​The Surviving Language: Multiple Choice Vocabulary Test

All of us know that keeping our heritage alive is extremely important for (0) ___D___ our identity – who we are and what our place in the world is. Heritage is defined as ‘the qualities, traditions and elements of life that have been passed (1)________. From one generation to another’. One of the most important of these elements is language. In the USA, there used to be more than 1000 Native American languages, but today there only 8 left in North American that have significant number of speakers, and some of these are in (2)________ of dying out.

The news is not all bad, however. The Navajo language is making a strong (3)________, partly as a result of the Native American Language Preservation Act of 2006. By the (4)________ of the 20th century, the number of Navajo speakers is decreasing at such an alarming (5)________ that it was widely believed that the language would be extinct within several generations. A rise in Navajo nationalism brought about in a World War II by the Navajo Code Talkers, however, gave a new validity, (6)________ the self-esteem of its speakers. As a consequence, its usage increased dramatically, a written form was developed and a dictionary and textbook were published.

In a census conducted in 2000, it was recorded that 50% of Navajo people (7)________ the language at home. While this statistic is very encouraging in itself, the census also showed that the highest proportions of Navajo speakers were young people, a fact that seems to (8)________ that the Navajo language is no longer endangered, but actually (9)________ a great comeback.

Many Navajo teenagers today are (10)________ of their heritage and of their language. Most speak Navajo most of the time but admit being guilty of speaking English in some (11)________. Overall, they all agree that the ideal situation is to be bilingual and that simply makes (12)________ to keep one’s language alive.