Question

Taktak tabulaba?

You probably don’t know how to answer that question—unless you happen to be one of the about 430 people in the world who speak a language called Matukar Panau. Then you would know it means “What are we doing?” Matukar Panau is one of the world’s rarest languages. It is spoken in just two small coastal villages in Papua New Guinea.

Several years ago, David Harrison, a language expert didn’t know much about Matukar Panau either. No one had ever recorded or even studied its words and rules. With so few speakers, the language risked disappearing soon. It was endangered.

Harrison didn’t want that to happen to Matukar Panau. So in 2009, he set out for Papua New Guinea. His goal: use modern technology to help the remaining speakers preserve their native tongue.

But Matukar Panau is far from the only language facing loss. Studies suggest that by the end of this century, nearly half of the 7,000 languages now spoken worldwide could disappear. They’re in danger partly because the only people left speaking them are elderly adults, Harrison says. When those individuals die, their language will die with them. In addition, children may discard a native language and instead use more common global languages, such as Chinese, English or Spanish.

In the United States alone, 134 native American languages are endangered. Harrison says, “language hotspots” exist all over the world. These are places with endangered languages that haven’t been recorded. They include the state of Oklahoma, pockets of central and eastern Siberia, parts of northern Australia and communities in South America.

1.The purpose of using the question “Taktak tabulaba?” is to ________.

A. introduce a new foreign language

B. introduce the topic of the text

C. show the difficulty understanding Matukar Panau

D. stress the importance of Matukar Panau

2.What did Harrison go to PaPua New Guinea for?

A. Learning their native language.

B. Leaning their modern technology.

C. Helping preserve their endangered tongue.

D. Teaching the natives a new language.

3.The underline word “discard” in Paragraph 5 means _______.

A. get rid of

B. pick up

C. hear of

D. learn about

4.The last two paragraphs imply that endangered languages are _________.

A. dying quickly in Siberia

B. popular in some special places

C. becoming a worldwide problem

D. some native tongues

Answer 1