PT116.S1.P2.Q13

PrepTest 116 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 13

Hide analysis
P1

In many bilingual communities of Puerto Rican Americans living in the mainland United States, people use both English and Spanish in a single conversation, alternating between them smoothly and frequently even within the same sentence. ████ █████████████████ ███████████████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████████████ ███

Phenomenon · Code-switching
Puerto Rican Americans use both English and Spanish in a single conversation, smoothly alternating between them.
█████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████ ████████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██ ███████████████

Explanation · Most instances of code-switching can be explained by situational or rhetorical factors
Some exceptional cases of code-switching cannot be explained.
P2

█████████ ███ ████ ████ ██████████████ █████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ █████ ███████████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ █████ █████████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████████████ ███ ████████ █████████████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ █ ███ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███████████ █ ██████████████ ██████████ █████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ █ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ██████████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███████████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ███

Explanation · Domains or social context determine whether code-switching occurs
Main factors are setting, participants, and topic which combine into five domains: family; friendship; religion; education; and employment.
██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████████████ ███████████ █████████ █ ████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ █████████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ █████ ███ ██ █████████████ █ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████████ █████ ███ ██ ████ ██████████ ███
Experimental Setup · To test effects of domains on code-switching
Researchers create hypothetical situations with 2 congruent factors or 2 incongruent factors. Then, researchers ask students to determine the third factor and which mixture of language they would use.
████ █████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ████████ ███ █████ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████ █████ ██████████ █████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██ █ ████ ███ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ███
Results · 2 congruent factors
Prompted with participants: parent and child and topic: how to be a good son or daughter. Students chose setting as home and language was Spanish only.
██ █████████ ███████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ████████ ███████

Results · 2 incongruent factors
Prompted with participants: priest and parishioner and setting: beach, students disagreed on third factor and mix of language.
P3

███ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ███████████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ ██ █████ ███

Exceptions · Unexplained code-switching
Sometimes the domain predictions about code-switching are wrong.
████ ███ ███ ████ ████ █ █████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ █████ █████ █████████████ ████████████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ████ █████████████

Example · One family at home
Family thought they spoke only English but they code-switched to Spanish (even when situational factors didn't change) to express certain attitudes like intimacy or humor more emphatically.
Passage Style
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Single position
Show answer
13.

Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████

a

In a previous ████████████ █████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ █████ █████████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ██████████████

This weakens by suggesting that we do not need to resort to rhetorical factors as an explanation of the code-switching that occurs in the family discussed in P3. A year-long study involving the exact same family, in the exact same context (home), showed that the family code-switched only when situational factors changed a lot. This provides some evidence that the family code-switches only due to changes in situational factors.

59%
b

In a subsequent ████████████ █████ █████████ ███ ████ ███████ █ ██████████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ █████████ ██ ███████████████

This doesn’t weaken, because if the same set of situational factors occurs repeatedly, the author wouldn’t expect any differences in code-switching behavior during those situations. For example, the family in P3 mainly speaks English at home. There might be some social contexts that repeat over the year (let’s say home & speaking about what to eat for dinner); in those contexts, the family might speak only English. This doesn’t reveal anything about the reasons the family might occasionally code-switch to Spanish, as was heard on recorded conversations.

8%
c

In a subsequent ████████████ █████ █████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ████████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██ ███████ ████████████

This doesn’t weaken, because we have no reason to think that the family must express intimacy and humor only in Spanish in order for their code-switching to be explained by rhetorical factors. It’s possible the family uses Spanish occasionally for rhetorical effect and also uses English for similar rhetorical effect at other times. In fact, the family believes it used Spanish to express certain attitudes “more emphatically.” Perhaps at other times, when it wants to express those attitudes less emphatically, it uses English.

17%
d

When asked about ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ████████

This doesn’t weaken, because we have no reason to think the language the family used to answer questions has any bearing on the reason they used Spanish in the occasional instances of code-switching heard on recorded conversations.

0%
e

Prior to their ███████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ █████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ ██ █████████

This doesn’t weaken, because there’s a reasonable explanation for why (E) would be true, if it’s true — the family wasn’t even aware that it code-switched! So it’s not surprising that the family never described their occasional use of Spanish as serving to emphasize humor/intimacy. Once they were made aware that they did use Spanish occasionally, then they described their opinion on why they used it.

16%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic
More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

Confirm action

Are you sure?