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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
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shankar13 wrote:
its often emphasized for RCs that one should not assume any data from outside....so why is it fine to assume that toltec is another ancient american language...
this is pertaining to question 1 , point 2..


I had the same question, could someone shed some light on this?
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
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By the combination of radicals or semantic elements, single compound words can express complex conceptual relations, often of an abstract universal character.

The tlamatinime used the Nahuatl language. And this language borrowed some sort of language architecture to express abstract concepts.

They also availed themselves of other forms of expression with metaphorical meaning, some probably original, some derived from Toltec coinages.

Now they borrowed some terms from the outside I.E from another language. The Nahuatl was used by ancient American people, so also The Toltec was a language from the American continent as well.

They could not use words from a language in another continent. The continent was the same.

B is correct
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
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Question - 1 - 1. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding present-day research relating to Nahuatl?

Choice - A - Some record or evidence of the thought of the tlamatinime is available.

Yes. This is true because:

The tlamatinime (those who know) were able to use this rich stock of abstract terms to express the nuances of their thought.

and

Used metaphorically, the juxtaposed terms connote specific or essential traits of the being they refer to, introducing a mode of poetry as an almost habitual form of expression.

prove that some record or evidence of the thought of the tlamatinime is available.


Choice B - For at least some Nahuatl expressions, researchers are able to trace their derivation from another ancient American language.

They also availed themselves of other forms of expression with metaphorical meaning, some probably original, some derived from Toltec coinages.

Therefore, Choice B is also correct.


Choice C - C Researchers believe that in Nahuatl, abstract universal concepts are always expressed metaphorically.

This wrong because the choice is making an extreme claim with the word always.And nowhere in the passage there is support for this extreme claim.



Question - 2 - Select the sentence in the passage in which the author introduces a specific Nahuatl mode of expression that is not identified as being shared with certain European languages.

Of these forms, the most characteristic in Nahuatl is the juxtaposition of two words that, because they are synonyms, associated terms, or even contraries, complement each other to evoke one single idea.

This sentence states that the "juxtaposition of two words....one single idea" is the most characteristic in Nahuatl. And hence is the answer to the question


Question - 3 - In the context in which it appears, “coinages” most nearly means

B creations

They also availed themselves of other forms of expression with metaphorical meaning, some probably original, some derived from Toltec coinages.

Clearly, since we are talking about languages, coinages refers to the coining of new words and hence choice B - creation - is the correct answer.
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
I got all correct but it took me 6 mins.
Ques 1 took the most time as I couldn't recognize the option A
Ques 2 and 3 were easy to catch.
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
For question 1, point 2, How can we assume that the tlamatinime were native speakers of Nahuatl? Even if they were, just because they derived expressions from Toltec coinages does not mean that the Nahuatl language itself derived expressions from other languages, right? It seemed to me like these people just used expressions from different languages as they saw fit, not necessarily adding to either.
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
soumya1989 wrote:

Explanation


2. The passage introduces two specific Nahuatl modes of expression. One is the formation of single compound words that are capable of expressing complex conceptual relations
(first paragraph); the other is the juxtaposition of two related words to evoke a single idea (second paragraph). In the formation of compounds Nahuatl is described as being
“like Greek and German,” but the second mode is not identified as being shared with other languages. Therefore the sixth sentence (“Of these forms . . . one single idea”) is
the best choice.


What is the difference between the two modes of expression with respect to the second question, i.e. difference between expressing "complex conceptual relations" and evoking "one idea"? They both seem to be the same idea. Pls elucidate on this.
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
shankar13 wrote:
its often emphasized for RCs that one should not assume any data from outside....so why is it fine to assume that toltec is another ancient american language...
this is pertaining to question 1 , point 2..


Good Question. Actually students usually ask me two questions. One of them is why even assume Toltec to be a language. The word "coinages", in the passage is a clear pointer that they are talking about the Toltec language and not people. And one can derive only from other languages. The second question is, why assume Toltec is ancient American? Well, if you have good general knowledge, you know that it is an ancient American language. If not, thank the ETS for informing you of that fact. Also, there is a greater likelihood that the ancient American peoples would have borrowed from other peoples from the same continent than from say Europe or Africa.
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
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Optimist wrote:
soumya1989 wrote:

Explanation


2. The passage introduces two specific Nahuatl modes of expression. One is the formation of single compound words that are capable of expressing complex conceptual relations
(first paragraph); the other is the juxtaposition of two related words to evoke a single idea (second paragraph). In the formation of compounds Nahuatl is described as being
“like Greek and German,” but the second mode is not identified as being shared with other languages. Therefore the sixth sentence (“Of these forms . . . one single idea”) is
the best choice.


What is the difference between the two modes of expression with respect to the second question, i.e. difference between expressing "complex conceptual relations" and evoking "one idea"? They both seem to be the same idea. Pls elucidate on this.


Evoking a single idea is not the same as complex conceptual relations.

The second question is primarily asking us to select a sentence in which the author introduces a specific Nahuatl mode of expression that is not identified as being shared with certain European languages.

Clearly the penultimate sentence - Of these forms, the most characteristic in Nahuatl is the juxtaposition of two words that, because they are synonyms, associated terms, or even contraries, complement each other to evoke one single idea. - is the sentence to be selected.
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
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Quote:
1. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding present-day research relating to Nahuatl?


In answering this question, keep in mind the meaning of "infer"/"imply"/"suggest" on official problems: These words refer only to things that the passage SAYS, and/or the IMMEDIATE LOGICAL EQUIVALENTS AND COROLLARIES of those statements. These words are not used in the vague, handwaving kind of way that may be familiar from social conversations.

The whole passage is pretty much about Nahuatl, so there's no narrower portion of the text where we can look for answers to this question. Accordingly, let's just take the choices one by one and see whether they're logically necessary given the statements in the passage (= "inferred" as used on standardized tests).


Quote:
A Some record or evidence of the thought of the tlamatinime is available.


We're able to make specific declarations about thoughts expressed by the tlamatinime, such as those mentioned at the start of the second paragraph, so we must have some basis on which to make such assertions. Put another way—If there were NO record or evidence of their thoughts, then we wouldn't be able to say anything specifically about how they expressed those thoughts in writing.

SUPPORTED


Quote:
B For at least some Nahuatl expressions, researchers are able to trace their derivation from another ancient American language.


The second paragraph mentions specific Nahuatl constructions that were "derived from Toltec coinages"—where this derivation is stated as a fact, not as mere hypothesis or speculation.

SUPPORTED


Quote:
C Researchers believe that in Nahuatl, abstract universal concepts are always expressed metaphorically.


The passage never makes any audacious generalizations about what the Nahuatl language "always" did/does. It is limited to things that exist in Nahuatl, without any claims as to whether those phenomena are universal.

NOT SUPPORTED
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
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Quote:
2. Select the sentence in the passage in which the author introduces a specific Nahuatl mode of expression that is not identified as being shared with certain European languages.


The first paragraph identifies common elements between Nahuatl and certain European languages. The second paragraph, on the other hand, says nothing about whether anything that appears there is shared with European languages.
Therefore, any SPECIFIC Nahuatl construction mentioned in the SECOND PARAGRAPH will constitute a correct answer to this question.

Only one sentence in the second paragraph identifies a SPECIFIC Nahuatl construction—
Of these forms, the most characteristic in Nahuatl is the juxtaposition of two words that, because they are synonyms, associated terms, or even contraries, complement each other to evoke one single idea
—so that's the sentence we want here.
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Re: Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were [#permalink]
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Quote:
3. In the context in which it appears, “coinages” most nearly means


Here's the context in question:
They also availed themselves of other forms of expression with metaphorical meaning, some probably original, some derived from Toltec coinages

So... There are metaphorical expressions in Nahuatl that derive from Toltec "coinages".
In that context, "coinages" can't be understood to mean anything other than... linguistic expressions (from which linguistic expressions in another language were derived).
To consider the word "coinage" more specifically—A word, phrase, or expression is "coined" when it's used for the first time. So, the Toltec "coinages" would have been linguistic expressions that ORIGINATED in Toltec, or, equivalently, expressions INVENTED by Toltec speakers.

"Expressions INVENTED by..." is choice B, creations.


The other answer choices are just... not correct; they don't convey the meaning of "expressions first used in THIS language". None of them is wrong in any way that merits particular mention, except perhaps choice E—which is completely out to lunch in terms of meaning (it has nothing to do with languages at all!), but presumably plays on the idea of literal coins with monetary value. Hah.
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