The United Nations recognizes the importance of preserving endangered languages worldwide. A recent linguistic survey documented speaker populations o...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• The United Nations recognizes the importance
  • of preserving endangered languages worldwide.

• A recent linguistic survey documented speaker populations
  • of approximately 12,000 and 8,500
    • in Indigenous language families (?) which
      • include Quechua and Aymara
      • among others.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The first sentence tells us:

• 'The United Nations recognizes the importance of preserving endangered languages worldwide.'
  • This sets up the context - we're talking about the UN's efforts to protect endangered languages.

Now the second sentence:

• 'A recent linguistic survey documented speaker populations of approximately 12,000 and 8,500'
  • A survey counted how many people speak certain languages
  • The numbers were around 12,000 speakers and 8,500 speakers

• 'in Indigenous language families'
  • These speaker populations exist within Indigenous language families

This is where we have the blank.

Let's look at the choices:

• We're deciding what punctuation (if any) should come before 'which'
• Our options are: semicolon, nothing, comma, or colon

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

• 'which include Quechua and Aymara among others'
  • This is giving us examples of what these Indigenous language families include
  • Quechua and Aymara are specific examples

Now, what do we notice about the structure here?

• The phrase 'which include Quechua and Aymara among others' is adding extra information about 'Indigenous language families'
  • It's like a side comment giving us examples
  • The sentence before this phrase is already complete: 'A recent linguistic survey documented speaker populations of approximately 12,000 and 8,500 in Indigenous language families'
  • The 'which' phrase just adds helpful details

• When we use 'which' to add extra, non-essential information about something we just mentioned, we need a comma before it
  • Think of it as: noun + comma + 'which' + additional details
  • Here: 'families' (noun) + comma + 'which' + 'include Quechua and Aymara'

So we need a comma before 'which.'

The correct answer is C: families,

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Commas with Descriptive "Which" Phrases

When you add extra, non-essential information about something you just mentioned using a phrase that starts with "which," you need to set it off with a comma. This type of phrase (called a non-restrictive relative clause in grammar terms) acts like a parenthetical comment - helpful, but not necessary for the sentence to make sense:

Pattern: Noun + comma + which + additional information

Example 1:

• Basic sentence: The researchers discovered three new species
• With descriptive phrase: The researchers discovered three new species, which were found in remote mountain regions
  • "which were found in remote mountain regions" adds extra detail about the species
  • Comma required before "which"

Example 2:

• Basic sentence: The museum houses ancient artifacts
• With descriptive phrase: The museum houses ancient artifacts, which date back over 2,000 years
  • "which date back over 2,000 years" gives additional information
  • Comma required before "which"

In our question:

• "Indigenous language families, which include Quechua and Aymara among others"
  • "which include Quechua and Aymara among others" adds examples
  • The comma before "which" is required to properly set off this extra information

Key distinction: If the information after "which" is essential to identify what you're talking about (restrictive), you typically wouldn't use "which" at all - you'd use "that" with no comma. But when you're adding extra, non-essential details (non-restrictive), use a comma + "which."