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Question

Difficulty: MediumFunction of Detail in Context

Passage:
In late nineteenth-century linguistics, the Neogrammarian school famously posited that sound change operates according to exceptionless physical laws, asserting that any apparent phonetic inconsistency in language evolution must be attributable either to dialect borrowing or to an undiscovered phonetic condition. Skeptics initially challenged this axiom by citing persistent anomalies in the Germanic consonant shift known as Grimm's Law, wherein certain Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops unexpectedly yielded voiced rather than voiceless fricatives in Germanic daughter languages. This dispute was largely resolved when Karl Verner demonstrated that these anomalous voicings occurred strictly when the ancestral pitch accent did not immediately precede the consonant in question. By showing that the anomaly was governed by a rigorous suprasegmental rule, Verner transformed what had seemed a fundamental counterexample into compelling corroboration of phonetic regularity.

Which of the following most accurately describes the primary function of the author's reference to the 'ancestral pitch accent'?

  1. A
    illustrate how historical linguists reconstructed the suprasegmental pitch system of Proto-Indo-European
  2. B
    provide evidence that nineteenth-century skeptics were justified in rejecting the Neogrammarian hypothesis
  3. identify the conditioning factor that resolved an apparent contradiction to the principle of regular sound changeAnswer
  4. D
    challenge the premise that sound laws operate according to predictable physical mechanisms
  5. E
    distinguish between sound changes caused by dialect borrowing and those caused by environmental phonetic factors

Answer

The reference to the ancestral pitch accent functions primarily to identify the conditioning factor that resolved an apparent contradiction to the principle of regular sound change.
The passage explains that skeptics challenged the Neogrammarian view of exceptionless sound laws by citing anomalies in Grimm's Law. Verner resolved this challenge by demonstrating that the anomaly was strictly conditioned by where the 'ancestral pitch accent' fell. Therefore, mentioning the pitch accent serves specifically to name the conditioning factor that reconciled the apparent anomaly with the overarching claim of phonetic regularity.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Locate the target phrase within the context of the argument
The phrase appears in the discussion of Karl Verner's solution to anomalous consonant shifts under Grimm's Law.
Understanding the immediate surrounding sentence is necessary to discern the role of the detail.
2
Determine the relationship between the target detail and the author's broader claim
The author introduces the pitch accent as the specific undiscovered condition that explained why certain voiceless stops became voiced fricatives, thus turning an apparent exception into proof of exceptionless phonetic laws.
Function questions require identifying why an author includes a detail in relation to the thesis.
3
Select the option that accurately articulates this structural role
The option identifying the pitch accent as the conditioning factor that resolved the contradiction matches the passage's logical structure.
The correct response must define the rhetorical mechanism rather than merely restating factual content.

Key Concept

Function of Detail in Context
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Function of Detail in Context

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