CAT 2024 Slot 3 · VARC · RC passage 1: Language Extinction and the Liberal Arts

The full passage and all 4 questions (Q1–Q4) from CAT 2024 Slot 3, with answers and solutions.

The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.

Languages become endangered and die out for many reasons. Sadly, the physical annihilation of communities of native speakers of a language is all too often the cause of language extinction. In North America, European colonists brought death and destruction to many Native American communities. This was followed by US federal policies restricting the use of indigenous languages, including the removal of native children from their communities to federal boarding schools where native languages and cultural practices were prohibited. As many as 75 percent of the languages spoken in the territories that became the United States have gone extinct, with slightly better language survival rates in Central and South America ...

Even without physical annihilation and prohibitions against language use, the language of the "dominant" cultures may drive other languages into extinction; young people see education, jobs, culture and technology associated with the dominant language and focus their attention on that language. The largest language "killers" are English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Hindi, and Chinese, all of which have privileged status as dominant languages threatening minority languages.

When we lose a language, we lose the worldview, culture and knowledge of the people who spoke it, constituting a loss to all humanity. People around the world live in direct contact with their native environment, their habitat. When the language they speak goes extinct, the rest of humanity loses their knowledge of that environment, their wisdom about the relationship between local plants and illness, their philosophical and religious beliefs, as well as their native cultural expression (in music, visual art and poetry) that has enriched both the speakers of that language and others who would have encountered that culture ...

As educators deeply immersed in the liberal arts, we believe that educating students broadly in all facets of language and culture ... yields immense rewards. Some individuals educated in the liberal arts tradition will pursue advanced study in linguistics and become actively engaged in language preservation, setting out for the Amazon, for example, with video recording equipment to interview the last surviving elders in a community to record and document a language spoken by no children.

Certainly, though, the vast majority of students will not pursue this kind of activity. For these students, a liberal arts education is absolutely critical from the twin perspectives of language extinction and global citizenship. When students study languages other than their own, they are sensitized to the existence of different cultural perspectives and practices. With such an education, students are more likely to be able to articulate insights into their own cultural biases, be more empathetic to individuals of other cultures, communicate successfully across linguistic and cultural differences, consider and resolve questions in a way that reflects multiple cultural perspectives, and, ultimately extend support to people, programs, practices, and policies that support the preservation of endangered languages.

There is ample evidence that such preservation can work in languages spiraling toward extinction. For example, Navajo, Cree, and Inuit communities have established schools in which these languages are the language of instruction, and the number of speakers of each has increased.

Question 1 · RC - Questions

In the context of the passage, which one of the following hypothetical scenarios, if true, is NOT an example of the kind of loss that occurs when a language becomes extinct?
  1. A
    The Nicobarese language describes 20 different moods of the ocean. By the time the last speaker is educated in a Central Board school, they will have forgotten their language.
  2. B
    The Lamkangs of Manipur have only 3 remaining native speakers of the language. When they die, we will lose one more group from the government list of indigenous tribes.
  3. C
    The Andamanese language has a word to describe someone who has lost a step-sister. When the language dies, we will lose the concept of the word and the emotions it evokes.
  4. D
    The Inuits of Alaska have 35 different words to describe the texture of snow. When the language becomes extinct, we will lose that understanding of nature.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option B

The passage defines the loss when a language dies: 'we lose the worldview, culture and knowledge of the people who spoke it' – their knowledge of the environment, their wisdom about plants and illness, their beliefs, and their cultural expression.

Option 1 fits: 20 words for moods of the ocean is knowledge of the native environment, lost as the language fades.

Option 3 fits: a word and the emotion it evokes are part of a people's worldview and culture.

Option 4 fits: 35 words for snow texture is an 'understanding of nature' of exactly the kind the passage describes.

Option 2 describes losing 'one more group from the government list of indigenous tribes'. That is an administrative or statistical loss, not the loss of worldview, culture or knowledge that the passage talks about.

Shortcut: in an application question, write down the passage's definition in a few words (here: worldview, culture, knowledge of nature) and test each scenario against it. The one that fails the definition is the answer.

Hence, the answer is option 2.

Question 2 · Strengthen and Weaken Arguments

Which one of the following hypothetical scenarios, if true, would most strongly undermine the central ideas of the passage?
  1. A
    Most liberal arts students will pursue jobs in publishing and human resource management rather than doctorates in linguistics.
  2. B
    A liberal arts education requires that, in addition to being fluent in English, students gain fluency in two of the top five most spoken languages globally.
  3. C
    Schools that teach endangered languages can preserve the language only for a generation.
  4. D
    Recording a dying language that has only a few remaining speakers freezes it in time: it stops evolving further.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option B

The passage argues that dominant languages – English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Hindi and Chinese – 'drive other languages into extinction', and that a liberal arts education helps by sensitising students to other cultures so they support the preservation of endangered languages.

Option 2 says a liberal arts education requires fluency in English and two of the top five most spoken languages. That makes liberal arts education push students towards the very 'killer' languages the passage blames, undercutting the claim that such education supports endangered languages.

Option 1 is already allowed for: the passage says 'the vast majority of students will not pursue this kind of activity' and argues the education still helps them.

Option 3 weakens the closing example slightly, but schools that preserve a language for a generation still show preservation can work; it does not hit the central idea.

Option 4 is about recording – a minor point in the passage – and a language being 'frozen' is still preserved.

Shortcut: to undermine a passage's central idea, look for an option that turns the proposed solution into a cause of the problem. Here, a liberal arts curriculum that promotes dominant languages does exactly that.

Hence, the answer is option 2.

Question 3 · RC Inference Questions

It can be inferred from the passage that it is likely South America had a slightly better language survival rate than North America for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:
  1. A
    European colonists allowed children of native speakers to stay at home with their families.
  2. B
    the colonial government was unable to mainstream the locals.
  3. C
    not many native speakers were killed by European colonists.
  4. D
    locals were provided job opportunities in the colonial administration.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option D

The passage explains North America's losses through three things: physical annihilation of native communities, federal policies that removed native children to boarding schools where native languages were banned, and the pull of dominant languages linked to 'education, jobs, culture and technology'. Better survival in South America can be explained by the absence of these.

Option 1 (children allowed to stay at home) is the reverse of the boarding-school policy – a likely reason.

Option 2 (the colonial government could not mainstream the locals) means less pressure to adopt the dominant language – a likely reason.

Option 3 (not many native speakers were killed) is the reverse of physical annihilation – a likely reason.

Option 4 (jobs in the colonial administration) would draw locals towards the colonial language, since young people adopt the dominant language for jobs. That would hurt language survival, not help it.

Shortcut: in an 'all of the following reasons EXCEPT' inference, list the passage's causes of the problem; options that remove a cause are reasons, and an option that strengthens a cause is the exception.

Hence, the answer is option 4.

Question 4 · RC Detail and Fact Based Questions

The author believes that a liberal arts education combined with participation in language preservation empower students in all of the following ways EXCEPT that they will
  1. A
    overcome cultural barriers to communication.
  2. B
    learn different languages.
  3. C
    establish schools to preserve languages spiralling towards extinction.
  4. D
    develop a better understanding of their own culture.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

The passage lists what a liberal arts education does for students: they are 'sensitized to the existence of different cultural perspectives', can 'articulate insights into their own cultural biases', 'communicate successfully across linguistic and cultural differences', and support efforts to preserve endangered languages. Studying 'languages other than their own' is part of it.

Option 1 (overcome cultural barriers to communication) matches 'communicate successfully across linguistic and cultural differences'.

Option 2 (learn different languages) matches 'study languages other than their own'.

Option 4 (better understanding of their own culture) matches 'insights into their own cultural biases'.

Option 3 (establish schools) is not something the author says students will do. Schools in Navajo, Cree and Inuit were set up by those communities; students are said only to 'extend support' to such programmes.

Shortcut: in EXCEPT questions, watch for a detail that is in the passage but attached to a different actor. The schools are real, but they belong to the communities, not the students.

Hence, the answer is option 3.

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