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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 24 Feb 2024, 16:28
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea, including the Bismarcks, Bougainville, Solomons, and Louisiade Archipelago, have almost no detectable similarities in vocabulary. In contrast to neighboring Austronesian languages, linguistic analysis of these Papuan languages done by comparison of vocabularies cannot determine their historical relationships. We thus have reason to believe that ancient Papuans arrived on the islands longer than 5,000 or 7,000 years ago, where the various groups have lived in relative isolation from one another.

On the basis of the fact that grammar changes more slowly than vocabulary, researchers developed a new method of discerning relationships, including historical relationships, on the basis of grammatical similarities. Applying this method to the Papuan languages, the researchers found, as expected, that the relationships correlated with the islands and archipelagos on which the languages occur.

One interesting result was this. Although Bougainville lies between the Solomon Islands and the Bismarcks, the languages of the Solomons grammatically fell in between those of the Bismarcks and Bougainville. The researchers hypothesize that this discrepancy arose because, ten thousand years ago, Bougainville and the Solomons were joined in a single land mass, facilitating migration, while the Bismarcks were separate.
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The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are.: YES They have few words, if any, determined by the researchers to be the same as words of the others.: YES They evolved more recently than did Jabem or Gapapalwa, spoken on Papua New Guinea.: NO
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ID: 700154

For each of the following statements about the Papuan languages of the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomons, select Yes if the statement is strongly suggested by the discussion and research results pertaining to the Papuan languages. Otherwise, select No.
YES NO
The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are.
They have few words, if any, determined by the researchers to be the same as words of the others.
They evolved more recently than did Jabem or Gapapalwa, spoken on Papua New Guinea.
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The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are.: YES They have few words, if any, determined by the researchers to be the same as words of the others.: YES They evolved more recently than did Jabem or Gapapalwa, spoken on Papua New Guinea.: NO

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Lavukaleve and Kuot may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.
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On the assumption that the migration patterns depicted in the migration map are correct, and that there were no other routes of migration of the groups under consideration, which one of the following is most strongly suggested?
Lavukaleve and Savosavo may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.
Lavukaleve and Ata may be more closely related than the language tree shows them as being.
Lavukaleve and Kuot may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.
Lavukaleve and Motuna may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.
Lavukaleve and Bilua may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.
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Lavukaleve and Kuot may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.

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Yélî Dnye is more closely related in grammar to Rotokas than to Nasioi.: Yes The languages of Bougainville grammatically fall in between those of the Solomon Islands and the Bismarcks.: No Kuot originates from a predominant language that was spoken where Mali is now spoken.: No
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For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is strongly implied by the researchers’ results and hypotheses. Otherwise select No.
Yes No
Yélî Dnye is more closely related in grammar to Rotokas than to Nasioi.
The languages of Bougainville grammatically fall in between those of the Solomon Islands and the Bismarcks.
Kuot originates from a predominant language that was spoken where Mali is now spoken.
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Yélî Dnye is more closely related in grammar to Rotokas than to Nasioi.: Yes The languages of Bougainville grammatically fall in between those of the Solomon Islands and the Bismarcks.: No Kuot originates from a predominant language that was spoken where Mali is now spoken.: No

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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 01 Apr 2024, 23:45
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This is a time consuming tough question due to the sheer amount of confusing data given! But the questions are staright forward once you understand the data. 

Papua New Guinea (PNG) mainland has Austronesian languages (which are similar in vocabularies)
The islands east of PNG have Papuan languages (no similarities in vocabulary)

Grammar changes more slowly than vocabulary. Since Papuan languages had no common vocab, their grammars were compared and similarities were found. 

So we know that PNG mainland laguages which are similar in vocab must be similar in grammar too (because grammar changes more slowly than vocabulary)
The Papuan languages on the other hand are similar only in grammar, not vocab since their vocab has evolved and changed over time. But grammar has still remained similar. 


For each of the following statements about the Papuan languages of the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomons, select Yes if the statement is strongly suggested by the discussion and research results pertaining to the Papuan languages. Otherwise, select No.

The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are.

YES. We can deduce that grammar of Austronesian languages will be very similar since their vocabs (which change faster than grammar) are still similar. 
But Papua languages have evolved more individually so their vocabs have changed though grammar is still similar since it takes longer to change. 
ANSWER

They have few words, if any, determined by the researchers to be the same as words of the others.

YES. The Papuan languages have "almost no detectable similarities in vocabulary"
ANSWER
 
They evolved more recently than did Jabem or Gapapalwa, spoken on Papua New Guinea.

NO. Jabem and Gapapalwa are spoken on the PNG mainland. The Papua languages evolved before them because their vocabs are all different. The vocabs of PNG mainland languages are similar so they are more recent. 
ANSWER
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 06 Mar 2024, 10:18
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Option 1: "The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are."

First sentence of the discussion tab states - "have almost no detectable similarities in vocabulary". However it does not speak about the grammatical similarities which is asked in the first option. Hence it should be "No". Can you please enlighten me why my understanding is incorrect?
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 01 Apr 2024, 08:37
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But the correct answer is "YES". I also have similar doubt. KarishmaB MartyMurray Can you please provide your insight ?
dushyantshukla
Option 1: "The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are."

First sentence of the discussion tab states - "have almost no detectable similarities in vocabulary". However it does not speak about the grammatical similarities which is asked in the first option. Hence it should be "No". Can you please enlighten me why my understanding is incorrect?
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 13 Apr 2024, 08:12
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This is a time consuming tough question due to the sheer amount of confusing data given! But the questions are staright forward once you understand the data. 

Papua New Guinea (PNG) mainland has Austronesian languages (which are similar in vocabularies)
The islands east of PNG have Papuan languages (no similarities in vocabulary)

Grammar changes more slowly than vocabulary. Since Papuan languages had no common vocab, their grammars were compared and similarities were found. 

So we know that PNG mainland laguages which are similar in vocab must be similar in grammar too (because grammar changes more slowly than vocabulary)
The Papuan languages on the other hand are similar only in grammar, not vocab since their vocab has evolved and changed over time. But grammar has still remained similar. 


For each of the following statements about the Papuan languages of the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomons, select Yes if the statement is strongly suggested by the discussion and research results pertaining to the Papuan languages. Otherwise, select No.

The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are.

YES. We can deduce that grammar of Austronesian languages will be very similar since their vocabs (which change faster than grammar) are still similar. 
But Papua languages have evolved more individually so their vocabs have changed though grammar is still similar since it takes longer to change. 
ANSWER

They have few words, if any, determined by the researchers to be the same as words of the others.

YES. The Papuan languages have "almost no detectable similarities in vocabulary"
ANSWER
 
They evolved more recently than did Jabem or Gapapalwa, spoken on Papua New Guinea.

NO. Jabem and Gapapalwa are spoken on the PNG mainland. The Papua languages evolved before them because their vocabs are all different. The vocabs of PNG mainland languages are similar so they are more recent. 
ANSWER
­Thank you for taking the time to explain! The question is utterly convoluted. I will probably apply "guess and move on" to this question.
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 02 May 2024, 05:03
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KarishmaB
would you please clarufy further where will i get that The vocabs of PNG mainland languages are similar? 
KarishmaB
This is a time consuming tough question due to the sheer amount of confusing data given! But the questions are staright forward once you understand the data. 

Papua New Guinea (PNG) mainland has Austronesian languages (which are similar in vocabularies)
The islands east of PNG have Papuan languages (no similarities in vocabulary)

Grammar changes more slowly than vocabulary. Since Papuan languages had no common vocab, their grammars were compared and similarities were found. 

So we know that PNG mainland laguages which are similar in vocab must be similar in grammar too (because grammar changes more slowly than vocabulary)
The Papuan languages on the other hand are similar only in grammar, not vocab since their vocab has evolved and changed over time. But grammar has still remained similar. 


For each of the following statements about the Papuan languages of the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomons, select Yes if the statement is strongly suggested by the discussion and research results pertaining to the Papuan languages. Otherwise, select No.

The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are.

YES. We can deduce that grammar of Austronesian languages will be very similar since their vocabs (which change faster than grammar) are still similar. 
But Papua languages have evolved more individually so their vocabs have changed though grammar is still similar since it takes longer to change. 
ANSWER

They have few words, if any, determined by the researchers to be the same as words of the others.

YES. The Papuan languages have "almost no detectable similarities in vocabulary"
ANSWER
 
They evolved more recently than did Jabem or Gapapalwa, spoken on Papua New Guinea.

NO. Jabem and Gapapalwa are spoken on the PNG mainland. The Papua languages evolved before them because their vocabs are all different. The vocabs of PNG mainland languages are similar so they are more recent. 
ANSWER. 
 

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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 02 May 2024, 06:08
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zoezhuyan
KarishmaB
would you please clarufy further where will i get that The vocabs of PNG mainland languages are similar? 
­
­
Given:
The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland PNG, including the Bismarcks, Bougainville, Solomons, and Louisiade Archipelago, have almost no detectable similarities in vocabulary.
In contrast to neighboring Austronesian languages (of mainland PNG because they are the neighbouring languages), linguistic analysis of these Papuan languages done by comparison of vocabularies cannot determine their historical relationships.

We are given that vocabs of Papuan languages are not similar. This is in contrast to Austronesian languages. Hence vocab of Austronesian languages must be similar. 
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 16 Jul 2024, 22:33
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Here, the first Yes or No Question asks us to compare the following:

1.Papuan languages of the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomons
2.Some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages

The confusing part of the question is that it seems like the grammatical features of some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are not being discussed.

How to solve this:

1.The reason grammatical features are discussed is that researchers hypothesized that vocabulary changes faster than grammar. So, grammar takes more time to change.
2.Hence, we can deduce that if vocabulary is still similar, then grammar definitely has to be still similar.
3.As neighboring Austronesian languages have similar vocabulary, they will definitely have similar grammar.
4.Therefore, the Papuan languages of the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomons will be more different than neighboring Austronesian languages in their grammatical features.­

Answer : YES­

2 - They have few words, if any, determined by the researchers to be the same as words of the others.
Answer : YES
Clearly mentioned that the Papuan languages of the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomons do not have similar vocab

3 - They evolved more recently than did Jabem or Gapapalwa, spoken on Papua New Guinea.
Answer : No
Reason:
1.Jabem or Gapapalwa are spoken on Papua New Guinea
2."We thus have reason to believe that ancient Papuans arrived on the islands longer than 5,000 or 7,000 years ago, where the various groups have lived in relative isolation from one another." 
3.So they evolved before (NOT more recently) than did Jabem or Gapapalwa

 
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 25 Jul 2024, 11:54
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­Another q on this set- For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is strongly implied by the researchers’ results and hypotheses. Otherwise select No.


  • Yes
    No
    Yélî Dnye is more closely related in grammar to Rotokas than to Nasioi.
  • Yes
    No
    The languages of Bougainville grammatically fall in between those of the Solomon Islands and the Bismarcks.
  • Yes
    No
    Kuot originates from a predominant language that was spoken where Mali is now spoken.
The official answer for first is "Yes". But can this statement be strongly implied. If the flowchart distances are just a "rough indicator"
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 16 Aug 2024, 02:17
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The topic has been updated with two additional questions.
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 16 Aug 2024, 09:55
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KarishmaB pls explain all
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 26 Sep 2024, 23:35
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

On the assumption that the migration patterns depicted in the migration map are correct, and that there were no other routes of migration of the groups under consideration, which one of the following is most strongly suggested?

Evaluate

A can be ruled out because Lavukaleve and Savosavo are moderately distant in the language tree and have closely connected migration routes, and so if anything, the migration patterns depicted suggest they may be more closely related (not less closely related) than the language tree shows them as being.

B can be ruled out because Lavukaleve and Ata are moderately distant in the language tree and have only distantly connected migration routes, and so if anything, the migration patterns depicted suggest they may be less closely related (not more closely related) than the language tree shows them as being.

D and E can be ruled out because in each case the languages of the two islands are moderately close in the language tree and the islands have closely connected migration routes, and so in each case the information provided does not suggest the two languages may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.

C is correct because Lavukaleve and Kuot are very close in the language tree and have only distantly connected migration routes. Thus, while the language tree shows them to be very closely connected, the migration patterns depicted suggest otherwise. Therefore, the migration patterns strongly suggest that they may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.

The correct answer is Lavukaleve and Kuot may be less closely related than the language tree shows them as being.
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 26 Sep 2024, 23:37
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Q3 OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

For each of the following statements, select [size=100]Yes if the statement is strongly implied by the researchers’ results and hypotheses. Otherwise select No.[/size]

Infer

[size=100]RO1
In the language tree the Yélî Dnye node is closer to the Rotokas node than to the Nasioi node.
The correct answer is Yes.[/size]

[size=100]RO2
The language tree shows that the languages of the Solomons Islands grammatically fall in between those of the Bougainville and the Bismarcks, and not that the languages of Bougainville grammatically fall in between those of the Solomon Islands and the Bismarcks.
The correct answer is No.[/size]

RO3
Although Kuot and Mali are very close in the language tree and have closely connected migration routes, there is no support that Kuot originated from a language that was spoken where Mali is now spoken, as opposed to Mali having originated from a language spoken where Kuot is now spoken, or both languages having originated from some other place.
The correct answer is No.
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 26 Sep 2024, 23:40
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Q1 OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


Infer
RO1
The first two sentences of the Discussion tab suggest the languages of the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomons are more different than those of some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages.

The correct answer is Yes.

RO2
This is strongly suggested in the first sentence of the Discussion tab.

The correct answer is Yes.

RO3
There is no suggestion in the information given about the timelines for languages on Papua New Guinea relative to languages on the islands east of Papua New Guinea.

The correct answer is No.
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 29 Sep 2024, 04:35
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Pls explain Q1 1st and 3rd statement throuroughly

The two groups are more different from one another in their grammatical features than some groups of neighboring Austronesian languages are.
Which two groups?
How did we say that the two islands are different from one another?
How did we then compare it with austronesian languages grammar features?

Also, which all islands mentioned are east of PG or the mainland PG?

Similarly pls explain third statement too
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 25 Nov 2024, 02:20
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I don't think the explanation provided here for the 3rd statement in Q1 is correct. Let's look at the statement- "In contrast to neighboring Austronesian languages, linguistic analysis of these Papuan languages done by comparison of vocabularies cannot determine their historical relationships. We thus have reason to believe that ancient Papuans arrived on the islands longer than 5,000 or 7,000 years ago, where the various groups have lived in relative isolation from one another." This statement is not talking about when the languages were evolved, rather it is talking about the migration of people. Because the languages of the islands are not similar in vocabulary, the argument suggests that ancient Papuans arrived on the islands more than 5000 or 7000 years ago.

KarishmaB, please advise.
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 25 Nov 2024, 08:05
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Shubham.Sharma
I don't think the explanation provided here for the 3rd statement in Q1 is correct. Let's look at the statement- "In contrast to neighboring Austronesian languages, linguistic analysis of these Papuan languages done by comparison of vocabularies cannot determine their historical relationships. We thus have reason to believe that ancient Papuans arrived on the islands longer than 5,000 or 7,000 years ago, where the various groups have lived in relative isolation from one another." This statement is not talking about when the languages were evolved, rather it is talking about the migration of people. Because the languages of the islands are not similar in vocabulary, the argument suggests that ancient Papuans arrived on the islands more than 5000 or 7000 years ago.

KarishmaB, please advise.



"In contrast to neighboring Austronesian languages, linguistic analysis of these Papuan languages done by comparison of vocabularies cannot determine their historical relationships. We thus have reason to believe that ancient Papuans arrived on the islands longer than 5,000 or 7,000 years ago, where the various groups have lived in relative isolation from one another."


This indicates that the languages evolved before the languages of PNG.

Don't focus on just what is written. Try to work out the meaning of why the author is giving this information. What it implies. It is testing your comprehension skills too.
Languages often have common roots. When the ancient Papuans arrived on this island many years ago, they likely shared a common language. But since they lived in relative isolation from one another, their languages evolved separately over time and now they share no vocab links. They still do share grammar links because grammar changes over even longer time frames.
On the other hand PNG languages still share vocab links too because they are relatively recent languages.
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Axwe7
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 01 Jan 2025, 20:49
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For this question: "For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is strongly implied by the researchers’ results and hypotheses. Otherwise select No."

In particular, the third statement, which states: Kuot originates from a predominant language that was spoken where Mali is now spoken.

The answer's reasoning is:
"Although Kuot and Mali are very close in the language tree and have closely connected migration routes, there is no support that Kuot originated from a language that was spoken where Mali is now spoken, as opposed to Mali having originated from a language spoken where Kuot is now spoken, or both languages having originated from some other place."

I understand that there's no concrete evidence that states origin, but the question does ask for if there's a strong implication - which there is - even the OG answer says that they're very close in language tree & have closely connected migration routes. Wouldn't this be a case of it strongly implying that Kuot and Mali share a common origination?
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mbasimp
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The Papuan languages of the islands east of mainland Papua New Guinea 07 Apr 2025, 05:09
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Yes, I also have the same doubt. Cause as per the language tree Yélî Dnye is more closely related in grammar to Rotokas than to Nasioi. But as per the migration map, Nasioi is nearer to Yélî Dnye than Rotokas
Riri15
­Another q on this set- For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is strongly implied by the researchers’ results and hypotheses. Otherwise select No.


  • Yes
    No
    Yélî Dnye is more closely related in grammar to Rotokas than to Nasioi.
  • Yes
    No
    The languages of Bougainville grammatically fall in between those of the Solomon Islands and the Bismarcks.
  • Yes
    No
    Kuot originates from a predominant language that was spoken where Mali is now spoken.
The official answer for first is "Yes". But can this statement be strongly implied. If the flowchart distances are just a "rough indicator"
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