What is Linguistics Essay Example For Students

What is Linguistics? Essay What is Linguistics ? Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It endeavors to answer the questionwhat is language and how is represented in the mind? Linguists focus on describing and explaining language and are not concerned with the prescriptive rules of the language. Linguistics is a social science that shares common ground with other social sciences such as psychology, anthropology, sociology and archaeology. It also may influence other disciplines such as English, communication studies and computer science. Linguistics for the most part though can be considered a cognitive science. Along with psychology, philosophy and computer science AI, linguistics is ultimately concerned with how the human brain functions. The fields of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and language acquisition are considered the core fields of study and a firm knowledge of each is necessary in order to tackle more advanced subjects.  · Phonetics  · Phonology  · Morphology  · Syntax  · Semantics  · Language Acquisition Other Disciplines  · Sociolinguistics: Sociolinguistics is the study of interrelationships of language and social structure, linguistic variation, and attitudes toward language. We will write a custom essay on What is Linguistics? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Neurolinguistics: Neurolinguistics is the study of the brain and how it functions in the production, preception and acquistion of language.  · Historical Linguistics: Historical linguistics is the study of language change and the relationships of languages to each other.  · Anthropological Linguistics: Anthropological linguistics is the study of language and culture and how they interact.  · Pragmatics: Pragmatics studies meaning in context. As mention above linguistics is a very vast field and it cover a lot of latest issues. But I select two issues for my project. Historical Linguistics Animal communication system Language: Language is a way of communicating our ideas and thoughts to other fellow beings. According to an ancient linguist of India, Patanjali, language is that human expression which is utter out by speech organs. In the Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 13, language is defined as a system of conventional, spoken or written symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture, communication, Language can also define as 1. A system for representing things, actions, ideas and states 2. A tool people use to communicate their concepts of reality into the minds of others 3. A system of meanings shared among people 4. A code that members of a linguistic community use to mediate between form and meaning 5. A set of utterances that could be understood by a linguistic community Animal communication system Human speech is commonly recognized as the dividing line between ourselves and the rest of the animal world. The reason why the ability to speak is such a sharply defined boundary goes deeper than the mere existence of a method of communication, it is what we have done with language that counts. Language paved the way for all the special human abilities that we so value- self-awareness, higher emotion and personal memories as we search into the origin, variety and composition of human language, it is important to examine our language at its root. As human beings, we share 99% of our genetic make-up with our closest relative, the chimpanzee. Therefore, by studying the communication abilities and development of language in chimps and other great apes, we can learn more about our own language capabilities and ourselves. Research on chimps Lana The first chimp to be taught by this system, called Lana, succeeded in producing strings of Yerkish symbols, such as Please Tim give apple or Question you give coke to Lana in cup . She could also put together new combinations of lexigrams for objects for which there was no word in her vocabulary. When she wanted an orange, for example she produced the signs Question Tim give apple which-is orange. Washoe Also in the early 1970s, a chimpanzee named Washoe was taught to communicate in American Sign Language ASL by Beatrix and Allen Gardner at the University of Nevada in Reno. She was immersed in an environment where she learned to use ASL in daily interactions with her human companions. Washoe learned 132 different words in her time with the Gardners. Washoe even taught her own adopted son to sign without human intervention. Although Washoe has been taught signs that she uses intentionally such as the sign for orange when she wants an orange, but she does not put them together according to rules. That is, her communication lacks syntax. That is, she has characteristics of communicate the exact meaning of the word, arbitrariness but she could not use rules to form the sentences. Finally, she requires intensive training to learn signs, unlike the way human children learn language and so lacks the inmate ability of expose language without special training. What she has learned is impressive, but it does not meet the criteria we established for human language. Kanzi Still more remarkable is the pigmy chimpanzee called Kanzi. Kanzis mother was taught Yerkish in the usual way, accompanied by her son, who appeared to take little interest in what was going on. But, when she left the project temporarily, Kanzi suddenly showed that he had picked up Yerkish simply by observing his mother being taught. By the age of five years, he was handling about150 words; at six he could respond successfully to around 300 different sentences in natural settings, using a transportable board with Yerkish symbols. One successful routine involved Kanzi naming any one of seventeen locations in the surrounding estate, such as tree-house, and then taking the human being there, with 100% accuracy. Clearly Kanzi was able to comprehend certain aspects of communication, although much of his conversation was only concerned with food. Koko In the 1960s and 1970s, Koko, a gorilla, was trained to use American Sign Language and spoken English simultaneously from one year of age; a sentence in ASL was used at the same time as a spoken English equivalent. She was put in an environment where ASL was used for about ten hours a day by a variety of human companions. By the age of 5 ½, she had mastered 246 signs of ASL, such as alligator, cake, and pour. More importantly, she had started to put these separate signs together into two-word combinations such as Food-more, , and No-gorilla, many of which she could not have received from her human companions. A toy zebra was called a white tiger, a cigarette lighter a bottle match and a mask a face hat Sarah Anne and David Premack began in 1966 to work with a chimpanzee named Sarah. Rather than treat the chimp like a human child, David Premack decided to try to find and use the best possible training procedure. The language used was also atypical. Instead of ASL, Premack used differently shaped and colour plastic chips. With each chip he arbitrarily associated an English word. Communication between the trainers and Sarah involved placing these chips on the language board. Sarah was taught how to do one type of sentence at a time. Typically, her task was to choose an appropriate chip from a choice of two or to carry out a task indicated on the language board. Premack intended to teach Sarah the names of objects as well as the names of categories of objects. He originally claimed to have taught her 130 signs, including category names such as colour and concepts such as same and different. Nim Chimpsky In the late 1970s, Herbert Terrace began a project similar to that of the Gardnersquot; with a chimpanzee he humorously named Nim Chimpsky hoping that when Nim learned language, the joke would be on Noam chomsky, the noted linguist who claimed such a thing was impossible. Terracequot;s concern was to hat a chimp could acquire and display some use of grammar. Terrace believed that evidence of human language capability was the use of grammar and not just the use of signs. By the time Nim was four years old, he had acquired 125 signs, and Terrace felt Nim had indeed acquired human language abilities as well. This project was the first to videotape all interactions between chimp and trainer, however, and it was by reviewing these tapes that Terrace decided he must reverse his initial claim and instead acknowledge that the apequot;s use of signs was very different from human language. He noted that there were many dissimilarities between Nimquot;s and a human childquot;s acquisition of language. Nim, for example, almost never initiated signing. Terrace found that only 12% of Nimquot;s signs were spontaneous and a full 40% were mere repetitions of what the trainer had just signed. The trainer never noticed this subtle interaction at the time. In addition, Nimquot;s signing was invariably a request for food or social reward; he never made unsolicited statements or asked questions. Quite unlike a human child, he never took turns and was more likely to interrupt his trainerquot;s signing than not. There was also no evidence that Nim knew any grammar. His combinations had variable word order, and more importantly, Nim rarely went beyond two-word combinations; even when he did, the additional signs added no new information. For example, Nimquot;s longest utterance was give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you Latest research Savage-Rumbaugh has recently started to work with another species of chimpanzee. Pan paniscus, which she claims is more intelligent than Pan troglodytes, which has been used in all other projects. She claims that the new chimp she has been working with, Kanzi, has learned to comprehend spoken English just by being exposed to it and has spontaneously begun to use the keyboard with lexigrams to make requests and comment on his environment. Savage-Rumbaugh reports both anecdotal observations and the results of tests that might substantiate these astonishing claims. Again, these newest claims are difficult to accept without further confirmation and the demonstration of the kind of objective scrutiny and testing that was advocated at the inception of the Sherman and Austin project. Research on honey bees The best-known communication system in another species based on the pioneering work of Karl von Frisch, is the stylized dances of bees. When an exploring bee finds a suitable source of honey, it flies back to the hive and communicates its location to the other bees by dancing in semi-circles to right and to left of a straight axis, hence known as a wagging dance. The other bees join in this dance with the original messenger and then go off to find the honey. Three type of bee dance ; Round dance: indicates that the food is located within 20ft of hive; bee moves around in a circle; quality of food indicated by the number of repetitions and vivacity of dance. Sickle dance: indicates that the food is located 20-60ft of the hive; bee traces out a sickle-shaped figure eight on the wall; location of food is given by the angle made by the direction of the open end of the sickle with the verticalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  corresponds to the same angle as the food source is from the sun; quality of food indicated by the number of repetitions and vivacity of the dance. .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 , .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .postImageUrl , .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 , .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137:hover , .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137:visited , .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137:active { border:0!important; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137:active , .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137 .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uccf5b4dde467a3c5054067e5d52bb137:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Essay about Self Reflection EssayTail- wagging dance: indicates that the food is located over 60ft from the hive; for dance pattern; location of food is given by angle of dance with verticalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ corresponds to same angle as food source is from the sun; the number of times per minute that the bee dances a complete pattern indicates the distance of the food source the slower the repetition rate, the longer the distance; quality of food indicated by the vivacity of the dance. The bees have a precise method of conveying information, adaptable to vertical or horizontal dimensions. However, the system depends on the sky being visible so that the bees can orientate themselves by the suns light. An overcast day makes communication difficult. Nor can the system deal with unusual directions. Bees do not succeed in communicating about honey suspended immediately above them or honey that is put directly in their hive. They have limited sign about the direction. As in an experiment when the food was placed at the top of a tower the worker bees fail to communicate the exact location. The reason was that they have no word for up in their language. The beesquot; dance is an effective system of communication, capable, in principle; of infinitely many different messages, and in this sense the beesquot; dance is infinitely variable, like human language. But unlike human language, the communication system of the bees is confined to a single subject. It is frozen and inflexible. For example, an experimenter forced a bee to walk to the food source. When the bee returned to the hive, it indicated a distance twenty-five times farther away than the food source actually was. The bee had no way of communicating the special circumstances or taking them into account in its message. This absence of creativity makes the beesquot; dance qualitatively different from human language. Birds song : structurally complex, and having at least two levels of constituent structure phrases and notes. But variations in songs appear not to be significant. Whale songs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" It is still a mystery what these very social and intelligent animals really communicate although very different from the human languages, whale songs can not be easily dismissed as not being complex or expressive enough. Signalling Most animals possess some kind of signaling communication system. For example, among the spiders there is a complex system for courtship. The male spider, before he approaches his ladylove, goes through elaborate gestures to inform her he is indeed a spider and not a crumb or a fly to be eaten. These gestures are invariant. One never finds a creative spider changing or adding to the particular courtship ritual of his species Gesture A similar kind of gesture language is found among the fiddler crabs. There are forty different varieties, and each species uses its own particular claw waving movement to signal to another member of its clan. The timing, movement, and posture of the body never change from one time to another or from one crab to another within the particular species. Whatever the signal means, it is fixed. Only one meaning can be conveyed. There is not an infinite set of fiddler crab sentences. Nor can the signal be broken down into smaller elements, as is possible in any utterance of human language. Songs of birds Projects with birds usually involve parrots or the Indian Hill Mynah. These birds are selected for their ability to mimic human speech. The African Grey Parrot and the Indian Hill Mynah are generally considered to be the birds with the greatest ability to mimic human speech patterns but a number of other species mainly parrots such as the budgerigah can be trained to speak. Birds song are also a way of communication. Cetaceans Cetaceans, such as whales and dolphins, have been shown to be readily trainable to respond to gestures and sometimes to verbal and other acoustic commands. Also, many species have very complex acoustic communication systems. It has been hypothesized that it may be possible to train them to understand language encoded in either gestures or appropriate acoustic signals. Appropriate acoustic signals are assumed to be sounds that are similar to the natural communicative sounds that these animals produce. Human language is unique Human language is unique. While many species have communication systems, there is no other species which has a communication system with the properties of natural human languages. There are some properties which characterize human languages. These properties, taken together, distinguish human languages from other communication systems. productivity of human language Human languages create or borrow new words for new things whenever they are needed, I have just faxed someone through my modem; fax and modem are new objects with new words that scarcely existed ten years ago. Human language is inherently flexible and adapts to new circumstances and new things to say. Animal languages are inflexible because their stock of words is effectively fixed. Since Chomskys work of the 1950s, one of the main distinctive features of human language is seen to be its creativity in being able to communicate new messages. For example someone wants to say Twenty five sheep are gazing in the field, the English language rises to the occasion by supplying a grammatical form and vocabulary, despite the fact that nobody has ever wanted to say this sentence before or ever will again. Most of the sentences people produce or hear in the course of a day are new in so far as they have never been said or heard in that precise form before Animal languages seem fixed in a single form; a cat cannot say anything new, only repeat what has been said before. A bee can make new sentences, provided they concern the location of honey or hives. Human language is creative in the technical sense that any speaker can make up a sentence no-one has ever heard before; any listener can understand a novel sentence no-one has ever said before. Creativity is not just W. B. Yeats putting words together to create new sentences such as The unpurged images of day recede. All of us have the talent of creating new sentences, even if less effectively. Creativity is a basic fact of human language, not an added extra. Chomsky originally used the notion of creativity to attach associationist theories by arguing that in principle connections of stimulus and response cannot explain totally new sentences. The secret of creativity seems to be the grammatical system through which new sentences can be produced. One of the most crucial things that children have to acquire is the creativity of language. Displacement: The ability to communicate about things that are not present in space or time; we can a person whos not in front of us, about a movie we saw last week or want to see over the weekend, what we did over the break, etc. ; no form of animal communication appears to be able to do this: animal calls are stimulus-response driven: animals call when therequot;s danger or food, when they want to mate, etc. ; human use of language is not just a response to external or even internal emotional stimuli; we use language for qualitatively different purpose than animals do. In all animal communication systems the number of signals is fixed , finite; even if some of the signals are complex, there is no mechanism for systematically combining discrete units to create new signals; animals do not combine their calls and gestures in new ways to communicate new ideas; bees cannot come up with new dance patterns to communicate new information like danger, or the type of food availablethe absence of creativity makes bee dance qualitatively different from human language Arbitrariness A less definable characteristic of human language is its arbitrariness, which takes several forms. First there is no necessary connection between the object and the word that represents it. A rose could be called a sorp and smell as sweet. Different languages indeed call the same object by different names. English rose may indeed be rose in French but it is bara in Japanese and warda in Arabic. The connection between objects and words is largely arbitrary. Language is also arbitrary in that it relies on combinations of a small set of sounds or shapes that do not have meaning in themselves. The sounds / b / , /  ¾ / , / g / have no meaning separately; the question Whats an / ¾ /? Cannot be answered by explaining what / ¾ / means. Only when / ¾ / is combined with the other sounds of English to get /b ¾ g/ bag or /g ¾ b/ gab or blackguard or grabbing does the sound become meaningful. Phonemes and letters do not have meaning but they combine to form words . Animal languages in a sense have a limited list of words, like those Konrad Lorenz found in crows. In animal communication, a word is an entity of its own. Each of the monkeys cries has a distinctive meaning, snake, eagle, and so on. They cannot be decomposed into a small set of meaningless components like phonemes. Animals have a dictionary consisting of a limited number of signs but they do not have sound or writing systems. In human languages the set of words is open-ended, formed from a strictly limited set of components, whether phonemes, gestures, or letters. The fact that these symbols are themselves meaningless and arbitrary allows them to generate a vast stock of words. Though Roman alphabets vary slightly from one language to another, their 26 letters can encode, not only all the words in the Oxford English Dictionary, say, but all the words in the dictionaries of French, Italian, Malaysian, etc, as well, with a handful of additional symbols. Arbitrariness of the actual phonemes or letters is a highly useful characteristic that gives language its infinite flexibility, unlike the total rigidity of animal systems Phrase structure. Human languages depend upon a grammatical system that arranges the elements into a structure rather than just putting one sound or element after another. No other species have either this type of phrase structure in general or the specific grammatical configurations. The defenders of apes regard this requirement as an unfair demand; Sue Savage-Rumbaugh does not see why syntax should be the linguists holy grail and laments that the supposed primacy of syntax still held them in its thrall. Interpersonal Human languages is interpersonal. The use of language involves social interaction. When we use language in conversation, we make assumptions about what our listeners know and believe, and we bring to the conversation attitudes toward our listeners. .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b , .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .postImageUrl , .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b , .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b:hover , .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b:visited , .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b:active { border:0!important; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b:active , .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf03b0f5aab9571983c5bbe85b52c905b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Parts of a Sarcomere EssayOnes use of language varies depending on a variety of circumstances. Discreteness: Property of having internal structure: complex messages that are built up out of smaller parts; In human languages: sentences are composed of independent words; the words are composed of individual sounds which can be recombined to form new words which can form new sentences; whereas animal communication systems each message is an indivisible unit. Overall then, while there is considerable uncertainty about many of the details, it seems that human language is indeed the sole property of the human race, if language is defined by the above characteristics. Prevarication: Speakers can intentionally make utterances that are false or meaningless. But it is now well known that many animals use behaviour explicitly designed to deceive or mislead. Signing apes have been observed to use their sign language to send food-competitors away. Cultural transmission:quot; Language is passed from one language user to the next, consciously or unconsciously. Conclusion Many linguists still believe that apes have no real grasp of human language , but are merely imitating their human companions. They insist that while apes may understand individual symbols or words, they do not understand the concepts of syntax, or how words are put together to form a complete idea. However, evidence is continually proving that the non human primate mind is capable of advanced thought . Some people speak of animal languages, while others argue they are not complex or expressive enough to count as true languages. Also, there are some significant differences, which separate human language from the animal languages even when they are most complex; the underlying principles are not thought to be related. Historical linguistics: Human language is creative and flexible. It changes with the passage of time. When we study language changes historically it is called historical linguistics. Any of the linguistic rules identified in Linguistics Assumptions and Principles may be changed: phonemes may be changed, added or removed, morphological rules may be added, changed, or lost, and even syntactical rules might be modified. Semantic rules and the lexicon change much more rapidly than the other three. Lexical changes the addition, modification, or removal of words from the general lexicon are perhaps the quickest changes in language. The semantic change of words may change broaden, narrow, or even shift in meaning. History of the English Language Languages change over time. Slowly, to be sure, but they do change. English is measured in three cataclysmic changes that generally coincide with historical events that had a profound effect on the language. The first appearance of English, as such, was when the Saxons invaded Britain. This form of English is called Old English and dates from approximately 449 to 1066, when the Normans conquered England, beginning the period of Middle English. It was during this time period 1066-1500 that many of the Latinate words used in English today were introduced into the language, as well as Latinate spellings. Around 1500, there was a great vowel shift, which brought the language into Modern English, which is where it is today. Based on this measure approximately 500 years per shift, we may expect major changes in the language today. The Great Vowel Shift in English changed the seven long tense vowels of Middle English and moved them up on the tongue. Fromkin and Rodman posit that the Great Vowel Shift is responsible for many of the spelling inconsistencies today. Language change, however, is a highly regular process. Causes of language changes Articulatory simplification vTo make articulation of words more and more simple. People leave certain complicated consonant clusters. People want articulatory simplification so they avoid complex clusters. This is the reason of changing in pronunciation. The simplification of sounds basically states that certain sounds are easier to pronounce than others, so the natural tendency of the speakers is to modify the hard-to-say sounds to easier ones. An example of this would be the proto-Romance word /camera/ room changing into early French /camra/. It is hard to say /m/ and /r/ one after another, so it was simplified by adding /b/ in between, to /cambra/ . A more recent example is the English word nuclear, which many people pronounce as nucular. Natural process Neogrammarians stated that changes are automatic and mechanical, and therefore cannot be observed or controlled by the speakers of the language. They found that what to a human ear is a single sound is actually a collection of very similar sounds. They call it low-level deviation from an idealized form. They argue that language change is simply a slow shift of the idealized form by small deviations Immigration of speakers The children incorrectly learning the language of their parents, doesnquot;t work either. Letquot;s take an extreme case in the form of immigrants. What is observed is that children of immigrants almost always learn the language of their friends at school regardless of the parentsquot; dialect or original language. Children of British immigrants in the United States nearly always speak with one of the many regional American accents. So in this case, the parentsquot; linguistic contribution becomes less important than the social group the child is in. Social and cultural identity At the beginning a small part of a population pronounces certain words that have, for example, the same vowel, differently than the rest of the population. This occurs naturally since humans donquot;t all reproduce exactly the same sounds. However, at some later point in time, for some reason this difference in pronunciation starts to become a signal for social and cultural identity. Others of the population who wish to be identified with the group either consciously or unknowingly adopt this difference, exaggerate it, and apply it to change the pronunciation of other words. If given enough time, the change ends up affecting all words that possess the same vowel, and so that this becomes a regular linguistic sound change. We can argue that similar phenomena apply to the grammar and to the lexicon of languages. An interesting example is that of computer-related words creeping into standard American language, like bug, crash, net, email, etc. This would conform to the theory in that these words originally were used by a small group i. e. computer scientists, but with the boom in the Internet everybody wants to become technology-savvy. And so these computer science words start to filter into the mainstream language. We are currently at the exaggeration phase, where people are coining weird terms like cyberpad and dotcom which not only drive me crazy but also didnquot;t exist before in computer science. Changes in languages Phonological change There have been many phonological changes between Old English and Modern English as the rules governing flapped and glottal stop variants of t have been added to American English . an important set of extensive sound changes affecting the long tense vowels occurred at the end of the Middle English period.. Lexical change From old English times to the present, new words have continuously been added to the English language. As English has borrowed a lot of words from French language. As, text, prince, judge, prayer, religion, army, navy, enemy, fashion, etc. In this way vocabulary of a language also changed. Changes in morphology Language changes have occurred in shape of words. As suffix are borrowed from French to make new words. People assume that a word has a morphological composition that it didnt originally have root + affix, usually and remove that affix, creating a new word: back formation The assumed model was the class of regular plural nouns ending in -s Another model is agent nouns in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"er , -er usually added to verbs to form an agent noun. Sometimes removed from nouns to form new verbs as letch from lecher. Historically the inflections had caused mutation of the vowel before them o to e from old to eldest Changes in pronunciation Linguistic change occurs over time; for example, the differences in spelling and pronunciation between Middle English niht and Modern English night represent linguistic changes that developed between roughly the fourteenth and the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. Semantics Changes In old time one word is used for only one specific thing but now we use one word for many things. As in past word aunt is used for maternal aunt only but now for any aged relative. When one word change from limited to expending use it is called semantics broadness. One word is very comprehensively used in old time but now that is used for a specific thing. When the meaning of a word become less general than it is called semantics narrowness as we word hound for only hunting dog but in past it was used for every dog, Syntactic changes Rule addition A syntactic rule that has been added to English since the Old English period is the particle Movement . as the sentence pairs of the type john threw out the fish and John threw out did not occur in Old English. Rule Loss A syntactic rule that has been lost from English is the morpho syntactic rule of Adjective Agreement. At one time adjectives required endings that had to agree with the head noun in case, number, and gender. This rule is no longer found in English, since most of the inflectional endings of English have been lost. Changes of verbs Contemporary English makes a distinction between auxiliary verbs and main verb, a distinction reflected in questions only auxiliary verb fronted in question, as in can you leave ? negative sentences only auxiliary verb can take the contracted negative nquot;t, as in you canquot;t leave and tage questions only auxiliary verb can appear in tag, as in you can leave, can,t you?. Focusing now only on so-called modal verbs can, must, it is interesting to note that prior to the sixteenth century thes syntactic distinctions between main verb and auxiliary did not exist. at that time it was possible for main to take not, and examples such as the following c an be found in Shakespeares writing. I deny it not. I donquot;t deny it. Forbid him not. Dont forbid him Conclusion The changes that took place between Old English and Modern English are typical of the kinds of changes that all human language undergo over time, and after enough years have passed the latest language can be very different from its ancestor language. Moreover, language change offers important indirect evidence about the nature of human language namely, that it is rule-governed . we see that major language changes occur in English language during Old English and Middle English period are best viewed as in the sets of rules characterizing.

Australia essays

Australia essays Australia is a continent and it is also a country of its own. Australia is located between the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Australia is often called, the land down under, because it lies entirely within the southern hemisphere. In Latin, Australia means southern. The official name of the country is the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia is surrounded by water like an island, but geographers classify it as a continent rather than an island because of its great size. Australia covers about 5% of earths land area. Most of Australia is low and flat, the highest and most mountainous land lies along the east coast. Nearly all the land west of this region consists of level plains and plateaus. At one time, all the continents were part of one huge land mass. Australia became separated from this landmass about 200 million years ago. As a result, its animals developed differently from those on other continents. Australias most famous native animals include kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, wombats, and other marsupials. Australias first settlers were ancestors of todays Aborigines. They may have reached the continent as early as 50 thousand years ago and came from Asia by way of New Guinea. When the first whites arrived in 1788, about 750 thousand Aborigines lived in Australia. The European discovery of Australia began with the discovery of New Guinea by Portuguese and Spanish explorers during the 1500s. These explorers and others after them were searching for a mysterious continent that they believed lay south of Asia. Between 1616 and 1636 other Dutch navigators explored Australias west, southwest, and northwest coasts. Explorers then began to believe they had found the mysterious southern continent. In 1642 and 1643, Abel Janszoon Tasman, a Dutch sea captain, sailed the continent without sighting it. During his voyage, he visited a landmass...

Analysis of Organizational Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of Organizational Behaviour - Essay Example These writers stress the importance of both ethical understanding and self-efficacy, stating that in order to ensure good ethical practice it is important that the leader and decision maker has sound knowledge and the necessary experience. However, experience gained in one cultural situation may well be different from those in another culture. The executive in Japan, for instance, will have a very different knowledge set from one who has worked only in Arabia. I can back this up from my personal experience of working in a multi-cultural situation. Kuwait has more or less equal numbers of Kuwaiti nationals and foreigners. The non-nationals come from a variety of countries and this results in a mixture of ideologies, religions and general outlook on life. For example, someone from Lebanon will see his work and go about his tasks is different from an Indian employee. The same is true for many others ex-patriates. There are of course similarities, but always some differences between for example Asians and Arabians. In such a multi-cultural environment the wisdom and efficiency of leaders in building and maintaining good ethical codes and practices are very important. As he uses the knowledge and experience he already has and is gaining over time, a leader gets ever stronger and gains confidence when it comes to making ethical decisions. Confidence in one’s own ability and strengths means a greater ability to be a strong and confident leader when dealing with a variety of situations. In our organization practicing good ethics is not easy. This is not because of leadership deficiencies when it comes to decision, but because of the variations in cultural outlooks of employees despite good communications. The authors cited have talked about the problems of global business with its mix of cultures and ethical ideas.

The Benefits Of The Website Of National Institute Of Mental Health Essay

The Benefits Of The Website Of National Institute Of Mental Health - Essay Example This website has considered all those factors and thus provides the email address, telephone number and even a live chat handle, where a member of the general public can directly chat with Ayuda en Vivo, who is available on weekdays at 8:30 am to 5:00 in the evening. In addition to this, there is a hotline that is toll-free and a fax number, catering for both English and Spanish speakers. For effective evaluation of the site, a Cornell University’s criteria of website evaluation will be employed. Aspects like the accuracy will be tested to bring out the purpose of the website and show whether the author has provided enough details to reach him or her. Another aspect will be the authority of the web documents which checks where the document was produced and the credentials of the author. Finally, the objectivity of the web documents will be examined to test the particular goals and objectives of the site. Evaluation of this website will be based on the criteria of accuracy, aut hority, objectivity, and coverage to test its effectiveness and relevance to the general public. This website provides information on a unique type of illness, mental illness. Facilities providing treatment of these disorders are few; thus, there is dire need to provide enough information about their existence. This website has accurately done this by providing a mental health treatment locator, in addition to clear details of their offices and areas of specialisation, which are anxiety disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Bipolar Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and Schizophrenia among other mental illnesses as well as HIV/AIDS. The authors, who are officials in the U.S department of health and human sciences, exhaustively provide all the necessary data needed by the consumers, who are the general public.

Ratios assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ratios - Assignment Example Average collection period can also be referred to as the number of days the sales are tied up in the accounts receivable. Thus, the average sales per day for the four years have been increasing. A snapshot on the yearly collection period, the year 20X1’s average is half the year 20X2’s average; this is a ratio of 1:2 associated with the increase in net sales by the same ratio. Inventory turnover measures the rate by which the inventory is used annually. From the computation, the rate at which inventory is used annually is 4, which is equal in the four years. This implies that inventory is used equally across the years. Current ratio measures solvency. This is the ratio between current assets and current liabilities. In the year 20X1, they current ratio is 3.333 which implies that for every one dollar of the current liabilities, the company has $3.333 in the current assets. For the year 20X2, the company has $1.90 in the current assets, in 20X3 the company has $1.542 and in 20X4 it has $1.339 in the current assets for every $1 of the current liabilities. This trend has been reducing from the 20X1 to 20X4. Quick ratio measures liquidity which is the number of dollars in cash and account receivable for every single dollar in the current liabilities. For the year 20X1, the company has a quick ratio of 1.333 which means that for every single dollar o current liabilities, the firm has $1.333 in the cash and accounts receivable to pay the liabilities. The trend of quick ratio is decrease from year 20X1 to 20X4, 1.333, 0.7, 0.541 to 0.459. Debt to equity measures the financial risk of the company which is the number of times dollars are owed for every single dollar in the net worth. From the computations, the year 20X1 has a quick to equity of 1.250 which means that for every single dollar of the net worth invested by the stockholders, the company owes $1.250 of the debt to the creditors. Hence, the trend of debt to equity for this

Importance Of Financial Inclusion In The Indian Scenario

Importance Of Financial Inclusion In The Indian Scenario Gandhi had once had once remarked, Our cities are not India. India lives in her seven and a half lakh of villageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. (Gandhi 1966:288-89). Thus to build a strong India it becomes very necessary to strengthen and build its villages. The banking and financial services in our country had been limited to a section of elite population. Despite huge demand for these services the financial structure of such services has forever been very weak. The population in these regions have to depend on the informal sector like the local money-lenders for availing finance. Thus there arises the need for Financial Inclusion. By Financial Inclusion we mean the easy delivery of financial services to large sections of the unprivileged society. It also means availing loans to the disadvantaged society at affordable cost. HISTORY AND EMERGENCE IN INDIA The concept of Financial Inclusion can be traced back to the year 1904 when Co-operative Movement took place in India. It gained momentum when 14 major commercial banks of the country were nationalized in 1969 and bank scheme was introduced thereafter. Branches were opened in large numbers across the country and even in the areas which were previously being neglected and those which needed quick recovery to escape the viscous cycle of poverty. Even after all these measures even till date a sizable portion of the population of the country could not be brought under the fold of banking system. In India the credit structure is crumbling and the availability of funds to the needy and disadvantaged is very poor. There are only a meagre number of such banks which are actually functional and really fulfilling the aim of bringing about financial equality and stability in the system. There is an immediate need for increased interaction and greater participation from state, banks and SHGs. The enactment of the Regional Rural Banks Act in the mid 1970s was the first step toward Financial Inclusion. It had lead to the geographical expansion of the credits and has made financial services accessible to the rural poor. In India the financial coverage of the rural communities by the commercial banks and the regional rural banks is only 29% and only about 17 % by the long-term and short-term rural credit cooperative societies. It is rather more saddening to see the result of these financial institutions individually servicing the villages. Presently each branch office of the Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) services only 20 villages and the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies up to 6.4 villages. These figures itself portray the disheartening condition of the financial structure in rural India and achieving Financial Inclusion seems like a distant dream. In fact, there is a severe gap in financial access which needs special attention. IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN THE INDIAN SCENARIO India ranks second in the world in terms of Financially Excluded Households. In India even today loans are not available to about 135 million households. According to a report in The Hindu dated 8th December, 2012 the Deputy Governor of The Reserve Bank of India Dr K. C. Chakrabarty had remarked, India needs strong measures for the financial inclusion of the poor and the marginalized. The main reasons for financial exclusion in India, from the demand side are lack of awareness, low income, poverty and illiteracy while from the supply side is distance from branch, branch timings, cumbersome documentation and procedures, unsuitable products, language, staff attitudes etc. Thus there is an immediate need to improve on the status of Financial Inclusion in our country and this has to start from the base levels. Financial Inclusion contributes to an all round development of the society. We can show that with help of a systematic diagram:- P.T.O Financial Inclusion fulfils some economics objectives and also some social and political objectives. The economic objectives includes equitable growth of the society which implies integrating everyone in the development process mobilization of savings towards the needy larger markets for financial systems so that loans are available to the unprivileged class easily While the Social and Political objectives comprised of poverty elevation for the welfare of the general people sustainable development programs to be implemented channelizing governments programs in the right direction Thus to bring about an all round development in the society we need to have a strong financial structure. It is only possible with both government interventions and also community participation. There has to be community indulgence at a very great extent. They have to come together and collaborate with the banks and take part in their initiatives to promote financial inclusion. There are innumerable loopholes which have to focus on and dealt with to bring about equitable growth. We now concentrate on two case studies which throw light on some of the issues discussed above. CASE STUDIES We now narrow down our study and concentrate on two case studies which will help us analyse the problems of Financial Inclusion in India: Case Study 1: The Economically Backward region of Jharkhand Case Study 2: The Progressive Ras village of Gujarat Case study 1: JHARKHAND The Reserve Bank of India being the apex bank in India had given guidelines to all the commercial banks to promote financial inclusion in rural India. We take up the case study highlighting the economically backward region of Jharkhand. Poverty in Jharkhand had had a prolonged chain and this could be escaped only through financial inclusion. The main reasons for it being A very dense population A very low rate of literacy- about 53.6% Extremely poor state with the National Average of people below the poverty line being 40.2% The senior level executives in RBI were worried about the extremely low performance of the state in rural areas in Jharkhand and thus a branch of RBI was setup in Ranchi. The commercial banks were given direction to promote financial inclusion. The commercial banks tried to promote financial inclusion in this region by taking into account some other channels as involving the Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs), Non-Commercial Banks as National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), various Non- Governmental organizations, some Non- Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), Co-operatives and Co-operative banks. Although a large chunk of the population in Jharkhand lives in rural areas the private banks have only 13% of the total number of branches in the rural areas. The commercial banks were very reluctant to open branches here as due to poverty, less demand for financial inclusion, insufficient manpower and inappropriate technology there were high chances of incurring losses. But it was thought to be the responsibility of the banks to induce into the people a sense of financial inclusiveness. It was Bank of India who was the first to come forward and served as a backbone of the public sector banks in the light of financial inclusion in Jharkhand. Bank of India set up 385 branches in Jharkhand. Bank of India had done a commendable job in Jharkhand in terms of number of branches it had opened keeping in view the highly dispersed and dense population of the country. The products offered were Kisan Credit Card, General Credit Card, loans to run micro-finance and micro-insurance. Also a workin g group was setup by RBI to internalise NGOs and SHGs as a potential intervention tool for doing banking business with the marginalised and poor. The NABARD too came up with a massive program called the SHG Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP). According to a report there were about 5265 new savings account which were opened through SHG interventions. Though the initiative seems to be a success at a glance, but the real picture differs. The SHGs and NGOs themselves were not financially and technically sound. For successful community participation it was required to train the individuals, give them basic financial education and acquaint them with modern technologies. Thus technical empowerment could have been enabled by the commercial banks by training and development practices of banking and financial risk management. They also needed financial support. Jharkhand being largely dependent on agricultural and related occupations led to high irregularity of income. This made situations worse as in the years when agricultural and related business did not perform well all steps taken to promote financial inclusion failed. Farmers in Jharkhand do not have access to formal finance for growing crops because of the high risk associated with it. Thus there was need for creating avenues of insurance trade for the farmer to participate in the process of financial inclusion. Development of mobile banking services can be a great way in improving the condition of financial inclusion in the state. Jharkhand having very poor rate of literacy most of the masses know no other language than their vernacular language and in such situations technology based devises like ATM machines do not serve the purpose and becomes a hurdle in the way of financial inclusiveness. Thus there was a need for the RBI and the commercial banks to take up the issue with more intensive research and proper handling. Improving and better monitoring of the commercial banks by reporting at specifies intervals, it should be made mandatory for banks have to undergo a statutory audit every year apart from the internal audit system that they posses and also assessing them on their achievements in the process of promoting financial inclusion. Thus a better planning and better approach towards things were required to achieve the aimed goal. Case Study 2: RAS VILLAGE IN GUJRAT The next study concerns the Ras Village in Gujarat. This village unlike that of villages in Jharkhand is a much more developed and progressive village. The Ras Village contributes much to the revolutionary Amul Co-operative movement in Gujarat. The village had a well-functional Government Community Health Centre and branches of public sector banks. According to a report the total deposit base was 250 million dollars on 31 March 2007 where Non- Resident Indians constituted 50 % of the banks deposit base. The above village was a pretty well off and a progressive village according to the Indian standards, where the dairy activity has helped to improve the living standards of the people. Ras village more or less had some kind of financial structure and was not totally absent as in the case of villages in Jharkhand. We now focus on the data regarding presence of bank accounts and availing credit facilities in these areas: Economic Research (NCAER) The above study shows that 75.2 per cent of the villagers have bank accounts and 26.7 per cent have availed credit. According to a report by the World Bank Rural Finance Access Survey (RFAS) of 2003 which indicated that on an average only 41 per cent of rural households have bank accounts and among that only 21 per cent have some access to formal credit avenues (Bapat, 2010). Keeping that as a benchmark we can say that the Ras Village is an Ideal village as the number of people availing loans is 26.7 per cent and 75.2 per cent villagers having a bank account is a striking number in itself. The customers had a high rate of satisfaction in holding the bank accounts. The customers perceptions were based on efficiency in the functioning of the banks, adequacy, timeliness, cost, security, convenience, staff and transactions Almost 66 per cent of the villagers were inclined towards future credit facilities. The villagers were urged upon taking cattle loans, business loans and also housing loans. There was clear indication of the villagers wanting to participate in rural credit and avail loans. There has been financial penetration up to a very extent and there was ample scope for further penetration. But there is another very important aspect which existed in the Ras village which lead to these the well-developed cooperative milk collection system. They were already at a stable condition as the community had come forward and formed the milk cooperative. The banks had collaborated with them which lead to the upliftment of the village. It was profitable for the banks to enter into an agreement with the clients and the village cooperative milk-collection centre. Not only the village concerned but the whole of Gujarat has developed very rapidly on all economics terms including banking. And to achieve this goal the community and the cooperatives banks have played a crucial role. There was a significant correlation between holding bank account and their income, education, asset holding status and living conditions. The villagers in this village were economically more or less stable with moderate asset holding and thus they could easily avail loans. COMPARISONS After having an extensive view into the case studies we get a contrasting picture of the two villages in India. On one hand we have Jharkhand which is one of the poorest states in India and we see a crumbling financial structure. While on the other hand we have Gujarat, which at one point of time had aimed at 100 per cent financial inclusion, though that remains unattained but it has been is financially stable and has achieved been called a progressive state. The case studies give us an in-sight into the reasons for such glaring disparity in the same country. We now try and systematically try to analyse it in a tabular form. JHARKHAND RAS VILLAGE, GUJRAT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS Extremely poor state with the National Average of people below the poverty line being 40.2% Mostly dependent on agriculture or related activities Banks unwilling to collaborate Farmers do not have access to formal finance because of the high risk associated with it Being a rich state with a stable financial structure Economically stable and well-off The well-developed milk cooperative which made the economy flourishing The total deposit base was 250 million dollars COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION The SHGs and NGOs had tried to bring about the community together People were economically viable and no access to formal finance They had no formal training or technical knowhow to participate in the interventions Community participation more or less absent There was already existing community participation in the form of milk cooperatives The people wanted to participate based on efficiency in the functioning of the banks, adequacy, timeliness, cost, security, convenience, staff and transactions. Almost 66 per cent of the villagers were inclined towards future credit facilities. ROLE OF BANKS Banks were not willing to open up branches due to the poor economic conditions Commercial banks came forward and started working with the SHGs, MFIs and NGOs. Bank of India was the first to take such initiatives It was profitable for the banks to enter into an agreement with the clients and the village cooperative milk-collection centre Already public banks had existing branches Most people were economically aware and active EDUCATION AND TRAINING People were illiterate No economic sense No technical knowledge Insufficient manpower and inappropriate technology due to lack of educated masses Unable to reap the benefits of Kisan Credit Card and General Credit Card People were already aware of the advantages of banks and formal credit and had some amount of economic sense Already existing communities and some amount technical knowhow INFERENCE Lead to financial exclusion and failure of the government initiatives Lead to Financial Inclusion and all-round development of the village CONCLUSION Empirical evidence shows that Financial Inclusion leads to Economic Growth. To have an inclusive growth we need to bring the under-developed regions of the country at par with the developed regions. The above case studies of Jharkhand and Gujarat are an example of glaring disparity in our country which can only be bridged through initiatives from the banks and the community as well. Banks should move beyond traditional products as deposits and credits and rather introduce insurance, mutual funds and introduce better schemes for financially secluded people and have better risk managements. Also establishment of a rural infrastructure is a prerequisite for financial inclusion. There should be programs to initiate more of community participation by starting vocational training for the rural youth and have an improved workforce. Commercial banks have to draw a clear line between sound and unsound practices and chalk out a financial inclusion strategy so that it does not give rise to subp rime crisis like situation. But we know that commercial banks always work with a profit motive. Thus the aim should be to enable the poor to get out of impoverished situations and in the process simultaneously enhance their own profitability. The dream of Inclusive Growth will not be complete until millions of micro-entrepreneurs are created across the country. All budding entrepreneurs have to face these challenges and find solutions. People working in the social sector should work for filling up the deficit existing in the economic and social arena. To sum up, Financial Inclusion is the road that India needs to travel toward becoming a global player. Financial access will attract global market players in India and that will result in increasing employment and business opportunities. Inclusive growth will act as a source of empowerment and allow people to participate more effectively in the economic and social process. ******************************

Multiculturalism in Mother Tongue, Memorial Day and Multiculturalism, a

Multiculturalism in Mother Tongue, Memorial Day and Multiculturalism, and College Writing      Ã‚  Ã‚   As an American it is very important to understand the different concepts of assimilation and multiculturalism. It is these terms that differ one person from everybody else in some kind of way. Multiculturalism is a term that is just what it sounds like. It is including several cultures. According to the American Heritage dictionary, multiculturalism is " a social or educational theory or program that encourages interest in many cultures within a society rather than in only one mainstream culture. " Assimilation is the exact opposite of what multiculturalism is. Assimilation is described to be where " a minority group gradually adopts the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture. " So how does one decide whether to believe in assimilation or multiculturalism? Well the truth to that question is that there really is no direct correct belief. It all depends on the person. On how their past was like, who their parents are and where they came from. Some of the greater issues that come up when talking about assimilation versus multiculturalism are language, literacy, power, and difference in American culture. Amy Tan's reading titled " Mother Tongue ", Thomas Bray's " Memorial Day and multiculturalism ", and Maxine Hairston's " College Writing " readings are amongst one of the most appropriate in addressing the issues of multiculturalism and assimilation. One of the greatest differences in American culture right now is language. This is because people come from all sorts of different countries into America and only know how to speak their own native language. Many people come over to America to work here... ...most people in American have come together to form a part of assimilation; however not to it's fullest. Although people are proud to keep their American culture and initiate with it as much as possible, I feel that people must not forget their own personal heritage from where they were born. The Idea of assimilation for me is just as important as multiculturalism. I will be just as proud to learn and follow in the English language, as I will be to remember all that I have been taught about my Russian culture.    Works Cited: Bray Thomas. " Memorial Day and Multiculturalism, " Detroit News 24 May 1998 Tan Amy. " Mother Tongue. " Border text: cultural reading for contemporary writers Ed. Randal Bass. Boston: Houghton- Mifflin, 1999 Hairston Maxine. " College Writing ." College Composition and Communication 43.2. University of Texas, 1992  

Country Music vs Rap Music Essay

Today there are many different genres of music. There are many types of music for anyone. Country and Rap music may be two most popular types of music. Many people who like country dislike rap music and the other way around. Many people who listen to rap would never listen to country or ever admit to it. On the other hand people who listen to country may enjoy some rap music. In each type of music, they have many sub-genres. There also are many stereotypes that are associated with these different genres of music. Many people think that country music and rap are completely different but they do have some similarities. Country music originates from the southern states. Country music has been around longer than rap music. Country music started to get popular in the 1920’s whereas rap was started in the 1970s. Many people who dislike this kind of music think it’s a bunch of hicks singing about how they lost their girlfriend, dog or truck. Most country songs tell stories, beginning, middle and end. Unlike rap music, many country songs do not include cuss words or very few of them. Rap music contains many cuss words and sexually explicit lyrics. Also where Rappers sing about drugs, country singers sing about drinking beer. Some believe country singers are only white; in contrast there are some Black Country singers. Rap music was first started in New York City. Rap music consists of rhyming and relies on technological tricks to sound good. Most rap singers sing about money and all the luxuries it brings. However, on the other hand, country music is mostly about hard working Americans. When people think of rap singers they think of gangsters wearing tons of jewelry. When people think of country singers they think of rednecks wearing cowboy hats and boots. These are stereotypes that people refer to when thinking of these two genres of music. Today there are more similarities between rap and country. Now there is a new genre of music that combines country and rap. Singers like Cowboy Troy rap during singing a country song. Even some Toby Keith songs have some relation to rap. Tim McGraw, a country singer, and Nelly, a rap singer, combined to sing a song together. Rap, supports criminality and unjust behaviors while country is generally more appreciative of the little things in life that doesn’t cause any harm. Country is exceptionally the overall most formal and most decent pick of the two categories, as compared to rap which is labeled by most, terrible music. In my opinion I would listen to country music over rap any day. Many people wouldn’t agree with me and may think the complete opposite. Many people think that there are absolutely no similarities between rap and country. Well these people are wrong, country and rap are coming more similar, with the new genre of country, country-rap. This genre may bring fans of rap to the country side of music. With different stereotypes that come with listening to these types of music, may lessen there willing to listen to a completely different type of music. Both genres of music have been criticized. Country music and rap music may be different but they do have some similarities.

the Suez Canal Crisis Revoluti essays

the Suez Canal Crisis Revoluti essays Nasser's Rule to the Suez Canal Crisis Revolution of 1952 Nasser's Rule to the Suez Canal Crisis Egypt's policies and their international context The aim of this essay is to establish to what extent the Egyptian leadership influenced the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1952-67. It discusses the foreign policy of the Egyptian State and its implications for the development of the conflict. The body of the essay is divided into two parts, which are grouped in chronological order. The part, portrays the person of Nasser, since he was a very significant figure in Arab politics. It also shows the political and social restraints imposed on the new leadership, and their projection onto the conflict. This chapter emphasises the external involvement into the decision made by the Egyptian elite. The second part pictures Nasser's struggle for power in the Middle East and Egyptian attitudes towards Jewish State. Moreover, it shows how these affected the relations between Israel and other countries of the region. All the information presented here were gathered from historical publications, all of which, apart from one, were secondary sources. The only primary source is the memories of the Egypt's foreign Minister and is discussed in detail in the main body. The other sources have been written by respectable historians, who are experts in this field. Therefore, they can be considered as reliable sources. The background reading was done on the more general books, often targeting the wider publicity, hence they do not necessarily contribute much detailed knowledge. As a conclusion, I must say that Egypt's leadership was an important factor in the development of the Arab-Israeli conflict in years 1952-67. It is true that both wars in the region were the direct result of Egypt's deeds. However, Nasser's involvement was not a result of any long-term policy aiming at confrontations with Israel, but a side effect of internal or inter-Arab policies emb...

The Beneficial Effects of Clearcutting essays

The Beneficial Effects of Clearcutting essays The Beneficial Effects of Clearcutting The approaches of clearcutting presents major ecological questions especially in Florida. With the ever-present population boom into the state, more areas while be needed for growing communities. The two major approaches to clearcutting are through controlled fires which devastate naturally occurring microorganisms within the soil, or through simply leveling the land through man-made machines such as bulldozers and chainsaws. Clearly the most beneficial method, both financially and ecologically, is the use of man-made machines instead of fires. In todays society it is true that there is no big demand for timber. However, there is still a price tag for timber that is sold in todays market. Clearcutting that occurs in areas of little finacial wealth depend upon the sale of timber in there areas to keep their community stable economically. Not only does clearcutting provide money for communities it also provides jobs for less-skilled workers who can provide for their Ecologically speaking, clearcutting provides the least damage against biodiversity within an ecological environment. Controlled fires release an extraordinary amount of concentrated CO2 into the air. Depending on the area of the controlled fire, harmful smoke can be inhaled for miles from the area of the burn. Individual suffering from asthma and senior citizens who predominate in Florida would be affected from burning of wood. While trees would be cut down new trees of the same species would be planted to ensure that the no certain species would go extinct in a certain area. Another ecological benefit of clearcutting is that beneficial minerals would not be leached into the ground as would occur if burning were to take place. Scientific studies have proven that clearcutting slows the rate of mineral leaching. This could be due to microorganisms that live centimete...

How does nano technology play a role in communication, design, and Research Paper

How does nano technology play a role in communication, design, and information technology - Research Paper Example Experts define nanotechnology as the visualization or measurement at the 1-100 nanometer scale. However, there is an increased acceptance of the idea that reorganization and control of matter at the nanometer scale is an essential element of nanotechnology. Communication, design and information technology are the highly innovative industrial sectors that are quickly growing. Massive progress have resulted due to the transition to nanotechnology electronics from the traditional electronics. Nanotechnology has led to an incredible change in communication, design, and information. Advancement in communication, design, and information technology as a result of nanotechnology can take place in two steps. The first step is the miniaturization top-down approach that takes microstructures that are conventional across the border to nanotechnology. The second step entails the emergence of the bottom-up nanosystem engineering and nano-electronics through technologies such as the process of self-organization to bring together systems and circuits. Nanotechnology has several roles in communication and has immensely impacted the development of wireless communication technologies. In mid-1990’s, micromechanical sensors were developed. They become a critical element of automotive technologies. Approximately ten years later, micromechanical sensors that are more miniaturized are now ensuring features that are novel for mobile devices and consumer electronics. In the present day, the development of sensors that are embedded and based on the nanostructures has become part of the communications industry. Nanotechnologies has augmented the human sensory skills. It is based on integrated sensors and the ability to aggregate this enormous worldwide sensory data into information that is meaningful to people every day (Ermolov et al. 1). Nanotechnology can assist in the development of

Engineering business functions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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