Read the passage below carefully:
The rapid expansion of vehicular trade corridors along the Benue Trough has accelerated linguistic convergence towards regional vehicular tongues, placing several minority languages in critical peril. While sociolinguists frequently attribute this attrition solely to the economic hegemony of dominant trade languages, empirical fieldwork suggests a more nuanced dynamic. Language shift in these communities is primarily driven by changing intra-familial transmission patterns resulting from shifting matrimonial networks across ethnic boundaries. As exogamous marriages become standard due to increased mobility, households increasingly adopt a common vehicular language for daily domestic interaction. Consequently, younger generations acquire the regional lingua franca as their primary L1, while indigenous mother tongues are relegated to ceremonial or elderly discourse. Subsidized mother-tongue primary education programs and community-based lexical documentation initiatives, though well-intentioned, frequently fail to stem this decline because they target institutional domains rather than the domestic sphere where generational transmission naturally occurs.
Which of the following statements best expresses the primary argument of the author in the passage?
- ASubsidized mother-tongue education programs are entirely ineffective at promoting literacy among minority speech communities.
- The erosion of minority languages in the region is primarily caused by alterations in domestic intergenerational transmission rather than economic factors alone.Answer
- CIncreased physical mobility along trade corridors has led to a higher prevalence of exogamous marriages across ethnic lines.
- DEconomic dominance of trade languages is the single catalyst driving minority language attrition in the Benue Trough.