Skimming 2a

Below is the introductory paragraph (1)) to a short science article. It is followed by the first sentence of each of the following six paragraphs (2) - 7) ). Finally , comes the full conclusion (8)).

Task 1: Read the text below an decide what the full article is about. This is exactly the way you would skim any article. Fill in the table below.

1) As befits a nation as big as Western Europe and with a population of over a billion people, India has a great diversity of language. There are 407 living languages spoken in India and a further 11 extinct languages of which people have knowledge. 2) The various states of India are formed on a linguistic basis and there are 18 official state languages. 3) The various languages of India are closely associated with different ethnic groups and are usually divided into four main groups. 4) The largest group of languages belong to the Indo-Aryan family (a branch of the Indo-European family of languages) and they are descended from the tongue of the Aryan peoples who appeared in the north-west of India in the second millennia BC and became the dominant racial group in the whole northern half of the country. 5) Dravidian, the second largest group, consists of languages found in the south of India. 6) The Sino-Tibetan language family is, as its name suggests, related to the languages spoken in Tibet and China. 7) The Austric languages are related to many of the languages spoken in south-east Asia and in India are found in central, eastern and north-eastern India and the Indian Ocean islands. 8) With such a number of languages residing within the borders of one nation, India surely deserves to be called a sub-continent. Indeed, the number of languages spoken in the Americas or in Europe, both classed as continents, cannot match the linguistic variety found in India.

Email your answer to alex@soka.ac.jp BEFORE you move on to Skimming 2.

This article is about.....	Clues

 
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