#8 - Global Reference, Main Point

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[avengingangel]

Why is E superior to C? Is it because C, while true, doesn't express the main point of the passage? It only states just what the author's main viewpoint/conclusion is ?? I also didn't choose E because I don't see in the passage where it states that Hopi names necessarily "perform the function ascribed to names by European thinkers." Where is that stated or indicated in the passage ?? Thanks!

[Adam Tyson]

Correct about C, angel - it's a classic "true but wrong" answer that doesn't capture the main point.

To support those claims about the functions of Hopi names, look to the last paragraph, around lines 48-50 (my electronic copy doesn't reproduce the line numbers faithfully, so I am just estimating there):

Hopi personal names do several things simultaneously. They indicate social relationships--but only indirectly--and they individuate persons.

That should cover it!

[avengingangel]

Ah, got it. Thank ya Adam !!

[tug59567]

I am confused as to why answer choice E captures the main point. It seems as if the passage is much more concerned with refuting the critics arguments and in the last paragraph the author says:

"This view of Hopi names is thus opposed not only to Mill’s claim that personal names are without inherent meaning but also to Lévi-Strauss’s purely functional characterization. Interpreters must understand Hopi clan structures and linguistic practices in order to discern the beauty and significance of Hopi names."

This seems to conform more to answer choice C than E. I though E was incorrect because the article never mentions what "the functions ascribed to names by European thinkers" actually is. It just says that "both of which deny that names have any significant semantic content".

So how is answer choice E correct? I wholly liked the secound half of the answer but the first half doesn't seem to be mentioned in the passage anywhere. Furthermore, nothing places Mill's and Levi-Strauss in the passage to embody European thinkers (even though I assumed them to be), but wouldn't a main point answer that addresses them be more powerful than one that addresses "European thinkers"? The article doesn't really address European thinkers it addresses Mill's and Strauss.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Tug!

Let me try to break down answer choice (E) for you. The first paragraph tells us "Personal names are generally regarded by European thinkers in two major ways" and then goes on to describe those two different ways as those espoused by Mills and Lévi-Strauss. So the passage does, in fact, refer to "European thinkers" as a whole and tells us that European thinkers basically either agree with Mills' view or Lévi-Strauss's view.

The passage also describes the "functions ascribed to names" by those European thinkers. Mills thinks the only function of names is to distinguish people from one another ("proper names are meaningless marks set upon . . . persons to distinguish them from one another"). Lévi-Strauss thinks names are "primarily instruments for social classification." These purposes/uses of names are functions of names.

What the passage doesn't do, is tell us whether or not European thinkers have tried "to discern the deeper significance of Hopi names," as described in answer choice (C). The main point cannot be that European thinkers have been unable to discern the true meanings of Hopi names when we do not know whether or not they have even attempted to study Hopi names. Check out this sentences from the first paragraph: "interpretation of personal names in societies where names have other functions and meanings has been neglected." It's not that European thinkers have failed to discern the deeper significance of Hopi names, it's just that they haven't given any real thought to societies where names might have different functions than those they assume based on European society. The author's actual main point is that the theories regarding the functions of names put forth by European thinkers do not fully capture the significance of Hopi names.

Thus, answer choice (E) is best: "While performing the functions ascribed to names by European thinkers, Hopi names also possess a significant aesthetic quality that these thinkers have not adequately recognized." Hopi names perform the functions ascribed to names by European thinkers because they allow individuals to be distinguished (as fits with Mills' view) and they provide some social classification (as fits with Lévi-Strauss's view). But they also have other, aesthetic functions which are not accounted for by the name function theories of European thinkers.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey