LSAT 149 | Section 2 | Reading Comprehension: Q1

RC Question 1 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The point of the passage was to disprove an argument. In the first paragraph, the author introduces two claims supporting the idea that San Francisco Chinese is a dialect.

In paragraph 2 and 3, the author disproves both of those claims.

___________

1. The first part of this is right. The second isn’t. The author didn’t say SF Chinese was intelligible to new arrivals from Chinese who spoke the same base dialect. Instead, she said SF Chinese was intelligible to those speaking the same dialect if SF Chinese speakers left out their local words. But in their normal use of the language with local words, it isn’t necessarily intelligible.
2. The author disagrees that Chinatown Chinese is a dialect! Also, this answer misstates the reasons linguists consider it a dialect. “British English” is unfamiliar the first time an American hears it, but that in itself doesn’t make it a dialect.
3. CORRECT. This best sums it up. Paragraphs 2 and 3 are all about disproving the linguists’ claims from paragraph 1.
4. The author did not say that Chinese visitors can easily understand Chinese Americans. The middle of paragraph 2 (lines 29-31) say that the two groups can have conversations if SF Chinese people avoid using new American terms. This isn’t the default: SF Chinese people normally do use American terms.
5. Rubbish. The only linguists mentioned are those in sentence two of the first paragraph: “Some linguists” who think that Chinatown Chinese is a distinct dialect.
    
   It is the author who thinks it is not a dialect. They present a convincing argument, but they don’t claim all linguists agree with them.