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Question

Difficulty: MediumSingle-Sentence Inferences

Consider the following statement from a history of linguistics text:

"In his 1952 monograph on the decipherment of Linear B, Michael Ventris argued that despite the prevailing scholarly consensus attributing the tablets' script to an indigenous, non-Greek Aegean language, the structural frequency of specific sign combinations strongly indicated an inflected Indo-European language—a hypothesis that was initially dismissed by classicists until Ventris identified distinct phonetic values that consistently yielded archaic Greek vocabulary."

Based on the statement above, which of the following regarding the scholarly view of Linear B prior to Ventris's identification of phonetic values can be most reliably inferred?

  1. The dominant opinion among scholars was that the language encoded by the Linear B tablets originated in the Aegean region and was not Greek.Answer
  2. B
    Classicists accepted Ventris's structural frequency analysis as valid immediately upon the publication of his 1952 monograph.
  3. C
    Ventris himself originally believed that Linear B was an indigenous Aegean language before revising his position during his structural research.
  4. D
    The mainstream academic community rejected Ventris's hypothesis primarily because classicists held a dogmatically hostile stance against applying quantitative structural methods to ancient scripts.
  5. E
    Scholars universally agreed that Linear B was an uninflected writing system unrelated to any known European language family.

Answer

The dominant opinion among scholars was that the language encoded by the Linear B tablets originated in the Aegean region and was not Greek.
The sentence explicitly notes that there was a 'prevailing scholarly consensus attributing the tablets' script to an indigenous, non-Greek Aegean language' before Ventris's findings persuaded classicists otherwise. Therefore, inferring that the mainstream opinion viewed the language as non-Greek and native to the Aegean is directly supported.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the target statement and break down its structural components
The target sentence contrasts the 'prevailing scholarly consensus' (which viewed the script as an indigenous, non-Greek Aegean language) with Ventris's hypothesis (that it was an inflected Indo-European language).
Single-sentence inference questions require strict deduction grounded exclusively in the provided sentence structure and qualifiers.
2
Evaluate the condition 'prior to Ventris's identification of phonetic values'
The sentence states that classicists initially dismissed Ventris's hypothesis until he identified distinct phonetic values. Prior to that identification, the prevailing scholarly consensus held.
Understanding the timeline established by the modifiers allows us to determine what was believed before the turning point.
3
Match the logical deduction to the options
The claim that the dominant scholarly view considered the script to be an indigenous, non-Greek Aegean language directly paraphrases the explicit consensus mentioned in the sentence.
Valid GMAT Reading Comprehension inferences must be strictly supported without bringing in external assumptions or exaggerating claims.

Key Concept

Single-Sentence Inferences
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Topics

Single-Sentence Inferences

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