Type : MCQ

Intructions :

Directions: The following paragraph is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the paragraph.

Question Statement :

When a language seems especially telegraphic (that is, requiring less to be actually said to put a sentence together), it is usually because enough adults learnt it at a certain stage in its history that, given the difficulty of learning a new language after childhood, it became a kind of stripped-down “schoolroom” version of itself. Because all languages, are, to some extent, busier than they need to be, this streamlining leaves the language thoroughly complex and nuanced, just lighter on the bric-a-brac that so many languages pant under. For example, Indonesian, one of the most economical languages in the world, is a first language to only one in four of its speakers; the language has been used for many centuries as a lingua franca in a vast region, imposed on speakers of several hundred languages. This means that while other languages can be like overgrown lawns, Indonesian’s grammar has been regularly mowed, such that especially the colloquial forms are tidier.

When a language has been used for many centuries as the lingua franca in a vast region, it becomes especially telegraphic.
Languages become less "busy" and more nuanced when imposed over long periods of time on new people, who learn it as adults.
When more adults who are non-native speakers are forced, over time, to learn a language, its colloquial forms become cryptic.
In languages that have been spoken for centuries over vast regions, time and repetition wear words out, and what wears away is often a nugget of meaning.