A Guide to the GRE/Social Science Passages

GRE passages are often about complicated social science topics.

Linguists are uncertain as to why 	languages change and modify the way they 	do - changes perhaps attributable to mere 	idiosyncratic factors. Whatever the case, 5	the diversity of languages occasioned by 	geographic dispersal is all too apparent, 	such as with the Latin-based languages of 	Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese - 	all of which trace their roots, at least in 10	part, to a uniform common ancestor. Curious, however, is the fact that 	Portuguese - geographically the furthest of 	any of the Romance languages from Rome 	- bears the closest resemblance to Latin, 	the language of the ancient Romans. The 15	Portugal example perhaps suggests that it 	is exchange and intermingling which 	change languages, not time or distance 	alone, and that Portugal, isolated in its 	corner of Europe, therefore saw the least of 20	such mingling. The example of Scandinavian languages 	is certainly consistent with this theory. Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish all trace 	their roots to the Old Norse spoken by the 25	Vikings. Yet it is Icelandic - the furthest 	tongue from the Scandinavian peninsula - 	which bears the strongest resemblance to 	Old Norse, further supporting the notion 	that intermingling is a primary cause of 30	linguistic change. 1. What is strangely true about both Icelandic and Portuguese, based on the passage?

2. According to the author of the passage, why might it be the case that Portuguese and Icelandic both bear these characteristics discussed?

3.08 Social Science Passages

Answers to Practice Questions
1. According to the passage, both Icelandic and Portuguese are the closest to their linguistic ancestors - Old Norse and Latin, respectively - despite being furthest from the source of these languages.

2. This passage discusses the idea that it may be the interspersal and intermingling of people and cultures which produces a change in languages, not distance and time alone. The author is stating that the reason that Portuguese is most similar to Latin may be the fact that Portugal is more isolated from the rest of the world, while France, Spain, and Italy were much more subject to intermingling with other cultures. The author thinks it may be this “intermingling” which produces linguistic change, as new words and linguistic devices are exchanged, adopted, and substituted into a language.