CENSUS
Read the Passage carefully and answers the following Questions:-
If the census tells us that India has two or three hundred languages, it also tells us, I believe, that Germany has about fifty or sixty languages. I do not remember anyone pointing out this fact in proof of the disunity or disparity of Germany. As a matter of fact, a census mentions all manner of petty languages, sometimes spoken by a few thousand persons only; and often dialects are classed for scientific purposes as different languages. India seems to me to have surprisingly few languages, considering its area. Compared to the same area in Europe, it is far more closely allied in regard to language, but because of widespread illiteracy, common standards have not developed and dialects have formed. The principal languages of India are Hindustani (of the two varieties, Hindi and Urdu), Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. If Assamese, Oriya, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Pashtu and Punjabi are added, the whole country is covered except for some hill and forest tribes. Of these, the Indo-Aryan languages, which cover the whole north, centre and west of India, are closely allied; and the southern Dravidian languages, though different, have been greatly influenced by Sanskrit, and are full of Sanskrit words.
1. In the passage the author
(a) compares India with Germany
(b) defends the multilingual situation of India
(c) criticizes the illiteracy in India
(d) classifies the Indian languages
2. One of the reasons why there are many dialects in India is
(a) vast area
(b) population
(c) more communities
(d) illiteracy
3. The Dravidian languages have been greatly influenced by Sanskrit. This
(a) makes them inferior to the Indo-Aryan languages
(b) makes them superior Indo-Aryan languages
(c) brings them close to the Indo-Aryan languages
(d) makes them very different from the other Indian languages
4. Which of the following statements is true according to the given passage?
(a) India has far too many languages.
(b) India is a vast country with not too many languages.
(c) India has as many languages as Europe does.
(d) Indian languages are not as well developed as those of Europe.
ANSWERS:-
1. (b)
2. (d)
3. (c)
4. (b)
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