NinetynineCAT 2024 Slot 1 VARC Q13 Para Summary
Question 13 of the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section, CAT 2024 Slot 1, with CAT's official answer and a worked solution.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Certain codes may, of course, be so widely distributed in a specific language community or culture, and be learned at so early an age, that they appear not to be constructed – the effect of an articulation between sign and referent – but to be 'naturally' given. Simple visual signs appear to have achieved a 'near-universality' in this sense: though evidence remains that even apparently 'natural' visual codes are culture specific. However, this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather, that the codes have been profoundly naturalized. The operation of naturalized codes reveals not the transparency and 'naturalness' of language but the depth, the habituation and the near-universality of the codes in use. They produce apparently 'natural' recognitions. This has the (ideological) effect of concealing the practices of coding which are present.
Certain codes may, of course, be so widely distributed in a specific language community or culture, and be learned at so early an age, that they appear not to be constructed – the effect of an articulation between sign and referent – but to be 'naturally' given. Simple visual signs appear to have achieved a 'near-universality' in this sense: though evidence remains that even apparently 'natural' visual codes are culture specific. However, this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather, that the codes have been profoundly naturalized. The operation of naturalized codes reveals not the transparency and 'naturalness' of language but the depth, the habituation and the near-universality of the codes in use. They produce apparently 'natural' recognitions. This has the (ideological) effect of concealing the practices of coding which are present.
- ALearning linguistic and visual signs at an early age makes all such codes appear natural. This naturalization of codes is the effect of ideology.
- BLanguage and visual signs are codes. However, some of the codes are so widespread that they not only seem naturally given but also hide the mechanism of coding behind the signs.
- CAll codes, linguistic and visual, have a natural origin but some are so widespread that they become universal. This is what hides the mechanism of coding behind signs.
- DNot all codes are natural but certain codes are naturalized and made to appear universal. Ideology aims to hide the mechanism of coding behind signs.
Answer: (B) Language and visual signs are codes. However, some of the codes are so widespread that they not only seem naturally given but also hide the mechanism of coding behind the signs. Para Summary MCQ
Solution
- Core claim: some codes are so widespread and learned so early that they seem 'naturally' given. They are in fact constructed but profoundly naturalized, and this conceals the practice of coding.
- B states this: signs are codes, and some seem natural and hide the coding behind them.
- C says codes have a natural origin, which the passage denies. A says 'all such codes', which overgeneralises. D makes ideology the agent that aims to hide coding, whereas the passage treats concealment as an effect.