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Difficulty: MediumPerspective of Mentioned Groups

While traditional linguists often attributed the grammatical structure of Creole languages primarily to the dominant colonial language (the 'superstrate'), a paradigm shift occurred with the rise of the 'substratist' school. Substratists argued that the grammatical backbone of a Creole is actually derived from the indigenous or enslaved populations' native languages (the 'substrate'), even if the vocabulary is predominantly borrowed from the colonial language. According to substratists, when adult speakers of diverse languages are forced to communicate without formal instruction, they rely on the syntactic frameworks of their native tongues to organize the newly acquired vocabulary. In contrast, 'universalist' theorists propose that Creole grammars reflect an innate human cognitive program for language, essentially bypassing both the superstrate and substrate syntax in favor of default biological settings when language input is fragmented.

Based on the passage, with which of the following statements would the substratist school of linguistics be most likely to agree?

  1. Adult speakers forming a Creole language utilize the grammatical rules of their original languages to structure the vocabulary they learn from the dominant group.Answer
  2. B
    The syntactic structure of a Creole language is determined by innate cognitive settings rather than by the linguistic backgrounds of its initial speakers.
  3. C
    Because they lack formal instruction, Creole speakers naturally adopt both the grammatical backbone and the vocabulary of the dominant colonial language.
  4. D
    The vocabulary of a Creole language contains absolutely no linguistic elements from the native languages spoken by the subjugated populations.
  5. E
    The grammatical frameworks of indigenous languages are inherently more adaptable to new vocabulary than the grammatical frameworks of colonial languages.

Answer

The correct answer is the option stating that adult speakers forming a Creole language utilize the grammatical rules of their original languages to structure the vocabulary they learn from the dominant group.
This option is correct because it directly paraphrases the explicit claims made by the substratist school in the passage. The passage states that substratists believe adult speakers 'rely on the syntactic frameworks of their native tongues' (their original languages) to 'organize the newly acquired vocabulary' (vocabulary learned from the dominant group).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the target group in the question stem.
The target group is the 'substratist school of linguistics'.
Focusing on the specific group ensures we do not accidentally select an answer representing the traditional linguists or the universalists.
2
Locate the textual evidence describing the substratists' views.
The passage states: 'Substratists argued that the grammatical backbone of a Creole is actually derived from the indigenous or enslaved populations' native languages... they rely on the syntactic frameworks of their native tongues to organize the newly acquired vocabulary.'
Direct textual evidence is required to accurately infer a mentioned group's perspective.
3
Evaluate the options against this specific textual evidence.
The option asserting that speakers use their original grammatical rules to structure newly learned dominant vocabulary perfectly aligns with the text.
Correct answers in viewpoint attribution questions must be a direct logical translation of the views explicitly attributed to that group in the passage.

Key Concept

Perspective of Mentioned Groups
Estimated Time:1m 45s
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Perspective of Mentioned Groups

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