the teaching of English to
all Native Americans, an effort that in practice
(10) discouraged the transmission of native languages.
Yet despite the residual effects of this effort, there has
recently been a resurgence in native language study
and preservation efforts. More universities are offering
language curricula developed by Native American
(15) scholars, and fluent speakers of native languages are
being recorded on film and tape. At the same time,
many indigenous communities are establishing radio
stations that broadcast in native languages.
Because of the strong oral traditions of indigenous
(20) cultures, radio is a particularly effective tool for
preserving native languages. It provides a natural and
widely accessible means for the diffusion of native
languages. In fact, some communities have consciously
founded native language radio stations as a means of
(25) simultaneously promoting their languages and keeping
community members apprised of important issues.
These radio stations have also helped solidify
communities, as older people have taken an interest in
rekindling the use of their languages and in helping
(30) younger generations understand idiomatic usage.
However, the growth of Internet use in many
native communities could counter the influence of
radio. In order to use this international computer
network, many community members often find that
(35) they must devote considerable energy to mastering a
standard language—generally English. Communities
with radio stations have at their disposal a means to
combat this trend, but the mere presentation of native
language programming is not enough. For radio
(40) programming to be effective in countering the
potentially deleterious linguistic effects of the
Internet, it should resonate with the living oral
traditions of indigenous communities.
One analyst noted recently that in native
(45) communities where English is a second language
i.e., spoken less frequently than a native language—
there is an abundance of such programming, but where
English is the primary language, what native language
programming there is often takes the form of lessons,
(50) which can be unengaging and distant from the cultural
contexts that give necessary and subtle meaning to the
words. By contrast, effective programming should
include things like recordings of elders speaking the
native language, word games that mix English and
(55) native languages, and speeches by fluent speakers.
There is evidence that this along with lessons printed
in the local newspaper has had success at revitalizing
native languages in some communities. Similarly,
integrating traditional songs into the presentation
(65) of a native language makes it easier for novice
speakers to grasp the language by familiarizing
them with its rhythms.
1. Which one of the following most accurately states the main point of the passage?(A) Because of the growth in Internet use in many indigenous communities, English has again begun to supplant native languages, thus reversing the recent resurgence of interest in native languages.
(B) Native language radio programming has become a valuable tool for preserving native languages, and it may be able to help counter the threat to native languages now posed by the Internet.
(C) While the Internet and many other media serve as factors helping to push native languages toward extinction, radio, because of its wide availability, is the only viable means for counteracting this trend.
(D) Language preservation is more successful when, rather than merely transmitting the language by traditional classroom lessons, an effort is made to take into account the cultural context of the language.
(E) Native language radio programming succeeds in preserving native languages where other approaches fail because it has stimulated the interest of older people in rekindling the use of their languages.
2. The passage most strongly suggests that some types of native language radio programming are less likely than others to be successful at sustaining these languages because the(A) do not convey information about the daily lives of the listeners
(B) tend not to connect their use of these languages to the cultures with which the languages are associated
(C) typically ignore the economic circumstances of their listeners
(D) are not purposefully designed to advocate the use of these languages
(E) fail to make use of traditional academic methods of teaching languages
3. The author's primary purpose in mentioning the native language curricula being developed at many universities is to (A) cite an example of methods of native language preservation less successful than native language radio programming
(B) indicate one of the effects of the attempts to preserve native languages by means of native language programming
(C) provide evidence that interest in the study and preservation of native languages is growing
(D) show that the attitudes of scholars toward the study of native languages are markedly different from those of government officials
(E) point out one of the factors that has contributed to the popularity of native language radio programming
4. With which one of the following statements would the author be most likely to agree?(A) The preservation of native languages is desirable as an end in itself, and this end will be most successfully accomplished if these languages become integrated into the daily life of native communities.
(B) The preservation of native languages will fail without cooperation among those who speak the language, other members of their communities, and the members and
institutions of society as a whole.
(C) The main roadblock to the preservation of native languages is a lack of consensus among tribal elders concerning the most effective way to ensure the transmission of cultural values and practices to younger generations.
(D) The preservation of native languages can most efficiently be accomplished if these languages are used to report on developments in the rapidly changing technological and economic environment.
(E) The preservation of native languages is unlikely to be achieved unless institutions of higher learning devote significantly more resources to the development of native language curricula.
5. The passage states that the study of native languages has recently grown(A) in spite of residual effects of a misguided government mandate
(B) because of a change in attitude on the part of government and university officials
(C) because of a growing awareness that the extinction of these languages would be a
great loss to scholarship
(D) because the use of native language radio programming has supplanted more traditional means of language transmission
(B) in spite of a lack of native scholars to develop native language curricula
6. Each of the following is an example of the kind of native language radio programming advocated by the author in the fourth paragraph EXCEPT:(A) a program that provides fluent speakers of the local indigenous language the opportunity to address fellow community members on issues facing the community
(B) a music program whose host speaks the local indigenous language and that includes traditional songs performed by elders
(C) a religious program that features elders fluent in the local indigenous language talking to listeners about traditional spiritual beliefs
(D) a program that teaches listeners the rules of both grammar and idiomatic usage in the local indigenous language
(E) a program that plays recordings made by anthropologists in previous decades featuring the community's folk tales recited in the indigenous language