Preserving Endangered Languages and Cultures: A Reading Comprehension

 1. What is the best alternative title for this reading?

a) Similarities Between Endangered Species

b) Preserving Endangered Languages and Languages

c) Linguistic Globalization

d) How Languages Die

2. According to the article, which language is a dead language?

a) Irish

b) English

c) Hebrew

d) Latin

3. According to the article, what would linguists in the DEL project like to do someday?

a) Record interviews with elderly people

b) Get funding from the government

c) Teach endangered languages to young people

d) Write a dictionary and grammar for Irish

4. How would you describe Bruce Cole's opinion of the DEL project?

a) He thinks that we will lose the fight to save endangered languages.

b) He believes that it isn't worth the time and energy required to save languages.

c) He believes we can save significant amounts of information about languages.

d) He thinks that we will be able to save Guguyimadir, the aboriginal language.

5. According to Paragraph B, approximately how many indigenous languages are spoken in Australia?

a) 250

b) 70

c) 10

d) None

6. In Paragraph C, why does the author mention: approximately 37% of the population of Ireland now speaks Irish?

a) To show that Irish is no longer on the verge of extinction

b) To contrast the prevalence of Hebrew and Irish

c) To argue in favour of a universal language

d) To explain why students in Ireland must be totally fluent in Irish

7. Which of the following is the best summary statement for Paragraph A?

a) According to Michael Krauss, a majority of the world's languages are in danger of extinction.

b) The present and future extinction of hundreds of languages may be a necessary sacrifice in order to achieve the benefits of globalization.

c) A large number of languages have become extinct or are endangered, which some believe is as unfortunate and urgent a problem as species loss.

d) Many more plant and animal species than languages have become endangered or extinct.

8. What does the underlined word mean in the following sentence? Languages become extinct for many reasons.
    
a) Dead

b) popular

c)Required

d)Encouraged 
     
9. Paragraph B discusses the hegemony of the English language. What does hegemony probably mean in this context? 
    
a)Reluctance

b)Dominance

c)Entertainment

d)Cooperation
      
10. Use structure and context clues to determine the meaning of multilingualism in Paragraph C.    

a) Being loyal to more than one government

b) Speaking an extinct language

c) Legislating the use of a national language in schools

d) Speaking several languages
 
11. Within the context of Paragraph D, which of the following is the main reason that DEL is recording elderly speakers?
    
a) Elderly people are some of the only people left who speak dying languages.

b) The researchers want to hear stories about olden times.

c) Elderly people have more time to devote to research since they are retired.

d) Researchers want to convince elderly people to teach the languages they know to younger people. 
     
12. Based on what you read in Paragraph B, which word most likely means: the process by which one place becomes the colony of another?

a) Colonization

b) Colonizers

c) Colonies

d) Colonial

13. Decide if each of the following statements is true or false as per the context of the given article justifying your answer with evidence from the text.    (3 points)

(a)    Governments have been one of the primary causes of language death. (   ) 

(b)    One of the largest programs to revive languages is being conducted by two U.S. government agencies. (   )

(c)    Aspirin has been discovered due to the effort of linguists to preserve native languages.  (    )