Self-study
The following passage is adapted from an article published in 1981.
P1
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Intro topic ·
Chinese has many distinct dialects
Linguists' perspective / conclusion ·
There's a new Chinese dialect in the US (called "Chinatown Chinese")
Linguists' premises ·
Two claims to support view that Chinatown Chinese is a new dialect
(1) It's difficult for traditional dialect speakers who are new to the US to communicate with Chinatown Chinese speakers. (2) If one knows Chinatown Chinese terminology, speakers of any traditional dialect can communicate with other Chinatown Chinese speakers.
P2
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REJECT LINGUISTS' FIRST PREMISE ·
The language barrier between traditional dialects and Chinatown Chinese is exaggerated
As long as the Chinatown Chinese speakers avoid or explain unfamiliar terms (which are usually references to local things) a traditional dialect speaker can communicate easily with Chinatown Chinese speakers who know the same traditional dialect.
P3
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Reject linguists' second premise ·
Knowing Chinatown Chinese terms does not guarantee one can communicate with other Chinatown Chinese speakers
The traditional dialect of a Chinese speaker makes a big difference. Two speakers of different traditional dialects might not understand each other even if they both know Chinatown Chinese terms.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
1.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Linguists who argue ████ █████████ ███████ ███████████ █ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██ ████████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
(A) is both too narrow and too strong. First, (A) presents the fact that Chinatown Chinese is intelligible to speakers of Cantonese, but this is merely one of the points the author offers in support of her critique. In addition, the author never goes so far as to assert that Chinatown Chinese does not constitute a new dialect. Rather, she shows that the two claims others offer in support of the view that it’s a new dialect are wrong. The author attacks the support of the view that Chinatown Chinese is a distinct dialect, but does not necessarily reject that view.
b
Because Chinatown Chinese ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████████ █ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████
This doens’t capture the author’s critique of the support for the view that Chinatown Chinese is a distinct dialect.
c
The primary claims ██████████ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ █ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ █████ ████████████
This best captures the main point as explained above.
d
Because visitors from █████ ███ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ █ ████████ ███ ████████
This is too narrow, because the ease with which visitors can converse with Chinese Americans in San Francisco is simply one of the points offered in support of the author’s critique. Also, the author doesn’t reject the view that Chinatown Chinese is a distinct dialect; she simply rejects the support offered for that view.
e
Although Chinese dialects ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███ ██ █████████ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ █ ████████ ███ ████████
The author doesn’t indicate that linguists agree Chinatown Chinese is not a new dialect. Since (E) is not supported, it can’t be the main point.