Question

arthur thompson, j. joseph perry, and jonathan havenhill have investigated the state of various chinese dialects in shakou, a small town in southern china. three dialects are typically spoken there: hakka, the ancestral language of many residents of guangdong province, cantonese, the dominant regional dialect of guangdong province, and mandarin, the “standard” variety of chinese originating from beijing. the researchers interviewed damon huang, a 21 - year - old university student whose grandparents still live in shakou, to learn which members of his family spoke which dialects. based on these interviews, the researchers claim that hakka is a vulnerable language according to unesco standards, which means that most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains, such as the home. which finding from thompson, perry, and havenhill’s research, if true, would most directly support their claim? a damon huang speaks hakka with his parents and grandparents, but he speaks cantonese in other social contexts. b neither damon huang nor his younger brother have learned hakka, though his parents speak hakka with his grandparents. c damon huang uses hakka in most situations, including at school, though he uses mandarin when completing official paperwork. d damon huang and his younger brother were raised speaking cantonese, though they have picked up a few hakka phrases from their grandparents.

Explanation:

The researchers claim Hakka is a vulnerable language as most children speak it but it may be restricted to certain domains like home. Option B shows that neither Damon Huang nor his younger brother have learned Hakka, even though their parents speak it with grandparents. This directly supports the claim that Hakka is vulnerable as it's not being passed - down to the younger generation in a broad way.

Answer:

B. Neither Damon Huang nor his younger brother have learned Hakka, though his parents speak Hakka with his grandparents