Skip to content

Study the map… (Class 10 Social Science SQP 2023-24, Q21)

questionbuddy.in/q/cbse-10-social-science-2023-24-sqp-q21-map-thoroughly-can-inferred-linguistic

Social ScienceCBSE Class 10 · Sample paper, session 2023-24 · 2 marks · Very short answer

CBSE Class 10 Social Science sample paper 2023-24: question 21

From the official CBSE sample question paper for 2023-24, section B, question 21, for 2 marks. Try it first; the hints and our step-by-step solution are below.

Q21 · 2 marks · Very short answerCompetency-basedPower-sharing

Study the map thoroughly and answer the question given below.

What can be inferred about the linguistic diversity and its potential impact on social and political life in Belgium?

Figure in the paper: Political outline map of Belgium with neighbouring France (south-west), Luxembourg (south-east) and the sea at the top-left. Flanders in the north is shaded yellow and labelled 'Dutch speaking'. Brussels, in the centre, is marked with a red dot and labelled 'bilingual'. Wallonia in the south is shaded green and labelled 'French speaking'. A small area in the east, bordering Germany, is shaded purple and labelled 'German speaking'. A 50 km scale bar is shown at the bottom left. See it in the official paper.

Source: official sample paper from cbseacademic.nic.in (PDF). See it in the full Sample paper 2023-24.

Hints

Open one hint at a time and try again before the next.

Hint 1

Read the labels on the map: which language is spoken in the north, the south and the capital?

Hint 2

Think about what happens when a rich minority speaks one language and the majority speaks another.

Hint 3

How did Belgium solve this: one central rule or shared power?

Step-by-step solution

Each step shows the marks it earns, as an examiner would award them. Checked by an independent re-solve from the question paper.

  1. Linguistic diversity (inference from map): Belgium has Dutch-speaking Flanders (about 59%), French-speaking Wallonia (about 40%), a small German-speaking area (about 1%), and bilingual Brussels, where about 80% speak French and 20% Dutch. Dutch and French are the dominant languages.

    1 mark

  2. Impact on social and political life: The French-speaking minority was richer and more powerful, which caused resentment among Dutch speakers. Tension, especially in Brussels, led Belgium to adopt a federal model with community governments and power-sharing to accommodate the differences.

    1 mark

Answer: Dutch and French are the dominant languages; the diversity caused tension, resolved by federal power-sharing.

Where the marks are

  • Identifies Dutch (Flanders) and French (Wallonia) as dominant languages, with a German minority and bilingual Brussels (1 mark)
  • Explains the impact on social/political life: tension between the communities, resolved by federal power-sharing and community government (1 mark)

Revise the chapter

Practise this chapterBoard-style questions from Power-sharing, one at a time, marked against the answer key and marking points.Back to the full paperSample paper 2023-24: every question, by section.

The question is transcribed from the official paper; figures are described in words. The solution, hints and chapter tag are ours. Spotted an error? Write tosupport@questionbuddy.in.