#23 - Global Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

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

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):


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

[nusheenaparvizi]

Hi,

I wanted to get an explanation as to how B is the correct answer? I did not see any scientific research presented in Passage A at all? I can view Passage B as something of an anthropological/linguistic study (even then my first guess wouldn't be scientific) but I definitely don't see how Passage A is scientific? Could someone explain this for me please?

Thanks!
Nusheena

[caseyh123]

Can you explain the problem with answer c? I feel pretty confident that this is a valid answer for passage a: "Whorf’s main mistake was to assume that our mother tongue prevents us from being able to think certain thoughts; new research suggests that in reality its influence consists in what it obliges us to think about."
Does it not work for passage b because the passage has a more narrow focus, just numerical systems, rather than the world in general?

[Nashville_14]

I echo the two questions above- I see where in passage A it says "new research suggests" so I understand why B is correct, but I don't really understand what makes C incorrect. Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Nusheena, Casey, and Nashville!

Passage A discusses scientific research--check out line 11 "new research suggests" and lines 17-30 "In the 1990s, psychologists compared associations that speakers of German and Spanish make....". The entire second half of the passage discusses the study comparing German and Spanish speakers and the difference in associations they make for inanimate objects. That's science!

Answer choice (C) states "Do differences among languages result from different ways of thinking about the world?" but this actually reverses the relationship discussed in the passages. The passages mainly talk about how differences in language can affect how speakers think about the world (the Whorfian hypothesis is that our language restricts how we think; gendered nouns may make people associate gendered characteristics with inanimate objects; learning number words may create concepts of exact numerical equality, etc.). Answer choice (C) gets this backwards by suggesting that the passages are discussing whether different ways of thinking about the world cause differences among languages. Neither passage posits that different ways of thinking about the world cause differences among languages; rather they discuss how differences among languages may cause different ways of thinking.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey