XAT 2019 Question Paper | Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

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Read the passage below and answer the associated questions:

Lately it seems everyone’s got an opinion about women’s speech. Everybody has been getting his two cents in about vocal fry, up-speak, and women’s allegedly over-liberal use of apologies. The ways women live and move in the world are subject to relentless scrutiny, their modes of speech are assessed against a (usually) masculine standard. This is increasingly true as women have entered previously male-dominated fields like industry and politics.

In his essay “On Speech and Public Release,” Joshua Gunn highlights the field of public address as an important arena where social roles and norms are contested, reshaped, and upheld. Gunn argues that the field of public address is an important symbolic arena where we harbor an “[ideological] bias against the feminine voice,” a bias, that is rooted in positive primal associations with masculinity (and the corresponding devaluation of femininity, the voice that constrains and nags—the mother, the droning Charlie Brown schoolteacher, the wife).

Gunn contends that masculine speech is the cultural standard. It’s what we value and respect. The low pitch and assertive demeanor that characterize the adult male voice signify reason, control, and authority, suitable for the public domain. Women’s voices are higher pitched, like those of immature boys, and their characteristic speech patterns have a distinctive cadence that exhibits a wider range of emotional expression. In Western cultures, this is bad because it comes across as uncontrolled. We associate uncontrolled speech - “the cry, the grunt, the scream, and the yawp” - with things that happen in the private, domestic spheres (both coded as feminine). Men are expected to repress passionate, emotional speech, Gunn explains, precisely because it threatens norms of masculine control and order

The notion of control also relates to the cultural ideal of eloquence. Language ideologies in the U.S. are complex and highly prescriptive, but not formal or explicit. They are internalized by osmosis, from early observations of adult language use, criticism from teachers (i.e., telling little girls not to “be so bossy” and boys to “act like gentlemen”), and sanctions imposed by peers. These norms become most obvious when they are violated. When men fall off the “control and reason” wagon, they suffer for it. Gunn recalls Howard Dean’s infamous 2004 “I Have a Scream” speech, in which Dean emitted a spontaneous high-pitched screech of joy after he rattled off a list of planned campaign stops. The rest, as they say, is history. Women face a different dilemma—how to please like a woman and impress like a man. Women in the public sphere have, historically, been expected to “perform” femininity and they usually do this by adopting a personal tone, giving anecdotal evidence, using domestic metaphors, and making emotional appeals to ideals of wifely virtue and motherhood.

Gunn arrives at the conclusion that “eloquence” is, essentially, code for values associated with masculinity, saying, “Performances of femininity are principally vocal and related, not to arguments, but to tone; not to appearance, but to speech; not to good reasons, but to sound. This implies that the ideology of sexism is much more insidious, much more deeply ingrained than many might suppose.”

Question 12 : Which of the following statements if true, is contrary to the ideas developed in the passage?

1. Women in their communicative behavior are said to prefer a high-involvement style and men a high-considerate style.
2. Women who use the lowest frequency of women's vocal traits have an unusually high status and are well educated professionals with middle class backgrounds.
3. In certain hierarchically organized Indian political parties, women can participate in discussions as long as they appeal, persuade, and support others, and not initiate new ones.
4. The linguistic ideology in vogue in ancient North India allowed only men of higher-castes and ruling dynasties to use Sanskrit; women and servants spoke Prakrit or Pali.
5. Studies show that male followers of powerful women political leaders in Indian states imitate their leaders’ cadence, rhetoric and rhythm.

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Explanatory Answer

A. Women in their communicative behavior are said to prefer a high-involvement style and men a high-considerate style. – This is not relevant to the passage. Hence a wrong option.
B. Women who use the lowest frequency of women's vocal traits have an unusually high status and are well educated professionals with middle class backgrounds. – This is not contrary to what the passage says and also the passage does not talk about women and their speaking frequency. This option is not relevant.
C. In certain hierarchically organized Indian political parties, women can participate in discussions as long as they appeal, persuade, and support others, and not initiate new ones. – This also does not contradict the ideas in the passage. This is an incorrect option.
D. The linguistic ideology in vogue in ancient North India allowed only men of higher-castes and ruling dynasties to use Sanskrit; women and servants spoke Prakrit or Pali. - This also does not contradict the ideas in the passage. This is an incorrect option.
E. Studies show that male followers of powerful women political leaders in Indian states imitate their leaders’ cadence, rhetoric and rhythm. – Men following the cadence and rhythm of female political leaders is contrary to the idea of the passage that only men are fit for political speeches. This is the correct option.

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The question is "Which of the following statements if true, is contrary to the ideas developed in the passage?"

Hence, the answer is Studies show that male followers of powerful women political leaders in Indian states imitate their leaders’ cadence, rhetoric and rhythm.

Choice E is the correct answer.