Page 25 - Complete_advanced_students_book_with_answers_Neat

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C
Many PhD students studying minority languages lack the
resources to develop their language skills, with the result
that they have to rely on interpreters and translators to
communicate with speakers of the language they are
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studying. This, I believe, has a detrimental effect on the

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quality of their research. At the same time, they have to
struggle against the frequently expressed opinion that 5IFSF BSF KVTU TQFBLFST PG 6EFHF MFGU JO
minority languages serve no useful purpose and should be 4JCFSJB BOE NPTU PG UIFN BSF PWFS ZFBST PME
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allowed to die a natural death. Such a view fails to take
into account the fact that a unique body of knowledge
and culture, built up over thousands of years, is contained 4 Now do the exam task. For questions 1–4, choose
in a language and that language extinction and species from the extracts A–D. The extracts may be chosen
extinction are different facets of the same process. Th ey more than once.
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are part of an impending global catastrophe which is
beginning to look unavoidable. 8IJDI FYUSBDU
shares Extract B’s view of the economic
D signifi cance of major languages? 1
A healthy language is one which children learn to speak, expresses a different view from the others
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so that however many adults use the language, if young regarding the need to preserve minority 2
people do not acquire it, it will not survive. While the languages?
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disappearance of a language may be a tragedy for the takes a different view from the others
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people who speak it, it may appear to be an event of regarding the future of small languages?
little importance to others. However, I would argue that
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language diversity is as necessary as biological diversity takes a similar view to Extract C on the
and that we are simply not aware of all the things we lose effect of language disappearance?
when a language disappears. When an animal or plant
becomes extinct, we seldom realise how its existence 5 Work in small groups.
might have benefi ted us. The same is true for many small

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languages. Moreover, the resources to prevent their loss are t Which extract(s) do you think it would be interesting to
unlikely to ever be available simply because the economic read more of? Why?
t What can be done to keep endangered languages

benefits of keeping them alive cannot be demonstrated.
alive?
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