It has become something of a truism in folklore studies that until

Question

It has become something of a truism in folklore studies that until recently the lore was more often studied than the folk. That is, folklorists concentrated on the folklore—the songs, tales, and proverbs themselves—and ignored the people who transmitted that lore as part of their oral culture. However, since the early 1970s, folklore studies have begun to regard folk performers as people of creativity who are as worthy of attention as are artists who transmit their ideas in writing. This shift of emphasis has also encouraged a growing interest in women folk performers.

Until recently, folklorists tended to collect folklore from women on only a few topics such as health and games. In other areas, as Weigle and Farrer have noted, if folklorists “had a choice between a story as told by a man or as told by a woman, the man’s version was chosen.” It is still too early to tell how profoundly this situation has changed, but one can point to several recent studies in which women performers play central roles. Perhaps more telling is the focus of the most recently published major folklore textbook, The Dynamics of Folklore. Whereas earlier textbooks gave little attention to women and their folklore, this book devotes many pages to women folk performers.

Recognition of women as important bearers of folklore is not entirely a recent phenomenon. As early as 1903, a few outstanding women folk performers were the focus of scholarly attention. But the scholarship devoted to these women tended to focus primarily on presenting the performer’s repertoire. Recent works about women folk artists, however, have been more biographically oriented. Juha Pentikainen’s study of Marina Tokalo, a Finnish healer and narrator of folktales, is especially extensive and probing. Though interested in the problems of repertoire analysis, Pentikainen gives considerable attention to the details of Tokalo’s life and cultural background, so that a full picture of a woman and her folklore emerges. Another notable work is Roger Abraham’s book, which presents a very clear picture of the significance of traditional singing in the life of noted ballad singer Almeda Riddle. Unfortunately, unlike Pentikainen’s study, Abraham’s study contains little repertoire analysis.

These recent books reflect the current interest of folklorists in viewing folklore in  context  and thus answering questions about what folklore means to the people who use it. One unexpected result of this line of study has been the discovery that women may use the same folklore that men use, but for very different purposes. This realization has potential importance for future folklore studies in calling greater attention to the type of study required if a folklorist wants truly to understand the role folklore plays in a particular culture.   1 
 1. Which one of the following best describes the main point of the passage?

(A) It is only since the early 1970s that folklore studies have begun to recognize women as important bearers of folklore.
(B) A careful analysis of the repertoires of women folk performers has led to a new discovery with important implications for future folklore studies.
(C) Recent studies of women folk performers have focused primarily on the problems of repertoire analysis to the exclusion of a discussion of the culture within which the folklore was developed.
(D) The emphasis in folklore studies has shifted from a focus on the life and the cultural background of the folk performers themselves to a broader understanding of the role folklore plays in a culture.
(E) A change in the focus of folklore studies has led to increased interest in women folk performers and to a new understanding of the importance of the context in which folklore is produced.

2 
 2. The author of the passage refers to The Dynamics of Folklore primarily in order to

(A) support the idea that it is too soon to tell whether or not folklorists are giving greater attention to women’s folklore
(B) refute Weigle and Farrer’s contention that folklorists prefer to collect folklore from men rather than from women
(C) support the assertion that scholarship devoted to women folk performers tends to focus primarily on repertoire
(D) present an example of the new emphasis in folklore studies on the performer rather than on the folklore
(E) suggest that there are some signs that women folk performers are gaining increased critical attention in the field of folklore

3 
 3. The focus of which one of the following books would most clearly reflect the current interest of the folklorists mentioned in the last paragraph?

(A) an anthology of tales and songs collected exclusively from women in different cultures
(B) a compilation of tales and songs from both men and women covering a great variety of traditional and nontraditional topics
(C) a study of the purpose and meaning of a tale or song for the men and women in a particular culture
(D) an analysis of one particular tale or song that documents changes in the text of the folklore over a period of time
(E) a comparison of the creative process of performers who transmit folklore with that of artists who transmit their ideas in writing

4 
 4. According to the passage, which one of the following changes has occurred in the field of folklore since the early 1970s?

(A) increased recognition of the similar ways in which men and women use folklore
(B) increased recognition of folk performers as creative individuals
(C) increased emphasis on the need for repertoire analysis
(D) less emphasis on the relationship between cultural influences and folklore
(E) less emphasis on the individual performers and more emphasis on the meaning of folklore to a culture

5 
 5. It can be inferred from the passage that early folklorists assumed that which one of the following was true?

(A) The people who transmitted the folklore did not play a creative role in the development of that folklore.
(B) The people who transmitted the folklore were not consciously aware of the way in which they creatively shaped that folklore.
(C) The text of a song or tale did not change as the folklore was transmitted from one generation to another.
(D) Women were not involved in transmitting folklore except for songs or tales dealing with a few traditional topics.
(E) The meaning of a piece of folklore could differ depending on whether the tale or song was transmitted by a man or by a woman.

6 
 6. Based on the information in the passage, which one of the following is most closely analogous to the type of folklore studies produced before the early 1970s?

(A) An anthropologist studies the implements currently used by an isolated culture, but does not investigate how the people of that culture designed and used those implements.
(B) A manufacturer hires a consultant to determine how existing equipment in a plant might be modified to improve efficiency, but does not ask employees for their suggestions on how to improve efficiency.
(C) A historian studies different types of documents dealing with a particular historical event, but decides not to review newspaper accounts written by journalists who lived through that event.
(D) An archaeologist studies the artifacts of an ancient culture to reconstruct the life-style of that culture, but does not actually visit the site where those artifacts were unearthed.
(E) An architect designs a private home for a client, but ignores many of the client’s suggestions concerning minor details about the final design of the home.

7 
 7. The author of the passage uses the term “context” ( Highlights ) to refer to

(A) a holistic assessment of a piece of folklore rather than a critical analysis of its parts
(B) a study that examines a piece of folklore in light of earlier interpretations provided by other folklorists
(C) the parts of a piece of folklore that can shed light on the meaning of the entire piece
(D) the environment and circumstances in which a particular piece of folklore is used
(E) the location in which the story line of a piece of folklore is set

8 
 8. The author’s attitude toward Roger Abraham’s book can best be described as one of

(A) wholehearted approval
(B) qualified admiration
(C) uneasy ambivalence
(D) extreme skepticism
(E) trenchant criticism

guptakashish02 · Answer

Can anyone explain Q6 and Q7 in detail?
For Q6 and Q7, I marked option C.

Q7, I referred to this line from passage for answering option C : "These recent books reflect the current interest of folklorists in viewing folklore in  context and thus answering questions about what folklore means to the people who use it ." = This indicates that we are able to answer question about folklore , so this context is giving full overview of folklore.

warrior1991 · Answer

Let us go to Question#6 first. Read below lines,which are mentioned in the first paragraph.

Coming to Option C:-

The line before comma is correct but the one after comma is wrong.It is mentioned that the studies previously ignored the people. But here it is mentioned that  "but decides not to review newspaper accounts written by journalists who lived through that event."  
 This is not mentioned in the passage.

warrior1991 · Answer

Coming to Question#7 now

I think you caught the line correctly. These lines will give you the correct answer. 
I rejected C because

This is talking about parts of a piece that gives info about that whole piece. In all, this is like dividing one piece into parts and then studying all parts to study about that one piece. Not worthy of an answer choice when you have option D , which is concise;see my explanation below.

This gives the information about circumstances and environment under which a piece would be used. That is what the author is looking for.

IMO D is correct.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

3. The focus of which one of the following books would most clearly reflect the current interest of the folklorists mentioned in the last paragraph?

Explanation

The folklorists mentioned in the  last para  are concerned with studying folklore in its larger cultural  “context,”  and in understanding the different ends to which it is put by men and women. The book in  (C)  reflects these two interests.

(A)  overlooks the male/female distinction made by current folklore researchers.
 (B)    gets the male/female distinction right, but misses the cultural emphasis of current scholarship.  
 (D)  reflects the historical emphasis on the substance of folklore itself to the exclusion of those who transmit it.
 (E)  distorts a detail from the wrong para 1.

• In choices that ask you to go outside of the passage itself, look for the choice that is analogous to or parallels the relevant information in the passage.

Answer C

Hope it helps

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

8. The author’s attitude toward Roger Abraham’s book can best be described as one of

Explanation

Abraham’s book is  “notable”  ( line 32 ) but  “unfortunately”  ( line 35 ) lacks a key element, and that amounts to less than 100% endorsement.

(A) The  “approval”  cannot be  “wholehearted”

(C), (D), and (E)  all ignore the reference to Abraham’s book being  “notable.”  (Moreover, they’re all so close in meaning that it’s almost impossible to choose among them.)

Answer: B

Hope it helps

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

7. The author of the passage uses the term “context” ( Highlights ) to refer to

Explanation

According to the  last para  of the passage, current folklore scholarship is concerned with analyzing the links between specific pieces of folklore and the larger society from which it emerged. Hence,  “context”  here refers to the  “environment”  and  “circumstances”  surrounding a piece of folklore.

(A), (C), and (E)  are all beyond the scope of the passage, which doesn’t deal either with the internal relationships among different parts of a piece of folklore or with the connection between folklore and physical locale.

(B)  The text doesn’t delve into the issue of successive interpretations of the same piece of folklore by different scholars.

Answer: D

Hope it helps

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

5. It can be inferred from the passage that early folklorists assumed that which one of the following was true?

Explanation

(A) Early folklorists, remember, concentrated on the folklore itself, and not on the people who transmitted the stuff. Why? Because these folklorists felt that the performers were not creative people who contributed to the material itself.

(B)  is beyond the scope of the passage, which discusses scholarship about performers of folklore, not the views of the performers themselves.

(C)  is also beyond the scope of the passage, which, again, focuses on scholarship about folk performers. There’s no real discussion about folklore itself, let alone whether it underwent change from generation to generation.

(D)  distorts the gist of lines 13-18, which state that early folklorists tended to downplay the contributions of women performers. That’s quite different from saying that early folklorists thought that women didn’t have much of a role in transmitting folklore.

(E)  The male/female distinction regarding the meaning of a piece of folklore was not one made by early folklorists. This is a distinction made by contemporary scholars.

Answer: A

Hope it helps

honey1 · Answer

can you plz explain why in question 2 option B and in question 6 option D is wrong
THANK YOU

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Why option B is wrong in question #2

Weigle & Farrer are looking backwards to traditional folklore collection, and The Dynamics is an example of the new trend, so the latter couldn’t possibly be there to  “refute”  the former. In any case, lines:  "It is still too early to tell how profoundly this situation has changed, but one can point to several recent studies
in which women performers play central roles"  act as a transitional sentence clearly separating the two details.

Why option D is wrong in question #6

Option  D  ignores the reference to Abraham’s book being  “notable.”  (Moreover, they’re all so close in meaning that it’s almost impossible to choose among them.)

Good Luck

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

1. Which one of the following best describes the main point of the passage?

Explanation

(A)  Read the lines 5-8 of first paragraph:  "However, since the early 1970s, folklore studies have begun to regard folk performers as people of creativity who are as worthy of attention as are artists who transmit their ideas in writing." , folk performers, as opposed to just their works, began to get attention from the early 1970s. The increased emphasis on women, the text implies, is an even more recent phenomenon. Besides, the precise date when scholars first began to give attention to the contributions of women folklorists is a mere detail.

(B)  nicely sums up the gist of  Paragraph 4 , but certainly doesn’t qualify as the passage’s main point.

(C) Read the second half of  paragraph 3

Though interested in the problems of repertoire analysis, Pentikäinen gives considerable attention to the details of Tokalo’s life and cultural background, so that a full picture of a woman and her folklore emerges. Another notable work is Roger Abraham’s book, which presents a very clear picture of the significance of traditional singing in the life of noted ballad singer Almeda Riddle. Unfortunately, unlike Pentikäinen’s study, Abraham’s study contains little repertoire analysis.

These lines indicate that recent works about women folklorists don’t focus primarily on the  “the problems of repertoire analysis.”

(D)  The text claims that folklore studies have shifted from an almost exclusive emphasis on folklore itself to an interest in the people who transmit it.  (D)  makes a quite different claim.

Answer: E

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