EigoPro 準1級 読解 — The Death of Languages

Of the roughly seven thousand languages spoken today, linguists estimate that nearly half will fall silent before the century is out. A language is not merely a set of interchangeable labels for things that exist everywhere; it is a particular way of carving up experience, and when its last fluent speaker dies, an entire architecture of thought vanishes with them. The mechanisms of this loss are rarely dramatic. Languages seldom disappear because their speakers are exterminated; far more often they erode quietly, as parents, hoping to spare their children the stigma of a marginal tongue, choose to raise them in a dominant national language instead. The consequences extend beyond sentiment. Indigenous languages frequently encode generations of finely tuned ecological knowledge—the medicinal properties of obscure plants, the seasonal behaviour of fish, the subtle indicators of a changing climate—knowledge that exists nowhere in written form. When such a language lapses, this accumulated wisdom is not translated into the dominant tongue; it is simply lost, because the categories needed to express it have no equivalent elsewhere. Critics who dismiss preservation as nostalgic sentimentality overlook how much practical intelligence disappears alongside the words. Revitalization, however, is neither hopeless nor uniform in its success. The revival of Hebrew, transformed within a few generations from a liturgical relic into the everyday speech of millions, is the field's great triumph, though its conditions—a motivated community, a nascent state, deep textual resources—were exceptional. More modest efforts, such as Welsh-medium schools or Māori "language nests" where elders immerse the very young, have arrested decline without reversing it entirely. What these cases share is a sobering lesson: a language survives only when children acquire it at home, not when it is merely catalogued by scholars. Documentation preserves a specimen; transmission preserves a living thing.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

準1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

What is the main idea of the passage?

  • Scholarly documentation is the most effective way to save endangered languages.
  • The disappearance of languages is almost always the result of speakers being killed.
  • Language extinction destroys irreplaceable knowledge, and only living transmission to children can truly reverse it.
  • Most of the world's languages are simply interchangeable labels for universal concepts.
Phrase

a language survives only when children acquire it at home, not when it is merely catalogued by scholars

準1級読解言語学主旨把握
⚡ひとことで

本文全体は「言語消滅は代替不能な知を奪い、子への生きた継承だけが救う」という論旨。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Language extinction destroys irreplaceable knowledge, and only living transmission to children can truly reverse it.」

正解

本文は (1) 言語の半数が消滅しつつある→ (2) 言語と共に固有の思考様式・生態知識が失われる→ (3) 復興は可能だが『子が家庭で習得する継承』のみが言語を生かす、と展開する。最終段の Documentation preserves a specimen; transmission preserves a living thing が結論で、「言語消滅は代替不能な知を破壊し、子への生きた継承だけが真に逆転できる」が主旨。

  • 「The disappearance of a language is almost always the direct result of all its speakers being killed.」

    = 言語消滅はほぼ常に話者が殺された結果 ━ 本文は『話者が虐殺されて消える例はまれ (seldom)、多くは静かに侵食される』と明言しており正反対。

  • 「Scholarly documentation is by far the most effective way there is of saving any endangered language.」

    = 学術的記録こそ最も効果的な保存法 ━ 本文は記録は『標本』に過ぎず継承こそ生命を保つと述べ、記録を最良策とはしていない。

  • 「Most of the world's languages are simply interchangeable labels for one and the same universal concepts.」

    = 大半の言語は普遍概念の交換可能なラベルに過ぎない ━ 本文冒頭は『言語は単なる交換可能なラベルではない』と明確に否定している。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
fall silent(言語が) 途絶えるHalf the languages will fall silent.
carve up experience経験を切り分けるa way of carving up experience
acquire a language at home家庭で言語を習得するchildren acquire it at home
be catalogued by scholars学者に記録されるmerely catalogued by scholars
preserve a living thing生きたものを保存するtransmission preserves a living thing
❝例文

  • Nearly half of all languages may fall silent this century.

    今世紀中に全言語のほぼ半数が途絶えるかもしれない。

  • Each language is a particular way of carving up experience.

    それぞれの言語は経験を切り分ける固有の方法だ。

  • A language survives when children acquire it at home.

    言語は子が家庭で習得するとき生き残る。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨設問は最終段の対比文 (specimen vs living thing) に答えが凝縮されやすい。極端な一般化を含む選択肢 (almost always / the most / simply) は本文の留保表現と衝突しやすい。

問 2

According to the passage, why do many languages disappear?

  • Governments legally ban the use of minority languages in schools.
  • Parents shift to a dominant language to shield their children from the stigma attached to a marginal one.
  • Linguists deliberately stop recording languages they consider unimportant.
  • The speakers of such languages are usually wiped out by violence.
Phrase

parents, hoping to spare their children the stigma of a marginal tongue, choose to raise them in a dominant national language instead

準1級読解言語学詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

言語消滅の主因は、親が子をマイナー言語の汚名から守ろうと支配的言語で育てること。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Parents shift to a dominant language to shield their children from the stigma attached to a marginal one.」

正解

第1段で『言語は静かに侵食する (erode quietly)』とし、その仕組みを『親が子をマイナー言語の stigma (汚名) から守ろうと、代わりに支配的な国語で育てる』と説明する。これを言い換えた「親が子をマイナー言語の汚名から守るため支配的言語へ移行する」が正解。

  • 「Governments everywhere legally ban the use of all minority languages within their schools.」

    = 政府が学校での少数言語使用を法的に禁止する ━ 法的禁止という記述はない。原因は親の自発的選択。

  • 「The speakers of such languages are usually wiped out altogether by deliberate acts of violence.」

    = そうした言語の話者は通常暴力で一掃される ━ 本文は虐殺による消滅はまれと述べており逆。

  • 「The linguists deliberately stop recording any language that they happen to consider unimportant.」

    = 言語学者が重要でないと見なす言語の記録を意図的にやめる ━ 言語学者の記録放棄という記述は本文にない。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
erode quietly静かに侵食するlanguages erode quietly
spare someone the stigma人を汚名から免れさせるspare children the stigma
a marginal tongue周縁的な言語the stigma of a marginal tongue
a dominant language支配的な言語a dominant national language
raise children in ~~で子を育てるraise them in a dominant language
❝例文

  • Many languages erode quietly rather than disappearing dramatically.

    多くの言語は劇的にではなく静かに侵食して消える。

  • Parents hoped to spare their children the stigma of a marginal tongue.

    親は子を周縁的な言語の汚名から守りたいと願った。

  • They chose to raise the children in the dominant national language.

    彼らは子を支配的な国語で育てることを選んだ。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

原因を問う設問は本文の『hoping to V (~しようとして)』『because ~』の理由節を探す。本文の動機 (stigma 回避) を別語 (shield from) に置換した肢が正解。

問 3

What does the passage say is lost when an indigenous language disappears?

  • Written archives that scholars had carefully translated in advance.
  • Detailed ecological knowledge that has no written record and no equivalent in the dominant language.
  • Religious texts that the community had refused to share with outsiders.
  • Vocabulary that can be straightforwardly rendered into the dominant tongue.
Phrase

Indigenous languages frequently encode generations of finely tuned ecological knowledge ... knowledge that exists nowhere in written form

準1級読解言語学詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

失われるのは、文字記録がなく支配言語に等価語のない、精緻な生態知識。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Detailed ecological knowledge that has no written record and no equivalent in the dominant language.」

正解

第2段で先住民語は『書き言葉に存在しない、何世代もの精緻な生態知識 (薬草・魚の季節行動・気候変化の兆候)』を encode するとし、言語が lapse すると『その知は支配言語に翻訳されず、表現に必要なカテゴリーが他にないため失われる』と述べる。これを縮約した選択肢が正解。

  • 「Written archives which the scholars themselves had carefully translated well in advance.」

    = 学者が事前に入念に翻訳した書面の記録 ━ 本文は『文字記録に存在しない』『翻訳されない』と述べており逆。

  • 「Vocabulary which can all be quite straightforwardly rendered into the dominant tongue.」

    = 支配的言語に容易に置き換えられる語彙 ━ 本文は等価語がなく簡単には翻訳できないと述べておりこれと矛盾。

  • 「Religious texts which the community itself had always refused to share with outsiders.」

    = 共同体が部外者と共有を拒んだ宗教文書 ━ 宗教文書や共有拒否の話は本文にない (Hebrew の liturgical は別段の例)。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
encode knowledge知識を内に含むlanguages encode ecological knowledge
finely tuned精緻に調整されたfinely tuned ecological knowledge
exist nowhere in written form文字の形でどこにも存在しないknowledge that exists nowhere in written form
when a language lapses言語が途絶えるときWhen such a language lapses
have no equivalent elsewhere他に等価物がないcategories have no equivalent elsewhere
❝例文

  • Indigenous languages encode finely tuned ecological knowledge.

    先住民語は精緻に調整された生態知識を内に含む。

  • This wisdom exists nowhere in written form.

    この知恵は文字の形でどこにも存在しない。

  • The needed categories have no equivalent in the dominant tongue.

    必要なカテゴリーは支配的言語に等価物がない。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

別段落の detail 設問は段落の主題文 (encode ... ecological knowledge) を起点に、否定情報 (nowhere in written form / no equivalent) を選択肢の真偽判定に使う。

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