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Maya heritage is both equally diverse and interesting. The Maya were a civilization that spent several centuries calling Mesoamerica home. They built incredible structures and had many interesting beliefs and rituals. Here are just a few of the most interesting things we can associate with the Mayans.
Xcaret (little inlet) is located on the Caribbean side of the Yucatan. Back in its heyday Xcaret was a central port and a hub for Mayan trade during the Post-Classic (1400-1550AD) period. This small inlet provided a natural shelter from the rough seas to traders who would deliver honey, copal, gold ornaments, and even jade to local people. After the remains of 135 humans were discovered at Xcaret by archaeologist Maria Jose. Scientists were able to analyze their DNA and discovered that their lineages were associated with more modern Mayan people and Native Mesoamericans in the Yucatan Peninsula rather than the ancient Mayans.
Xcaret was known to be a center of energy amongst the Mayan people. Here, they would cleanse their bodies in the sacred sinkhole before embarking on journeys to Cozumel, where they would worship the Goddess of Fertility, Ixmel.
The ruins that cover the Xcaret archeological site date back as far as 200AD.Though many are that of the Post-Classic era, tourists can visit the archeological ruins, but many sites are located within a privately-owned tourist complex, Xcaret Park.
The site is built in a typical Mayan way. Because this was a coastal town, the buildings on the coast faced outward to sea they could keep an eye out for any potential attackers. The whole town was also built inside a defensive wall.
There are many suggestions that Xcaret was a major important political hub. This is because archaeologists have found evidence of marriages between P’ole rulers and inhabitants of Cozumel that appeared to be politically motivated.
Located in what is now Mexico City, the Templo Mayor (Greater Temple) is another Post-Classic period ruin. For many hundreds of years, the Templo remained lost in time after the Spanish covered it and built their own colonial city post-invasion.
Some of the temples were unearthed in the early 20th century along with several other sections over the coming years. However, it wasn’t until 1978 when an electrical company hit a large disc depicting Coyolxauhqui that it was decided that the full area should be excavated.
The Museo del Templo Mayor is a museum dedicated to such findings and hosts an incredible collection of Aztec artifacts, all unearthed in and around the area of the Templo Mayor they are open Tuesday to Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm.
Founded in 1987 the museum houses some of the greatest collections found at the excavation site giving us a true insight into Aztec history. The museum is split over three floors and eight exhibits. All with a dedicated room (sala).
Room 1 is dedicated to the archeological background of Mexico City and you can find artifacts from the end of the colonial area including the basalt head of Xoloti, the Cuahxicalli Eagle as well as recent findings from the Metropolitan Cathedral.
Room 2 is all about rituals and sacrifice, many sacrificial objects are on display here and there’s a wealth of information about said rituals and even a dark insight into self-sacrifice.
Room 3 is dedicated to the commercial trades of these Maya people while room 4 is dedicated to the God of war, Huitzilopochtli.
The fifth room is all about the God Tlaloc and the 6th has an abundance of information on flora and fauna (see below) in the area.
Room 7 is dedicated to agriculture and the 8th and final room is all about the historical archaeology, artifacts found at the Templo Mayor and the connection between the post-classic people and the Spanish, post-war.
The Lacandon jungle is a rainforest which stretches from Chiapas to Guatemala and the Lacandon people are the people who live there. They are said to be one of most isolated native Mexican people, which they have said to have done on purpose, in order to preserve their traditions. They originated from the Campeche and Peten regions of Guatemala and Mexico and their religious practices have shifted incredible amounts through the ages, especially since their contact with the outside world.
Today there are only 650 speakers of their native language, which may seem minimal, but the numbers are actually on the rise after it nearly became extinct in 1943.
The first contact with the Lacandon was made in the 18th century, they were thought to be direct descendants of the ancient Maya due to incredible similarities in their dress and their physical appearance, however, this was later debunked, and they’re actually associated with more contemporary Maya people.
Over the last 30 years, the Lacandon people have become more exposed to the outside world. In 1971 the Mexican government gave back 641 acres of stolen land to the Lacandon people and through that, they entered a trade deal over timber. However, this resulted in new roads being built, communities being developed close by to them and have caused deforestation and destruction of their native homes.
Mayan people are known to be very connected to the skies and their calendar. Many Mayan artifacts and ruins signify this.
The Mayan calendar is made up of 260 calendar days in a year which is split into 20-day signs and 13 galactic numbers. Each individual person has their own day sign as well as galactic number. They represent a number of different personality traits that Mayan people believe to be incredibly accurate. You can take a look at your Mayan signs here.
Mesoamerica has an abundance of flora and fauna unique to the area and Mayan people used them for everything from foods to medicine.
Tropical fruits such as papaya and passionfruit are commonplace in the are common in Yucatan as are mangos, avocado, and plantain. Maize was very important to the Mayan people as they associated it with the creation of human life.
As Mayan people were well known for their use of holistic rituals and healing ceremonies, they had a great connection to many of their local plants and trees.
Kapok was known as the most sacred, producing a cotton-like flower, they associated this tree with a connection of energy that linked the earth, underworld and the cosmos together.
The resin of the Copal tree was used by Mayan people for incense and Baalche was fermented and combined with honey to create a sacred drink. They even use the extract of the Trumpet tree as an effective treatment against type two diabetes. | https://www.funsunmexico.com/blog/authentic-maya-heritage-guide/ |
Mayan languages constitute a group of languages spoken mainly in the Mesoamerican region. These languages were also prevalent during the ancient Mayan civilisation.
Even at that time, there were multiple Mayan languages spoken throughout the various Mayan kingdoms. However, some languages were considered the prestige languages and were spoken by the nobility and elite.
These languages are thought to have been developed through interaction between the diverse peoples of the Mesoamerican region.
Mayans used these alphabets to pen down a large body of literature, most of it included in Mayan books called codices Read more about the Mayan Alphabet >>
Mayans used a written language that utilised different images and symbols, there were two major types of glyphs - logograms and syllabograms Read more about the Mayan Glyphs >>
Mayan hieroglyphics were the script of the Mayan written language and it comprised of images and symbols Read more about the Mayan Hieroglyphics >>
Mayan words are part of Mayan languages that thrived over the course of several thousand years in and around the Yucatan Peninsula Read more about the Mayan Words >>
The Mayan writing system (hieroglyphs) used symbols to convey both complete words as well as phonetic syllables Read more about the Mayan Writing >>
Mayan languages are derived from the so-called Proto-Mayan language which is thought to have been 5,000 years old. In the Archaic period, before 2,000 BC, a lot of words from Mixe – Zoquean languages are thought to have entered the Proto-Mayan language. During the Classic Period, between 250AD and 900AD, the contact between the Mayans and people from other cultures such as Lencan and Xinca became intense. Also, by this time, different Mayan languages were spoken in different kingdoms and city sates of the Mayan civilisation.
Proto-Mayan is the common ancestor of different Mayan languages and has been reconstructed using the comparative method. This language is dominated by a CVC syllable structure with only consonant clusters allowed across syllable boundaries. Different Mayan languages have been classified into different groups depending on their phonological differences. Three main groups of Mayan languages divided on this basis are Huastecan, Yucatecan, and Cholan.
Based on the differences between the structure and the grammar, different Mayan languages have been classified into different branches. For instance, Mayan languages of the Huastecan branch are those that are spoken in the Mexican states of Veracruz and San Luis Potosi. Languages of the Yucatecan Branch, on the other hand, are those spoken predominantly in the Yucatan Peninsula. Other important branches of Mayan languages include Cholan, Tzeltalan, Q’anjobalan, QuicheanMamean, Mamean, and others.
A wide range of innovations have occurred in different groups of Mayan languages throughout centuries. Languages in each group are classified because of the innovations that distinguish them from languages in the other groups. Various innovations in sound and syllables increased the gaps between the languages over the course of centuries. Innovations have also occurred independently in several language branches. One example is the loss of a distinctive vowel length in Kaqchike and some other languages.
Mayan loanwords are those words of Mayan languages that are found in other languages. A variety of such words exist in different languages including English, Spanish, and some other Mesoamerican languages. For instance, the English word shark comes from the Mayan language word xoc which means fish. Similarly, the word cigar is derived from the Mayan language word sicar which means to smoke tobacco leaves. Various other Mayan loanwords have seeped into English and different other European and Mesoamerican languages.
The overall morphology which includes the root words, parts of speech, affixes, stresses, and intonations etc of Mayan languages is not very far removed from other Mesoamerican languages. However, its distinct grammatical differences make its morphology more agglutinating and polysynthetic. In the grammar of these languages, possessed nouns are reserved for person of possessor while there are no cases or genders in Mayan languages.
Mayan languages have a basic verb-object-subject word order. However, there are possibilities of switching to verb-subject-object order in case of certain complex sentences particularly those where object and subject are of the same animacy or in case where the subject is definite. Various contemporary Mayan languages have a verb-object-subject word order which is fixed. Other languages, on the other hand, follow the verb-subject-object order. One Mayan language, Chorti, also has a basic subject-verb-object word order.
Numerical classifiers are used to specify the class of item that is being counted where the numeral appears with an accompanying classifier. Class is assigned based on the animate or inanimate nature of the object or on the basis of objects general shape. Thus numeral classifier is different while counting flat objects than when counting round objects or people. In some Mayan languages, numerical classifiers also take the form of affixes attached to the numeral.
In Mayan languages, subject of an intransitive verb is treated in a manner similar to the object of a transitive verb, but differently from the subject of a transitive verb. Two different sets of affixes are used to indicate the person of subjects of intransitive verbs and the object of transitive verbs. Mayan verb has various affixes used to signify aspect, tense, and mood in various ways.
Earliest forms of literature in the Mayan language are found in the form of monumental inscriptions. These inscriptions usually deal with the documentation of ruler-ship, succession, and ascension. A lot of these inscriptions are also religious in nature. Some literature in Mayan languages was also written on perishable materials such as codices made of bark, not much of which survived due to humid weather. After the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, Latin letters were introduced for the Mesoamerican languages and this considerably increased the power of the language, allowing rich literature to be produced in the Mayan languages.
Different kinds of writing systems have been used for documentation of Mayan languages. The earliest forms included monumental writings and hieroglyphs mainly consisting of logograms and syllables. The language on these glyphs that predominates the Classic-era inscriptions in called the Classic Maya. Following the Spanish conquest, colonial orthography replaced the classic system of hieroglyphic writing after the introduction of the Latin alphabet.
Mayan languages are multiple languages spoken in the Mesoamerican region which have collectively been derived from the ancient proto-Mayan language. This Proto-Mayan language is thought to have been 5,000 years old although it diverged into different languages even before the Classic Period of the Maya civilisations. During this period, different Mayan languages were spoken in different regions of Maya. Based on the differences in the grammar and structures, scholars have divided different Mayan languages into different branches. Most of the languages in these branches are still spoken in various regions of Central America. | https://mayansandtikal.com/mayan-languages/ |
There are hundreds of Mayan ruins throughout Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala, but the Yucatan Peninsula (where Tulum , Playa del Carmen and Cancun are) have some of the most impressive ruins.
List five great Maya cities, and describe the basic city design. Possible answers are Palenque , Copán , Tikal, Toniná, Yaxchilán, Banampak. The basic city design consisted of the palace and temples in the center, with the temples in a cross formation. Buildings were often places on top of older structures.
Descendants of the Maya still live in Central America in modern-day Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and parts of Mexico. The majority of them live in Guatemala, which is home to Tikal National Park , the site of the ruins of the ancient city of Tikal .
A two-hour drive from Cancun is Chichen Itza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most visited of all Yucatan archaeological sites. The highlight is the 82-foot-tall (25-meter) El Castillo pyramid, which guests can scramble up for unparalleled views of the site and jungle beyond.
To answer your question though – yes, the ruins are safe . Chichen Itza is a bit of a trek (3 hours drive each way) and being inland in the jungle, it can be extremely hot there. Tulum is much closer and the setting is spectacular (the ruins are on top of a cliff).
Aguada Fénix
After assembling a record-setting 154 radiocarbon dates, the researchers have been able to develop a highly precise chronology that illuminates the patterns that led up to the two collapses that the Maya civilization experienced: the Preclassic collapse, in the second century A.D., and the more well-known Classic
Scholars have suggested a number of potential reasons for the downfall of Maya civilization in the southern lowlands, including overpopulation, environmental degradation, warfare, shifting trade routes and extended drought. It’s likely that a complex combination of factors was behind the collapse.
The Maya have lived in Central America for many centuries. They are one of the many Precolumbian native peoples of Mesoamerica . In the past and today they occupy Guatemala, adjacent portions of Chiapas and Tabasco, the whole of the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, and the western edges of Honduras and Salvador.
Tikal Temple IV
Top 15 Mayan Ruins & Archeological Sites To Visit In Mexico Chichen Itza Mayan Ruins. Coastal Ruins Of Tulum . Maya Ruins Of Coba . Palenque . Calakmul Mayan Ruins. Monte Alban. Teotihuacan. Ek Balam .
Blood was viewed as a potent source of nourishment for the Maya deities, and the sacrifice of a living creature was a powerful blood offering. By extension, the sacrifice of a human life was the ultimate offering of blood to the gods, and the most important Maya rituals culminated in human sacrifice .
By far the most famous Mayan ruins in Mexico, Chichen Itza is a popular day trip for travelers staying in Cancun . The main highlight is the famous El Castillo pyramid, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
The tallest structure in Chichen Itza is the ancient pyramid , El Castillo. It is 98 feet in height. Standing at 98 feet tall, El Castillo, an ancient pyramid constructed by the Mayan people sometime between the 9th and 12th centuries, is the tallest structure in Chichen Itza .
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s pre-Hispanic ruin sites have begun re- opening to tourists for the first time since they were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic in March. Mayan ruins like Tulum and Cobá will reopen Monday; Chichen Itza will apparently reopen later. | https://www.mundomayafoundation.org/mayan/what-city-are-the-mayan-ruins-in.html |
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Language convergence is a type of linguistic change in which languages come to structurally resemble one another as a result of prolonged language contact and mutual interference, regardless of whether those languages belong to the same language family , i. Language convergence occurs in geographic areas with two or more unrelated languages in contact, resulting in groups of languages with similar linguistic features that were not inherited from each language's proto-language. Language convergence occurs primarily through diffusion, the spread of a feature from one language to another.
Language Contact and Bilingualism
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The presentation will consider discourse-related code switching of first generation Bulgarian immigrants to Canada to reveal how particular factors within the conversation where code switching takes place, exert impact on the language behaviour of immigrants. The results show the types of context and the reasons for incorporating English or French words, phrases and even whole sentences into a conversation held in Bulgarian. The study concludes that most commonly code switching is resorted to when speakers refer to concepts, ideas, phenomena, situations, interactions they have to deal with in the second language and it is a result of the uneven distribution in the use of first and second language. The results are expected to show the types of context where English words, phrases and whole sentences are incorporated into a conversation otherwise held in Bulgarian. An attempt is also made to elucidate the functions of code-switching, i.
Language convergence
Sign Up or Sign In. Resources and networking for those who conduct or interpret meta-analyses related to any phenomenon that is gauged in multiple studies. Ren Appel and Pieter Muysken. Language Contact and Bilingualism. Language Contact and Bilingualism was originally published in at Edward Arnold, London isbn 0 3. Download: Language contact and bilingualism. Load more similar PDF files.
The series consists of scholarly titles which were no longer available, but which are still in demand in the Netherlands and abroad. Relevant sections of these publications can also be found in the repository of Amsterdam University Press: www. At the back of this book there is a list of all the AAA titles published in Language Contact and Bilingualism was originally published in at Edward Arnold, London isbn 0 3. All rights reserved.
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Embracing bilingualism As the number of bilingual chil- dren and families in the United States increases, pediatric pro- viders and other child develop- ment specialists need to be famil iar with normal patterns of bilin- gual language acquisition. The concept of additive bilingualism makes reference to the case in which someone has learned a second language in a manner that enables him to communicate in both languages, without diminishing his skills in the firstlanguage; it is a situation where a second language is an asset, rather than being a - Completely free - with ISBN It may be acquired early by children in regions where most adults speak two languages e. Who are bilingual children? The reason might be the great variety within the scope of science that deals with this very phenomenon of bilingualism.
Language Contact and Bilingualism was originally published in at Edward Arnold, London isbn 0 3. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. This is an unchanged reprint. Since , the field has undergone a tremendous development, leading to a host of new surveys and a few specialized journals, such as International Journal of Bilingualism, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.
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Ты мне не веришь. Мужчины начали спорить. - У нас вирус. Затем раздался крик: - Нужно немедленно вызвать Джаббу. Послышались другие звуки, похожие на шум борьбы.
Rene Appel, Pieter Muysken - Language Contact and Bilingualism (, Amsterdam University Press).pdf - Free ebook download as PDF File.
Стратмор знал, что охладителю потребуется несколько минут, чтобы достичь нижней части корпуса и не дать воспламениться расположенным там процессорам. Он был уверен, что все сделал вовремя, и усмехнулся. Он не сомневался в своей победе, не зная, что опоздал.
От неожиданности Сьюзан застыла на месте. Она была уверена, что никогда не говорила с шефом о поездке. Она повернулась. Неужели АНБ прослушивает мои телефонные разговоры. Стратмор виновато улыбнулся.
Монокль явился провозвестником новой эры персональных компьютеров: благодаря ему пользователь имел возможность просматривать поступающую информацию и одновременно контактировать с окружающим миром. Кардинальное отличие Монокля заключалось не в его миниатюрном дисплее, а в системе ввода информации. Пользователь вводил информацию с помощью крошечных контактов, закрепленных на пальцах.
А она не увидела в этом ничего странного. В том, что вы просто так отдали ей кольцо. - Нет.
Мимо стремительно проплыла каталка. Беккер успел отскочить в сторону и окликнул санитара. - Dоnde esta el telefono. Не снижая скорости, мужчина указал Беккеру на двустворчатую дверь и скрылся за поворотом. Беккер последовал в указанном направлении.
Мысль о том, что придется отстоять в очереди несколько часов, была невыносима. Время идет, старик канадец может куда-нибудь исчезнуть. Вполне вероятно, он решит поскорее вернуться в Канаду.
Для расшифровки Беккеру нужно было всего лишь подставить вместо имеющихся букв те, что следовали непосредственно за ними: А превращалось в В, В - в С и так далее.
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The recent interest in bilingualism and language contact has led to a number of new The result is a clear, concise synthesis offering a much needed overview of this lively area René Appel, P. Muysken; Published ; Computer Science. | https://rethinkingafricancollections.org/and-pdf/1954-language-contact-and-bilingualism-appel-muysken-pdf-file-985-101.php |
In areas without written historical records, where archaeological and ethnographic data are absent or sparse, language forms the backbone of our understanding of socio-cultural history. This project investigates one such region, in eastern Indonesia. What can languages spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands today tell us about the histories of its various population groups? Answering this question requires a productive conjunction of contact linguistics, historical linguistics, and language typology studies. Our methodology includes quantitative cross-validation of qualitative research, and careful control of the variables that is uniquely enabled by the situation of the Lesser Sundas.
A fundamental idea in historical and contact linguistics is that similarities between geographically close languages are not accidental, but point to a shared history of their speakers. Either, the speakers descend from a common ancestor, and the similar features were passed down the generations (vertical transmission); or they are, or once were, in mutual contact, and adopted features from one language into the other (horizontal transmission). Classic methods in historical comparative linguistics largely focus on vertical transmission and internally motivated changes, aiming to reconstruct the common ancestor and mutual relationships within groups of related languages. Language contact studies, on the other hand, focus on patterns and constraints in externally motivated changes. Truly unravelling the linguistic history of a region requires an approach which combines the historical comparative method with a constrained theory of language contact (Harrison 2003), investigating both vertical and horizontal transmission.
Studying the past through a linguistic lens also implies that we study change and retention in both the lexical and the grammatical domain, as both are influenced by different dynamics of contact and retention, and show different types of traces. Lexicon is easily borrowed; grammar is not (cf. Thomason 2001: 70-71, 2010). Within the lexicon, items have different borrowability, e.g., nouns are more easily borrowed than verbs. Loan words suggest contact in particular socio-semantic domains like religion, politics, or technology at specific moments in time (e.g. abbey, prince < French; dike, dam < Dutch), datable by their spread through a group of languages and level of integration into individual languages. They reflect cultural systems (e.g., kinship) and social networks.
Changes in sentence grammar can also point to foreign influence, but syntactic changes follow different paths and are induced by different sociolinguistic contexts than changes in the lexicon, typically involving more intimate and long-term contact. For instance, in a situation where speakers are bilingual from childhood, the intensity of contact is much higher and has different outcomes than in language contact through casual trade. In turn, contact through childhood bilingualism differs in intensity from bilingualism where post-adolescents or adults adopt a second language.
Apart from life-stage loci of change and intensity of contact, many other factors determine the linguistic outcomes of contact, including the social status of the languages, the language attitudes of the speakers, the degree of (geographical, social) isolation of the community, and the duration of contact. Given the number and variety of factors that bring about linguistic change through contact, efforts to develop universally valid models for contact-induced changes have been met with skepticism. Thomason claims that: ‘...deterministic predictive theories of contact-induced change [...] are doomed’ (2007:41). Historical linguists have found few if any constraints in language contact: ‘...any linguistic feature can be transferred from any language to any other language‘ (Thomason and Kaufman 1988:14). On the other hand, language contact specialists argue that not all types of borrowing are equally likely to happen (e.g., Matras 2007); that contact-induced transfers may be shaped by universal principles of grammaticalization (Heine and Kuteva 2005); and that specific contemporary contact settings constrain transfer in various ways (Sankoff et al. 1988).
In searching for constraints on contact-induced transfer, case studies in this project investigate specific paths of change that occur in the language of multilingual individuals. This provides a bottom-up perspective that is fundamentally different from studies that start from the resulting language situation to retrace the factors that brought it about (cf. Curnow 2001). We will conduct three case studies of ongoing change in individuals in contemporary contact situations, varying in intensity of contact, language status, direction and time-depth, applying the ‘scenario’ approach (Muysken 2010) adduced with evidence about socio-cultural history and cultural contact. The resulting models will be quantitatively validated. Because the contact situations occur between Papuan and Austronesian languages, the structural typology of the languages is kept constant in the comparison, with social context and types of change as variables.
These studies will provide a clearer picture of ongoing changes in the languages of the Lamaholot-Pantar-Alor (LPA) region. This will show which social circumstances and types of contact lead to which patterns of change - including changes that do not happen. As such, it will refine (probabilistic) constraints on contact-induced transfer. We also expect to gain detailed insight into the types of grammatical change that occur when languages of different typological profiles are in contact. This is of high theoretical relevance, as it will yield a clearer distinction of vertically and horizontally transmitted language features. Thus, it will expand the scope and the reliability of linguistic findings for reconstructing the past of population groups in the region, and produce a methodology that can be utilised elsewhere in the world.
Within the Lesser Sundas, we focus on the region indicated on Figure 1. Covering a latitudinal distance of almost 200 kilometers, it includes east Flores and adjacent islands, Pantar and Alor. These islands are the westernmost place where Austronesian and Papuan languages meet (fn. 1). In the west, the Austronesian languages Lamaholot and Alorese are spoken; in the east, the Papuan languages of Pantar and Alor. Below we refer to this geographical region as the aforesaid “Lamaholot-Pantar-Alor (LPA) region”, as distinct from the linguistic grouping “Alor-Pantar (AP) family”. The AP family consists of some twenty languages, including Western Pantar, Teiwa, Kaera, Blagar, Adang, and Abui (Fig 1.). It is related to the five Papuan languages spoken on Timor and Kisar (Schapper et al., to appear).
The Austronesians are commonly assumed to have arrived in the area ~3,000 Before Present (BP) (Pawley 2005:100, Spriggs 2011). The origin and age of the AP family, which is located some 1000 kilometers away from the Papuan mainland and surrounded by islands with Austronesian languages, is less clear. One hypothesis holds that they are descendants of immigrants from New Guinea who arrived in the Lesser Sundas 4,500-4,000 BP (Bellwood 1997:123, Ross 2005:42, Pawley 2005). However, recent bottom-up historical comparative research (Robinson and Holton 2012, Holton and Robinson, to appear b) argues that there is no lexical evidence to support an affiliation with the Trans New Guinea languages (cf. Wurm, Voorhoeve, McElhanon 1975, Ross 2005). Another hypothesis holds that the Papuans in the Lesser Sundas descend from arrivals 20,000 BP (Summerhayes 2007). While this possibility cannot be excluded, the level of lexical and grammatical similarity in the AP family does not support an age of more than several millennia, and the reconstructed vocabulary of proto-AP appears to contain Austronesian loan words (e.g., ‘betel nut’, Holton et. al. 2012). Ancient Austronesian loans found across the AP family following regular sound changes suggest that the AP family split up after being in contact with the Austronesian languages in the area, which would give it a maximum age of ~3,000 years.
Resolving this issue requires independent evidence dating proto-AP relative to Austronesian – which requires detailed information on the linguistic and socio-cultural history of population groups in the LPA region and their interactions. This project will seek to provide such information.
(1) ‘Austronesian’ is used here as shorthand for the subgroup of Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken in the Lesser Sundas, steering clear from the debate about the internal structure of the MP subgroup (Blust 1993b, Donohue and Grimes 2008, Blust 2009b). ‘Papuan’ conventionally refers to non-Austronesian languages spoken in New Guinea or its vicinity. Unlike ‘Austronesian’, ‘Papuan’ refers to a cluster of unrelated language families. | http://www.vici.marianklamer.org/project-introduction/4586455845 |
Date:
26-May-2021
From:
Emmanuel Schang <emmanuel.schang
univ-orleans.fr>
Subject:
The Handbook of Language Contact, 2nd Edition
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Book announced at
https://linguistlist.org/issues/32/32-67.html
EDITOR: Raymond Hickey
TITLE: The Handbook of Language Contact, 2nd Edition
SERIES TITLE: Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Wiley
YEAR: 2020
REVIEWER: Emmanuel Schang, University of Orléans
SUMMARY
The Handbook of Language Contact is edited by Raymond Hickey and gathers 37 chapters, plus an important introduction written by the editor. The book is divided into two parts: a theoretical presentation of the main aspects of language contact (Part 1 - Contact, Contact Studies, and Linguistics) and some important case studies (Part 2 - Case Studies of Contact) for a total of 780 pages (all included).
It is aimed at a large audience of scholars and students in linguistics (but a basic knowledge of the key concepts of linguistics is required).
The volume starts with an erudite presentation of the literature on the topic (Language Contact and Linguistic Research, by R. Hickey) and this introduction lists the questions related to the field.
In Chapter 1, S. Tomason ('Contact Explanations in Linguistics) shows that '' both internal and external motivations are needed in any full account of language history and, by implication, of synchronic variation''. She explains why the extreme positions (language contact is responsible only for minor changes vs contact is the sole source of change and variation) are both untenable.
Chapter 2 is dedicated to bilingualism and diglossia (Contact, Bilingualism and Diglossia, by L. Sayahi). The author starts with a discussion on the uses of the term diglossia (and extended diglossia), and continues with the description of language contact phenomena such as code-switching. Most of the examples and cases come from Arabic and its contact with French.
The next chapter (Chapter 3: Language Contact and Change through Child First Language Acquisition, by C. O'Shannessy and L. Davidson) addresses the role of children in contact-induced change. It describes several cases of new language creation or new dialect creation where children have played a significant role.
In Chapter 4, B. Heine and T. Kuteva is entitled Contact and Grammaticalization. They show that ''grammatical replication in general, and contact-induced grammaticalization in particular, are far more common than has previously been assumed''.
In Chapter 5, A. Grant deals with ''Contact and Language Convergence''. After having defined the different meanings behind the notion of convergence, he describes different places where convergence may take place (from phonetics to semantics and pragmatics).
Chapter 6 (Contact and Linguistic Typology, by O. Bond, H. Sims-Williams and M. Baerman) focuses on morphological typology and ''recent developments in research on language contact in relation to contemporary thought in linguistic typology''.The authors conclude that ''language contact is an important explanatory tool for understanding the distribution of typological variables, and must be taken into consideration as a possible influence when constructing probabilistic theories accounting for cross-linguistic diversity''.
In Chapter 7 (Contact and Language Shift) R. Hickey presents data from the language shift form Irish to English over the past centuries. Beyond this case study, he asks the question ''whether language shift varieties represent a typological class of their own''. He concluded that ''to answer this question positively, there must be sufficient features which are unique to shift varieties (...) and which appear irrespective of their occurrence in either the substrate or superstrate inputs which engender a shift variety''.
In Chapter 8, P. Durkin deals with Lexical Borrowing. He defines the notion and reviews the different types of borrowing found in the literature.
Chapter 9 is dedicated to code-switching (Contact and Code-switching, by P. Gardner-Chloros). It ponderates its impact in language change and shows precisely what is its impact.
Chapter 10 (Contact and Mixed Languages, by P. Bakker) deals with mixed language as ''the most extreme result of language contact''. P. Bakker defines the notions of pidgins, pidgincreoles, creoles and mixed languages, using a ''thought experiment'' where he creates fictitious specimen of these types to illustrate pedagogically the content of these notions.
In Chapter 11, entitled ''Contact and Sociolinguistic Variation'', M. Ravindranath Abtahian and J. Kasstan focus ''on research in the variationist paradigm that intersects with the field of language contact. [They] predominantly focus on sound change, which forms the bulk of the work at this interface, as well as a significant part of the tradition of variationist sociolinguistics''.
Chapter 12, entitled Contact and New Varieties (by P. Kerswill) describes the different scenarios and forces at play in the emergence of 'new' varieties. It deals with dialect leveling, new-dialect formation, koineization, ethnolects and multiethnolects.
'Contact in the City', by H. Wiese, is the penultimate chapter of Part 1. As its title indicates, it deals with language contact in the urban context, but in very different places, such as Cameroon (Camfranglais) or Germany (berlin, Kiezdeutsch).
The last chapter of Part 1 (Linguistic Landscapes and Language Contact, by K. Bolton, W. Botha and S-L. Lee) proposes an overview of the studies in linguistic landscapes, and provides examples taken from studies in contemporary Hong Kong.
Part 2 (Case Studies of Contact) brings together case studies from a wide range of geographic situations and times (the title of the chapters give the reader the indication of the geographic area). The chapters mentioned in the list below are both an overview of the situation in a specific area (with bibliographical information) and an analysis of particular points relevant to this specific area. For instance, in the chapter on Contact and African Englishes, the reader can find (among others) an analysis of resumptive pronouns, which is motivated by the fact that Standard English uses a 'gap' in relative clauses, while in Chapter 15 (Early Indo-European), the analyses focus on phonetics and lexicon. In short, the content of the chapter is adapted to the current debates in the area.
In Chapter 15 (Contact and Early Indo-European in Europe, by B. Drinka), the author addresses the question of reconstruction for prehistoric languages and the kind of arguments we can find in support of contact versus genetic relatedness and several related questions.
In Chapter 16 (Contact and the History of Germanic Languages, by P. Roberge), the author reviews various contacts in the area of Germanic languages and concludes that ''contact with co-territorial languages has been a key element in the development of Germanic in its diffusion across northwestern Europe and the British Isles'' (p.338).
The next chapter (Chapter 17: Contact in the History of English, by R. McColl Millar) discusses different types of lexical borrowings and the morphosyntactic changes triggered by contact (a.o. A comparison on French and Italian Lexical influence on English).
In Chapter 18 (Contact and the Development of American English, by J.C. Salmon and T. Purnell), the authors review a number of recent arguments in favor of the 'substratum' influence and claim that ''we now understand the diversification of American English today in no small part as the slow-motion resolution of the contacts encoded in our history.'' (p.377). And they conclude “Time and again, we see the interplay between “internal”, or structural, and “external”, or social factors, in the origins and transmission of change. (p.378)”
Chapter 19 (Chapter 19: Contact and African Englishes, by R. Mesthrie) starts with setting the background to Anglo-African contact. It goes on with a survey of contact in phonology and syntax in the subsaharian varieties of English.
In Chapter 20 (Contact and Caribbean Creoles, E. W. Schneider and R. Hickey), the authors review the influence of various sources of contact. They provide arguments which mitigate the idea that creolization is a ''unique and highly exceptional process'' (p.419). In particular, they show that aside from the well known and well documented varieties of Jamaica, Trinidad or Guyana, smaller and less documented varieties provide elements for a nuanced approach of creolization (in sections “The Cline of Creoleness” and “Dialect Input to the Caribbean”) taking in account the whole diversity of varieties and the complexity of the input.
Chapter 21 (Contact and the Romance Languages, by J. C. Smith) consists in an overview of the contacts in a well studied area: Romance languages. Interestingly, the author claims that ''it is also fair to claim that contact influence on Romance has often been overstated'' (p.444).
Chapter 22 (Contact and Spanish in the Pacific, by E. Sippola) deals mainly with Spanish in the Philippines and Marianas, “where we find very different situations and outcomes of Spanish in contact, including the maintenance of Spanish as a heritage language, heavy borrowings form Spanish to local languages (e.g. Tagalog in the Philippines and Chamorro in the Marianas), and creolization leading to the emergence of a new variety called Chabacano” (p. 453). It also shows how the situation differs from other Spanish speaking places.
H. Cardoso (Chapter 23: Contact and Portuguese-Lexified Creoles) presents an overview of the Portuguese-based Creoles and their importance in creolistics.These languages were some of the older creoles based on European languages as the result of the European expansion since the 15th century.
Chapter 24 (Contact and the Celtic Languages, by J. F. Eska) discusses contact in the early history of Celtic languages and contact in the Insular Celtic languages. It reviews various grammatical features originating from contact, sometimes dating from Prehistory (languages spoken in Britain and Ireland before Celtic speakers could have arrived there).
L.A. Grenoble (Chapter 25: Contact and the Slavic Languages) surveys the various types of contacts that occurred through time in the Slavic languages as a result of the expansion of Slavic languages speakers over vast territories. While Russian plays an important role here, this chapter also includes discussion on other languages (Sorbian, Czech etc.).
Chapter 26 (Contact and the Finno-Ugric Languages, by J. Laakso) discusses the reconstruction of language contact in Finno-Ugric family. In particular, it discusses and challenges the traditional view of a bipartite division of the Uralic family. The last section however deals with globalization and the nature of contact in the recent years.
Chapter 27 (Language Contact in the Balkans, by B. D. Joseph) addresses the question of the Sprachbund in the Balkans, the causes and the type of convergence between groups of languages of the area.
In Chapter 28 (Turkic Languages Contacts) L. Johanson, E.A. Csató and B. Karakoç explain that the massive displacements of the Turkic-speaking groups over centuries has led to numerous contacts between languages. This chapter proposes an overview of the various areas (Anatolia, Lithuania, Northwestern Europe etc) and a description of the main features related to contact.
Chapter 29 (Contact and Afroasiatic Languages, by Z. Frajzingier and E. Shay) deals with a wide number of linguistic features (from vowel harmony to logophoricity among many others) which can be related to contact between languages inside Afroasiatic Languages or in connection with other languages.
With around 275 languages from around 55 different families, North American Languages present a wide range of effects of language contact. In Chapter 30, (Contact and North American Languages), M. Mithun considers several important problems in phonology, morphology and syntax and provides numerous interesting examples.
In Chapter 31 (Contact and Mayan Languages, by D. Law), the author provides an overview of the currents discussions and questions about contact and mixing in the area. While the Mayan family is quite small (32 languages spoken today), the situation is very complex and the author underlines the methodological difficulties in separating the contact induced changes from inheritance from a common ancestor. While there is not a lot of examples, the bibliography is rich and leads the reader to the sources.
South America contains 107 language families (53 language families and 54 language isolates). L. Campbell, T. Chacon and J. Elliott (Chapter 32: Contact and South American Languages) propose an survey of the different areas (Amazonia, Andes, etc) and review the contact languages, linguas francas, mixed languages, pidgins and creoles of this wide area.
Chapter 33 (Contact among African Languages, by K. Beyer) reviews various aspects of language contact in Africa and language contact research in this area and provides two case studies in multilingual environment: Souroudougou (Burkina Faso and Mali) and Ngaoundere (Cameroon).
Siberia is another vast geographic area, but the number of languages in the area is rather low (over 30 languages). Nevertheless, B. Pakendorf (Chapter 34: Contact and Siberian Languages) explains that ''the indigeneous languages show several structural similarities, leading Anderson (2004,02006) to speak of a 'Siberian linguistic macro-area' ''. She provides examples of Russian influence on the languages of Siberia, pidgins and mixed languages, and ends the chapter with language contact among the indigenous languages.
In Chapter 35 (Language Contact: Sino-Russia), Z. Frajzingier, N. Gurian and S. Karpenko focus on two questions: ''(i) What are the formal features used by contact language speakers? and (ii) What functions are coded by these formal features?''. They conclude that the ''use of Sino-Russian idiolects is different from that of pidgins'' and they explain the differences.
Chapter 36 (Language Contact and Australian Languages, by J. Vaughan and D. Loakes) deals with pidgins and creoles, mixed languages, restructured traditional languages and arboriginal Englishes. The authors describe the linguistic landscape of Australia and ''emphasize the importance of attending to the social, the ideological and the emotional in language contact''.
In Chapter 37 (Contact Languages of the Pacific) J. Siegel provides an overview of the various pidgin and creole languages of the Pacific area (Australia and New Zealand excluded), focusing on lexicon and morphosyntax. It deals with new languages only, and not with contact induced changes among the thousand of languages of the area.
EVALUATION
This book (in its second edition) brings together a considerable amount of knowledge on the subject of language contact. Inasmuch as topics range from methodological discussions on contacts in prehistoric languages to urban sociolinguistics, the diversity of the methodological approaches and the extent of the phenomena covered are very impressive. The wide range of languages taken in account is also impressive, even in Part 1 which is the theoretical part of the book.
This book represents a perfect entry point for the study of language contact phenomena. Even a linguist familiar with the field will probably discover a hidden gem in these pages.
The bibliography which ends each chapter will help the reader to find more information on the topic. As a consequence, each chapter is free-standing. And surprisingly, the bibliography is not as redundant as one could have expected.
While the book is overall clear and easy to read, some chapters are quite technical and require a good knowledge of the concepts of historical linguistics. This reserves their access to students who already have a solid theoretical background.
Let me give you some elements about what this book is not, in contrast with other related books:
- It is not an introduction on pidgin and creole languages. While pidgin and creoles take a important place in these pages (the theoretical discussion is not limited to Chapter 10), the content goes beyond these languages and takes on many other cases of contact. Moreover, some elements of Chapter 10 are quite controversial among creolists (see Aboh 2015 among others) and could be mitigated.
- A cookbook for studying contact phenomena. The diversity of the approaches in Part 1 can provide the reader some inspiration for new researches with new techniques. It is a source of inspiration, but definitely not a method.
Having said that, I recommend this book for any scholar looking for a comprehensive overview of language contacts, and for (advanced) students in linguistics. It is unquestionably a useful resource to have in your library.
REFERENCES
Aboh, E. O. (2015). The emergence of hybrid grammars: Language contact and change. Cambridge University Press.
Anderson, G. D. (2004). The languages of Central Siberia: Introduction and overview. Languages and prehistory of Central Siberia, 262, 1-119.
Anderson, G. D. (2006). Towards a typology of the Siberian linguistic area. In Linguistic Areas (pp. 266-300). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Emmanuel Schang is an associate professor (HDR) in linguistics at the University of Orléans (France). His research mixes creole languages studies (Portuguese-based Creoles of the Gulf of Guinea, Guadeloupean Creole) and natural language processing. He has led several projects on creole languages. | https://linguistlist.org/issues/32/32-2117/ |
Course unit details:
Language Contact
|Unit code||LELA70292|
|Credit rating||15|
|Unit level||FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree|
|Teaching period(s)||Semester 2|
|Offered by||Linguistics and English Language|
|Available as a free choice unit?||Yes|
Overview
Much of linguistic analysis in the Western tradition is based on the assumption that speakers are either monolingual, or – if they do speak more than one language – that these form distinct systems. But do bilingual or multilingual speakers really process their languages as separate systems? What kind of influences from speakers’ first languages can manifest themselves in second language acquisition? Under what circumstances do bilingual speakers “mix” languages in conversation? Can such mixing result in changes in the languages involved, or even the formation of new languages? What are creole languages, and how do they arise? What do we really mean by the “borrowing” of elements from one language into another? How do processes of language acquisition relate to particular historical changes in the lexicon and grammar of a language?
In this course unit, we will address the above questions on the basis of a range of case studies involving languages from around the world. Students can base their written assignment on a course topic and on languages of their choice.
Aims
The principal aims of the course unit are as follows:
Students will obtain an overview of processes of historical language change and the formation of new languages due to language contact, and of their relation with multilingual language use. They will critically reflect on the concept of “language” as a delimited system, and will learn to analyse relevant aspects of the phonology, grammar and semantics of a range of languages, including non-European ones.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- identify the key issues in the study of multilingualism and language contact
- analyse multilingual discourse
- apply a variety of general linguistic descriptive and analytic methods to data examples from a variety of domains: language acquisition, conversation, and language change
- compare and evaluate case studies involving different, including unfamiliar, languages
- link the social factors giving rise to multilingualism and the likely changes to be undergone by languages due to language contact
- critically reflect on the relations between social environment., communicative needs and grammatical categories
Syllabus
Week 1. Introduction
Week 2. Bilingual and second language acquisition: implications for the study of language contact
Week 3. Bilingual language processing
Week 4. Language choice in multilingual societies
Week 5. Language mixing in conversation 1: discourse functions
Week 6. Language mixing in conversation 2: structural aspects
Week 7. Lexical borrowing
Week 8. Grammatical borrowing
Week 9. Linguistic areas
Week 10. Pidgin and creole languages
Week 11. Mixed languages
Week 12. Summary and further discussion
Teaching and learning methods
- 2hr weekly lecture (with 3rd year students)
- 1hr weekly seminar (MA students only)
- Assignment guidance in written form and during consultation hours
Knowledge and understanding
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- understand the role of some key conceptual notions in language contact such as “borrowing”, “code-switching”, and “creole genesis”
- link historical processes of contact-induced change to the processing of multiple languages by multilingual speakers
- apply these concepts to data from languages unfamiliar to them
- reflect on the implications of linguistic research on multilingualism for policies in multilingual societies
Intellectual skills
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- identify patterns in sets of data
- identify key points in the literature relevant to a given topic, and integrate information from different sources
- identify conceptual links between synchronic and diachronic phenomena
- critically evaluate theoretical claims and sources of data
Practical skills
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- transcribe and analyse multilingual conversations (depending on choice of assignment)
- conduct interviews in an intercultural setting (depending on choice of assignment)
- use glosses and translations to analyse structures of unfamiliar languages
Transferable skills and personal qualities
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- provide explicit evidence and precise argumentation in written work
- gain an increased appreciation of linguistic and cultural diversity
Employability skills
- Oral communication
- Written and oral argumentation
- Research
- Awareness of issues and benefits regarding multilingualism
- Other
- Challenging common preconceptions about language learning and language use
Assessment methods
|Method||Weight|
|Written assignment (inc essay)||100%|
Feedback methods
- Feedback on seminar contributions
- Individual meetings in consultation hours to discuss choice of topic
- Written feedback on essay (additional feedback in consultation hour if desired)
Recommended reading
Matras, Yaron. 2009. Language contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Winford, Donald. 2003. An introduction to contact linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Li Wei. ed. 2000. The bilingualism reader. London: Routledge. | https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/masters/courses/list/01233/ma-linguistics/course-details/LELA70292 |
Languages do not stop changing – Flo Balmer
Flo gives a compelling insight into the intricacies of language, which is constantly adapting and whether this change needs to be controlled.
Languages do not stop changing. Is this a good or a bad thing? Give examples of language change (from English and/or any from other languages), discuss the various processes through which language change takes place and evaluate critically two propositions (A) that language change is a good or a bad thing, and (B) that we should try to control the rate of change (stop it, speed it up).
Every single language has evolved through a series of mechanisms and under the influence of other languages to assume its current form. Although a correct grammatical version of each language exists, in reality this is impossible to confirm, as language is a vehicle of communication the primary function of which is to enable us to convey internal ideas and recreate experience in a communal environment, meaning that it is constantly undergoing change. Considering that language itself is shaped by every linguistic encounter that takes place in its speech community, the rate at which the process of language change occurs will inevitably vary from case to case. Language change may awaken a stimulation of creativity and provide social advancement and a solution to an issue of communication within the language, thereby lies a convincing argument for its activation. Yet this is at the expense of continual dispute, confusion and the conceivable loss of the heritage and culture of its discourse community.
Due to the diverse influences to which language is subjected, there are a variety of processes by which it may change. Firstly, it is crucial to recognise that language is dependent on the actions and movements of humankind and can be manipulated to suit a speaker’s needs. A development may derive from an obligation to fill a gap within the language. Therefore, change may occur when someone notices and thus attempts to solve an inconvenient deficiency in their language. The vocabulary of a language expands each time someone creates a nonce word, like fluddle, or constructs a word with longer lasting effect, for example Ms, which was created to dispel the difficulty of knowing when to use Mrs or Miss. Sheer linguistic creativity may instigate change; Shakespeare was renowned for several coinages and some have even been integrated into the modern English Language, such as accommodation, laughable and eventful.
Language may change due to internal factors, independent of sociolinguistic pressure, leading to an alteration caused by a structural requirement in the language. One such example is the use of the weak verb pattern in forming the past tense in the English language. This leaves the stem untouched and involves one type of suffix, removing the risk of incorrect stem alteration and many unpredictable verb forms. The weak verb pattern is formed more readily by a child in first language acquisition, and such over-extension has made this the popular form, leading to the removal of the alternative, more complex form. This is analogy, the regularisation of unusual paradigms, which functions by removing one marked element and thus provoking further change which results in a type of snowball effect. Language change is an epiphenomenon, it is not the intention of the speakers to induce it, but it can occur when an individual spontaneously shortens or lengthens a word or uses it within a new context. Like in the case of the Great Vowel Shift, causing English to redirect towards Latin pronunciation due to its status as the ‘queen of tongues’, such change may be seen as more fashionable or convenient by other speakers, leading to its diffusion through the speech community by exaggeration and hypercorrection. This was illustrated in French through the development of the nasal vowel, which acted as an indicator of upper class in society. This probably accounts for the unusual stress on this sound in modern French, as lower classes would have modelled their own speech accordingly at the time of transmission.
The grammar of a language is less responsive to external influence, as it is the basis of which a language is formed. Change in grammar may be adopted by a speech community when they recognise its comparative ease. These changes normally occur when one speaker creates an irregularity, which is generalised to other words until the critical mass has changed, engendering the remaining words to join the majority. Grammaticalisation implies the transformation of a full lexical unit into grammatical markers. For example, in Old English, the word dōm meant judgement or condition but has now lost its status as a lexical item to become suffix, such as part of kingdom. Such gradual changes, implemented slowly through a community via copying and language contact, may result in semi-lexical words, clitics or inflections, the latter being a permanent loss of independence and retention of grammatical meaning only, which was the fate of dōm. Lexicalisation is the act of placing two words together and treating them as one lexical unit, like girlfriend or gingerbread, so that it becomes recognised as such by all of the speech community. Alternatively, derivation may occur, which is the addition or removal of affixes to words, meaning adjective and noun forms exist, such as adding al to culture, creating cultural. The reverse of this process is backformation; one such example being that the verb diagnose was derived from diagnosis. Due to our obsessive need to ‘conveni-ize’ our language, we often stylistically extract an arbitrary proportion of a word to invent a new lexical unit of identical meaning, such as gymnasium universally being termed gym. Due to popular usage and the disconnection with their parent lexemes, the results of clipping, blending and making acronyms are not merely degraded to abbreviations. All these processes may occur through (particularly younger) individuals copying and modelling features of speech from others, because they recognise the social prestige attached to the change.
Many individuals find the question of language change one of high controversy, raging against the domination of foreign tongues, and such altercations tend to focus on external change. Following globalisation and the birth of the internet, the case of geographical isolation is extremely rare and there is more intercommunication between nations, thus this increased language contact frequently activates change. By multilingual speakers introducing new words into a language, change occurs through borrowing and is often the product of an absence of the entity that the word denotes in the receiving language. Yoga entered the English language in 1818, but there was no way to translate it because the discipline was not previously practised there, hence it was directly imported. Unsurprisingly, it is common for words to be borrowed more frequently in a community where many speakers are multilingual and thus facilitate this transaction. In Canada, both French and English are officially recognised and commonly mixed in conversation, leading to grammatical features or words such as chauffeur and croquet being transported into English, which in turn has proffered the likes of internet and weekend. The success of this procedure depends on community size, for any change in language depends on whether enough speakers prefer and embrace the new version, so purposely discard the old which has continued to coexist. It must be repeated enough for irregularities to become conventionalised and overcome the threshold of rarity.
Speculation upon the nature of language change tends to produce negative results and sentiments of patriotic ill feeling towards the degradation of language and the extrapolation of fearing that a mother tongue may alter unrecognisably. However, one must note that there are considerable advantages to linguistic evolution and development to a speech community, due to the position of language as an instrument of communication. It is a self-regulating process, accommodating and compliant to its speakers on whom it is dependent. Change does not always successfully dominate a language, for example several new dialects of English immerged when the British colonised America, but the English accent has still survived and we continue to resist American pronunciation and spelling. As depicted by Erin McKean, every new word is a chance to express ideas and, essentially, to convey meaning. With the rapid expansion of new technology, linguistic change is a positive reaction as it allows this advancement to be communicated within society. Suzanne Talhouk asserts that Arabic does not suit the needs of its people, seeing that it is not a language of science nor the workplace, and thus she stresses the need for evolution in order to permit its speakers to keep up with other communities. Mark Pagel identifies language change as the key to our betterment; the function allowing humans to acquire a superior state and to collaborate, communicate and consequently advance. Perpetual change has led to enhanced sophistication in language systems, moving from a pidgin state to complex structures and broad vocabulary. Following substantial change, there would be fewer issues of miscommunication, plus finance and time could be saved on the translation and interpretation process, which annually costs the EU over one billion euros. One could therefore conclude that it is a positive process.
Conversely, the fear of the destruction of a language due to uncontrollable change is a main argument of the opposing case. As language expresses cultural conventions, concepts and particularities, each language death is a cultural tragedy as these may also be lost in the process; especially in small indigenous communities like the Aborigines, who lost tradition, lifestyle and culture through the death of 100 of their 250 original languages following colonisation. Lexical borrowing is a key component in change, but, in its extremity, leads to language suicide or murder. Borrowing can generate confusion when accomplished erroneously, since the meaning of words may alter, for example cafeteria denotes a coffee shop in Spanish, yet a canteen in English. The standardisation process is crucial in empowering the transmission of language and with language constantly undergoing lexical and semantic revolutions, this provokes an endless search for mastery that can never be obtained. Furthermore, it is functionally disadvantageous for language to alter with constant rhythm as this is hindering communication between social groups, as one initiates change at a faster pace and, due to lack of intimacy, these alterations are not disseminated. This has been the unfortunate experience of Tok Pisin speakers, where the urban and rural communities now struggle to converse with each other. Particularly amongst the adolescent community where most experimentation and variation occurs, the primary cause is usually inertia. Hence, the full potential of language is not always met and some beautiful and lyrical language is only used in written language, and thus this incessant change is viewed negatively.
Owing to the individualistic style of language change and the external influences weighing upon it, measuring the rate of change is an arduous task. However, it may serve as an indicator in deciding whether language change is a good or a bad thing. The rate depends on the size, location and social mobility of the speech community and the language regulations. To alter the rate, one must control these conditions and use mechanisms such as literature and media to influence the speakers, yet the complexity of this is naturally immense. Language change can be measured in an S curve, but it is already approaching the last bend at the time of recognition, thus it is difficult to reverse. Although perhaps futile, impeding change may have considerable advantages, preserving a language in its present form in the aim of linguistic harmony, security and heritage. In a desperate attempt at preservation, the Académie française attempts to command the French language through establishing a dictionary, although the latest attempt was started in 1930 and they are only up to the letter P; the language has already dramatically advanced. Slowing the rate of language could prevent confusion, the mixing of words whose context has since changed, such as gay now meaning homosexual rather than merry, which in turn could improve inter-generational communication. This prescriptivist view continues in the same vein towards slang, naming language change as the culprit for an increase in the disability to converge and diverge language appropriately, hence it is necessary to slow down this deterioration to preserve the art of skilful communication. People can react very sensitively to language change; in Quebec, fines of up to $10,000 have been charged by the 400 ‘language police’ following the law against English influence by the Commission de Surveillance de la Langue Française.
Contrarily, inducing language change and promoting alterations of lexical and grammatical rules may also improve a speaker’s experience. The English language comprises of a number of sexist terms, such as mankind, housewife and, grammatically, the use of his as the general possessive pronoun. The removal of such innate sexisms, such as the progression in unofficial language to their, is in keeping with the current society and demonstrates the necessity that language adapts. Additionally, subtle changes, such as standardising grammar, would dispel irregularities and generate less mistakes in first and second language acquisition, as it would be easier to learn with the removal of complications over pronunciation, for example the kn in the word knife. Quickening the rate may also suit social needs; the Japanese language was modernised in 1946 by limiting the number of the old kanji characters in an effort to simplify the vast range of complex characters, which was seen as a factor in unification and modernisation. The invention of the printing press accelerated language change, because it made it much easier to regulate and standardise the characters used. It also eliminated several irregularities and generated the appointment of a Schriftsprache of the English language, which further demonstrates that to attain linguistic harmony and clarity, increasing the rate of language change is beneficial. If language did not change, there would be no new words or lexical creativity and people would be using an archaic system not designed for modern usage, which would obstruct communication. Developments may soothe aggravating nuances, such as the removal of exceptions, like h in some dialects of English, leading to language change becoming a solution rather than the root of the issue.
In conclusion, language is detailed social technology that will continue to change inevitably, due to its position as a medium of communication. Proclaiming these changes to be signs of progress or decay, therapeutic or disruptive, creative or disorientating, vital or obstructive, is nearly always futile. Language will continue to develop through hypercorrection, conscious exaggeration and language contact according to the requirements of its speakers, for ease of communication, social factors or to provide a means of expression, despite of complaints in either direction. Dictating its rate may have its relative merits, but it will not alter at an immoderate pace as ‘the arbitrariness of language ensures the non-arbitrariness of change’. Yet in a globalised world where it has the capacity to occur more than ever before, language change must be embraced.
McMahon, 1994, p138
Crystal, 1995, p132
Trask, 1994, p1
Crystal, 1995, p63
https://www.uni-due.de/SHE/
https://www.uni-due.de/SHE/ – The force of analogy
https://www.uni-due.de/SHE/ – Nature of language change
https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/english-changing
Aitchison, 2013, p10
Aitchison, 2013, p58
https://www.uni-due.de/SHE/ – Motivation for change. | https://bubble.royalhospitalschool.org/2017/11/02/languages-do-not-stop-changing/ |
The following notes have been abstracted from David Watters' grammatical sketch of Kusunda.
The Kusundas, also known as Ban Rajas “Kings of the Forest,” are an ethnic group of Nepal who, until recent historical times, lived as semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers in central and midwestern Nepal. Nowadays, due to the loss of vast tracts of forest lands their hunting bands have splintered and they have been compelled, because of a lack of marriageable Kusunda partners, to intermarry with other ethnic groups. As a result, their numbers have dwindled drastically and their language has all but ceased to exist.
Kusundas first came to the attention of the Western world in 1848 when Brian Hodgson, the British Resident to the Court of Nepal, introduced them, together with the Chepangs, in an article in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
Nine years after his first mention of Kusunda, Hodgson, in his Comparative Vocabulary of the Languages of the Broken Tribes of Nepal (1857), published a list of 223 Kusunda words. The most important consequence of Hodgson’s list was that it (should have) demonstrated unequivocally that Kusunda was unrelated to (Tibeto-Burman) Chepang, or to any other language or language family. It seems that Robert Shafer (1953) was the first to notice its unique status, almost one hundred years later.
Many linguists agree that Kusunda is very likely the sole survivor of an ancient aboriginal population once inhabiting the sub-Himalayan regions before the arrival of Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan speaking peoples. It is probable that other aboriginal languages existed alongside Kusunda in that prehistoric period, but they have long ceased to exist. Petroglyphs, inscribed on the walls of caves and rock overhangs, can still be found in many parts of Nepal, attesting to the presence of possible multiple aboriginal populations.
Kusunda survives today, in varying degrees of fluency, in only a handful of speakers — no more than three. According to the 2001 Census of Nepal, 164 people in Nepal call themselves Kusunda.
Cross-tribal marriage is one of the major contributors to the death of the Kusunda language. Communication between spouses must be conducted in a common language, usually Nepali, and children grow up (at best) with only a passive understanding of a few words in Kusunda, but speaking only Nepali or Kham. Deeper causes, of course, contribute to the necessity of inter-tribal marriage – overpopulation among the general populace, the destruction of vast tracts of forest land, and the resultant splintering of earlier self-sufficient, self-propagating hunting bands being some of the major ones.
Though the first two words, gwa ‘egg’ and tu ‘bug’ bear resemblance to Magar words with similar meanings, the Magar words are decidedly unusual for Tibeto-Burman. More common TB forms are ba or bwa for ‘chicken,’and bu for ‘bug.’ It is possible that the Magar forms were borrowed from Kusunda.
Kusunda is related to no other language or language family of South Asia; indeed, as far as we can tell, to no other language on earth – it is a true linguistic “isolate”. There are, to be sure, a few lexical borrowings from surrounding languages, both from Indo-Aryan and from Tibeto-Burman. But all such borrowings are relatively recent and have nothing to do with its genetic lineage.
The status of some linguistic isolates can be extremely difficult to determine; such languages may have been sufficiently influenced through long-term contact with surrounding languages that they begin to resemble them both grammatically and lexically. The original language provides only a substrate. Kusunda has not escaped at least some such influence, but, by and large, it remains a typological isolate – i.e. it is phonologically, lexically, and grammatically distinct. Thus, we can be reasonably safe in assuming that throughout most of its history Kusunda developed in isolation, and only in recent times has it had contact with other linguistic types. | http://kusunda.linguistics.anu.edu.au/social.php |
SEALS29 features three keynote speakers:
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Alexander Coupe
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
"The Aoic languages in areal and typological perspective" [pdf]
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Sumittra Suraratdecha
Mahidol University, Thailand
"Language revitalization, community engagement and social impacts" [pdf]
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Hsiu-chuan Liao
National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
"Another look at the clause structure in Philippine languages" [pdf]
Alexander Coupe
Hsiu-chuan Liao
Sumittra Suraratdecha
Day 1: May 27, 2018
The Aoic languages in areal and typological perspective
Alexander R. Coupe
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Aoic refers to a cluster of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken at the western extreme of the mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area and traditionally includes the major dialects of Ao (Chungli, Mongsen, Changki), the Lotha and Sangtam languages, and the various dialects of Yimkhiungrü (Langa, Tikhir, Wui, and possibly Makuri). These languages are typologically interesting for the fact that they demonstrate features characteristic of Southeast Asian languages (e.g. lexical tone systems, similar phonotactic constraints on syllable structure, rampant lexical compounding), but also show the heavy footprint of South Asian languages in their grammatical complexity (e.g. head-final features, non-finite clause chaining, tense marking, synthetic and agglutinative word formation, morphological causatives, relative-correlative constructions, inter alia). They are also significant for demonstrating a number of typological rarities, and thus have value for contributing to our understanding of the extent of linguistic diversity in the world’s languages.
The multitude of tongues spoken in the mountains of the Indo-Burmese Arc has resulted in some notable contact effects, manifesting in the borrowing of grammatical morphemes and parts of pronominal paradigms that are generally considered to be highly resistant to borrowing, as well as structural convergence. Such developments are likely attributable historically to four influences: (i) the substratum influence of Indo-Aryan languages, such as Assamese and the closely related creole-like Nagamese; (ii) wholesale annexations by more powerful tribes migrating from the east and south, resulting in villages with separate populations speaking distinct native languages; (iii) the earlier practice of kidnapping women; and (iv), migrations of entire clans to other villages due to famine or intra-village conflicts. All of these factors may have contributed to the creation of bilingual villages and the resulting diffusion of features observed in the languages of the region.
The paper will compare phonological systems and aspects of morphology and syntax in the Aoic languages to assess the basis for their subgrouping, as well as their peculiarities that have relevance for typology. Particular attention will be given to discussing linguistic features that characterize the Aoic languages, and those that distinguish them from their Konyak neighbours on the one hand, and the Kuki-Chin and Angami-Pochuri languages of southern Nagaland and adjacent regions on the other.
Day 2: May 28, 2018
Language revitalization, community engagement and social impacts
Sumittra Suraratdecha
Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia (RILCA)
Mahidol University, Thailand
This talk describes a participatory action research (PAR) approach to linguistic and cultural revitalization, taking a PAR project of a Black Tai community in Thailand as a case study. It gives a sketch of the history and current status of the Black Tai language and culture and the ways in which reclamation activities and restoration of their linguistic and cultural rights can enhance the well-being of the speakers and enable them to be proactive in taking charge of social problems leading to sustainable community development. The project targets younger generation, especially youth as primary stakeholder, partner, and beneficiary of the intergenerational transmission of Black Tai linguistic and cultural heritage. Linguistic and cultural heritage is seen as essentially an asset, an invaluable capital for self- and community development. To safeguard the vitality of Black Tai linguistic and cultural heritage, non-formal curricular developments are discussed with the community and accordingly implemented and evaluated. The curriculum is learner-driven and activity-based creating opportunities for local knowledge to be passed down from generation to generation through knowledge elicitation; restoring lost ties between generations; increasing interaction in homes and schools among community members of all generations. The research project showcases an alternative holistic approach to language revitalization; linking language culture and personal and community empowerment; language lives through actual every day use of it in society. The research outcome indicates that active engagement of local members is essential to the success of the intergenerational transmission of linguistic and cultural heritage leading to sustainable development of the whole community.
Day 3: May 29, 2018
Another Look at the Clause Structure in Philippine Languages
Hsiu-chuan Liao
National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Most, if not all, Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines are commonly described as having a complex “(verbal) focus” or “voice” system with four or more “foci” or “voices”: (1) “Actor Focus (AF)”/ “actor voice (AV)”, (2) “Goal/Patient focus (GF)/ “Patient Voice (PV)”, (3) “Locative Focus (LF)”/ “Locative Voice (LV)”, and (4) “Theme Focus (TF), Instrumental Focus (IF), and Benefactive Focus (BF)” or “Conveyance/ Circumstantial Voice (CV)”. (2) ~ (4) are often referred to as “Non-Actor Focus (NAF)”, “Non-Actor Voice (NAV)”, or “Undergoer Voice (UV)”. Morphologically, AF/AV verbs and NAF/NAV verbs differ in that the former typically contain reflexes of PAn *<um>, PMP *maR-, and PMP *maN-, whereas the latter typically contain reflexes of PAn *-ən, *-an, and *Si- (PMP *hi-). Syntactically, AF/AV constructions and NAF/NAV constructions differ in the choice of an actor or a non-actor as the ‘focused NP’ or ‘grammatical subject’. However, such an analysis is not free of problems.
First, AF/AV morphology can be found in not only verbs that take an actor argument, but also verbs that do NOT take any actor at all, e.g. meteorological verbs (as in Tagalog bumagyó ‘It stormed; there’s a typhoon’; Ilokano nagbagió ‘It stormed’ (nag- is the perfective aspect of ag-)).
Second, although reflexes of PAn *<um>, PMP *maR-, and PMP *maN- are all considered AV markers, they usually cannot be used interchangeably. More specifically, not all bases can take all three forms of AV markers. For those that can combine with more than one of them, the choice of different AV markers typically results in differences in interpretation (e.g. Tagalog kumain ‘to eat’ vs. magkaín/ magkakaín ‘to eat frequently’ vs. mangain ‘to eat small things or pieces of things one after another’; bumasa ‘to read, to peruse’ vs. magbasá ‘to study; to read much or intently’ (Pittman 1966:13; English 1987); bumilí ‘to buy; to purchase’ vs. mamilí ‘to go shopping; to make various purchases’ (English 1987), etc.).
Third, two of these AV markers can occur on the same base simultaneously (e.g. Tagalog maghumiyaw ‘to shout at the top of one’s voice’, mag-umunat ‘to stretch one’s self to the limit’, mag-umiyak ‘to cry at the top of one’s voice’ (Pittman 1966:20)).
Fourth, AV markers and NAV markers can occur on the same base simultaneously (e.g. Kankanaey man-i-dawat ‘give (s.t.)’ (Allen 2014:120)).
To solve the above problems, I propose that the difference between so-called “AF/AV” constructions and “NAF/NAV” constructions is in “event primacy” vs. “participant primacy”. Moreover, reflexes of PAn *<um>, PMP *maR-, and PMP *maN- are used for signaling various types of event properties, whereas reflexes of PAn *-ən, *-an, and *Si- (PMP *hi-) are for signaling which participant is primarily affected by the action expressed by the predicate. The proposed analysis can solve not only the above-mentioned problems but also explain why meteorological verbs with reflexes of PAn *<um> or PMP *maR- can only occur in a zero-place predicate construction, whereas meteorological verbs with reflexes of PAn *-ən, *<in>, and *-an can occur in a one-place predicate construction. | https://sealsxxix.wixsite.com/seals29/keynote |
become part of the language used by Iraqi Arabic speakers, especially computer,
internet and mobile phone users. But these loanwords have been subject to modification
or adaptation to match the morphological - phonological system of spoken Iraqi Arabic.
Consequently, such loanwords are used as if they were Arabic words. The analysis of
the data has indicated that the most important changes in the morphological aspects of
the loanwords occur in number, gender, negation, possession, the definite article and
word-formation. The analysis also reveals that some phonological changes have been
introduced to match the morphological modifications. The paper suggests further
research to cover loanwords which have recently entered Arabic via communication
technology, scientific advancement, modernization and globalization.
Keywords: borrowing, loanwords, global language, language contact, Iraqi Arabic,
Standard Arabic, internet/computer/mobile phone jargon, morphological/phonological
modifications
1. Introduction
No language can make progress as an international medium of communication
without a strong power-base (Crystal, 2003:7). This statement proves to be true when
we consider the status of English language. English has grown into a primary language
for international communication since the beginning of the 20th century. Gaining the
status of an international language can be attributed to many reasons; historical,
economic, political and cultural (Kay 1995:67). According to Crystal, this present-day
dominance which has made English a global language is “primarily the result of two
factors: the expansion of British colonial power, which peaked towards the end of the
DOI: 10.24086/cuesj.v1n1a14
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twentieth century, and the emergence of the United States as the leading economic
power of the twentieth century”(ibid:59).
It was British imperial and industrial power that sent English around the globe
between the 17th and 20th Century. The legacy of British imperialism has left many
countries with the language thoroughly institutionalized in their courts, parliament, civil
service, schools and higher education establishments. But it has been largely American
economic and cultural supremacy in music, media, business, finance, computing,
information technology and the internet that has consolidated the position of the English
language and continues to maintain it today.
From the beginning of the 20th century, English has replaced French as the
lingua franca of the whole world due to its prestigious status as the language of science,
technology, innovations, communication, literature, entertainment, media, business and
commerce (Trask, 2003:20). In 1957 the UNESCO reported that two thirds of the
available literature in engineering is written in English. In fact, the importance of
English stems from its status as a lingua franca in science and technology more than any
other reasons. English is already the world’s universal language, and the world will
become by and large bilingual, with people mastering English in addition to their native
language. Over 70% of the world’s scientists read English, about 85% of the world’s
mail is written in English and 90% of all information in the world’s electronic retrieval
systems is stored in English. By now, the number of people who speak English have
exceeded the number of native speakers (the Economist 1996; the British Council 1997;
Crystal 2003).
Being a global language, English has achieved the status of a main language
donor (Fasold & Linton, 2006:294) especially in the fields of science, technology, and
more recently in telecommunication due to the tremendous technological advances and
the information revolution via the World Wide Web (the internet). This has been
achieved as a result of contact, which is mainly of cultural nature, between English and
other languages and nations. According to Weinreich (1963:5) language contact is one
aspect of that culture contact. Sapir (1991:192-206) postulates that any intercourse
between speakers of two languages, through direct or indirect contact, leads to an
inevitable influence of the culturally dominant language on the other. This dominance
may be political, military or cultural.
As for the spread of English in the Arab World it has been the result of contact
with Britain and USA. As for Iraq, The roots of this contact with English are traced
back to the British occupation of Iraq in 1914, and later the mandate in 1921(Kailani,
1994: 47). But the traces of this contact have deepened as a result of the latest
developments and innovations in science and technology, especially in the internet and
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mobile phone services, and to some extent, after the American-led invasion of the
country in 2003 which was of military nature in the first place.
Loanwords from English are used in all languages, sometimes directly without
any change, or with some modifications to cope with the morphological-phonological
features of the borrowing language. This case is clear, to a great extent, with English
loanwords used in Iraqi Arabic (IA) in the case of technical jargon in the area of
computer, internet and mobile phone.
2. Scope and Purpose of the Study
The present study is centred on the use of English loanwords by IA speakers in
the area of computer, internet and mobile phone jargon. The main objective of the study
is to investigate the area where such technical terms are used by speakers when they
come into contact with such terms in everyday situations. This has been done by listing
the technical terms in the specified fields (computer, internet, mobile phone) as used by
IA speakers, with their Standard Arabic (SA) equivalents. The list (Appendix 1)
includes 105 words distributed on the three fields: computer, internet and mobile phone.
The study is an endeavour to detect the morphological and phonological modifications
undergoing these loanwords as regards their use in everyday situations. The study is
limited to technical terms in the specified fields when they are used in IA, as a spoken
variety of SA.
3. Review of Related Literature
Borrowing is defined as “the introduction of a word (or some linguistic feature)
from one language or dialect into another” (Crystal, 1992: 46). According to Richards,
et al (1993:40), borrowing refers to “a word or phrase which has been taken from one
language and used in another language”.Borrowing is achieved when one language
imports words from other languages to its own lexicon. It occurs when “speakers of a
particular language come in contact with speakers of a different language” (Aronoff and
Rees-Miller, 2003:21). New words or phrases can enter a language from another one in
the form of direct borrowing. This process takes place when new words from a donor
(source) language are introduced into a target (recipient) language (Fasold, et al, 2006:
294).
Borrowing occurs when people from different cultures come into contact with
each other. Consequently, they have many things to share and this leads to the process
of acquisition and an extensive increase in vocabulary, which is accompanied by an
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increase in meaning (Mojela, 1991: 12). Gumperz (1968: 223) states that when “two or
more speech communities maintain a prolonged contact with a broad field of
communication, there are cross-currents of diffusions”. These diffusions are realized
when huge amounts of words and concepts are borrowed from one language into
another. As regards borrowing, a distinction is to be made between two main types: | https://dokumen.tips/documents/english-loanwords-in-iraqi-arabic-with-reference-to-cuesj-yusra-m-salman-dept.html |
As might be expected from the difficulty of traversing it, the Sahara Desert has been a fairly effective barrier to direct contact between its two edges; trans-Saharan language contact is limited to the borrowing of non-core vocabulary, minimal from south to north and mostly mediated by education from north to south. Its own inhabitants, however, are necessarily accustomed to travelling desert spaces, and contact between languages within the Sahara has often accordingly had a much greater impact. Several peripheral Arabic varieties of the Sahara retain morphology as well as vocabulary from the languages spoken by their speakers’ ancestors, in particular Berber in the southwest and Beja in the southeast; the same is true of at least one Saharan Hausa variety. The Berber languages of the northern Sahara have in turn been deeply affected by centuries of bilingualism in Arabic, borrowing core vocabulary and some aspects of morphology and syntax. The Northern Songhay languages of the central Sahara have been even more profoundly affected by a history of multilingualism and language shift involving Tuareg, Songhay, Arabic, and other Berber languages, much of which remains to be unraveled. These languages have borrowed so extensively that they retain barely a few hundred core words of Songhay vocabulary; those loans have not only introduced new morphology but in some cases replaced old morphology entirely. In the southeast, the spread of Arabic westward from the Nile Valley has created a spectrum of varieties with varying degrees of local influence; the Saharan ones remain almost entirely undescribed. Much work remains to be done throughout the region, not only on identifying and analyzing contact effects but even simply on describing the languages its inhabitants speak.
Languages of the Balkans
Victor A. Friedman
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Please check back later for the full article.
The Balkan languages were the first group of languages whose similarities were explained in modern linguistic terms as a result of language contact rather than as a result of descent from a common ancestor. Nikolai Trubetzkoy coined the term Sprachbund ‘linguistic league’ (as opposed to Sprachfamilie ‘language family’) to describe this relationship. Balkan linguistics, as both a subset of and precursor to contact linguistics, is, at its base, an historical linguistic discipline. It seeks to explain similarities among the relevant languages as the result of diffusion rather than of either transmission or of putative universal, typological properties of human language (which latter assumes parallel developments whose causation is ahistorical, i.e., unconnected with either contact or ancestry). The relevant languages are, with the exception of Turkic, all part of the Indo-European language family, but they belong to five distinct groups that are known to have been separated for a significant length of time (presumably millennia). Moreover, for four out of five Indo-European groups, as well as for Turkic, there exists documentation that goes back more than a millennium, and in some cases several millennia. The Balkan languages are thus the oldest example of a well-documented and still living Sprachbund.
The primary questions that Balkan linguistics seeks to answer are these: What are the results of language contact in the Balkan languages, and how did they come about? The Balkan languages are traditionally defined as Albanian, Modern Greek, Balkan Romance (Romanian, Aromanian, and Meglenoromanian), and Balkan Slavic (Bulgarian, Macedonian, and the southernmost dialects of the former Serbo-Croatian). In recent decades, it has been recognized that the relevant dialects of Romani, Judezmo, and Turkish and Gagauz also participate in at least some of the convergent processes that are taken as definitive of the Balkan linguistic league. While the language family is defined by regular sound correspondences, which in turn help define shared morphology and a core lexicon, the Balkan linguistic league is defined principally by shared morpho-syntactic developments and a shared lexicon of borrowings often called “cultural.” In the Balkan linguistic league, phonological developments are sometimes shared among different languages at the dialectal level, but there are no such features that characterize the Balkan languages as a group. Just as in the language family, not every diagnostic item is represented in every branch, so, too, in the Balkan linguistic league, not every feature is equally represented in all languages and dialects.
Among the most characteristic morpho-syntactic features are the following: (a) replacement of infinitives by analytic subjunctives; (b) the use of a particle derived from etymological “want” to mark the future; (c) replacement of synthetic gradation of adjectives with analytic constructions; (d) replacement of conditionals by anterior futures; (e) post-posed definite articles (for Balkan Slavic, Balkan Romance, and Albanian); (f) resumptive clitic pronouns for certain direct and indirect objects; (g) various simplifications in the declensional system; and (h) grammaticalized evidentials (Balkan Slavic, Albanian, to some extent Balkan Romance and Romani, Turkic). While some of these convergences began in the ancient or medieval periods, the Balkan linguistic league took its definitive modern shape during the centuries of the Ottoman Empire (14th to early 20th centuries).
This summary was written while I was an Honorary Visitor at the Center for Research on Language Diversity, La Trobe University.
Languages of the World
Will Leben
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Please check back later for the full article.
About 7,000 languages are spoken around the world today. The actual number depends on where the line is drawn between language and dialect—an arbitrary decision because languages are always in flux. But specialists applying a reasonably uniform criterion across the globe count well over two thousand languages in Asia and Africa, while Europe has just shy of three hundred. In between are the Pacific region, with over thirteen hundred languages, and the Americas, with just over 1,000. Many of the world’s languages are spoken by small populations and are thought likely to disappear over the next few decades, as speakers of endangered languages turn to more widely spoken ones.
The languages of the world are grouped into 141 language families, based on their origin, as determined by comparing similarities among languages and deducing how they evolved from earlier ones. While the world’s language families may well go back to a smaller number of original languages, even to a single mother tongue, scholars disagree on how far back current methods permit us to trace the history of languages.
While it is normal for languages to borrow from other languages, occasionally a totally new language is created by mixing elements of two distinct languages to such a degree that we would not want to identify one of the source languages as the mother tongue. This is the situation with Media Lengua, a language of Ecuador formed through contact among speakers of Spanish and speakers of Quechua. In this language, practically all the word stems are from Spanish, while all of the endings are from Quechua. Just a handful of languages have come into being in this way, but a less extreme form of language mixture has resulted in several dozen creoles around the world. Most arose during Europe’s colonial era, when European colonists used their language to communicate with local inhabitants, who in turn blended vocabulary from the European language with grammar largely from their native language. These so-called creole languages became so well established that they were passed on to the next generation, becoming a first language to many people, and continuing in use to this day.
Also among the languages of the world are about three hundred sign languages, used mainly in communicating with the deaf. The structure of sign languages typically has little historical connection to the structure of nearby spoken languages.
Languages have also been constructed expressly, often by a single individual, to meet communication demands. The prime example is Esperanto, designed to serve as a universal language and used as a second language by some two million, according to some estimates. But there are hundreds of others falling under the rubric of constructed international auxiliary languages. | http://linguistics.oxfordre.com/browse;jsessionid=415F51E777DD4CBEE5786C6452E96D86?btog=chap&t=ORE_LIN%3AREFLIN012&t0=ORE_LIN%3AREFLIN013 |
Affiliations:
- Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
- Issue: Vol 13, No 2 (2022)
- Pages: 455-467
- Section: COGNITIVE RESEARCH
- URL: https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/view/31528
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-2299-2022-13-2-455-467
Cite item
Full Text
Abstract
The research aims to explore constructed languages as semantic and semiotic systems by analyzing various types of languages based on their lexical, syntactic, morphological and other features. In order to achieve this goal, the author examines the existing classifications of constructed languages and attempts to establish a connection between purposes of their creation and their linguistic features on various levels. The research topic relevance is determined by a substantial rise in popularity of constructed languages, the emergence of their new roles and functions as well as a multitude of new types of media available for communication in these languages and their distribution. The author argues that the recent development in technology provides constructed language creators and enthusiasts with new non-verbal ways of expression that were previously unavailable and thus facilitates communication. This hypothesis is confirmed by several case studies, including the one of “SolReSol: The Project”, an open-source computer program developed by the author, which automates and improves the implementation of semiotic systems designed back in the 19th century. Furthermore, attention is also drawn to the problem of eurocentrism in constructed languages. The research findings lead to the conclusion that on closer inspection both a priori and a posteriori constructed languages created by native speakers of European languages inevitably reveal a certain percentage of Standard Average European features in their semantic and semiotic systems.
Full Text
Introduction
As noted by Professor L.A. Novikov, “Due to the interconnection of various aspects of semiotic and linguistic theories, the meaning of language elements may be described not only from the semantic perspective per se, but also in terms of pragmatics, structure and paradigms” [1. P. 403]. Since all of the aforementioned aspects are also present in various types of constructed languages, albeit to different extents, general analysis of their semantic and semiotic features is deemed feasible. It should be specified that for the purpose of terminology standardization, this research uses the English term constructed language (or conlang) as an umbrella term that encompasses all types of non-natural languages (the problem of their classification is addressed in the first chapter below) due to its predominant popularity both among the members of academia and hobbyists.
A multitude of reasons serve as a foundation of this research relevance. First, it is argued that “language remains to be one of the forms of reflection, expression and comprehension as well as a thinking tool” [2. P. 30]. This statement reveals the interest in the exploration of constructed languages, which, by definition, greatly differ from the natural ones: their semantic and semiotic systems, either purposedly or not, might lead to creation of new and unique thinking tools.
Secondly, the timeliness of a deeper analysis of semantic and semiotic systems of constructed languages is due to the recent development of telecommunications which leads to a twofold paradigm shift: it enables the emergence of new semiotic systems which offer previously unavailable ways of expressing ideas as well as creates an informational space for niche international linguistic projects that otherwise would not be able to reach the critical mass of followers needed for their further development.
The usual counterargument to the statement regarding the relevance of any research focused on constructed languages may start with the indication of their impracticality and the failure of even the most notable constructed languages to achieve their goals of becoming highly popular methods of communication. However, it should be argued that such a point of view is inherently narrow since it only takes into consideration the idealistic and unreachable goals that are no longer shared by the overwhelming majority of modern conlang enthusiasts that see creation and development of a new language as a linguistic and social experiment or a form of artistic expression rather than an attempt to establish a new international language that would rival the most widespread natural ones.
The aforementioned misconception formed a stigma that researchers are well aware of: “Linguists do not generally consider constructed languages to be a worthy object of study” [3. P. 10]. Moreover, learning a constructed language rather than analyzing its features may be seen as detrimental and academically discrediting as opposed to being merely counterproductive.
This awareness is shared by the scholars that focus on analyzing semantic and semiotic systems of constructed languages and contribute to various interdisciplinary projects: “one may wonder why someone would be concerned with investigating such an elusive and whimsical area of research as the translation and analysis of constructed languages” [4. P. 91].
However, the aforementioned paradigm shift in the last decade has been associated with a more positive attitude to constructed languages, as proven by the release of the book by Oxford University Press, a major mainstream publishing house. The publication is dedicated to providing the rationale for exploration of constructed languages and their beneficial use as tools of introspection and language learning facilitation. The authors maintain that “conlangs have held importance in the sociopolitical arena and in the world of literature and science fiction media” [5. P. 1].
Correlation between types of constructed languages, purposes of their creation and linguistic features
Documented attempts to construct a new language date back to the 12th century when Hildegard of Bingen described Lingua Ignota (Latin for “unknown language”), a secret ritual language, i.e., a language that is largely unintelligible to the lay people. While no evidence of its grammar has been recovered, the existing document proves that Lingua Ignota possessed two highly important and almost universal features of a constructed language: its semiotic system is based on Latin with some elements of German and Greek, which constitutes a manifestation of linguistic eurocentrism. Another point inferred by modern linguists is that the purpose of Lingua Ignota was to completely reorganize communication, either by “purifying” it through creation of an artificial state of diglossia, or to isolate the group of Hildegard’s entirely female congregation.
The latter implication is a well-established one among researchers who believe that people create constructed languages “because they are somehow dissatisfied with the set of existing languages: those are considered inadequate instruments for thought or for communication or too difficult to learn.” Both of these points will be addressed throughout the research.
Similar goals were pursued by the mystics who created Balaibalan, another early example of a constructed language, in the 14th century. This language was written with the Ottoman variant of the Arabic alphabet and comprised various elements of Persian, Turkish and Arabic languages, yet a large percentage of its vocabulary does not contain any traces of the existing languages, which also serves the purpose of obfuscation.
The two aforementioned languages were described as “secret languages” — by using a semantic system unknown to the general public, they served the purpose of security through obscurity. However, this term is not common in the modern taxonomy of constructed languages. One of the most important classifications of constructed languages includes the definitions of a priori and a posteriori languages. This dichotomy allows the linguists to separate constructed languages into two categories — languages with supposedly entirely new semantic and semiotic systems and those heavily reliant on the preexisting languages. However, it may be argued that this division should be seen as a scale rather than a binary system since all a priori languages are bound to be influenced by their creator’s linguistic worldview. Thus, the aforementioned language Balaibalan, traditionally classified as an a priori language, demonstrates a higher degree of reliance on natural languages than SolReSol, which represents a group of conlangs referred to as philosophical languages, yet in its turn will have a position different from the one of aUI with its unique semantic and semiotic systems.
It should be noted that the use of the conlang taxonomy is inconsistent and is further complicated by a lack of global terminology, as evidenced by the examples of such terms as “planned language”, “experimental language”, “artificial language”, “fictional language”, “imaginary language”, “engineered language”, etc., some of which might be considered pejorative by the authors of the said languages.
Along with the aforementioned structural a priori / a posteriori dichotomy, there is one rather well-defined pragmatic distinction based on the initial purpose of creating a new language. Reliance on these criteria is widely accepted: “Unlike natural languages, conlangs have traceable sources, known authors, and welldefined purposes” .
M. Halley defines these two categories as interlangs and artlangs. While the other subcategories, including the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph, might occupy a specific place in that system, it offers a reasonable distinction — interlangs, also referred to as auxiliary languages, or International Auxiliary Languages (IAL), set the aim of connecting people that do not share a similar language. Examples of such languages include Volapuk, Esperanto and Ido, Interlingua, etc. Such languages typically belong to the a posteriori category, their semiotic systems are rarely original and demonstrate a high degree of eurocentrism.
This category will also include zonal languages, one of the earliest examples of which is the Common Slavonic language created in the 17th century by J. Križanić who sought the Slavic unity both in cultural and political spheres. The highest degree of a posteriority is demonstrated by a special subcategory described as controlled natural languages: Simple English, Basic English, Special English, Globish, etc. Their semiotic systems do not usually differ from the ones of the respective natural languages and semantic systems range from the so-called lexical minimums similar to those used in foreign language teaching to such thinking devices as E-Prime that excludes all forms of the verb to be in order to promote eloquence and clarify thoughts.
These languages contrast with artlangs, i.e., artistic languages that demonstrate a much higher inconsistency in the use of semantic and semiotic systems and rarely pursue the goal of becoming a lingua franca. These languages range from those that do not possess any developed semantic systems and are only featured to create an exotic effect by using their unusual semiotic systems (e.g., the Star Wars universe features 68 languages, yet none of them have any formal description or consistency) to the well-developed ones with in-depth descriptions of inventories (such as the Star Trek’s Klingon which was used as one of the official languages of Wikipedia before its abolishment as a measure of preventing the copyright disputes).
Artlangs are not necessarily incorporated into works of fiction since their creation represents an act of art and science per se. For example, Ygyde is a language that pursues mathematical precision as its top priority and relies on the semiotic systems existing outside of natural languages: the color pink is defined as #FFABAB, which is a unique hexadecimal expression of one of the 16,000,000 of shades while countries are only identified by using their respective geographic coordinates.
Some other examples of artlangs include Futurese, a language with a high degree of a posteriority that aims to predict the development of American English by exaggerating its current semiotic trends and Drsk — an art language containing no vowels and using a dozanal (i.e., base-12) system as opposed to the decimal one. Expansion of semiotic systems beyond the scope of what is generally offered by modern languages is a common trait — there are also some proposals of using the binary code, base-6 and base-16 systems.
Such projects may be seen as attempts to reorganize the world — for example, Láadan was created in the late 20th century for an “international community of women seeking a way to communicate outside the constraints of languages controlled by men” .
A constructed language may pursue a multitude of goals — aUI, a philosophical language created by J. Weilgart, who emigrated from Germany in 1939, was described by him as “the Language of Space”, a language that would be understood by the extraterrestrials attempting to establish contact with the earthlings. While this idea appealed to the young people in the Space Age of the sixties and seventies, in order to prevent it from being immediately dismissed as frivolous, the author and his successors describe the lack of semantic ambiguity as well as its simple and symbolic systems as the main features. It is added that there is a more serious purpose to the creation of aUI, which is combatting stereotypical thinking exploited by propagandists through creation of a strong and ubiquitous a priori connection between semantic and semiotic systems.
Some authors propose completely new, often specialized conlang classifications: “[…] a priori and a posteriori are unable to comprehensively analyze the relationship between fictional conlangs with game elements…” They may advocate such solutions as “constructing a new taxonomy on fictional conlang design approach that adheres specifically to video games” .
Despite the existence of multiple classifications of constructed languages and a large variety of their systems, it is still agreed by the academia that “natural languages are more complex than planned ones on the morphological level” .
Semiotic specificity of constructed languages in the digital age
While the World Wide Web was introduced to the general public 40 years ago, it is only recently that such technical factors as the lack of portability, limited storage, bandwidth and computational power as well as other restrictions have been minimized. This facilitation of communication led to the creation of unprecedently focused international niche communities, included the ones aimed at implementing various conlang-related projects.
Development of Web 2.0 in the first decade of the 21st century lowered the entry barrier to content creation and empowered users to participate in such projects regardless of their technical skills. While the English language indisputably became the language of the Internet (it accounts for more than 60 % of the World Wide Web content according to W3Techs 2021 estimates), it did not stop the users from creating content in constructed languages and translating the existing pages, thus forming the necessary cultural foundation. This led to two major implications for constructed languages: first, conlang enthusiasts were able to use message boards and various types of social media to revive the old, long forgotten languages, popularize the more wide-spread ones and create their own; secondly, the new technology permitted them to implement some previously unavailable semiotic systems, facilitating and automating communication.
Furthermore, new forms of media are not limited to the communication-focused ones and can include various types of software such as video games. While artlangs have been an inherent part of video games (such as Gargish in the Ultima series that dates back to 1988 and Dovahzul in Skyrim), the online mode allowed developers and players to incorporate semiotic systems of auxiliary languages (such as Vötgil with its three-letter writing system optimized for the voxel-based Minecraft game) for peer-to-peer communication as well.
In addition to the conlang-focused projects, there has been some interest in incorporating constructed languages into neural networks and using them to explore the potential of artificial intelligence and social dynamics, creating selforganized semantic and semiotic systems. The authors of one such project came to the conclusion that “development of conlangs can happen in artificial societies of simple agents” .
Developed in the early 19th century, Solresol is one of the first attempts at creating an a priori international auxiliary language that predates the more popular Volapuk and Esperanto. Its uniqueness is manifested in the potentially infinite number of semiotic systems: described as a language of music with its seven-tone inventory, it also incorporates such signs as solfège, the seven spectral colors, numbers, gestures, etc.
Fig. 1. Some semiotic systems used in Solresol
Рис. 1. Некоторые знаковые системы, используемые в языке сольресоль
Unreal Engine 4, a user-friendly real-time 3D creation system used in filmmaking, architectural visualization and video games, permitted the author of this research to create a self-maintained open-source computer program named SolReSol: The Project, which became the first implementation of all the semiotic systems initially designed by Francois Sudre: it augments the synesthetic effect of using the colors of the rainbow together with the highfidelity sounds of musical instruments, allowing its users to decompose the lexis into the minimal elements of meaning and observe semantic transformations through color blending.
Fig. 2. Implementation of the spectral input mode in “SolReSol: The Project”
Рис. 2. Реализация спектрального режима ввода в “SolReSol: The Project”
Furthermore, it also supports direct input of sounds through the MIDI interface, providing a real-time translation of musical notes into Solresol and English. Several versions of the project have been released and the roadmap includes the plans to implement such input modes as the absolute pitch recognition through the microphone, enabling the use of non-MIDI instruments as well as optical color recognition, permitting the system to read printed or drawn color codes captured by the camera.
This program contributed to the rise in popularity of Solresol as a language with 27,000 views of its demonstration on various social media platforms, more than 1,000 installations and its inclusion into such sources as Atlas Obscura and Wikipedia. It also sparked the creation of new international SolReSol-based scientific and artistic projects such as the one by J. Lloyd from Newcastle University who used its framework as a basis for constructing a device that attempts to decipher bird vocalization.
Despite the opportunities offered by the new technology, some of the online practices have been deemed questionable by the more scrupulous members of the conlang community: Google Translate offers Esperanto as one of its nonexperimental languages, Wikipedia is available in eight different constructed languages (Esperanto, Volapuk, Ido, Interlingua, Kotava, Occidental, Lingua Franca Nova, Novial, Lojban) with Volapuk accounting for the largest number of articles (over 117,000, which places it 17th in the global rating, above the natural languages with millions of speakers), yet the overwhelming majority of them are the examples of low-quality machine translation.
Another issue of constructed languages related to their modern state of accessibility is the lack of centralization, which leads to their forking. Creating new constructed languages based on the existing ones is not a new practice: Ido is a well-established reformed version of Esperanto that sought to be grammatically, orthographically and lexicographically regular, changing the hard-to-pronounce words (such as scii to savar) and eliminating the denotation of even the most basic female-related concepts through suffixation of their male counterparts. Lojban was derived from Loglan and SolReSol exists in at least two major versions — the original one, created by Francois Sudre and the one created many decades later by Boleslas Gajewski, who changed such basic terms as fasol from why to here.
However, purists argue that revisionism plays a detrimental role, further dividing the community that could focus on communication and content creation instead. The example of Solresol demonstrates dozens of proposals for its reform, calling for various types of changes, from the major revisions (such as introducing new semiotic systems with sharp / flat notes in order to facilitate transliteration and simplifying its grammar to the point of transforming the language into an isolating one) to the non-intrusive ones such as the expansion of vocabulary that would help to accommodate modern terms. Some of the proposed reforms seek to minimize or eliminate the eurocentrism which proved to be a widespread feature of both a priori and a posteriori constructed languages.
Eurocentrism as a semantic and semiotic feature of constructed languages
Since the inception of international auxiliary languages, their authors have been using different solutions in order to minimize advantages given to speakers of any particular language: while the vocabulary of Volapuk is based on Romance and Germanic languages, its creator purposedly obfuscated the original words, often making them unrecognizable. Nevertheless, its grammar includes a variety of tenses and moods, increasing the number of paradigm elements to 234 forms, making using suffixation to make distinctions between requests, commands and demands. Nowadays this system is seen as a proof of the Standard Average European concept introduced by B. Whorf and deemed unnecessarily complex for a language described as an international auxiliary one.
Similarly, Esperanto has been criticized for its 26-letter alphabet based on Polish, L. Zamenhof’s native language, and uses six diacritics, yet excludes the letters u and h, which nowadays complicates its use in different titles such as filenames and website URLs. Its toponyms are also highly Eurocentric: the exonyms Japanio and Ĉinio are used for Japan and China, respectively.
An in-depth examination of various semantic systems reveals the fact that eurocentrism is not limited to a posteriori languages: although Lojban is seen as a language that strives for neutrality and regularity, its lexis contains a large number of European words, e.g., mandarina — orange, blanu — blue, cyan = cicna, narju = naranja, pink = penka, etc.
While Solresol presents a unique a priori semiotic system that seemingly excludes any form of reliance on natural languages, it still bears a lot of traces of the nineteenth century French language and culture. This is demonstrated both in its grammar and vocabulary, as evidenced by the absence of words for 70 and 90, which forces the speakers to use 60+10 (soixante-dix) and 4*20+10 (quatre-vingt-dix) respectively. This Eurocentric trait dates back to the early vigesimal (base-20) systems used in French, Danish, Albanian, Welsh and other languages.
Another example of cultural relativism in Solresol is its abundance of terms describing some political structures and titles: it contains specific words for “Minister of the Marine and Colonies”, “Grand Officer” and a variety of manners of address, yet only one word for all types of celestial bodies, its inflexion system mimics the one observed in French grammar.
Fig. 3. Examples of linguistic relativism and eurocentrism in SolReSol
Рис. 3. Примеры лингвистической относительности и евроцентризма в языке сольресоль
Some conlang creators view the eurocentrism avoidance as the main feature of their languages: Lidepla (Lingwa de Planeta) incorporates vocabulary based on the ten most spoken (at the time of its creation) languages — Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Nevertheless, it can be argued that there still remains a certain preference towards Indo-European languages since the lexis of the two non-Indo-European languages has been transformed based on its romanization.
Another attempt at avoiding eurocentrism is demonstrated in Toki Pona, an oligosynthetic polysemic language. It is written in the Latin alphabet of 14 letters, but can be transliterated into many other scripts, such as Cyrillic, Cherokee, Hangul, Hiragana, etc. . Furthermore, some artlangs prove to be semantically Eurocentric despite their exotic semiotic systems: Dovahzul with its runic script and digraphs reveals a completely Anglocentric system, even borrowing such idioms as keep (something) at bay from the English language.
Some conlangers embrace eurocentrism instead of denying it, which leads to the creation of zonal languages, including the abovementioned attempt by J. Križanić to create Pan-Slavonic, named “Руски језик” by him. Pan-Slavonic languages are still being created and developed many centuries later, as evidenced by Interslavic language, Neoslavonic, Nowoslownica, etc. Zonal conlangs have also been designed for communication amongst speakers of Germanic languages (Folkspraak), Niger-Congo and Bantu languages (Afrihili).
Based on the extreme interpretation of linguistic relativism, it can be concluded that all constructed languages will inevitably include a certain degree of zonality in their semantic and semiotic systems and favor speakers of certain languages since the bias caused by the creator’s linguistic worldview cannot be completely avoided.
Conclusion
Despite the traditional skepticism expressed by the academia towards any type of research related to constructed languages, there has been a substantial rise of interest in conlang projects caused by a modern paradigm shift. Constructing new languages is not seen exclusively as an attempt to eliminate the dominance of natural languages and establish a new international auxiliary language, it might be interpreted as an act of art, a way of exploring the reality and creating new thinking tools, provoking introspection and increasing the degree of linguistic self-awareness.
Furthermore, the research findings point to the modern interdisciplinary relevance of constructed languages that along with such areas of knowledge as linguistics, poetics and culturology, contribute to artificial intelligence networks, social dynamics simulation and other types of big data projects.
The research results also reveal the lack of a uniform constructed language taxonomy and challenge the integrity of the seemingly well-established dichotomies of a priori and a posteriori, auxiliary and artistic languages. Nevertheless, there is a possibility of describing the general semantic and semiotic features of a language through the analysis of its place in the paradigm of constructed languages.
Additionally, the further exploration of constructed languages leads to the conclusion that the traces of Standard Average European features can be found in their semantic and semiotic systems, thus proving the hypothesis of linguistic relativity.
About the authors
Philipp N. NovikovPeoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
Author for correspondence.
Email: [email protected]
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4884-3659
PhD. in Philology, Associate Professor, Foreign Language Department, Institute of Law6, Miklukho-Maklaya str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 117198
References
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- Piperski, A. (2016). Construction of languages: from Esperanto to Dothraki. Moscow: Alpina Publ. (In Russ.).
- Butnaru, N.L. (2016). Means of preserving intentionality and functionality in constructed language translation analyses: a study on Kálmán Kalocsay’s Esperanto poem Somernokto”. Interstudia (Revista Centrului Interdisciplinar de Studiu al. Formelor Discursive Contemporane Interstud), (19), 91-100.
- Punske, J., Sanders, N., & Fountain, A.V. (Eds.). (2020). Language Invention in Linguistics Pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- van Oostendorp, M. (2019). Language contact and constructed languages. In: Handbook of language contact. Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 124-135. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110435351-011
- Ng, S.B., & Schwendiman, A. (2017). Properties of Constructed Language Phonological Inventories. Washington: University of Washington, 2.
- Skowrońska, D. (2018). Constructed Languages of Hildegard of Bingen and Suzzette Haden Elgin. Female Empowerment through Language? Forum Filologiczne ATENEUM, 1(6), 101-112 https://doi.org/10.36575/2353-2912/1(6)2018.101 Forum Filologiczne Ateneum 1(6)2018
- Purnomo, S.L.A., Nababan, M., Santosa, R., & Kristina, D. (2017). Ludic linguistics: A revisited taxonomy of fictional constructed language design approach for video games. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 17(4), 45-60.
- Gobbo, F. (2017). Are planned languages less complex than natural languages? Language Sciences, 60, 36-52.
- Gonzalez-Rodriguez, D., & Hernandez-Carrion, J.R. (2018). Self-Organized Linguistic Systems: From traditional AI to bottom-up generative processes. Futures, 103, 27-34.
- van Olmen, D. & van Der Auwera, J. (2016). Modality and mood in Standard Average European. The Oxford handbook of modality and mood, 363-384. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199591435.001.0001
- Blahuš, M. (2011). Toki pona-eine minimalistische Plansprache. Spracherfindung und ihre Ziele. Beiträge der, 20, 51-56. | https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/view/31528 |
This book considers how forms and meanings of different languages at different times may resemble one another and what the explanation is for this.
The author aims (a) to explain and identify the relationship between areal diffusion and the genetic development of languages, and (b) to discover the means of distinguishing what may cause one language to share the characteristics of another.
This is done using the example of Arawak and Tucanoan languages spoken in thelarge area of the Vaupes river basin in northwest Amazonia, which spans Colombia and Brazil.
In this region language is seen as a badge of identity: language mixing, interaction, and influence are resisted for ideological reasons.
Professor Aikhenvald considers which grammatical categories are mostand which are least likely to be borrowed in a situation of prolonged language contact where lexical borrowing is reduced to a minimum.
She provides a genetic analysis of the languages of the region and considers their historical relationships with languages of the same family outside it.
She also examines changes brought about by recent contact with European languages and culture, and the linguistic and cultural effects of being part of a group that is aware its language and identity arethreatened.
The book is presented in relatively nontechnical language and will interest linguists and anthropologists.
Information
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Out of stock
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:398 pages, 1 map, 8pp halftone plates and numerous tables
- Publisher:Oxford University Press
- Publication Date:01/04/2003
- Category: | https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Alexandra-Professor-and-Research-Leader-Cairns-Institute-Aikhenvald/Language-Contact-in-Amazonia/437873 |
This paper was presented in the Workshop on Morphological Analysis conducted recently at the IIT Bombay. LANGUAGE IN INDIA will publish the selected papers of this Workshop in a book form, intially by publishing a few articles in every issue, and then finally putting them all together as a single volume for you to read and download free. The articles represent a bright side of the recent research in Indian linguistics, and thus LANGUAGE IN INDIA http://www.languageinindia.com is proud to publish them for a wider audience. Thanks are due to Veena Dixit and others of IIT Bombay. Thirumalai, Editor.
The present paper narrates the minority languages for better understanding and knowledge towards these languages that are present in the North�East (NE) contributing towards the research and development activities in the area of Machine Translation. The NE India, being a linguistic paradise of the country with seven states called Mizoram, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, and Manipur has numerous minority languages with rich word power. We had presented several morphological and characteristic features of a majority language amongst the minority languages of NE India with reference towards language engineering. The need of constructing electronic dictionaries, machine translation systems and other accessories for these minority languages is identified. We had emphasised the adverse effects like �language shift and death� towards these languages, unless they are brought to the main stream of the nation in the current era of Information Technology which is transforming the languages into e-Languages. This will contribute in preserving the linguistic heritage of the Nation.
Machine Translation (MT) continues to provide a touchstone for Artificial Intelligence (AI) work, and a cause of dispute about the relation of language understanding to knowledge of the world. At the one extreme, there are those who argue that MT cannot be solved until AI has achieved full understanding of natural language by means of programs. India is a country well known for its "unity in diversity". People belonging to different religions, castes, languages, cultures, traditions live together under one roof called "India". The North-East (NE) India is not only rich in natural resources but also in natural languages spoken amongst the people. The NE India consists of seven states popularly known as "seven sisters" namely, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya.
In a large multilingual society like India where there is a vast diversity of culture and languages, human communication is a major issue. As the trade and business are widening, people had to migrate for expanding their business activities. In such scenario, every human being is forced to learn more than one language in order to communicate with others. By providing a linguistically cooperative environment which facilitates smooth communication across different linguistic groups, Information Technology (IT) emerges as a catalytic agent in this process. Therefore, there is a need for automated translation systems among various languages in the region.
The immediate solution for such a need is Machine Translation (MT) [Kommaluri, V. 2005]. The major aim of MT is to develop aids for overcoming the language barrier between the technology and the people. Of particular interest is the development of language assessors that allow electronic content on web or other media to be accessible to readers across languages. We had carried out a thorough study on minority languages whose speakers ranging from 10000 to 1000000 exist in India with a special reference to NE India. The NE India is a small geographical region consisting of more than 210 minority languages.
����� The following section narrates the morphological features of the majority language amongst the minority languages which are present in NE India with State wise break up. In section-3, the issues of language shift and language death are discussed to highlight the hazards of negligence/ignorance towards the minority languages. Our concluding remarks in the section-4 emphasises the need for developing several language accessories, tools and MT systems for these minority languages towards the benefit of the tribal people to access the information in this modernised era of IT.
Linguistic diversity is the foundation of the cultural and political edifice of India. The 200 languages enumerated in the Census are a linguistic subtraction of over 1,600 mother tongues reported by the people indicating their perception of their linguistic identity and linguistic difference. The linguistic diversity in India is marked by the fluidity of linguistic boundaries between dialect and language, between languages around State borders and between speech forms differentiated on cultural and political grounds. In spite of diversity, linguistic identity is thin because of the large size of population of the country. Some of the minor languages have more speakers than many European languages. The linguistic differences between the Indian languages, particularly at the grammatical and semantic levels, are less than expected, given their different historical origins. The languages have converged due to intensive and extensive contact making India one Linguistic area. Inter-translatability between those languages is therefore very high.
The languages of India historically belong to four major language families namely, Indo � European, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Sino � Tibetan. The Indo � European has the sub � families, Indo � Aryan and Dardic/Kashmiri, Austro-Asiatic has Munda and Mon-Khmer/Khasi, and Sino-Tibetan has Tibeto-Burman and Thai/Kempti. The Indo-European which is commonly called 'Indo-Aryan� has the largest number of speakers followed by Dravidian, Austo-Asiatic, also called 'Munda' and Sino-Tibetan which is commonly called the 'Tibeto-Burman'.
NE India consists of the largest number of languages amongst languages that exist in the country. Each state in North-eastern India is multilingual with the minority language speakers varying from 4-30%. Some states like Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh do not have a majority language at all. Such linguistic heterogeneity is found even at the level of district, an administrative unit like the country. The languages of the tribes scheduled by the government are called the 'tribal languages'. Their speakers constitute 4% of the total population, though the tribal population is 7.8%, suggesting language shift among the tribes. Therefore, "perfect" linguistic heterogeneity is found in all the states of NE India.
The ethnic situation in NE India is unique. Unlike the non-tribes who are a part of the Indian caste structure, the tribal societies are, by and large egalitarian, though they do incorporate a degree of ranking. The self-help, self-reliance and community spirit that has sustained them through countries in hostile surroundings is still evident. A spirit of cooperation co-exists alongside competitiveness. The economy has mostly been geared to consumption and substitute, and a market network of some consequence has only lately emerged. Almost around 209 tribes are present in NE India. The following section presents the state wise break up of these languages and morphological features of a majority language amongst the minority languages present in the State.
Assamese is the principal vernacular and official language of Assam, a NE state of India, and is spoken by 10 million people there and by 10 million more in Bangladesh. An Anglicized derivation of 'Assam', Assamese refers to both the language and the speakers. A descendant of the Magadha Prakrit group of the Indo-Aryan family of languages, it shows affinity with modern Hindi, Bengali, and Oriya. Developed from Brahmi through Devanagari, its script is similar to that of Bengali except the symbols for /r/ and /w/. There is no one-to-one phoneme- grapheme correspondence. Several pidgins from various linguistic families namely English, Arabic, Austric, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Parsi etc., have enriched the Assamese vocabulary. Most of the tribes in Assam belongs to Tibeto-Burman family and speaks their own respective languages of that family. The Ahoms who came to Assam in the early part of the thirteenth century, were speakers of the 'Thai' language, a branch of Siamese-Chinese linguistic family. Slowly they shifted their language to Assamese.
e.g., mon pokhila uradi ure 'The mind of flies as a butterfly flies'.
e.g., eko nuxuni 'Nothing is audible'.
Syntactically it is non � distinct from its genetic relatives. Assamese has no caste dialects but a geographical dialect kamrupi with further sub-dialects. Written Assamese is almost identical with colloquial. An Assamese-based pidgin or Nagamese is spoken in Nagaland. Mutual convergence with neighbouring Tibeto-Burman languages and Bengali is spoken in Assam is noticeable in phonology and vocabulary. Its indigenous vocabulary is gradually falling into disuse in favour of Sanskritized forms.
Most of the scholars believe that the Tripura royal family originally belonged to the Tipera tribe. The Tipera tribe, like the Cachari and other tribes of eastern India, is Mongolian in origin. The Tipera or Tripuri tribe is classified under the Indo-Mongoloids or Kiratas. Linguistically, the Tiperas� are Bodos�. The language of the Tripuris' is known as Kakbarak. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman group of languages, and its roots can be traced to the Sino-Tibetan family of speeches. It strongly resembles other dialects, such as Cachari and Garo. We have seen that for historical reasons, Bengali has been the most important and dominating language in the state. Almost the whole population of Tripura is Bengali-speaking, and there are sizable Bengali communities in almost all states of the NE India.
Bengali is probably the most widespread language in the entire NE India where Bengali speaking communities have migrated to all the places in NE for various reasons. Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language and forms, with its close relatives Assamese and Oriya, the most easterly development of the Magadhi branch of Middle Indo-Aryan. Bengali is the national language of Bangladesh with about 150 million speakers and the state language of West Bengal in India with about 86 million speakers. One third of the population of Assam speak Bengali, and Barak Valley which comprises of three districts of Assam namely Cachar, Hailakandi, Karimgang, majority people who have migrated from Sylhet in NE Bangladesh speak Sylheti, the dialect of Bengali. Bengali script is a cursive script with 12 vowels and 52 consonants and reads from left to right. It is organized according to syllabic rather than segmental units. There is a horizontal line above the characters. There is no distinction between upper and lower cases.
Bengali uses a script that was originally used for the writing of Sanskrit in NE India. Virtually all the Sanskrit consonantal distinctions like aspirated/inspirited, dental/retroflex, etc., have survived in Bengali and as in Sanskrit, consonants are considered to carry an 'inherent' vowel sound unless another vowel is added. Bengali verbs follow a very regular pattern, falling into five main classes according to stem vowel, which �mutates� between э/o, �/e, e/I, o/u or a/e. Thus amI sunI means I hear but se śone means he/she hears. Similarly tumi r�khbe means you will put but �mr� rekhechi means we have put. Verb stems can often be �extended� to give a causative meaning. Thus �mi dekhi is translated as I see but �mi d�kh�i derives I show. There is a unified article/demonstrative/pronoun system, with no distinction of gender. Thus e means �he/she nearby�, eţ� means �this�, e b�ŕiţ� means �this house�, and b�ŕiţ� means �the house�, o means �he/she over there�, ogulo means �those�, o� chabigulo means �those pictures�.
b�b�r asukh hayeche means �Father is ill� (lit. �of Father illness has become�).
The basic word order is Subject � Object � Verb. For example, in English one would say, �I speak Bengali� and in Bengali, �I Bengali speak.� A preposition would fit into the structure thus: SOPV. For example, �I shop to go�. Bengali has been characterized as a rigidly verb-final language wherein nominal modifiers precede their heads; verbal modifiers follow verbal bases; the verbal complex is placed sentence-finally; and the subject noun phrase occupies the initial position in a sentence.
Khasi and Garo are the dominant languages of the State of Meghalaya, a hill state comprising the former Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills, District of Assam. The Garos� living in greater Mymensingh and in the hilly Garo region of Meghalaya in India, speak hilly Garo or Achik Kata.Garo belongs to the Mon-Khmer language family which is a subgroup of Austro-Asiatic.The Khasi phonological system is characterized by its opposition of plain versus aspirated versus voiced sounds, a limited possibility of consonant clustering of maximal two phonemes syllable-initially, the limitation of phonemes at the end of a syllable consisting of unreleased sounds /k/, /_/ (id/it) /t/ and some other phonemes as can be seen below in the chart, a contrast of short and long vowels and no tones. Free morphemes are mostly one-syllabic or disyllabic with the first syllable consisting of vocalic nasals or sonant (/_m/(ym), /_n/ (yn), /_�/ (yn), /__/ (yng), /_r/ (yr), /_l/ (yl) .The phonemic chart of �ka tien Sohra� (language of Cherrapunji) is as follows.
If the written form of a phoneme is different it is added in parantheses ( ).
If the written form of a phoneme is different it is added in paranetheses ( ). Morphology is characterized by the exclusive use of prefixes and free morphs for grammatical processes. Infixes as in other Mon-Khmer languages are not used anymore and remain only as lexemes, for e.g. shong (to live, to sit) and shnong (village). A peculiar feature that is shared with other non-related languages of the area, as Mikir or Garo, is the loss of an obviously former prefix in the formation of compounds, as �u sew beh mrad� �a hound� from �u� (article) + �ksew� �dog� + �beh� �to chase� + �mrad� �animal� or �rangbah� �an adult male� from �shynrang� �man, male� + �bah� �be grown, be big�. Khasi itself is divided into numerous dialects, as there are Pnar or Synteng, Lyngngam, Amwi, Bhoi etc. Khasi is a recognised language of the 6th schedule.
Rev. Jones started experimenting with the Welsh alphabet using the Welsh letter c (always pronounced as [k]) for the Khasi phonemes /k/ and /kh/, so that the Khasi words �ka kitap� (the book) appeared as ca citap. It was found that the letter c was not suitable and he used k instead but left this k at the place of c so that the Khasi alphabetical order is �a, b, k, d�� The introduction of the letter k allowed him to differentiate the relevant phonemes /k/ and /kh/. Another unique feature of the Khasi alphabet was the introduction of the digraph /ng/ [_] as a separate letter in the alphabet following the letter �g� which was not used at all separately. To introduce a writing system for an unwritten language is always an uncertain matter regarding its acceptance by the people aimed at but regarding Khasi it worked out well. Another problem was the selection of the right �dialect�. Rev. Jones chose the language of Sohra (Cherrapunji) which proved to be a good choice later on. The spelling system was not perfect and soon dissenting voices appeared among the Khasis� who became literate very quickly. Later on two more letters were introduced, � and �, the first one for the palatal nasal [_] and the second one for the phoneme /j/ [j] (as in year). The letter y could not be used because it had two different functions: to represent the schwa [_] in the syllabic letters written yn [_n], ym [_m], yng [__], yr [_r], yl [_l] where the y is pronounced like the �a�[_] as in English �above,� and to represent the glottal stop following a consonant and preceding a vowel as in syang [s_a_] �to roast, to toast�.
Another problem not yet solved satisfactorily till today is the representation of short and long vowels. There is a tendency to write the sign of the voiced consonants after a long vowel, e.g. �ka ngab� [ka __a:p] �the cheek� and �kangap� [ka __ap] �the bee� but in words ending in no sound a differentiation is not possible. In course of time, however, a certain tradition in writing particular words has been established. After the introduction of the Latin alphabet and its acceptance by the people the knowledge of written Khasi in Roman characters grew steadily.
Mizoram known as the Lushai Hills District till 1954 is now a state in the Indian Union. The word �Mizo� is a generic term applying to all Mizos living in Mizoram and its adjoining areas of Manipur, Tripura and the Chittagong Hill tracts and Chin Hills. Mizo literally means (Mi = people, zo = highlander) �Highlander�.
The language of the Mizo comes under the Tibeto�Burman branch of Sino�Tibetan group of people like Naga, Mirki, Miri, etc. The numerous clans of the Mizo had respective dialects, amongst which the Mizo dialect, originally known as Duhlian, was most popular which subsequently had become the lingua franca of the State. Initially the Mizo had no script of its own. Christian missionaries started developing script for the language adopting Roman script with a phonetic form of spelling based on the well known Hunterian system transliteration. Later there were radical developments in the language where the symbol � used for the sound of long O was replaced by aŵ with a circumflex accent and the symbol A is used for the vowel sound of O was changed to AW without any accent. The following few words shall suggest that Mizo and the Burmese are of the same family.
To illustrate the words that are same as Burmese are: Kun (to blend), Kam (bank of a river), Kha (bitter), Sam (hair), Mei (fire), That (to kill), Ni (Sun) etc. In Mizo the large groups of words are obviously related to one another both in sound and in meaning, but not by any regular systematic pattern. For example: bu (slightly bulging), bum (to swell up, be swollen), bom (to bloat), bem (chubby), hpum (fat), bum (hill, mountain, heap), pem (to bank up earth into a hillock for planting), hpum (to crouch), bong (to bulge, to grow, as a goitre), bep (calf of the leg � the bulging part), um (round/bulbous). These are all obviously relatable semantically to a notion of bulging or protrusion, and they share a back vowel and a labial initial or final consonant or both. However, the relationships are not regular, i.e., there is no general pattern in which, for example, an adjective is related to a verb by suffixation of a nasal, as bu is to bum in the preceding series.
Mizo is a tone language, in which differences in pitch and pitch contour can change the meanings of words. Tone systems have developed independently in many of the daughter languages largely through simplifications in the set of possible syllable-final and syllable-initial consonants. Typically, a distinction between voiceless and voiced initial consonants is replaced by a distinction between high and low tone, while falling and rising tones develop from syllable-final (h) and glottal stop, which themselves often reflect earlier consonants.
Mizo contains many un-analyzable polysyllables, which are polysyllabic units such as the English word water, in which the individual syllables have no meaning by themselves. In a true monosyllabic language polysyllables are mostly confined to compound words, such as lighthouse. Most Tibeto-Burman languages do show a tendency toward mono-syllabicity. The first syllables of compounds tend over time to be distressed, and may eventually reduce to prefixed consonants. Virtually all polysyllabic morphemes in Mizo can be shown to originate in this way. For example, the disyllabic form bakhwan "butterfly," which occurs in one dialect of the Trung (or Dulung) language of Yunnan, is clearly a reduced form of the compound blak kwar, found in a closely related dialect. The first element of this compound, in turn, is itself a reduction of an old compound of two roots, ba or ban and lak, both meaning �arm�, �limb�, and often turning up in forms for �wing�.
Mi Jauriga (I am going).
Ami Jiarga (We are going).
Ta Jakga (He may go).
Tanu Jakaga (They may go).
Word making has taken place as a result of a number of linguistic processes, such as word composition, derivation, back formation, hybridism, word clipping, shortening and root creation, imaginative and grammatical affinity. Word composition can be explained as compound method. Joining two or more base or root words forms a compound word or simply a compound. The new word, thus formed, is used to express a meaning that could be rendered by the phrase of which the simple words form parts. Of course, the new word, formed, may or may not have any link or relation with the sense of each base word. In the Manipuri language, compound words are formed freely, and this has enriched, to a very extent, the native vocabulary. By joining two or more part of speech may make the compounds. There may be the compounds of two or more nouns, noun and pronouns, nouns and verbs, nouns and adjectives, nouns and adverbs, adjectives and verbs, adverbs and verbs, adjectives and adverbs etc. as shown in the following picture. Thus, the Manipuri compounds are found formed in different ways that is narrated through the following diagram.
Hybridism is the process of forming new composite words from the stems of different languages. When a prefix or suffix is added from one language to an original word of another language, the new word, thus, formed, is called a hybrid. The principle of hybridism is found operative in the formation of new word by the combination of Manipuri and Bengali, Manipuri and English, and so on. Word clipping is one of the sources of forming new words. There is a general tendency to mono-syllabi�s. This has led to the numerous popular clippings of long foreign words. These clippings have been done in Manipuri in different ways.
Root creation is one of the processes of forming new words. The principle of root creation, of course, is not easily definable or founded on any exactly logical method. In fact, the term is applied somewhat vaguely, to the process of the formation of those words, which awe their origin neither to native resources nor to foreign influence. There are really a good number of words in Manipuri, which do not belong to old Manipuri or to any foreign language. These are not also formed out of the linguistic process of word composition and derivation. The method of the formation of such words is characterized as root creation. Word making by means of root creation in Manipuri has several forms. The imaginative method has been adopted in case of words in course of time have developed semantic connotations very widely removed from there etymological meanings. In such cases, the makers of Manipuri have restarted to a purely imaginative and creative process by which the new word evolved by them expresses the present connotation of the original word without reference to its structural form or literal meanings. According to the method of grammatical affinity, new words have been coined in Manipuri on the basis of root meanings of the original terms giving to these words a recognizable grammatical affinity with their present words. One of the resourceful means in word formation is the process of back formation. This is the process to form new words by subtracting something from some old existing words. In other words, the words in some cases are formed from the back, and so the process is called �Back formation�. Precisely, word making in Manipuri is in front side like Hindi, Bengali and other Indian leading languages. It is standing in front side.
The Meitei language had its own script which has an apparent semblance to that of the Tibetan. The Manipuri character is like that of Bengali in Brahmi style, written from left to right. The second has no merit of consideration at all as the Manipuri and Chinese systems of writing are distinctly different. We may, for a while, examine the origin of scripts of languages close to Manipuri. The Meitei script evolved out of Brahmi is quite evident and there are four sub-branches of Brahmi, two of which spread to NE and North India. Similar to the vowels of present day Hindi of Wardha, Meitei vowels are formed with the addition of signs to the root vowel �a�.
For a small state like Nagaland having a small population, a considerable linguistic heterogeneity is noted. There are as many as twenty languages, such as Angami, Ao, Bodo/Boro, Garo, Kacha Naga, Khezha, Khiemnungan, Konyak, Lotha (Kyon), Mao, Phom, Rengma, Sangtam, Sema, Tangkhul, and Zemi Naga. All Naga languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. All Naga languages adopt the Roman script, as they do not have script of their own. Other languages spoken in the State are Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Nepali/Gorkhali, Manipuri/Meitei and Urdu.
A very interesting finding is that while the non-tribes are bilingual in only other languages of the Indo-Aryan family or English, the tribal people are bilingual in English, Assamese, Hindi and adjacent tribal languages, in that order. Among the Nagas divided by their languages, Nagamese may be treated as the lingua franca of the state, and has been claimed by thirteen communities as a language spoken at bilingual level.
There are 7 vowels and 21 consonants in Tangkhul � Naga.� As supra segmental features, there are tones, length and nasality. The vowels are nasalized in the vicinity of nasals consonants. Inter-nasal vowels are vowels which are always nasalized while pre-nasals or post-nasals are slightly nasalized.� Nasalization of vowels, therefore, is not phonemic and the nasal vowels are the contextually conditioned variants of the oral ones. Also, there is a large number of freely varying varieties of vowels and vowel clusters conditioned by different pitch heights and intonations. Detailed description of the consonants, supra-segmental is shown the following tables.
There are 11 vowel sounds in Tangkhul � Naga. ��All the vowels except [u], [o] and [∂] have allophones. [i], [e], [a] and [�, ū] respectively.� The difference between tense and lax pairs such as [i] and [I], [e] and [ε], [a]and [ā] is not very significant in the sense that they are in free variation and their differences are not predictable in terms of their position in a word.� Comparatively, the difference between the allophones [ū] and [�] is easily predictable with respect to their position in a word.� For the remaining vowel phonemes and allophones the following examples show only the �more acceptable� pronunciation. There are seven types of diphthong in Tangkhul � Naga. They usually occur in syllable final position. Initial vowel sequence is found only in expressive word and some affixes as shown below.
Arunachal Pradesh is marked by an extraordinary range of heterogeneity in terms of cultural and linguistic traits within and between the tribal groups. Although it is a small state, as many as 42 languages are spoken in it. All the languages except the two Indo-Aryan languages, Assamese and Nepali, belong to the Tibeto-Chinese language family.
Among the Tibeto-Chinese languages, Khampti-Shan belongs to the Siamese-Chinese sub-family, while the others belong to the Tibeto- Burman sub-family. Of the 42 languages, 40 are tribal languages. Assamese and Nepali are the scheduled languages. The 15 sub-groups of the Thangsa tribe, the Monpa language by the six sub- groups of the same tribe, and the Mishmi language by the three sub-groups of the same tribe speak Tibetan. The respective tribal groups speak the rest of the languages. The Khamiyangs claim Assamese as their mother tongue. The tribal languages are: Adi, Bodo/Boro, Mikir, Mishmi, Monpa, Nishi/Daa, Nocte, Tangsa and Wancho. Nefamese (Arunachalese), a variant of Assamese whose morphological features are presented in Section 2.1, is the lingua franca among tribes, and between tribes and non-tribes. As many as six different scripts are in use. They are Assamese, Devanagari, Hingma, Mon, Roman, and Tibetan.
When members of an ethno-linguistic group, starts using the language of another for domains and functions hitherto preserving their own language, the process of language shift is underway. In extreme cases a group's language may cease to be spoken at all. A number of factors account for language shift, the most important being changes in the way of life of a group which weaken the strength of its social networks (urbanization, education), changes in the power relations between the groups, negative attitudes towards the stigmatized minority language and culture, or a combination of all three. Language shift has been studied from various perspectives: sociological and demographic at the macro level, ethnographic, social psychological, and so on, at the micro level, each approach making use of specific research methods and techniques which are not contradictory but complementary.
A language dies when it no longer has any speakers. 'Language death', deals with linguistic extinction. It is the extreme case of language contact where an entire language is borrowed at the expense of another. It involves language shift and replacement where the obsolescent language becomes restricted to fewer and fewer individuals who use it in ever fewer contexts, until it ultimately vanishes altogether. Researchers seek general attributes of dying languages, but realize that the circumstances that lead to language death may vary considerably from community to community and from speaker to speaker. There are different types of language death with associated characteristics follow [Campbell and Muntzel, 1989]. These situations are not mutual exclusive and may overlap.
Sudden Language death involves the abrupt disappearance of a language because almost all of its speakers suddenly die or are killed.
Radical language death is like 'sudden death'. Language loss is rapid usually due either to severe political repression and genocide, where speakers out of self defence stop speaking the language, or to rapid population collapse due to destruction of culture, epidemics, etc (Dressler, 1981; Hill 1983). Radical language death can leave rusty speakers, and semi-speakers. Thus, radical language death can lack the age-gradation 'proficiency continuum' more typical of gradual language death.
Bottom-to-top language death is where the repertoire of [stylistic] registers suffer attrition from the bottom up (Hill, 1983), remaining only in formal or ritual genres. This has been called the 'Latinate pattern', here the language is lost first in contexts of domestic intimacy and lingers on only in elevated ritual contexts (Hill 1983; Moore 1988).
Gradual language death is the most common loss of language contact situations. Such situations have an intermediate stage of bilingualism in which the dominant language comes to be employed by an ever-increasing number of individuals in a growing number of contexts where the subordinate language was formerly used. This typically exhibits a proficiency continuum determined principally by age. Younger speakers have a greater proficiency in the dominant language and learn the obsolescing language imperfectly; they are called 'semi- speakers'.
These situations are not mutual exclusive and may overlap. Language shift and language death adversely affect the state of societal bilingualism in the world and should be better understood if languages and cultures are to be preserved.
In the present paper, we had identified the minority languages and elaborated thoroughly the morphological features of a majority language amongst the minority languages for each State that are present in the multi-lingual society called NE India. This is a fascinating field which, we do believe, will be explored in still greater depth in the future.
India being a multilingual country had already recognized the potential of multilingual computing and some of the programs to build competency were initiated more than a decade ago. Since then slowly and steadily many research, development and application oriented activities have been built up at the government, public and private organizations [Kommaluri V., 2003]. This has resulted in creating an awareness about the use of computers in the areas of language analysis, understanding and processing. Preparatory works for building corpora of contemporary texts have led to the development of potential applications like e-dictionaries, morphological analyzers, spell checkers, etc. Defining and refining standards, development of operating systems, human machine interfaces, Internet tools and technologies, machine-aided translations and speech related efforts are some of the major thrust areas identified for attention in the near future. Besides constructing language engineering accessories, automatic machine translation systems are essential for improving the knowledge base of the minority languages by translating the enormous literature being published everyday in the world. This shall be made possible by adopting the example based machine translation methodology (Kommaluri, V. et al., 2002) as majority of the minority languages belongs to Tibeto-Burman family of languages.
Unless these minority languages are brought into the mainstream, there is every chance of these languages lose their existence and die during the present transformation of communication networks through languages to electronic form of communicating languages called �e-Languages�.
� ALPAC: 1966, Languages and Machines: Computers in Translation and Linguistics, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council Publication 1416, Washington, DC.
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The German sinologist and general linguist Georg von der Gabelentz (1840–1893) occupies an interesting place at the intersection of several streams of linguistic scholarship at the end of the 19th century. As Professor of East Asian languages at the University of Leipzig from 1878 to 1889 and then Professor for Sinology and General Linguistics at the University of Berlin from 1889 until his death, Gabelentz was present at some of the main centers of linguistics at the time. He was, however, generally critical of mainstream historical-comparative linguistics as propagated by the neogrammarians, and instead emphasized approaches to language inspired by a line of researchers including Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), H. Steinthal (1823–1899), and his own father, Hans Conon von der Gabelentz (1807–1874).
Today Gabelentz is chiefly remembered for several theoretical and methodological innovations which continue to play a role in linguistics. Most significant among these are his contributions to cross-linguistic syntactic comparison and typology, grammar-writing, and grammaticalization. His earliest linguistic work emphasized the importance of syntax as a core part of grammar and sought to establish a framework for the cross-linguistic description of word order, as had already been attempted for morphology by other scholars. The importance he attached to syntax was motivated by his engagement with Classical Chinese, a language almost devoid of morphology and highly reliant on syntax. In describing this language in his 1881 Chinesische Grammatik, Gabelentz elaborated and implemented the complementary “analytic” and “synthetic” systems of grammar, an approach to grammar-writing that continues to serve as a point of reference up to the present day. In his summary of contemporary thought on the nature of grammatical change in language, he became one of the first linguists to formulate the principles of grammaticalization in essentially the form that this phenomenon is studied today, although he did not use the current term. One key term of modern linguistics that he did employ, however, is “typology,” a term that he in fact coined. Gabelentz’s typology was a development on various contemporary strands of thought, including his own comparative syntax, and is widely acknowledged as a direct precursor of the present-day field.
Gabelentz is a significant transitional figure from the 19th to the 20th century. On the one hand, his work seems very modern. Beyond his contributions to grammaticalization avant la lettre and his christening of typology, his conception of language prefigures the structuralist revolution of the early 20th century in important respects. On the other hand, he continues to entertain several preoccupations of the 19th century—in particular the judgment of the relative value of different languages—which were progressively banished from linguistics in the first decades of the 20th century.
Grammaticalization
Walter Bisang
Linguistic change not only affects the lexicon and the phonology of words, it also operates on the grammar of a language. In this context, grammaticalization is concerned with the development of lexical items into markers of grammatical categories or, more generally, with the development of markers used for procedural cueing of abstract relationships out of linguistic items with concrete referential meaning. A well-known example is the English verb go in its function of a future marker, as in She is going to visit her friend. Phenomena like these are very frequent across the world’s languages and across many different domains of grammatical categories. In the last 50 years, research on grammaticalization has come up with a plethora of (a) generalizations, (b) models of how grammaticalization works, and (c) methodological refinements.
On (a): Processes of grammaticalization develop gradually, step by step, and the sequence of the individual stages follows certain clines as they have been generalized from cross-linguistic comparison (unidirectionality). Even though there are counterexamples that go against the directionality of various clines, their number seems smaller than assumed in the late 1990s.
On (b): Models or scenarios of grammaticalization integrate various factors. Depending on the theoretical background, grammaticalization and its results are motivated either by the competing motivations of economy vs. iconicity/explicitness in functional typology or by a change from movement to merger in the minimalist program. Pragmatic inference is of central importance for initiating processes of grammaticalization (and maybe also at later stages), and it activates mechanisms like reanalysis and analogy, whose status is controversial in the literature. Finally, grammaticalization does not only work within individual languages/varieties, it also operates across languages. In situations of contact, the existence of a certain grammatical category may induce grammaticalization in another language.
On (c): Even though it is hard to measure degrees of grammaticalization in terms of absolute and exact figures, it is possible to determine relative degrees of grammaticalization in terms of the autonomy of linguistic signs. Moreover, more recent research has come up with criteria for distinguishing grammaticalization and lexicalization (defined as the loss of productivity, transparency, and/or compositionality of former productive, transparent, and compositional structures).
In spite of these findings, there are still quite a number of questions that need further research. Two questions to be discussed address basic issues concerning the overall properties of grammaticalization. (1) What is the relation between constructions and grammaticalization? In the more traditional view, constructions are seen as the syntactic framework within which linguistic items are grammaticalized. In more recent approaches based on construction grammar, constructions are defined as combinations of form and meaning. Thus, grammaticalization can be seen in the light of constructionalization, i.e., the creation of new combinations of form and meaning. Even though constructionalization covers many apects of grammaticalization, it does not exhaustively cover the domain of grammaticalization. (2) Is grammaticalization cross-linguistically homogeneous, or is there a certain range of variation? There is evidence from East and mainland Southeast Asia that there is cross-linguistic variation to some extent.
Historical Developments from Middle to Early New Indo-Aryan
Vit Bubenik
While in phonology Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) dialects preserved the phonological system of Old Indo-Aryan (OIA) virtually intact, their morphosyntax underwent far-reaching changes, which altered fundamentally the synthetic morphology of earlier Prākrits in the direction of the analytic typology of New Indo-Aryan (NIA). Speaking holistically, the “accusative alignment” of OIA (Vedic Sanskrit) was restructured as an “ergative alignment” in Western IA languages, and it is precisely during the Late MIA period (ca. 5th–12th centuries
(a) We shall start with the restructuring of the nominal case system in terms of the reduction of the number of cases from seven to four. This phonologically motivated process resulted ultimately in the rise of the binary distinction of the “absolutive” versus “oblique” case at the end of the MIA period). (b) The crucial role of animacy in the restructuring of the pronominal system and the rise of the “double-oblique” system in Ardha-Māgadhī and Western Apabhramśa will be explicated. (c) In the verbal system we witness complete remodeling of the aspectual system as a consequence of the loss of earlier synthetic forms expressing the perfective (Aorist) and “retrospective” (Perfect) aspect. Early Prākrits (Pāli) preserved their sigmatic Aorists (and the sigmatic Future) until late MIA centuries, while on the Iranian side the loss of the “sigmatic” aorist was accelerated in Middle Persian by the “weakening” of s > h > Ø. (d) The development and the establishment of “ergative alignment” at the end of the MIA period will be presented as a consequence of the above typological changes: the rise of the “absolutive” vs. “oblique” case system; the loss of the finite morphology of the perfective and retrospective aspect; and the recreation of the aspectual contrast of perfectivity by means of quasinominal (participial) forms. (e) Concurrently with the development toward the analyticity in grammatical aspect, we witness the evolution of lexical aspect (Aktionsart) ushering in the florescence of “serial” verbs in New Indo-Aryan.
On the whole, a contingency view of alignment considers the increase in ergativity as a by-product of the restoration of the OIA aspectual triad: Imperfective–Perfective–Perfect (in morphological terms Present–Aorist–Perfect). The NIA Perfective and Perfect are aligned ergatively, while their finite OIA ancestors (Aorist and Perfect) were aligned accusatively. Detailed linguistic analysis of Middle Indo-Aryan texts offers us a unique opportunity for a deeper comprehension of the formative period of the NIA state of affairs.
History of European Vernacular Grammar Writing
Gerda Haßler
The grammatization of European vernacular languages began in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance and continued up until the end of the 18th century. Through this process, grammars were written for the vernaculars and, as a result, the vernaculars were able to establish themselves in important areas of communication. Vernacular grammars largely followed the example of those written for Latin, using Latin descriptive categories without fully adapting them to the vernaculars. In accord with the Greco-Latin tradition, the grammars typically contain sections on orthography, prosody, morphology, and syntax, with the most space devoted to the treatment of word classes in the section on “etymology.” The earliest grammars of vernaculars had two main goals: on the one hand, making the languages described accessible to non-native speakers, and on the other, supporting the learning of Latin grammar by teaching the grammar of speakers’ native languages. Initially, it was considered unnecessary to engage with the grammar of native languages for their own sake, since they were thought to be acquired spontaneously. Only gradually did a need for normative grammars develop which sought to codify languages. This development relied on an awareness of the value of vernaculars that attributed a certain degree of perfection to them. Grammars of indigenous languages in colonized areas were based on those of European languages and today offer information about the early state of those languages, and are indeed sometimes the only sources for now extinct languages. Grammars of vernaculars came into being in the contrasting contexts of general grammar and the grammars of individual languages, between grammar as science and as art and between description and standardization. In the standardization of languages, the guiding principle could either be that of anomaly, which took a particular variety of a language as the basis of the description, or that of analogy, which permitted interventions into a language aimed at making it more uniform.
History of the English Language
Ans van Kemenade
The status of English in the early 21st century makes it hard to imagine that the language started out as an assortment of North Sea Germanic dialects spoken in parts of England only by immigrants from the continent. Itself soon under threat, first from the language(s) spoken by Viking invaders, then from French as spoken by the Norman conquerors, English continued to thrive as an essentially West-Germanic language that did, however, undergo some profound changes resulting from contact with Scandinavian and French. A further decisive period of change is the late Middle Ages, which started a tremendous societal scale-up that triggered pervasive multilingualism. These repeated layers of contact between different populations, first locally, then nationally, followed by standardization and 18th-century codification, metamorphosed English into a language closely related to, yet quite distinct from, its closest relatives Dutch and German in nearly all language domains, not least in word order, grammar, and pronunciation.
Hmong-Mien Languages
David R. Mortensen
Hmong-Mien (also known as Miao-Yao) is a bipartite family of minority languages spoken primarily in China and mainland Southeast Asia. The two branches, called Hmongic and Mienic by most Western linguists and Miao and Yao by Chinese linguists, are both compact groups (phylogenetically if not geographically). Although they are uncontroversially distinct from one another, they bear a strong mutual affinity. But while their internal relationships are reasonably well established, there is no unanimity regarding their wider genetic affiliations, with many Chinese scholars insisting on Hmong-Mien membership in the Sino-Tibetan superfamily, some Western scholars suggesting a relationship to Austronesian and/or Tai-Kradai, and still others suggesting a relationship to Mon-Khmer. A plurality view appears to be that Hmong-Mien bears no special relationship to any surviving language family.
Hmong-Mien languages are typical—in many respects—of the non-Sino-Tibetan languages of Southern China and mainland Southeast Asia. However, they possess a number of properties that make them stand out. Many neighboring languages are tonal, but Hmong-Mien languages are, on average, more so (in terms of the number of tones). While some other languages in the area have small-to-medium consonant inventories, Hmong-Mien languages (and especially Hmongic languages) often have very large consonant inventories with rare classes of sounds like uvulars and voiceless sonorants. Furthermore, while many of their neighbors are morphologically isolating, few language groups display as little affixation as Hmong-Mien languages. They are largely head-initial, but they deviate from this generalization in their genitive-noun constructions and their relative clauses (which vary in position and structure, sometimes even within the same language).
Hokan Languages
Carmen Jany
Hokan is a linguistic stock or phylum based on a series of hypotheses about deeper genetic relationships among languages that extend geographically from Northern California to Nicaragua. Following the general effort to genetically link the vast number of Native American languages and to reduce them to a few superstocks, Dixon and Kroeber first proposed the Hokan stock in 1913, to include several California indigenous languages: Karuk, Chimariko, Shastan, Palaihnihan (Atsugewi and Achumawi), Pomoan, Yana, and later Esselen and Yuman. The name Hokan stems from the Atsugewi word for “two”: hoqi. While the first proposals by Dixon and Kroeber rested on very limited cognate sets comprising only five words, later assessments by Sapir included hundreds of putative cognate sets and analyses of Hokan morphosyntax. By 1925, Sapir further included Washo, Salinan, Seri, Chumashan, Tequistlatecan, and Subtiaba-Tlapanec as the Southern Hokan branch into the stock.
Throughout the 20th century, scholars sought additional evidence for the stock as more and refined data on the languages became available. A number of languages were added, and earlier proposals were abandoned. A new surge in work on individual California indigenous languages in the 1950s and 1960s prompted a string of studies conducting binary comparisons. This renewed interest inspired a series of Hokan conferences held until the 1990s. A more recent comprehensive assessment of the entire stock was undertaken by Kaufman in 1988. Applying rigorous analysis and only implicating those languages for which he encountered substantial evidence, Kaufman proposes sixteen classificatory units for Hokan clustered geographically. Kaufman’s Hokan stock also includes Coahuilteco and Comecrudan in Mexico and Jicaque in Nicaragua.
Although Hokan was widely studied in the 20th century, and many scholars presented what they thought to be supporting evidence, it is far from being an established genetic unit. In fact, many scholars today treat it with a lot of skepticism. One major challenge, as with any phylum-level affiliation, is its time depth. Proto-Hokan is thought to be at least as antique as Proto-Indo-European. Moreover, many of the languages were spoken in geographically contiguous areas, with speakers being multilingual and in close contact for an extended period of time, as is the case in Northern California. This suggests considerable language contact effects and complicates the distinction between true cognates and ancient borrowings. Many of the languages involved further show similarities in grammatical structure as a result of language contact.
Hokan languages stretch across California, Nevada, South Texas, various parts of Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua and display notable structural differences. Phonologically, the languages show great variation including small and large phoneme inventories and different phonological processes. Typologically, they are equally diverse, but many are considered polysynthetic to varying degrees. Morphosyntactic and grammatical similarities are evident especially among languages spoken in Northern California. These resemblances include sets of lexical affixes with similar meanings and affinities in core argument patterns.
Humor in Language
Salvatore Attardo
Interest in the linguistics of humor is widespread and dates since classical times. Several theoretical models have been proposed to describe and explain the function of humor in language. The most widely adopted one, the semantic-script theory of humor, was presented by Victor Raskin, in 1985. Its expansion, to incorporate a broader gamut of information, is known as the General Theory of Verbal Humor. Other approaches are emerging, especially in cognitive and corpus linguistics. Within applied linguistics, the predominant approach is analysis of conversation and discourse, with a focus on the disparate functions of humor in conversation. Speakers may use humor pro-socially, to build in-group solidarity, or anti-socially, to exclude and denigrate the targets of the humor. Most of the research has focused on how humor is co-constructed and used among friends, and how speakers support it. Increasingly, corpus-supported research is beginning to reshape the field, introducing quantitative concerns, as well as multimodal data and analyses. Overall, the linguistics of humor is a dynamic and rapidly changing field.
Iconicity
Irit Meir and Oksana Tkachman
Iconicity is a relationship of resemblance or similarity between the two aspects of a sign: its form and its meaning. An iconic sign is one whose form resembles its meaning in some way. The opposite of iconicity is arbitrariness. In an arbitrary sign, the association between form and meaning is based solely on convention; there is nothing in the form of the sign that resembles aspects of its meaning. The Hindu-Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3 are arbitrary, because their current form does not correlate to any aspect of their meaning. In contrast, the Roman numerals I, II, III are iconic, because the number of occurrences of the sign I correlates with the quantity that the numerals represent. Because iconicity has to do with the properties of signs in general and not only those of linguistic signs, it plays an important role in the field of semiotics—the study of signs and signaling. However, language is the most pervasive symbolic communicative system used by humans, and the notion of iconicity plays an important role in characterizing the linguistic sign and linguistic systems. Iconicity is also central to the study of literary uses of language, such as prose and poetry.
There are various types of iconicity: the form of a sign may resemble aspects of its meaning in several ways: it may create a mental image of the concept (imagic iconicity), or its structure and the arrangement of its elements may resemble the structural relationship between components of the concept represented (diagrammatic iconicity). An example of the first type is the word cuckoo, whose sounds resemble the call of the bird, or a sign such as RABBIT in Israeli Sign Language, whose form—the hands representing the rabbit's long ears—resembles a visual property of that animal. An example of diagrammatic iconicity is vēnī, vīdī, vīcī, where the order of clauses in a discourse is understood as reflecting the sequence of events in the world.
Iconicity is found on all linguistic levels: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and discourse. It is found both in spoken languages and in sign languages. However, sign languages, because of the visual-gestural modality through which they are transmitted, are much richer in iconic devices, and therefore offer a rich array of topics and perspectives for investigating iconicity, and the interaction between iconicity and language structure.
Incorporation and Pseudo-Incorporation in Syntax
Diane Massam
Noun incorporation (NI) is a grammatical construction where a nominal, usually bearing the semantic role of an object, has been incorporated into a verb to form a complex verb or predicate. Traditionally, incorporation was considered to be a word formation process, similar to compounding or cliticization. The fact that a syntactic entity (object) was entering into the lexical process of word formation was theoretically problematic, leading to many debates about the true nature of NI as a lexical or syntactic process. The analytic complexity of NI is compounded by the clear connections between NI and other processes such as possessor raising, applicatives, and classification systems and by its relation with case, agreement, and transitivity. In some cases, it was noted that no morpho-phonological incorporation is discernable beyond perhaps adjacency and a reduced left periphery for the noun. Such cases were termed pseudo noun incorporation, as they exhibit many properties of NI, minus any actual morpho-phonological incorporation. On the semantic side, it was noted that NI often correlates with a particular interpretation in which the noun is less referential and the predicate is more general. This led semanticists to group together all phenomena with similar semantics, whether or not they involve morpho-phonological incorporation. The role of cases of morpho-phonological NI that do not exhibit this characteristic semantics, i.e., where the incorporated nominal can be referential and the action is not general, remains a matter of debate. The interplay of phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics that is found in NI, as well as its lexical overtones, has resulted in a wide range of analyses at all levels of the grammar. What all NI constructions share is that according to various diagnostics, a thematic element, usually correlating with an internal argument, functions to a lesser extent as an independent argument and instead acts as part of a predicate. In addition to cases of incorporation between verbs and internal arguments, there are also some cases of incorporation of subjects and adverbs, which remain less well understood.
Inflectional Morphology
Gregory Stump
Inflection is the systematic relation between words’ morphosyntactic content and their morphological form; as such, the phenomenon of inflection raises fundamental questions about the nature of morphology itself and about its interfaces. Within the domain of morphology proper, it is essential to establish how (or whether) inflection differs from other kinds of morphology and to identify the ways in which morphosyntactic content can be encoded morphologically. A number of different approaches to modeling inflectional morphology have been proposed; these tend to cluster into two main groups, those that are morpheme-based and those that are lexeme-based. Morpheme-based theories tend to treat inflectional morphology as fundamentally concatenative; they tend to represent an inflected word’s morphosyntactic content as a compositional summing of its morphemes’ content; they tend to attribute an inflected word’s internal structure to syntactic principles; and they tend to minimize the theoretical significance of inflectional paradigms. Lexeme-based theories, by contrast, tend to accord concatenative and nonconcatenative morphology essentially equal status as marks of inflection; they tend to represent an inflected word’s morphosyntactic content as a property set intrinsically associated with that word’s paradigm cell; they tend to assume that an inflected word’s internal morphology is neither accessible to nor defined by syntactic principles; and they tend to treat inflection as the morphological realization of a paradigm’s cells. Four important issues for approaches of either sort are the nature of nonconcatenative morphology, the incidence of extended exponence, the underdetermination of a word’s morphosyntactic content by its inflectional form, and the nature of word forms’ internal structure. The structure of a word’s inventory of inflected forms—its paradigm—is the locus of considerable cross-linguistic variation. In particular, the canonical relation of content to form in an inflectional paradigm is subject to a wide array of deviations, including inflection-class distinctions, morphomic properties, defectiveness, deponency, metaconjugation, and syncretism; these deviations pose important challenges for understanding the interfaces of inflectional morphology, and a theory’s resolution of these challenges depends squarely on whether that theory is morpheme-based or lexeme-based.
Innateness of Language
Yarden Kedar
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Please check back later for the full article.
The concept of innateness (innate is first recorded in the period 1375–1425; from Latin innātus “inborn”) relates to types of behavior and knowledge that are present in the organism since birth (in fact, since fertilization), prior to any sensory experience with the environment. The term has been applied to two general types of qualities. The first consists of instinctive and inflexible reflexes and behaviors, which are apparent in survival, mating, and rearing activities. The other relates to cognition, with certain concepts, ideas, propositions, and particular ways of mental computation suggested to be part of one’s biological makeup. While both types of innatism have a long history in human philosophy and science (e.g., Plato and Descartes), some bias appears to exist in favor of claims for inherent behavioral traits, which are typically accepted when satisfactory empirical evidence is provided. One famous example is Lorenz’s demonstration of imprinting, a natural phenomenon that obeys a predetermined mechanism and schedule (Lorenz’s incubator-hatched goslings imprinted on his boots, the first moving object they encountered). Likewise, there seems to be little controversy in regard to predetermined ways of organizing sensory information, as is the case with the detection and classification of shapes and colors by the mind. In contrast, the idea that certain types of abstract knowledge may be part of an organism’s biological endowment (i.e., not learned) is typically faced with a greater sense of skepticism, and touches on a fundamental question in epistemological philosophy: Can reason be based (to a certain extent) on a priori knowledge—that is, knowledge that precedes and is independent of experience? The most influential and controversial claim for such innate knowledge in modern science is Chomsky’s breakthrough nativist theory of Universal Grammar in language and the famous “Argument from the Poverty of the Stimulus.” The main Chomskyan hypothesis is that all human beings share a preprogrammed linguistic infrastructure consisting of a finite collection of rules that, in principle, may generate (through combination or transformation) an infinite number of (only) grammatical sentences. Thus, the innate grammatical system constrains and structures the acquisition and use of all natural languages.
Iroquoian Languages
Karin Michelson
The Iroquoian languages are spoken today in New York State, Ontario, Quebec, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. The languages share a relatively small segment inventory, a challenging accentual system, polysynthetic morphology, a complex system of pronominal affixes, an unusual kinship terminology, and a syntax that functions almost exclusively to combine the meaning of two expressions. Some of the languages have been documented since contact with Europeans in the 16th century. There exists substantial scholarly linguistic work on most of the languages, and solid teaching materials continue to be developed.
Japanese Linguistics
Natsuko Tsujimura
The rigor and intensity of investigation on Japanese in modern linguistics has been particularly noteworthy over the past 50 years. Not only has the elucidation of the similarities to and differences from other languages properly placed Japanese on the typological map, but Japanese has served as a critical testing area for a wide variety of theoretical approaches.
Within the sub-fields of Japanese phonetics and phonology, there has been much focus on the role of mora. The mora constitutes an important timing unit that has broad implications for analysis of the phonetic and phonological system of Japanese. Relatedly, Japanese possesses a pitch-accent system, which places Japanese in a typologically distinct group arguably different from stress languages, like English, and tone languages, like Chinese. A further area of intense investigation is that of loanword phonology, illuminating the way in which segmental and suprasegmental adaptations are processed and at the same time revealing the fundamental nature of the sound system intrinsic to Japanese.
In morphology, a major focus has been on compounds, which are ubiquitously found in Japanese. Their detailed description has spurred in-depth discussion regarding morphophonological (e.g., Rendaku—sequential voicing) and morphosyntactic (e.g., argument structure) phenomena that have crucial consequences for morphological theory. Rendaku is governed by layers of constraints that range from segmental and prosodic phonology to structural properties of compounds, and serves as a representative example in demonstrating the intricate interaction of the different grammatical aspects of the language. In syntax, the scrambling phenomenon, allowing for the relatively flexible permutation of constituents, has been argued to instantiate a movement operation and has been instrumental in arguing for a configurational approach to Japanese. Japanese passives and causatives, which are formed through agglutinative morphology, each exhibit different types: direct vs. indirect passives and lexical vs. syntactic causatives. Their syntactic and semantic properties have posed challenges to and motivations for a variety of approaches to these well-studied constructions in the world’s languages.
Taken together, the empirical analyses of Japanese and their theoretical and conceptual implications have made a tremendous contribution to linguistic research.
Japanese Psycholinguistics
Mineharu Nakayama
The Japanese psycholinguistics research field is moving rapidly in many different directions as it includes various sub-linguistics fields (e.g., phonetics/phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse studies). Naturally, diverse studies have reported intriguing findings that shed light on our language mechanism. This article presents a brief overview of some of the notable early 21st century studies mainly from the language acquisition and processing perspectives. The topics are divided into various sections: the sound system, the script forms, reading and writing, morpho-syntactic studies, word and sentential meanings, and pragmatics and discourse studies sections. Studies on special populations are also mentioned.
Studies on the Japanese sound system have advanced our understanding of L1 and L2 (first and second language) acquisition and processing. For instance, more evidence is provided that infants form adult-like phonological grammar by 14 months in L1, and disassociation of prosody is reported from one’s comprehension in L2. Various cognitive factors as well as L1 influence the L2 acquisition process. As the Japanese language users employ three script forms (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) in a single sentence, orthographic processing research reveal multiple pathways to process information and the influence of memory. Adult script decoding and lexical processing has been well studied and research data from special populations further helps us to understand our vision-to-language mapping mechanism. Morpho-syntactic and semantic studies include a long debate on the nativist (generative) and statistical learning approaches in L1 acquisition. In particular, inflectional morphology and quantificational scope interaction in L1 acquisition bring pros and cons of both approaches as a single approach. Investigating processing mechanisms means studying cognitive/perceptual devices. Relative clause processing has been well-discussed in Japanese because Japanese has a different word order (SOV) from English (SVO), allows unpronounced pronouns and pre-verbal word permutations, and has no relative clause marking at the verbal ending (i.e., morphologically the same as the matrix ending). Behavioral and neurolinguistic data increasingly support incremental processing like SVO languages and an expectancy-driven processor in our L1 brain. L2 processing, however, requires more study to uncover its mechanism, as the literature is scarce in both L2 English by Japanese speakers and L2 Japanese by non-Japanese speakers. Pragmatic and discourse processing is also an area that needs to be explored further. Despite the typological difference between English and Japanese, the studies cited here indicate that our acquisition and processing devices seem to adjust locally while maintaining the universal mechanism.
Kiowa-Tanoan Languages
Daniel Harbour
The Kiowa-Tanoan family is a small group of Native American languages of the Plains and pueblo Southwest. It comprises Kiowa, of the eponymous Plains tribe, and the pueblo-based Tanoan languages, Jemez (Towa), Tewa, and Northern and Southern Tiwa. These free-word-order languages display a number of typologically unusual characteristics that have rightly attracted attention within a range of subdisciplines and theories.
One word of Taos (my construction based on Kontak and Kunkel’s work) illustrates. In tóm-múlu-wia ‘I gave him/her a drum,’ the verb wia ‘gave’ obligatorily incorporates its object, múlu ‘drum.’ The agreement prefix tóm encodes not only object number, but identities of agent and recipient as first and third singular, respectively, and this all in a single syllable. Moreover, the object number here is not singular, but “inverse”: singular for some nouns, plural for others (tóm-músi-wia only has the plural object reading ‘I gave him/her cats’).
This article presents a comparative overview of the three areas just illustrated: from morphosemantics, inverse marking and noun class; from morphosyntax, super-rich fusional agreement; and from syntax, incorporation. The second of these also touches on aspects of morphophonology, the family’s three-tone system and its unusually heavy grammatical burden, and on further syntax, obligatory passives. Together, these provide a wide window on the grammatical wealth of this fascinating family.
Korean Phonetics and Phonology
Young-mee Yu Cho
Due to a number of unusual and interesting properties, Korean phonetics and phonology have been generating productive discussion within modern linguistic theories, starting from structuralism, moving to classical generative grammar, and more recently to post-generative frameworks of Autosegmental Theory, Government Phonology, Optimality Theory, and others. In addition, it has been discovered that a description of important issues of phonology cannot be properly made without referring to the interface between phonetics and phonology on the one hand, and phonology and morpho-syntax on the other. Some phonological issues from Standard Korean are still under debate and will likely be of value in helping to elucidate universal phonological properties with regard to phonation contrast, vowel and consonant inventories, consonantal markedness, and the motivation for prosodic organization in the lexicon.
Korean Syntax
James Hye Suk Yoon
The syntax of Korean is characterized by several signature properties. One signature property is head-finality. Word order variations and restrictions obey head-finality. Korean also possesses wh in-situ as well as internally headed relative clauses, as is typical of a head-final language. Another major signature property is dependent-marking. Korean has systematic case-marking on nominal dependents and very little, if any, head-marking. Case-marking and related issues, such as multiple case constructions, case alternations, case stacking, case-marker ellipsis, and case-marking on adjuncts, are front and center properties of Korean syntax as viewed from the dependent-marking perspective. Research on these aspects of Korean has contributed to the theoretical understanding of case and grammatical relations in linguistic theory. Korean is also characterized by agglutinative morphosyntax. Many issues in Korean syntax straddle the morphology-syntax boundary. Korean morphosyntax constitutes a fertile testing ground for ongoing debates about the relationship between morphology and syntax in domains such as coordination, deverbal nominalizations (mixed category constructions), copula, and other denominal constructions. Head-finality and agglutinative morphosyntax intersect in domains such as complex/serial verb and auxiliary verb constructions. Negation, which is a type of auxiliary verb construction, and the related phenomena of negative polarity licensing, offer important evidence for crosslinguistic understanding of these phenomena. Finally, there is an aspect of Korean syntax that reflects areal contact. Lexical and grammatical borrowing, topic prominence, pervasive occurrence of null arguments and ellipsis, as well as a complex system of anaphoric expressions, resulted from sustained contact with neighboring Sino-Tibetan languages.
The Kra-Dai Languages
Yongxian Luo
Kra-Dai, also known as Tai–Kadai, Daic, and Kadai, is a family of diverse languages found in southern China, northeast India, and Southeast Asia. The number of these languages is estimated to be close to a hundred, with approximately 100 million speakers all over the world. As the name itself suggests, Kra-Dai is made up of two major groups, Kra and Dai. The former refers to a number of lesser-known languages, some of which have only a few hundred fluent speakers or even less. The latter (also known as Tai, or Kam-Tai) is well established, and comprises the best-known members of the family, Thai and Lao, the national languages of Thailand and Laos respectively, whose speakers account for over half of the Kra-Dai population.
The ultimate genetic affiliation of Kra-Dai remains controversial, although a consensus among western scholars holds that it belongs under Austronesian. The majority of Kra-Dai languages have no writing systems of their own, particularly Kra. Languages with writing systems include Thai, Lao, Sipsongpanna Dai, and Tai Lue. These use Indic-based scripts. Others use Chinese character-based scripts, such as the Zhuang and Kam-Sui in southern China and surrounding regions. The government introduced Romanized scripts in the 1950s for the Zhuang and the Kam-Sui languages. Almost every group within Kra-Dai has a rich oral history tradition.
The languages are typically tonal, isolating, and analytic, lacking in inflectional morphology, with no distinction for number and gender. A significant number of basic vocabulary items are monosyllabic, but bisyllabic and multisyllabic compounds also abound. There are morphological processes in which etymologically related words manifest themselves in groups through tonal, initial, or vowel alternations. Reduplication is a salient word formation mechanism. In syntax, the Kra-Dai languages can be said to have basic SVO word order. They possess a rich system of noun classifiers. Other features include verb serialization without overt marking to indicate grammatical relations. A number of lexical items (mostly verbs) may function as grammatical morphemes in syntactic operations. Temporal and aspectual meanings are expressed through tense-aspect markers typically derived from verbs, while mood and modality are conveyed via a rich array of discourse particles.
Language and Linguistics in Medieval Europe
Deborah Hayden
During the period from the fall of the Roman empire in the late 5th century to the beginning of the European Renaissance in the 14th century, the development of linguistic thought in Europe was characterized by the enthusiastic study of grammatical works by Classical and Late Antique authors, as well as by the adaptation of these works to suit a Christian framework. The discipline of grammatica, viewed as the cornerstone of the ideal liberal arts education and as a key to the wider realm of textual culture, was understood to encompass both the systematic principles for speaking and writing correctly and the science of interpreting the poets and other writers. The writings of Donatus and Priscian were among the most popular and well-known works of the grammatical curriculum, and were the subject of numerous commentaries throughout the medieval period. Although Latin persisted as the predominant medium of grammatical discourse, there is also evidence from as early as the 8th century for the enthusiastic study of vernacular languages and for the composition of vernacular-medium grammars, including sources pertaining to Anglo-Saxon, Irish, Old Norse, and Welsh. The study of language in the later medieval period is marked by experimentation with the form and layout of grammatical texts, including the composition of textbooks in verse form. This period also saw a renewed interest in the application of philosophical ideas to grammar, inspired in part by the availability of a wider corpus of Greek sources than had previously been unknown to western European scholars, such as Aristotle’s Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, and De Anime. A further consequence of the renewed interest in the logical and metaphysical works of Aristotle during the later Middle Ages is the composition of so-called ‘speculative grammars’ written by scholars commonly referred to as the ‘Modistae’, in which the grammatical description of Latin formulated by Priscian and Donatus was integrated with the system of scholastic philosophy that was at its height from the beginning of the 13th to the middle of the 14th century. | http://oxfordre.com/linguistics/browse?btog=chap&page=5&pageSize=20&sort=titlesort&subSite=linguistics |
Next year’s annual meeting of the German Linguistics Society, DGfS 2023 (Cologne, March 8-10), will host a workshop on Coexistence, competition, and change: Structural borrowing and the dynamics of asymmetric language contact, organized by Hiwa Asadpour, Carolina Plaza-Pust, and Manfred Sailer. The workshop is part of the activities of the informal special interest group Dynamics of Asymmetric Language Contact (DALC) that Carolina, Hiwa, and Manfred have recently started. The workshop aims at bringing together various lines of research in the investigation of the dynamics of asymmetric language contact and change. Typically, language contact situations are characterized by variation, competition, and coexistence of linguistic features at different levels of linguistic analysis and their interfaces. These dynamics become apparent not only in the linguistic behaviour of bilingual speakers and signers (code-switching, code-mixing, code-blending, and cross-linguistic influence), but also in the evolution of spoken and sign languages over time (language change, emergence of new varieties, mixed languages, pattern transfer or calque). By approaching the dynamics of language contact from different theoretical perspectives, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of the outcomes of language contact. Our focus will be on contact phenomena at the syntactic level. | https://www.english-linguistics.de/2022/07/10/dgfs-2023-workshop-on-coexistence-competition-and-change/ |
According to Ethnologue language database, there are over 7,000 unique languages spoken all over the world. These languages are distinctively unique to different groups and completely alien to others.
Some languages however have gained prominence around the world. Whether as a result or early conquests or recent globalisation, these languages have spread rapidly and have been integrated into diverse peoples and cultures.
Below are the world’s most spoken languages by total number of speakers.
1. English
Total Number of Speakers: 1.132 billion
English as it is today developed from several linguistic influences, these influences came from the languages of Germanic tribes, Normans, Celts and Vikings. Britain, however carried out the duty of spreading the language through its many conquests, interactions and trade with the rest of the world. Today, English has become the primary native language of states such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Nigeria, Australia, Namibia, among others. Today, around 1.132 billion people in the world speak English language up to some level.
2. Mandarin Chinese
Total Number of Speakers: 1.116 billion
Chinese Mandarin is part of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family which stretches across much of Asia. The language consists of a number of dialects, which can vary considerably from one another. The language consists of a number of dialects, which can vary considerably from one another. Asides from China, which is its origin, Chinese Mandarin is also widely spoken in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. In order to make the language easy to learn, the Chinese government in the 1950s initiated a system of writing in simplified characters while still keeping the traditional characters.
3. Hindi
Total Number of Speakers: 615.4 million
The History of the Hindi language can be traced to Sanskrit, an early language spoken by Aryan settlers in northwest India. Over the centuries, Hindu was influenced by Dravidian, Turkic, Portuguese, Persian, Arabic, and English. Hindi is presently modern Indo-Aryan Language and has become the dominant language in India, and it is also spoken in Nepal, US, South Africa, Yemen, and Mauritius.
4. Spanish
Total Number of Speakers: 534.3 million
Spanish is the official language in Spain and numerous Latin-American countries such as Argentina, El Salvador, Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Spanish has also been influenced by other languages. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is derived from Latin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek, and around 8% have been influenced by Arabic during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula.
5. French
Total Number of Speakers: 279.8 million
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple different continents, most of which are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 84 countries which share the official use or teaching of French.
6. Standard Arabic
Total Number of Speakers: 273.9 million
Modern Standard Arabic, also known as Literary Arabic was developed in the early part of the 19th century and is the literary standard across the Middle East, North Africa and Horn of Africa, and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Modern Standard Arabic is the official language of all Arab League countries and is the only form of Arabic taught in schools at all stages. More so, most printed material by the Arab League—including most books, newspapers, magazines, official documents, and reading primers for small children—is written in Modern Standard Arabic.
7. Bengali
Total Number of Speakers: 265.0 million
Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language which descended from the Sanskrit and Magadhi Prakrit dialects primarily spoken by the Bengalis in South Asia. Bengali literature, with its millennium-old literary history, has extensively developed since the Bengali Renaissance and is one of the most prominent and diverse literary traditions in Asia. Bengali is the official language in Bangladesh, and it is widely spoken in India, and Sierra Leone as well as in the UK, the US, and the Middle East.
8. Russian
Total Number of Speakers: 258.2 million
Russian is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European linguistic family. Russian developed from the Polanian dialect, which is official in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991. Russian is still being used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states, three decades after the collapse.
9. Portuguese
Total Number of Speakers: 234.1 million
Portuguese is a Western Romance language originating in the Iberian Peninsula. It is the sole official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea and Macau in China.
10. Indonesian
Total Number of Speakers: 198.7 million
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia, the fourth most populous nation in the world. Of its large population, the majority speak Indonesian, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. For centuries, It is has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago. | https://lists.ng/top-10-most-spoken-languages-in-the-world/ |
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Not to be confused with the sociolinguistic term
sprechbund
.
A
sprachbund
(
/
ˈ
s
p
r
ɑː
k
b
ʊ
n
d
/
;
German:
[ˈʃpʁaːxbʊnt]
, "federation of languages") – also known as a
linguistic area
,
area of linguistic convergence
,
diffusion area
or
language crossroads
– is a group of
languages
that have common features resulting from geographical proximity and
language contact
. They may be
genetically unrelated
, or only distantly related. Where genetic affiliations are unclear, the sprachbund characteristics might give a false appearance of relatedness.
Areal features
are common features of a group of languages in a sprachbund.
Contents
[
hide
]
1
History
2
Examples
2.1
The Balkans
2.2
Indian subcontinent
2.3
Southeast Asia
2.4
Northern Asia
2.5
Southern Africa
2.6
Others
3
See also
4
References
History
[
edit
]
In a 1904 paper,
Jan Baudouin de Courtenay
emphasised the need to distinguish between language similarities arising from a genetic relationship and those arising from
convergence
due to language contact.
[
1
]
The term
Sprachbund
, a
calque
of the Russian term
языковой союз
(
yazykovoy soyuz
; "language union"), was introduced by
Nikolai Trubetzkoy
in an article in 1923. In a paper presented to the 1st International Congress of Linguists in 1928, Trubetzkoy defined a sprachbund as a group of languages with similarities in syntax, morphological structure, cultural vocabulary and sound systems, but without systematic sound correspondences, shared basic morphology or shared basic vocabulary.
[
1
]
Later workers, starting with Trubetzkoy's colleague
Roman Jakobson
, have relaxed the requirement of similarities in all four of the areas stipulated by Trubetzkoy.
[
2
]
[
3
]
[
4
]
In contrast, a
sprachraum
(from German, "language area"), also known as a
dialect continuum
, describes a group of genetically related
dialects
spoken across a geographical area, differing in their genetic relationship only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in
mutual intelligibility
as distances increase.
[
citation needed
]
Examples
[
edit
]
The Balkans
[
edit
]
Main article:
Balkan sprachbund
The idea of areal convergence is commonly attributed to
Jernej Kopitar
's description in 1830 of
Albanian
,
Bulgarian
and
Romanian
as giving the impression of "
nur eine Sprachform ... mit dreierlei Sprachmaterie
", which has been rendered by
Victor Friedman
as "one grammar with the three lexicons".
[
5
]
[
6
]
The
Balkan sprachbund
comprises Albanian, Romanian, the
South Slavic languages
of the southern Balkans (Bulgarian,
Macedonian
and to a lesser degree
Serbian
),
Greek
, and
Romani
. All these are
Indo-European languages
but from very different branches. Yet they have exhibited several signs of grammatical convergence, such as avoidance of the
infinitive
,
future tense
formation, and others. The same features are not found in other languages that are otherwise closely related, such as the other Romance languages in relation to Romanian, and the other Slavic languages such as Polish in relation to Bulgaro-Macedonian.
[
3
]
[
6
]
Indian subcontinent
[
edit
]
In a classic 1956 paper titled "India as a Linguistic Area",
Murray Emeneau
laid the groundwork for the general acceptance of the concept of a sprachbund. In the paper, Emeneau observed that the subcontinent's
Dravidian
and
Indo-Aryan languages
shared a number of features that were not inherited from a common source, but were
areal features
, the result of diffusion during sustained contact.
[
7
]
Emeneau specified the tools to establish that language and culture had fused for centuries on the Indian soil to produce an integrated mosaic of structural convergence of four distinct language families:
Indo-Aryan
,
Dravidian
,
Munda
and
Tibeto-Burman
. This concept provided scholarly substance for explaining the underlying Indian-ness of apparently divergent cultural and linguistic patterns. With his further contributions, this area has now become a major field of research in language contact and convergence.
[
3
]
[
8
]
[
9
]
Southeast Asia
[
edit
]
The
Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area
is one of the most dramatic of linguistic areas in terms of the surface similarity of the languages involved, to the extent that early linguists tended to group them all into a single family, although the modern consensus places them into numerous unrelated families. The area stretches from Thailand to China and is home to speakers of languages of the
Sino-Tibetan
,
Hmong–Mien
(or Miao–Yao),
Tai-Kadai
,
Austronesian
(represented by
Chamic
) and
Mon–Khmer
families.
[
10
]
Neighbouring languages across these families, though presumed unrelated, often have similar features, which are believed to have spread by diffusion. A well-known example is the similar
tone
systems in
Sinitic languages
(Sino-Tibetan), Hmong–Mien,
Tai languages
(Kadai) and
Vietnamese
(Mon–Khmer). Most of these languages passed through an earlier stage with three tones on most syllables (but no tonal distinctions on
checked syllables
ending in a
stop consonant
), which was followed by a
tone split
where the distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants disappeared but in compensation the number of tones doubled. These parallels led to confusion over the classification of these languages, until
Haudricourt
showed in 1954 that tone was not an invariant feature, by demonstrating that Vietnamese tones corresponded to certain final consonants in other languages of the Mon–Khmer family, and proposed that tone in the other languages had a similar origin.
[
10
]
Similarly, the unrelated
Khmer
(Mon–Khmer),
Cham
(Austronesian) and
Lao
(Kadai) languages have almost identical vowel systems. Many languages in the region are of the
isolating
(or analytic) type, with mostly monosyllabic morphemes and little use of
inflection
or
affixes
, though a number of Mon–Khmer languages have
derivational morphology
. Shared syntactic features include
classifiers
,
object–verb order
and
topic–comment
structure, though in each case there are exceptions in branches of one or more families.
[
10
]
Northern Asia
[
edit
]
Some linguists think the
Mongolic
,
Turkic
, and
Tungusic
families of northern Asia are genetically related, in a controversial group they call
Altaic
, often also including
Korean
and
Japonic
. Others dispute this, attributing common features such as
vowel harmony
to areal diffusion.
[
11
]
Southern Africa
[
edit
]
The
Nguni languages
of Southern Africa, including
Zulu
and
Xhosa
, evolved from the
Bantu languages
of the Congo area, which do not use
clicks
. During and after the Nguni migration to Southern Africa, the Nguni came into frequent contact with speakers of the
Khoisan languages
, which make abundant use of click sounds. Over time, the Nguni languages started to incorporate click sounds, until they became the normal consonants they are today.
[
12
]
Others
[
edit
]
Sumerian
and
Akkadian
in the 3rd millennium BC
[
13
]
in the
Ethiopian
highlands,
Ethiopian Language Area
[
3
]
Shimaore
and
Kibushi
on the Comorian island of
Mayotte
.
in the
Sepik River
basin of
New Guinea
[
3
]
in the
Baltics
(northeast Europe)
the
Standard Average European
area, comprising
Romance
,
Germanic
and
Balto-Slavic
languages, the languages of the Balkans, and western
Uralic languages
[
14
]
in the Caucasus
,
[
1
]
though this is disputed
[
2
]
Indigenous Australian languages
[
15
]
several
linguistic areas of the Americas
, including:
Mesoamerican linguistic area
[
16
]
Pueblo linguistic area
Northern Northwest Coast linguistic area
[
3
]
Austronesian
and
Papuan languages
spoken in eastern
Indonesia
and
East Timor
[
17
]
See also
[
edit
]
Koiné language
References
[
edit
]
^
Jump up to:
a
b
c
Chirikba, Viacheslav A. (2008), "The problem of the Caucasian Sprachbund", in Muysken, Pieter,
From linguistic areas to areal linguistics
, John Benjamins Publishing, pp. 25–94,
ISBN
978-90-272-3100-0
.
^
Jump up to:
a
b
Tuite, Kevin (1999),
"The myth of the Caucasian Sprachbund: The case of ergativity"
(PDF)
,
Lingua
108
(1): 1–29,
doi
:
10.1016/S0024-3841(98)00037-0
.
^
Jump up to:
a
b
c
d
e
f
Thomason, Sarah (2000), "Linguistic areas and language history", in Gilbers, Dicky; Nerbonne, John; Schaeken, Jos,
Languages in Contact
(PDF)
, Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 311–327,
ISBN
978-90-420-1322-3
.
Jump up
^
Campbell, Lyle (2002), "Areal Linguistics: a Closer Scrutiny",
5th NWCL International Conference: Linguistic Areas, Convergence, and Language Change
.
Jump up
^
Friedman, Victor A. (1997), "One Grammar, Three Lexicons: Ideological Overtones and Underpinnings in the Balkan Sprachbund",
Papers from the 33rd Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society
(PDF)
, Chicago Linguistic Society.
^
Jump up to:
a
b
Friedman, Victor A. (2000),
"After 170 years of Balkan Linguistics: Whither the Millennium?"
(PDF)
,
Mediterranean Language Review
12
: 1–15.
Jump up
^
Emeneau, Murray (1956), "India as a Linguistic Area",
Language
32
(1): 3–16,
doi
:
10.2307/410649
.
Jump up
^
Emeneau, Murray; Dil, Anwar (1980),
Language and Linguistic Area: Essays by Murray B. Emeneau
, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press,
ISBN
978-0-8047-1047-3
.
Jump up
^
Thomason, Sarah Grey (2001),
Language contact
, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 114–117,
ISBN
978-0-7486-0719-8
.
^
Jump up to:
a
b
c
Enfield, N.J. (2005),
"Areal Linguistics and Mainland Southeast Asia"
(PDF)
,
Annual Review of Anthropology
34
(1): 181–206,
doi
:
10.1146/annurev.anthro.34.081804.120406
.
Jump up
^
Schönig, Claus (2003), "Turko-Mongolic Relations", in Janhunen, Juha,
The Mongolic Languages
, London: Routledge, pp. 403–419,
ISBN
978-0-7007-1133-8
.
Jump up
^
Maddieson, Ian (2003), "The sounds of the Bantu languages", in Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard,
The Bantu languages
, Routledge, pp. 15–41,
ISBN
978-0-7007-1134-5
, pp. 31–32.
Jump up
^
Deutscher, Guy
(2007),
Syntactic Change in Akkadian: The Evolution of Sentential Complementation
,
Oxford University Press US
, pp. 20–21,
ISBN
978-0-19-953222-3
.
Jump up
^
Haspelmath, Martin; König, Ekkehard; Oesterreicher, Wulf et al., eds. (2001), "The European linguistic area: Standard Average European",
Language typology and language universals
, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 1492–1510,
ISBN
978-3-11-017154-9
.
|displayeditors=
suggested (
help
)
Jump up
^
Dixon, R.M.W. (2001), "The Australian Linguistic Area", in Dixon, R.M.W; Aikhenvald, Alexandra,
Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics
, Oxford University Press, pp. 64–104,
ISBN
978-0-19-829981-3
.
Jump up
^
Campbell, Lyle; Kaufman, Terrence; Smith-Stark, Thomas C. (1986), "Meso-America as a Linguistic Area",
Language
62
(3): 530–570,
doi
:
10.2307/415477
.
Jump up
^
Klamer, Marian; Reesink, Ger; van Staden, Miriam (2008), "East Nusantara as a linguistic area", in Muysken, Pieter,
From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics
, John Benjamins, pp. 95–149,
ISBN
978-90-272-3100-0
.
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It has been suggested that Plurilingualism be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2019.
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue; but many read and write in one language. Always useful to traders, multilingualism is advantageous for people wanting to participate in globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages is becoming increasingly possible. People who speak several languages are also called polyglots.
Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1). The first language (sometimes also referred to as the mother tongue) is acquired without formal education, by mechanisms about which scholars disagree. Children acquiring two languages natively from these early years are called simultaneous bilinguals. It is common for young simultaneous bilinguals to be more proficient in one language than the other.
People who know more than one language have been reported to be more adept at language learning compared to monolinguals.
Multilingualism in computing can be considered part of a continuum between internationalization and localization. Due to the status of English in computing, software development nearly always uses it (but see also Non-English-based programming languages). Some commercial software is initially available in an English version, and multilingual versions, if any, may be produced as alternative options based on the English original.
The definition of multilingualism is a subject of debate in the same way as that of language fluency. On one end of a sort of linguistic continuum, one may define multilingualism as complete competence and mastery in another language. The speaker would presumably have complete knowledge and control over the language so as to sound native. On the opposite end of the spectrum would be people who know enough phrases to get around as a tourist using the alternate language. Since 1992, Vivian Cook has argued that most multilingual speakers fall somewhere between minimal and maximal definitions. Cook calls these people multi-competent.
In addition, there is no consistent definition of what constitutes a distinct language. For instance, scholars often disagree whether Scots is a language in its own right or a dialect of English. Furthermore, what is considered a language can change, often for purely political purposes, such as when Serbo-Croatian was created as a standard language on the basis of the Eastern Herzegovinian dialect to function as umbrella for numerous South Slavic dialects, and after the breakup of Yugoslavia was split into Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin, or when Ukrainian was dismissed as a Russian dialect by the Russian tsars to discourage national feelings. Many small independent nations' schoolchildren are today compelled to learn multiple languages because of international interactions. For example, in Finland, all children are required to learn at least two foreign languages: the other national language (Swedish or Finnish) and one alien language (usually English). Many Finnish schoolchildren also select further languages, such as German or Russian.
In some large nations with multiple languages, such as India, schoolchildren may routinely learn multiple languages based on where they reside in the country. In major metropolitan areas of Central, Southern and Eastern India, many children may be fluent in four languages (the mother tongue, the state language, and the official languages of India, Hindi and English). Thus, a child of Telugu parents living in Bangalore will end up speaking his or her mother tongue (Telugu) at home and the state language (Kannada), Hindi and English in school and life.
In many countries, bilingualism occurs through international relations, which, with English being the global lingua franca, sometimes results in majority bilingualism even when the countries have just one domestic official language. This is occurring especially in Germanic regions such as Scandinavia, the Benelux and among Germanophones, but it is also expanding into some non-Germanic countries.
Many myths and much prejudice has grown around the notions of bi- and multilingualism in some Western countries where monolingualism is the norm. Researchers from the UK and Poland have listed the most common misconceptions:
These are all harmful convictions which have long been debunked, yet still persist among many parents.
One view is that of the linguist Noam Chomsky in what he calls the human language acquisition device—a mechanism which enables an individual to recreate correctly the rules and certain other characteristics of language used by speakers around the learner. This device, according to Chomsky, wears out over time, and is not normally available by puberty, which he uses to explain the poor results some adolescents and adults have when learning aspects of a second language (L2).
If language learning is a cognitive process, rather than a language acquisition device, as the school led by Stephen Krashen suggests, there would only be relative, not categorical, differences between the two types of language learning.
Rod Ellis quotes research finding that the earlier children learn a second language, the better off they are, in terms of pronunciation. European schools generally offer secondary language classes for their students early on, due to the interconnectedness with neighbour countries with different languages. Most European students now study at least two foreign languages, a process strongly encouraged by the European Union.
Based on the research in Ann Fathman's The Relationship between age and second language productive ability, there is a difference in the rate of learning of English morphology, syntax and phonology based upon differences in age, but that the order of acquisition in second language learning does not change with age.
In second language class, students will commonly face the difficulties on thinking in the target language because they are influenced by their native language and culture patterns. Robert B. Kaplan thinks that in second language classes, the foreign-student paper is out of focus because the foreign student is employing rhetoric and a sequence of thought which violate the expectations of the native reader. Foreign students who have mastered syntactic structures have still demonstrated inability to compose adequate themes, term papers, theses, and dissertations. Robert B. Kaplan describes two key words that affect people when they learn a second language. Logic in the popular, rather than the logician's sense of the word, which is the basis of rhetoric, is evolved out of a culture; it is not universal. Rhetoric, then, is not universal either, but varies, from culture to culture and even from time to time within a given culture. Language teachers know how to predict the differences between pronunciations or constructions in different languages, but they might be less clear about the differences between rhetoric, that is, in the way they use language to accomplish various purposes, particularly in writing.
People who learn multiple languages may also experience positive transfer – the process by which it becomes easier to learn additional languages if the grammar or vocabulary of the new language is similar to those of languages already spoken. On the other hand, students may also experience negative transfer – interference from languages learned at an earlier stage of development while learning a new language later in life.
Receptive bilinguals are those who have the ability to understand a second language but who cannot speak it or whose abilities to speak it are inhibited by psychological barriers. Receptive bilingualism is frequently encountered among adult immigrants to the U.S. who do not speak English as a native language but who have children who do speak English natively, usually in part because those children's education has been conducted in English; while the immigrant parents can understand both their native language and English, they speak only their native language to their children. If their children are likewise receptively bilingual but productively English-monolingual, throughout the conversation the parents will speak their native language and the children will speak English. If their children are productively bilingual, however, those children may answer in the parents' native language, in English, or in a combination of both languages, varying their choice of language depending on factors such as the communication's content, context, and/or emotional intensity and the presence or absence of third-party speakers of one language or the other. The third alternative represents the phenomenon of "code-switching" in which the productively bilingual party to a communication switches languages in the course of that communication. Receptively bilingual persons, especially children, may rapidly achieve oral fluency by spending extended time in situations where they are required to speak the language that they theretofore understood only passively. Until both generations achieve oral fluency, not all definitions of bilingualism accurately characterize the family as a whole, but the linguistic differences between the family's generations often constitute little or no impairment to the family's functionality. Receptive bilingualism in one language as exhibited by a speaker of another language, or even as exhibited by most speakers of that language, is not the same as mutual intelligibility of languages; the latter is a property of a pair of languages, namely a consequence of objectively high lexical and grammatical similarities between the languages themselves (e.g., Iberian Spanish and Iberian Portuguese), whereas the former is a property of one or more persons and is determined by subjective or intersubjective factors such as the respective languages' prevalence in the life history (including family upbringing, educational setting, and ambient culture) of the person or persons.
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In sequential bilingualism, learners receive literacy instruction in their native language until they acquire a "threshold" literacy proficiency. Some researchers use age 3 as the age when a child has basic communicative competence in their first language (Kessler, 1984). Children may go through a process of sequential acquisition if they migrate at a young age to a country where a different language is spoken, or if the child exclusively speaks his or her heritage language at home until he/she is immersed in a school setting where instruction is offered in a different language.
In simultaneous bilingualism, the native language and the community language are simultaneously taught. The advantage is literacy in two languages as the outcome. However, the teacher must be well-versed in both languages and also in techniques for teaching a second language.
The phases children go through during sequential acquisition are less linear than for simultaneous acquisition and can vary greatly among children. Sequential acquisition is a more complex and lengthier process, although there is no indication that non-language-delayed children end up less proficient than simultaneous bilinguals, so long as they receive adequate input in both languages.
A coordinate model posits that equal time should be spent in separate instruction of the native language and of the community language. The native language class, however, focuses on basic literacy while the community language class focuses on listening and speaking skills. Being a bilingual does not necessarily mean that one can speak, for example, English and French.
Research has found that the development of competence in the native language serves as a foundation of proficiency that can be transposed to the second language — the common underlying proficiency hypothesis. Cummins' work sought to overcome the perception propagated in the 1960s that learning two languages made for two competing aims. The belief was that the two languages were mutually exclusive and that learning a second required unlearning elements and dynamics of the first in order to accommodate the second (Hakuta, 1990). The evidence for this perspective relied on the fact that some errors in acquiring the second language were related to the rules of the first language (Hakuta, 1990). How this hypothesis holds under different types of languages such as Romance versus non-Western languages has yet to undergo research.
Another new development that has influenced the linguistic argument for bilingual literacy is the length of time necessary to acquire the second language. While previously children were believed to have the ability to learn a language within a year, today researchers believe that within and across academic settings, the time span is nearer to five years (Collier, 1992; Ramirez, 1992).
An interesting outcome of studies during the early 1990s however confirmed that students who do successfully complete bilingual instruction perform better academically (Collier, 1992; Ramirez, 1992). These students exhibit more cognitive elasticity including a better ability to analyse abstract visual patterns. Students who receive bidirectional bilingual instruction where equal proficiency in both languages is required perform at an even higher level. Examples of such programs include international and multi-national education schools.
A multilingual person is someone who can communicate in more than one language, either actively (through speaking, writing, or signing) or passively (through listening, reading, or perceiving). More specifically, the terms bilingual and trilingual are used to describe comparable situations in which two or three languages are involved. A multilingual person is generally referred to as a polyglot, which may also be used to refer to people who learn multiple languages as a hobby. Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1). The first language (sometimes also referred to as the mother tongue) is acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed. Children acquiring two languages in this way are called simultaneous bilinguals. Even in the case of simultaneous bilinguals, one language usually dominates over the other. In linguistics, first language acquisition is closely related to the concept of a "native speaker". According to a view widely held by linguists, a native speaker of a given language has in some respects a level of skill which a second (or subsequent) language learner cannot easily accomplish. Consequently, descriptive empirical studies of languages are usually carried out using only native speakers. This view is, however, slightly problematic, particularly as many non-native speakers demonstrably not only successfully engage with and in their non-native language societies, but in fact may become culturally and even linguistically important contributors (as, for example, writers, politicians, media personalities and performing artists) in their non-native language. In recent years, linguistic research has focused attention on the use of widely known world languages, such as English, as a lingua franca or a shared common language of professional and commercial communities. In lingua franca situations, most speakers of the common language are functionally multilingual.
People who know more than one language have been reported to be more adept at language learning compared to monolinguals. Bilinguals who are highly proficient in two or more languages have been reported to have enhanced executive function or even have reduced-risk for dementia. More recently, however, this claim has come under strong criticism with repeated failures to replicate. There is also a phenomenon known as distractive bilingualism or semilingualism. When acquisition of the first language is interrupted and insufficient or unstructured language input follows from the second language, as sometimes happens with immigrant children, the speaker can end up with two languages both mastered below the monolingual standard. A notable example can be found in the ethnic Bengali Muslim community of Assam province in India, hailing from East Bengal. Their mother tongue is Bengali, but they have no opportunity to study it in the school. Their medium language of study is Assamese, the provincial language. As a result, their predominant form of communication mixes the mother tongue and the medium language. Because they have no chance to study both the languages separately, they can't differentiate between the two or maintain such a difference in expression. Literacy plays an important role in the development of language in these immigrant children. Those who were literate in their first language before arriving, and who have support to maintain that literacy, are at the very least able to maintain and master their first language. There are differences between those who learn a language in a class environment and those who learn through total immersion, usually living in a country where the target language is widely spoken. Without the possibility to actively translate, due to a complete lack of any first language communication opportunity, the comparison between languages is reduced. The new language is almost independently learned, like the mother tongue for a child, with direct concept-to-language translation that can become more natural than word structures learned as a subject. Added to this, the uninterrupted, immediate and exclusive practice of the new language reinforces and deepens the attained knowledge.
Bilinguals might have important labor market advantages over monolingual individuals as bilingual people are able to carry out duties that monolinguals cannot, such as interacting with customers who only speak a minority language. A study in Switzerland has found that multilingualism is positively correlated with an individual's salary, the productivity of firms, and the gross domestic production (GDP); the authors state that Switzerland's GDP is augmented by 10% by multilingualism. A study in the United States by Agirdag found that bilingualism has substantial economic benefits as bilingual persons were found to have around $3,000 per year more salary than monolinguals.
A study in 2012 has shown that using a foreign language reduces decision-making biases. It was surmised that the framing effect disappeared when choices are presented in a second language. As human reasoning is shaped by two distinct modes of thought: one that is systematic, analytical and cognition-intensive, and another that is fast, unconscious and emotionally charged, it was believed that a second language provides a useful cognitive distance from automatic processes, promoting analytical thought and reducing unthinking, emotional reaction. Therefore, those who speak two languages have better critical thinking and decision making skills. A study published a year later found that switching into a second language seems to exempt bilinguals from the social norms and constraints such as political correctness. In 2014, another study has shown that people using a foreign language are more likely to make utilitarian decisions when faced with a moral dilemma, as in the trolley problem. The utilitarian option was chosen more often in the fat man case when presented in a foreign language. However, there was no difference in the switch track case. It was surmised that a foreign language lacks the emotional impact of one's native language.
Because it is difficult or impossible to master many of the high-level semantic aspects of a language (including but not limited to its idioms and eponyms) without first understanding the culture and history of the region in which that language evolved, as a practical matter an in-depth familiarity with multiple cultures is a prerequisite for high-level multilingualism. This knowledge of cultures individually and comparatively, or indeed the mere fact of one's having that knowledge, often forms an important part of both what one considers one's own personal identity to be and what others consider that identity to be. Some studies have found that groups of multilingual individuals get higher average scores on tests for certain personality traits such as cultural empathy, open-mindedness and social initiative. The idea of linguistic relativity, which claims that the language people speak influences the way they see the world, can be interpreted to mean that individuals who speak multiple languages have a broader, more diverse view of the world, even when speaking only one language at a time. Some bilinguals feel that their personality changes depending on which language they are speaking; thus multilingualism is said to create multiple personalities. Xiao-lei Wang states in her book Growing up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven: "Languages used by speakers with one or more than one language are used not just to represent a unitary self, but to enact different kinds of selves, and different linguistic contexts create different kinds of self-expression and experiences for the same person." However, there has been little rigorous research done on this topic and it is difficult to define "personality" in this context. François Grosjean wrote: "What is seen as a change in personality is most probably simply a shift in attitudes and behaviors that correspond to a shift in situation or context, independent of language." However, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which states that a language shapes our vision of the world, may suggest that a language learned by a grown-up may have much fewer emotional connotations and therefore allow a more serene discussion than a language learned by a child and to that respect more or less bound to a child's perception of the world. A 2013 study published in PLoS ONE found that rather than an emotion-based explanation, switching into the second language seems to exempt bilinguals from the social norms and constraints such as political correctness.
While many polyglots know up to six languages, the number drops off sharply past this point. People who speak many more than this—Michael Erard suggests eleven or more—are sometimes classed as hyperpolyglots. Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, for example, was an Italian priest reputed to have spoken anywhere from 30 to 72 languages. The causes of advanced language aptitude are still under research; one theory suggests that a spike in a baby's testosterone levels while in the uterus can increase brain asymmetry, which may relate to music and language ability, among other effects.
While the term "savant" generally refers to an individual with a natural and/or innate talent for a particular field, people diagnosed with savant syndrome are typically individuals with significant mental disabilities who demonstrate profound and prodigious capacities and/or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal, occasionally including the capacity for languages. The condition is associated with an increased memory capacity, which would aid in the storage and retrieval of knowledge of a language. In 1991, for example, Neil Smith and Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli described Christopher, a man with non-verbal IQ scores between 40 and 70, who learned sixteen languages. Christopher was born in 1962 and approximately six months after his birth was diagnosed with brain damage. Despite being institutionalized because he was unable to take care of himself, Christopher had a verbal IQ of 89, was able to speak English with no impairment, and could learn subsequent languages with apparent ease. This facility with language and communication is considered unusual among savants.
Widespread multilingualism is one form of language contact. Multilingualism was common in the past: in early times, when most people were members of small language communities, it was necessary to know two or more languages for trade or any other dealings outside one's own town or village, and this holds good today in places of high linguistic diversity such as Sub-Saharan Africa and India. Linguist Ekkehard Wolff estimates that 50% of the population of Africa is multilingual.
In multilingual societies, not all speakers need to be multilingual. Some states can have multilingual policies and recognize several official languages, such as Canada (English and French). In some states, particular languages may be associated with particular regions in the state (e.g., Canada) or with particular ethnicities (e.g., Malaysia and Singapore). When all speakers are multilingual, linguists classify the community according to the functional distribution of the languages involved:
N.B. the terms given above all refer to situations describing only two languages. In cases of an unspecified number of languages, the terms polyglossia, omnilingualism, and multipart-lingualism are more appropriate.
Whenever two people meet, negotiations take place. If they want to express solidarity and sympathy, they tend to seek common features in their behavior. If speakers wish to express distance towards or even dislike of the person they are speaking to, the reverse is true, and differences are sought. This mechanism also extends to language, as described in the Communication Accommodation Theory.
Some multilinguals use code-switching, a term that describes the process of 'swapping' between languages. In many cases, code-switching is motivated by the wish to express loyalty to more than one cultural group, as holds for many immigrant communities in the New World. Code-switching may also function as a strategy where proficiency is lacking. Such strategies are common if the vocabulary of one of the languages is not very elaborated for certain fields, or if the speakers have not developed proficiency in certain lexical domains, as in the case of immigrant languages.
This code-switching appears in many forms. If a speaker has a positive attitude towards both languages and towards code-switching, many switches can be found, even within the same sentence. If, however, the speaker is reluctant to use code-switching, as in the case of a lack of proficiency, he might knowingly or unknowingly try to camouflage his attempt by converting elements of one language into elements of the other language through calquing. This results in speakers using words like courrier noir (literally mail that is black) in French, instead of the proper word for blackmail, chantage.
Sometimes a pidgin language may develop. A pidgin language is a fusion of two languages that is mutually understandable for both speakers. Some pidgin languages develop into real languages (such as Papiamento in Curaçao or Singlish in Singapore) while others remain as slangs or jargons (such as Helsinki slang, which is more or less mutually intelligible both in Finnish and Swedish).[clarification needed] In other cases, prolonged influence of languages on each other may have the effect of changing one or both to the point where it may be considered that a new language is born. For example, many linguists believe that the Occitan language and the Catalan language were formed because a population speaking a single Occitano-Romance language was divided into political spheres of influence of France and Spain, respectively. Yiddish is a complex blend of Middle High German with Hebrew and borrowings from Slavic languages.
Bilingual interaction can even take place without the speakers switching. In certain areas, it is not uncommon for speakers each to use a different language within the same conversation. This phenomenon is found, amongst other places, in Scandinavia. Most speakers of Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can communicate with each other speaking their respective languages, while few can speak both (people used to these situations often adjust their language, avoiding words that are not found in the other language or that can be misunderstood). Using different languages is usually called non-convergent discourse, a term introduced by the Dutch linguist Reitze Jonkman. To a certain extent, this situation also exists between Dutch and Afrikaans, although everyday contact is fairly rare because of the distance between the two respective communities. Another example is the former state of Czechoslovakia, where two closely related and mutually intelligible languages (Czech and Slovak) were in common use. Most Czechs and Slovaks understand both languages, although they would use only one of them (their respective mother tongue) when speaking. For example, in Czechoslovakia it was common to hear two people talking on television each speaking a different language without any difficulty understanding each other. This bilinguality still exists nowadays, although it has started to deteriorate after Czechoslovakia split up.
With emerging markets and expanding international cooperation, business users expect to be able to use software and applications in their own language. Multilingualisation (or "m17n", where "17" stands for 17 omitted letters) of computer systems can be considered part of a continuum between internationalization and localization:
Translating the user interface is usually part of the software localization process, which also includes adaptations such as units and date conversion. Many software applications are available in several languages, ranging from a handful (the most spoken languages) to dozens for the most popular applications (such as office suites, web browsers, etc.). Due to the status of English in computing, software development nearly always uses it (but see also Non-English-based programming languages), so almost all commercial software is initially available in an English version, and multilingual versions, if any, may be produced as alternative options based on the English original.
The Multilingual App Toolkit (MAT) was first released in concert with the release of Windows 8 as a way to provide developers a set of free tooling that enabled adding languages to their apps with just a few clicks, in large part due to the integration of a free, unlimited license to both the Microsoft Translator machine translation service and the Microsoft Language Platform service, along with platform extensibility to enable anyone to add translation services into MAT. Microsoft engineers and inventors of MAT, Jan A. Nelson and Camerum Lerum have continued to drive development of the tools, working with third parties and standards bodies to assure broad availability of multilingual app development is provided. With the release of Windows 10, MAT is now delivering support for cross-platform development for Windows Universal Apps as well as IOS and Android.
Globalization has led the world to be more deeply interconnected. Consequences of this are that more and more companies are trading with foreign countries, and with countries that don't necessarily speak the same language. English has become an important working knowledge mainly in multinational companies, but also in smaller companies. NGO workers are also faced with multilingualism when intervening on the field and use both linguistic and non-verbal strategies to communicate.
According to Hewitt (2008) entrepreneurs in London from Poland, China or Turkey use English mainly for communication with customers, suppliers and banks, but their own native languages for work tasks and social purposes. Even in English speaking countries immigrants are still able to use their own mother tongue in the workplace thanks to other immigrants from the same place. Kovacs (2004) describes this phenomenon in Australia with Finnish immigrants in the construction industry who spoke Finnish during working hours. But even though foreign languages may be used in the workplace, English is still a must-know working skill. Mainstream society justifies the divided job market, arguing that getting a low-paying job is the best newcomers can achieve considering their limited language skills.
With companies going international they are now focusing more and more on the English level of their employees. Especially in South Korea since the 1990s, companies are using different English language testing to evaluate job applicants, and the criteria in those tests are constantly upgrading the level for good English. In India it is even possible to receive training to acquire an English accent, as the number of outsourced call centres in India has soared in the past decades. Meanwhile, Japan ranks 26th out of 63 countries in a 2014 English Proficiency Index, amid calls for this to improve in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Within multiracial countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, it is not unusual for one to speak two or more languages, albeit with varying degrees of fluency. Some are proficient in several Chinese dialects, given the linguistic diversity of the ethnic Chinese community in both countries.
Not only in multinational companies is English an important skill, but also in the engineering industry, in the chemical, electrical and aeronautical fields. A study directed by Hill and van Zyl (2002) shows that in South Africa young black engineers used English most often for communication and documentation. However, Afrikaans and other local languages were also used to explain particular concepts to workers in order to ensure understanding and cooperation.
In Europe, as the domestic market is generally quite restricted, international trade is a norm. But there is no predominant language in Europe (with German spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Belgium; French in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland; and English in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Malta). Most of the time, English is used as a communication language, but in multilingual countries such as Belgium (Dutch, French and German), Switzerland (German, French, Italian and Romansh), Luxembourg (Luxembourgish, French and German) or Spain (Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician), it is common to see employees mastering two or even three of those languages. Some languages such as Danish, Swedish and Norwegian or Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian are so close to each other that it is generally more common when meeting to use their mother tongue rather than English. | https://cadmodels.machinedesign.com/community/knowledge/en/detail/10415/Multilingualism |
The Philippines is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world. However, it has also been identified as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots due to biodiversity loss.
Aggravating the challenges posed on the country’s biological ecosystem are population growth, rapid urbanization, global warming and the global pandemic caused by Covid-19.
Biodiversity experts believe that maintaining a healthy ecology or strong biodiversity, is essential to human survival. Eventually, they believe it will lead to the path of sustainable growth and development
Ecosystem services
Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits humans obtain from nature, Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview on October 1.
Citing various studies, Lim, an international biodiversity expert, said different ecosystems provide different types of services.
More importantly, she cited the provisioning services that include the supply of food, water, fiber, wood and fuels.
“Different ecosystems provide different types of services. Forests and trees aid in healing damaged ecosystems and in providing livable conditions,” Lim said.
Importance of forests
In addition to producing tangible goods, Lim, a former director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said forests reduce the effects of noise, floods and droughts.
“They purify water, bind harmful substances; they maintain soil fertility and water quality; they aid in controlling erosion; they protect drinking water resources; and they can help with wastewater processing,” she said.
Besides reducing climate change, forests help in controlling infectious diseases.
At the same time, Lim said oceans and seas provide a different set of ecosystem services.
There is also an increasing body of research in the indirect impact of biodiversity on human health, proving that exposure to nature, including urban green space, parks and woods, have measurable good effects on mental and physiological health, she pointed out.
Threats to ecological services
The ecological services provided by forests, however, are threatened by deforestation, pollution and biodiversity loss.
Food production, Lim noted, impacts all ecosystems. Agriculture, the main economic driver, along with habitat loss, are recurring threats to biodiversity and remain the primary concern.
Population growth also places added pressure on natural resources.
“Some countries are experiencing a rapid increase in population, while some experience close to negative growth,” she said.
Many parts of the world are experiencing increased pressure in the consumption of food and resources due to the increasing population.
Climate change and biodiversity loss
Scientists and experts have time and again identified climate change as a major driver of biodiversity loss.
According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), climate change has already adversely affected biodiversity at the species and ecosystem levels.
“Some species and ecosystems are demonstrating the capacity to adapt naturally. However, others show negative impacts under current levels of climate change,” Lim noted.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Environment Programme said biodiversity-rich forests are likely to be less vulnerable to climate risks and impacts than degraded and/or fragmented forests and plantations dominated by a single or a few species.
However, the current regulating service of forests as carbon sinks may be lost entirely and turn land ecosystems into a net source of carbon dioxide.
Meanwhile, in marine and coastal ecosystems, warmer temperatures lead to increased rates of coral bleaching or a decline in coral health, Lim noted, citing a 2010 Asian Development Bank study.
Climate change’s impact on agriculture
A study by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) states that changes in climatic patterns consequently alter the spatial distribution of agro-ecological zones, habitats, distribution patterns of plant diseases and pests, fish populations, and ocean circulation patterns that can significantly affect agriculture and food production.
The manifestation of identified climate change-induced hazards and risks to agriculture will vary due to differences in geographical and socioeconomic conditions across the region, according to the Searca study in 2013.
Lim noted that agrobiodiversity remains the main raw material for agroecosystems to cope with climate change as it contains the reservoir of traits for plant and animal breeders and farmers to select resilient, climate-ready germplasm, and produce new breeds, citing a study by Marambe and Silva.
Protected areas’ limited defense
Climate change is likely to result in biodiversity loss, forest degradation, and reduction, migration and extinction of species.
Citing a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report, Lim said protected areas indeed have a limited defense against climate change and they should be improved to withstand climate impacts.
“Climate change also adds to pressures of already vulnerable biodiversity hotspots. If there is a significant rise in sea level, all wetland and marine and coastal Asean Heritage Parks (AHPs) will be affected,” she explained.
According to WWF, Lim noted, species existing in about 60 percent of AHPs are vulnerable to climate change due to decreasing niche space, considering these AHPs are 1,000 meters above sea level.
AHPs in Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam have been previously affected by past cyclones.
Lim pointed out that endangered plants and animals are the most common components in almost all AHPs that are sensitive to climate change.
Zoonotic disease
Biodiversity loss and climate change aggravate the threat of zoonic diseases, Lim said.
“The exposure to vectors is increased or altered by activities connected to deforestation, such as mining, hydroelectric projects, road construction, mineral exploitation and agriculture. [They] have a profound impact, not only on the biology of vectors or potential vector populations, but also on the exposure of both native populations in the area and migrant populations,” she explained.
Lim pointed out that land-use changes are also associated with the creation of road networks, further enhancing pressures on wildlife populations.
“A series of emerging infectious diseases, for example, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Ebola and Middle East respiratory syndrome, have been linked to wildlife use, trade and consumption,” she said.
Mainstreaming biodiversity
How can mainstreaming biodiversity conservation help mitigate the impact of climate change and reduce, if not totally avoid yet another global pandemic?
Lim said that in many cases, different national government agencies work on climate change and biodiversity separately.
She pointed out that “convergence” among relevant stakeholders on both issues is necessary to comply with commitments to both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the CBD.
“Regionally, there is a recognition of the vulnerability of Asean to the impacts of climate change. But an understanding of biodiversity conservation as an effective mitigating measure against climate change impacts needs to be emphasized,” Lim said.
“Increased collaboration, sharing of expertise and public awareness on the interrelationship between climate change and biodiversity are crucial to addressing these twin issues,” she added.
According to Lim, there is already an increasing recognition that protected areas may buffer against the emergence of novel infectious diseases by avoiding drastic changes in host/reservoir abundance and distribution and reducing contact rates between humans, livestock and wildlife.
The current Covid-19 pandemic further emphasizes the fact that protected areas are at the forefront of preventing future disease outbreaks by maintaining ecosystem integrity, she said. | https://www.searca.org/press/increased-collaboration-awareness-crucial-tackling-biodiversity-climate-concerns |
GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an international network and research infrastructure funded by the world’s governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth.
Worsening land degradation caused by human activities is undermining the well-being of two fifths of humanity, driving species extinctions and intensifying climate change. It is also a major contributor to mass human migration and increased conflict, according to the world’s first comprehensive…
Biodiversity is vanishing at an alarming rate across most of the world, find the most comprehensive assessments of global ecosystem health to be done in decades. The five reports, published in the past week, are the culmination of three years’ work by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on…
A roadmap for businesses operating in some of the most biologically significant places on the planet has been issued today by the Key Biodiversity Area Partnership involving 12 of the world’s leading conservation organisations – including IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Where in the world will people’s lives be affected by water issues by the year 2050? What is the impact of the growing global population, further urbanisation and climate change on these water risks, the food supply and migration? This new report by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment…
This analysis finds that US consumers wasted 422g of food per person daily, with 30 million acres of cropland used to produce this food every year. This accounts for 30% of daily calories available for consumption, one-quarter of daily food (by weight) available for consumption, and 7% of annual…
Most power generation consumes water, whether to cool steam in thermoelectric plants or power turbines for hydropower. And the global demand for both water and electricity will continue to increase substantially in the coming decades. Although growth is generally a good thing for the economy, it…
Twenty-four million new jobs will be created globally by 2030 if the right policies to promote a greener economy are put in place, a new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) says. Action to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement, to limit global temperature rise to below 2…
Study is the first to evaluate the effect of extreme heat on the probability of local work in rural Mexico, write Katrina Jessoe, Dale Manning and Edward Taylor
Communities across the world are becoming more interested in eating a healthy, nutritious, and low-footprint diet. But there remains a big disconnect between consumers, producers, and the impact current production and consumption patterns have on the environment and climate. What can you do? The…
Transformation is picking up speed in the power sector, but urgent action is required in heating, cooling and transport This year’s Renewables 2018 Global Status Report GSR reveals two realities: one in which a revolution in the power sector is driving rapid change towards a renewable energy future…
A new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), Renewable Energy Policies in a Time of Transition, is an unprecedented collaboration that sheds new light on the policy…
With climate change soon to be the main threat to biodiversity, protected habitat will be a higher priority than ever to give wildlife a chance. | https://knowledge.unccd.int/search?f%5B0%5D=topic%3A1264&f%5B1%5D=topic%3A1318&f%5B2%5D=topic%3A1321&f%5B3%5D=topic%3A1550&f%5B4%5D=topic%3A1591&f%5B5%5D=topic%3A1626&f%5B6%5D=topic%3A1643&f%5B7%5D=topic%3A2094&f%5B8%5D=type%3Apublications&%3Bf%5B1%5D=topic%3A1595 |
Many of the world’s most biodiverse regions are found in the poorest and second most populous continent of Africa; a continent facing exceptional challenges. Africa is projected to quadruple its population by 2100 and experience increasingly severe climate change and environmental conflict—all of which will ravage biodiversity. Here we assess conservation threats facing Africa and consider how these threats will be affected by human population growth, economic expansion, and climate change. We then evaluate the current capacity and infrastructure available to conserve the continent’s biodiversity. We consider four key questions essential for the future of African conservation: (1) how to build societal support for conservation efforts within Africa; (2) how to build Africa’s education, research, and management capacity; (3) how to finance conservation efforts; and (4) is conservation through development the appropriate approach for Africa? While the challenges are great, ways forward are clear, and we present ideas on how progress can be made. Given Africa’s current modest capacity to address its biodiversity crisis, additional international funding is required, but estimates of the cost of conserving Africa’s biodiversity are within reach. The will to act must build on the sympathy for conservation that is evident in Africa, but this will require building the education capacity within the continent. Considering Africa’s rapidly growing population and the associated huge economic needs, options other than conservation through development need to be more effectively explored. Despite the gravity of the situation, we believe that concerted effort in the coming decades can successfully curb the loss of biodiversity in Africa.
|Subject (DDC):||570 Biosciences, Biology|
|Keywords:||climate change, human population growth, economic development, sustainable development, biodiversity, tropical forest|
|Bibliography of Konstanz:||Yes|
|Refereed:||Yes|
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There are no files associated with this item. | https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/handle/123456789/58392 |
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Discuss the causes and consequences of landscape configuration on ecological processes and patterns of
biodiversity
2. Identify landscape scale processes leading to increased vulnerability or resilience of ecosystems in the face of
environmental change
3. Plan and conduct field campaigns to collect ecological data to incorporate into landscape scale biological
conservation
4. Evaluate critically spatial modelling approaches to biodiversity conservation.
Brief description
The module will enable students to understand the importance of spatial context and spatial relationships at the landscape scale when considering patterns in biodiversity and ecological processes. Students will gain knowledge and practical experience of field, computing and analytical techniques to incorporate this complexity into biodiversity conservation.
Content
Scale concepts and hierarchy theory in ecology
Causes of landscape pattern: abiotic, biotic, human land-use.
Measuring the land-surface and the role of Earth Observation
Geographic Information Systems.
Spatial analysis: temporal and spatial autocorrelation
Quantitative landscape analysis: pattern metrics, networks
Habitat fragmentation and edge effects
Dispersal and spatial population dynamics in real landscapes
Spatial behavioural ecology
Radio, GPS and satellite telemetry of animal movements
Field survey techniques for landscape ecology
Habitat suitability models
Gap analysis
Modelling landscape change: biological invasions, land-use change, climate
Conservation and management of biodiversity at the landscape scale: scaling up ecological knowledge to units of management and policy. | https://www.aber.ac.uk/cy/modules/2011/RS31620/ |
GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an international network and research infrastructure funded by the world’s governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth.
Worsening land degradation caused by human activities is undermining the well-being of two fifths of humanity, driving species extinctions and intensifying climate change. It is also a major contributor to mass human migration and increased conflict, according to the world’s first comprehensive…
Biodiversity is vanishing at an alarming rate across most of the world, find the most comprehensive assessments of global ecosystem health to be done in decades. The five reports, published in the past week, are the culmination of three years’ work by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on…
The Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas was published in 2016 by the European Commission Joint Research Centre and the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative. More than 120 scientists from around the world contributed to bringing the most current soil ecology and biodiversity knowledge into accessible…
Special Issue Title: Mapping and Modelling Soil Erosion to Address Societal Challenges in a Changing World
A roadmap for businesses operating in some of the most biologically significant places on the planet has been issued today by the Key Biodiversity Area Partnership involving 12 of the world’s leading conservation organisations – including IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Where in the world will people’s lives be affected by water issues by the year 2050? What is the impact of the growing global population, further urbanisation and climate change on these water risks, the food supply and migration? This new report by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment…
30.6 MILLION PEOPLE DISPLACED INSIDE THEIR COUNTRY IN 2017
Awareness of the threats to mental health posed by climate change leads to questions about the potential impacts on climate scientists because they are immersed in depressing information and may face apathy, denial and even hostility from others. But they also have sources of resilience.
Twenty-four million new jobs will be created globally by 2030 if the right policies to promote a greener economy are put in place, a new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) says. Action to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement, to limit global temperature rise to below 2…
Study is the first to evaluate the effect of extreme heat on the probability of local work in rural Mexico, write Katrina Jessoe, Dale Manning and Edward Taylor
With climate change soon to be the main threat to biodiversity, protected habitat will be a higher priority than ever to give wildlife a chance. | https://knowledge.unccd.int/search?f%5B0%5D=topic%3A1256&f%5B1%5D=topic%3A1264&f%5B2%5D=topic%3A1572&f%5B3%5D=topic%3A1626&f%5B4%5D=topic%3A1631&f%5B5%5D=topic%3A1644&f%5B6%5D=topic%3A1750&f%5B7%5D=topic%3A2268&f%5B8%5D=type%3Apublications&%3Bf%5B1%5D=topic%3A1595 |
I'm interested in environmental stressors to avian species & their habitats. In my MS I studied human disturbance to Golden Eagles, but I've also studied the impacts of forestry & agricultural practices, fire ecology, oil & gas development. I love mgmt. of imperiled species, migration, biodiversity & human dimensions. I'm looking for conservation work with Species At Risk, spatial ecology, conservation biology, biodiversity, statistics, simulation modeling, technical writing, & env. policy.
Additional affiliations
September 2019 - November 2019
Hawkwatch International
Position
- Technician
Description
- Assess GPS track logs of Golden Eagles, for potential migration observation points, to census migration. Count/ID migrant raptors, to assess value for long term migration monitoring. Public outreach and education. Train and supervise bio technician.
May 2018 - December 2018
Credit Valley Conservation
Position
- Natural Heritage Inventory Assistant
Description
- Ecological Land Classification (ELC), avian, bat and frog surveys. Create Acoustic Classifier for avian species in Kaleidoscope. Data entry and review. Literature reviews.
September 2017 - October 2017
Hawkwatch Internation
Position
- Technician
Description
- Kluane Lake, Yukon. Assess GPS track logs of GOEAs, for potential migration observation points, to census AK Golden Eagles (GOEA). Count migrating raptors at 10+ sites, to assess value for long term migration monitoring.
Education
Publications
Publications (5)
As nature-based recreation grows in popularity, there is concern for reduced fitness of animals exposed to chronic disturbance by these activities. Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) and other raptors are sensitive to human recreation near their nests, and managers of these species need strategies to mitigate negative effects. We used simulation mod...
Disturbance because of human activity, including recreation on wildlands, can affect bird behavior which in turn can reduce breeding success, an important consideration for species of management concern. We observed Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) during the breeding season to determine whether the probability of flushing was affected by the type...
There is widespread evidence that human disturbance affects wildlife behavior, but long-term population effects can be difficult to quantify. Individual-based models (IBMs) offer a way to assess population-level, aggregate effects of disturbance on wildlife. We created Tolerance in Raptors and the Associated Impacts of Leisure Sports (TRAILS), an I...
Different forms of outdoor recreation have different spatiotemporal activity patterns that may have interactive or cumulative effects on wildlife through human disturbance, physical habitat change, or both. In western North America, shrub-steppe habitats near urban areas are popular sites for motorized recreation and nonmotorized recreation and can... | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Spaul |
Notice that the biomass of social insects middle far outweighs the number of species right. Enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services Strategic Goal E: This is the newest application of technology for preservation of biotic parts.
Thus, most of us are propping up our current lifestyles, and our economic growth, by drawing and increasingly overdrawing upon the ecological capital of other parts of the world.
Target 12 By the extinction of known threatened species has been prevented and their conservation status, particularly of those most in decline, has been improved and sustained.
It does not represent all marine species, just those that are readily fossilized. Translocation is carried in following cases: Concerns for biodiversity loss covers a broader conservation mandate that looks at ecological processes, such as migration, and a holistic examination of biodiversity at levels beyond the species, including genetic, population and ecosystem diversity.
This means that there are greater rates of biodiversity loss in places where the inequity of wealth is greatest Although a direct market comparison of natural capital is likely insufficient in terms of human valueone measure of ecosystem services suggests the contribution amounts to trillions of dollars yearly.
The history of biodiversity during the Phanerozoic the last million yearsstarts with rapid growth during the Cambrian explosion —a period during which nearly every phylum of multicellular organisms first appeared.
Over the history of the planet, most of the species that ever existed evolved and then gradually went extinct. Over half of all the animals already identified are invertebrates. They study processes such as mutation and gene transfer that drive evolution. While the predominant approach to date has been to focus efforts on endangered species by conserving biodiversity hotspotssome scientists e.
Shifting or Jhum cultivation: Conservation biology as a profession[ edit ] The Society for Conservation Biology is a global community of conservation professionals dedicated to advancing the science and practice of conserving biodiversity. These are cold storages where germ plam are kept under controlled temperature and humidity for storage; this is an important way of preserving the genetic resources.
With the rapid decline of sea otters due to overhuntingsea urchin populations grazed unrestricted on the kelp beds and the ecosystem collapsed.
Is conservation biology an objective science when biologists advocate for an inherent value in nature.
Physiology is considered in the broadest possible terms to include functional and mechanistic responses at all scales, and conservation includes the development and refinement of strategies to rebuild populations, restore ecosystems, inform conservation policy, generate decision-support tools, and manage natural resources.
An explicit definition consistent with this interpretation was first given in a paper by Bruce A.
However, tetrapod terrestrial vertebrates taxonomic and ecological diversity shows a very close correlation. The botanical gardens provide beauty and calm environment.
They reason it is better to understand the significance of the ecological roles of species. Conservation biologists advocate for reasoned and sensible management of natural resources and do so with a disclosed combination of sciencereasonlogicand values in their conservation management plans.
Government regulators, consultants, or NGOs regularly monitor indicator species, however, there are limitations coupled with many practical considerations that must be followed for the approach to be effective.
To properly catalogue all the life on Earth, we also have to recognize the genetic diversity that exists within species, as well as the diversity of entire habitats and ecosystems.
All dogs are part of the same species, but their genes can dictate whether they are Chihuahua or a Great Dane. Notice that the biomass of social insects middle far outweighs the number of species right.
Economic values and natural capital[ edit ] See also: The similarity between the curves of biodiversity and human population probably comes from the fact that both are derived from the interference of the hyperbolic trend with cyclical and stochastic dynamics.
This view offers a possible answer to the fundamental question of why so many species can coexist in the same ecosystem.
There is a relationship, a correlationbetween markets and natural capitaland social income inequity and biodiversity loss. These are cold storages where seeds are kept under controlled temperature and humidity for storage and this is easiest way to store the germ plasma of plants at low temperature.
Conservation ethic and Land ethic Conservation biologists are interdisciplinary researchers that practice ethics in the biological and social sciences. Some scientists believe that corrected for sampling artifacts, modern biodiversity may not be much different from biodiversity million years ago.
All these services together are valued The current background extinction rate is estimated to be one species every few years. However, tetrapod terrestrial vertebrates taxonomic and ecological diversity shows a very close correlation.
Conservation biology is the management of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of.
Conservation biology is reforming around strategic plans to protect biodiversity. Preserving global biodiversity is a priority in strategic conservation plans that are designed to engage public policy and concerns affecting local, regional and global scales of. 10 days ago · Biodiversity is an essential part of the solution to climate change.
Nature can provide more than 30 percent of the solution to climate change by holding global warming below 2 degrees Celsius — and biodiversity is an essential part of the picture. Lina Barrera is the director of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Policy in CI’s Center for Conservation and Government.
TAGS Biodiversity, biodiversity, cbd, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), deforestation, ecosystem services, ecosystems, forests, Fresh Water, oceans, Oceans, protected areas, Special Events.
Biodiversity is the variety of life. It can be studied on many levels. At the highest level, one can look at all the different species on the entire Earth. Human society largely depends on the ecosystem but has imparted a tremendous burden upon it. | https://jowedofuwyqemiq.schmidt-grafikdesign.com/conservation-of-biodiversity-19748ey.html |
Using ring recovery data from the EURING databank, the aims of this study were: (1) to identify the chief migration and wintering areas of white–throated bluethroat European subspecies, L. s. namnetum, L. s. cyanecula and L. s. azuricollis, (2) to evaluate the degree of connectivity between breeding and non–breeding regions and determine the migration patterns of each subspecies, and (3) to evaluate whether recovery data are sufficient to answer the previous questions adequately. Most of the recoveries were obtained during the autumn migration period (n = 155, 68.9%), followed by winter (n = 49, 21.8%) and spring (n = 21, 9.3%). For L. s. azuricollis, we did not find any ring recoveries at more than 100 km in autumn or spring, and there were none at all in winter. All analyses thus relate to L. s. cyanecula and L. s. namnetum. Both subspecies move across a NE–SW axis from their breeding to their wintering areas within the circum–Mediterranean region, mainly in Iberia, following population–specific parallel migration routes. L. s. namnetum mainly uses the Atlantic coastal marshes from France to south–western Iberia, where the chief wintering areas are found. L. s. cyanecula, however, uses both Atlantic and Mediterranean wetlands in autumn, but only those in the Mediterranean in spring, thus giving rise to a loop–migration pattern. Telescopic migration was demonstrated for L. s. cyanecula. Recovery data were insufficient to identify in detail the entire wintering range for all white–throated bluethroat European populations. Technologies such as the use of geolocators will play a relevant role in this scenario.
CiteArizaga, J., Tamayo, I., 2013. Connectivity patterns and key non–breeding areas of white–throated bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) European populations. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation, 36: 69-78, DOI: https://doi.org/10.32800/abc.2013.36.0069
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Reception date:
- 28/12/2012
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Acceptation date:
- 02/03/2013
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Publication date: | https://museucienciesjournals.cat/en/abc/issue/36-1-2013-abc/connectivity-patterns-and-key-non-breeding-areas-of-white-throated-bluethroat-luscinia-svecica-european-populations |
The population growth and the environment we live in are closely related. The major forces behind change in population are fertility, mortality, and increased migration. The rates are different all across the entire world and essentially are higher in developing countries. One reason is due to the lack of funds to obtain contraceptives. Mortality rates refer to the number of deaths. A society with a large number of old people will have high death rates, therefore, a negative population change. Migration is an important demographic parameter. It involves the movement of people in and out of a particular area. Conflict, search for employment and a better life have caused the movement of people, especially into urban areas. When the migration is high into a region the resultant population growth can be significantly high. The three factors can be used to make projections about changes in population into the future.
The impacts of population change on the environment due to urbanization are numerous. A great number of rural dwellers move into cities in search of better living standards; that movement from the rural areas to the cities is known as urbanization. Population growth brings problems to the environment leading to such as climate change and food scarcity. Population change has heavy consequences throughout the entire society. The patterns of consumption of individuals in urban centres differs from those in rural regions. They take up more of energy, food, and durable goods than the rural people. Due to the high consumption of energy, a lot of exploitation is done in order to satisfy the populations. The increased use of fossil fuels affects the environment and is a major contributor to global warming and climate change. The urban people have more vehicles leading to more pollution. Air pollution is a major problem of urbanization. Industries and automobiles are a major part of the urban areas. Water pollution is another problem of overpopulated urban areas. The disposal of rubbish and wastes into water degrades its quality. Urbanization leads to the destruction of natural habitats such as wetlands and important ecosystems.
The analysis of the effects of population change on the main sociological perspectives is key to offering insight that assist in the understanding issues that relate to population growth. The first theoretical perspective is functionalism. It considers population growth to have certain components; death, migration and birth which are essential to any society. The major assumption is that the environment and population affect one another. Having a steady and a population growth around the norm is important for any particular community. Population growth that exceeds the optimum leads to negative effects. Environmental problems can be expected in an industrialized community and in fatal conditions the problems are intolerable. Functionalism looks at pollution and the other environmental issues as consequences which are unavoidable in society of today. The society’s economy shows the significance of population changes.
The rapid growth of population leads overcrowding and uses up the important resources including food substances and brings harm to the environment. Functionalism generally emphasizes the reasons for how the environment and population affect one another. Environmental problems have dire negative impacts for the people. While the rapid population growth causes environmental problems then also does minimal population growth.
The second theoretical perspective, social conflict theory does not consider the growth of the population as a not to be ignored problem. It creates an assumption that the world has food that is enough together with the other resources in place to see to the wants of a growing population. The presence of food shortages and other problems involved in meeting population needs are reflected in the decisions of political and economic elites in developing nations to hinder food and other resources from getting to the citizens of their countries. They are also reflected in decisions of multinational bodies that deprive these nations of their naturally born resources. This theory dictates that the problem of population growth exists not because of the lack of food and other resources but due to the poor and unfair distribution of these resources. Efforts are needed to satisfy the peoples food and other resources needs which must place their main concern on fair distribution in a more equitable manner.
The theory also recognizes that majority of the developing nations that have population growth being more than that which is desired. The theory places blame on this nations governments to readily avail family planning and educate the women in regard to fertility and independence where both help control birth rates. The theory has the assumption that the environmental issues experienced worldwide are unavoidable as they spring from one, multinational bodies engage in activities that lead to pollution of water, air and the land. Secondly, the American nation and the other governments do not have adequate regulations that create limitations on pollution causing activities and lack to strongly enforce necessary regulations against pollution.
The third theoretical perspective symbolic interactionism gives up four types of understanding of environmental and population problems. At first, it seeks the understanding of the reasons why individuals participate or lack to in acts linked to growth of the population and to such other issues such as embracing family planning and environmental activities such as recycling and reusing. The understanding is important to understand why the people get or not into particular acts related to the issues. Secondly, it places emphasis on individual’s perceptions of environmental problems and population changes. Public attitudes play a significant part in problems persistence. Therefore, it is really necessary to have knowledge of the reasons in regard to the public statements on the issues. Efforts to look into the issues can, therefore, be better concentrated on. Thirdly, symbolic interactionism creates the assumption that environmental problems and population changes to an extent are social constructions. These issues are not seen as social problems not until a sufficient number of people or organization both in the private and public sector visualize them as such. For instance, the ban on lead was as a result of efforts from environmental groups and the reasons offered by scientifically that show growing amount of the lead dangers. Finally, the theory suggests that individuals from different cultures and varying social backgrounds might have varying understanding of environmental problems and population issues. It is important to have an appreciation for the different perceptions if the population issues and environmental problems are to be addressed.
Environmental sociology emphasizes that environmental problems are due to human activity and their decision making. Another note is that the environmental problems affect the low-income nations. The environmental problems include air and water pollution, climate change, global warming and hazardous waste disposal. The three sociological perceptions that are social conflict theory, functionalism, and symbolic interactionism help understand effects of population change on the environment. | https://turfwriters.org/2018/11/population-and-environment-relations/ |
At the start of the 21st century, poverty remains one of the biggest concerns for humanity at the global level. Approximately thirty years ago, the World Bank defined poverty as "a condition of life characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, and disease at levels that are below any reasonable definition of human decency."
Poverty reduction is perhaps the most urgent international problem in need of resolution in the new millennium. It is a fact that a large segment of the human population continues to suffer from extreme poverty without having immediate solutions within reach. The World Bank estimates that a total of 1.2 billion inhabitants of our planet live on less than US$1 per day.
As affirmed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), poverty is a complex and multidimensional problem that is reflected onto many aspects of society. Although the solution is not simple, it is critical that all countries collaborate and strive for a common purpose: to eradicate poverty. In that regard, it is vital to anticipate the implementation of a complex process involving both economic and social variables (job creation, improvement of productivity, etc.), as well as cultural variable (respect for human rights), so that all human beings may have a decent standard of living.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
In response to the need for action, the world is recognizing that one of the options to alleviate this extreme poverty is the conservation of biodiversity. For example, the World Summit on Sustainable Development held by the United Nations (UN) in Johannesburg in 2002, set the target, as one of the key components of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), of achieving a significant decrease in the current rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010. This target is linked to the first MDG, which includes the goal of "reducing by half the number of people living in extreme poverty" (i.e., with an income of less than one dollar a day). This fact, confirmed again during the UN World Summit in 2005, was seen as a contribution to poverty reduction, for the benefit of all life on Earth. In a similar fashion, the main global conventions on the environment have adopted a wide range of commitments, linking poverty reduction with the conservation of biodiversity.
On the issue of poverty, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in keeping with the international community, confirms its institutional commitment and promotes the importance of fighting poverty through conservation. The IUCN reaffirms the important role conservation organizations play in the fight against poverty, and the need for bilateral and multilateral agencies to prioritize in their agendas the relationship between development and conservation of biodiversity. The IUCN also invites member organizations and other agencies related to environmental issues, to work on joint efforts for poverty reduction, sustainable development, the improvement of the quality of life of populations, and biodiversity conservation, taking into account that social equality cannot exist without the promotion and protection of human rights. In addition, it stresses the importance that management of Protected Areas has in the reduction of rural and local poverty.
Conservation organizations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), based in Switzerland, believes that finding socially viable economic mechanisms is key to ensuring harmony between the goals of conservation and development, in order to achieve a sustainable future.
Currently, the IUCN, among other international and national organizations, promotes the importance of the fight against poverty through conservation. Similarly, it argues that it is essential that the governmental and non-governmental organizations that are engaged in this task, prioritize in their agendas the relationship between development and the conservation of biodiversity. Likewise, as was clearly recognized by the IUCN during its world congress in Barcelona in the year 2008, when policies and conservation activities affect people at the local level, these activities and policies should strive to contribute to poverty reduction or, at the very least, to not increase it.
Relationship between poverty and conservation
World-renowned experts such as Dilys Roe and Joanna Elliott have analyzed in detail the relationship between poverty and conservation. These specialists view with positivity the contribution that conservation activities can make in reducing poverty, both at local and at national levels. They also evaluate the contribution that activities to reduce poverty can make to conservation. In regard to the first group of activities - conservation activities which help to alleviate poverty - they mention: 1) opportunities to generate income (work, trade, business); 2) safety social networks for the poorest, who are unable to participate in the generation of income; 3) improvement of access to natural resources (for food, health and housing); 4) maintenance of traditional rights and cultural values; 5) ecosystem services (clean air and water, fertile soils); and, at times, 6) the commercialization of the latter, attracting international investments on conservation. Examples of activities whose objective is to alleviate poverty and which in turn benefit conservation, are: the reduction of the direct dependence on natural resources for subsistence; urbanization, which reduces the pressure on rural resources; incentives that are provided for the conservation of useful species (medicinal plants, food crops), and the creation of an economic base for private sector investment in environmental goods, including conservation.
According to Roe and Elliot, the loss of biodiversity has broad implications for poverty alleviation and complicates the achievement of the MDGs. These specialists quote a recent analysis of the Poverty Environmental Partnership (PEP), which found that environmental capital constitutes 26% of the wealth in low-income countries. Based on one of the latest reports on global resources of 2005, Roe and Elliot emphasize at the same time the role ecosystems can play as a springboard to leave poverty behind.
As these same authors state, in order to understand the interconnections between biodiversity and poverty, we must analyze: 1) how the poor both affect and are affected by the availability or lack of biodiversity; 2) what is the impact that conservation activities may have on the poor at the local level and the role they can play in supporting conservation activities; and 3) what is the contribution that biodiversity can make to poverty reduction efforts.
As for the Dominican economy, according to the 2005 National Human Development Report for the Dominican Republic, conducted by UNDP, the country has inserted itself in the global economy by achieving rates of over 5% average annual economic growth in recent years. In fact, the Dominican Republic is among the 10 largest economies in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, this National Report also says that the main cause of poverty and low levels of human development at the start of the new millennium is the limited commitment to the collective progress by the national leaders and the business sector during recent decades and the absence of a true social pact, as well as and the lack of empowerment of the majority sectors in Dominican society.
Poverty levels in the Dominican Republic
According to the UNDP, this has resulted in 1.5 million Dominicans falling into poverty due to the financial crisis that broke out between the years 2003 and 2004. Of these, around 670,000 fell into extreme poverty. Additional data from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reported that towards the end of 2004, 43 out of every 100 Dominicans were poor and of these, 16 were living in extreme poverty. Since late 2004, a process of economic growth and stability began and it has resulted in a reduction in the number of people living in poverty. In fact, almost 500,000 Dominicans (7% of the population) broke out of moderate poverty and around 233,000 people (3% of the population) overcame extreme poverty during that period. A few years later, however, 25.1% of the population was still below the poverty level.
From 2007 onwards, UNDP's Unit for Poverty Reduction, in consensus with the Dominican Government and associated agencies and institutions, developed strategic documents that establish the scope of actions in the Dominican Republic. These are based on three major priorities: 1) growth and development with equality; 2) quality social services for all; and 3) democratic governance. The first priority focuses on contributing to the development of a new model of social and institutional economic development, that is inclusive, sustainable and decentralized, which provides for an increase in social investment and the creation of decent jobs, as well as for greater efficiency in the use of resources in favor of the achievement of the MDGs. The second objective is to support actions to improve the quality and management of social services, and to increase access to them and their usage, by fostering sustainability, protection and the promotion of human rights. The third priority aims at contributing to the strengthening the State, at the central and local levels, by focusing on administration with greater efficiency, fairness and transparency. Particularly, the first priority seeks to integrate Dominican economic development with poverty reduction and environmental conservation, focusing on a model that seeks to be sustainable, or in other words, that develops in harmony with the environment.
Relationship between poverty and development in the Dominican Republic
However, in order to eradicate these levels of poverty in the Dominican Republic, it is vital to first analyze and understand the relations between poverty, human development and biodiversity in the island, as previously suggested by Roe and Elliot. For this reason, Maria Karina Cabrera and other colleagues, recently evaluated elements of poverty associated with development in the Dominican Republic and analyzed factors such as illiteracy, unemployment, malnutrition, the lack of basic services, deplorable sanitary conditions, infant mortality, and migration. This group reported that in the Dominican Republic, the poverty rate has reached extreme levels. According to this group, the level of health and the infant mortality rate have been alarming throughout the nation's history. For example, in 2003, 20% of children with AIDS were abandoned in public centers. In the same way, widespread unemployment in many sectors, has given rise to constant migration in search of new opportunities.
Fortunately, these authors mention that in this situation, all government, business and constitutional sectors maintain a continual struggle to provide a better quality of life for the entire population on an equal basis. This is true thanks to the fact that in recent times, the Dominican economy has experienced a growth rate of up to 7 %, becoming the most solid country of the Insular Caribbean. Examples of this growth are the placement of computers in educational centers, new health facilities with more modern equipment, and the improvement of wages in the educational and health sectors, thus avoiding the brain drain to other sectors of society. All of this has produced an overall improvement in the quality of life of all Dominicans.
According to the IUCN, in countries such as the Dominican Republic, where a corresponding political will exists when in comes to accomplishing a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biodiversity, added to a strong interest in developing an integrated response to achieve a greater level of poverty reduction, an even greater difference can be made. Such a response, according to the IUCN, must come from different sectors and disciplines. For example, in rural areas and, in the country's Central Mountain Range (Cordillera Central), where poor communities depend on natural resources, conservation could allow the development of equitable and environmentally sustainable solutions. For this purpose, it is essential that organizations dedicated to conservation, both national and international, start to improve their strategies and skills and begin to collaborate with non-traditional partners in other sectors of society (for example, the health, education, housing, and production sectors). In this sense, it is vital that organizations dedicated to development and production improve their abilities to work with the environmental sector and include the conservation of the environment in their joint agenda. Both types of organizations should recognize the need to eliminate the inequity in coastal, rural and urban communities, when they assume the costs for development and conservation.
Finally, as the IUCN and other international agencies mention, there is still a pressing need to find economic mechanisms that are socially viable and environmentally responsible, to ensure a harmonious work flow between development and conservation, in order to achieve poverty eradication and a sustainable future in developing countries such as the Dominican Republic. | https://www.diccionariomedioambiente.org/DiccionarioMedioAmbiente_en/en/cpo_new_conservaci%C3%B3n_y_pobreza.asp |
What are advantages of slower population growth?
What are advantages of slower population growth?
Slower population growth means that women on average are having fewer children, which gives girls and women the opportunity to pursue education and careers and continue a positive cycle of schooling, autonomy and equal status. Slower population growth will also place a higher value on immigration.
Is weather a density-dependent factor?
Density-dependent factors have varying impacts according to population size. Density-independent factors are not influenced by a species population size. All species populations in the same ecosystem will be similarly affected, regardless of population size. Factors include: weather, climate and natural disasters.
How does availability of resources affect population growth?
Changes in the amount or availability of a resource (e.g., more food) may result in changes in the growth of individual organisms (e.g., more food results in faster growth). Resource availability drives competition among organisms, both within a population as well as between populations.
What is exponential growth of population?
In exponential growth, a population’s per capita (per individual) growth rate stays the same regardless of population size, making the population grow faster and faster as it gets larger. In nature, populations may grow exponentially for some period, but they will ultimately be limited by resource availability.
What are the disadvantages of population limits?
Population affects the environment through the use of natural resources and production of wastes. These lead to loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution and increased pressure on land. Excessive deforestation and overgrazing by the growing population has led to land degradation.
Is there a limit to the growth of the population?
No population can increase without limitation. Many factors influence population densities and growth, and these factors may lead to oscillations in population size over time. It is also often difficult to determine the exact factor limiting growth. Many different factors may combine to produce unexpected results.
What are the negative impacts of a very fast growing population?
Rapid growth has led to uncontrolled urbanization, which has produced overcrowding, destitution, crime, pollution, and political turmoil. Rapid growth has outstripped increases in food production, and population pressure has led to the overuse of arable land and its destruction.
What is the effect of population growth?
It leads to the cutting of forests for cultivation leading to several environmental change. Besides all this, the increasing population growth leads to the migration of large number to urban areas with industrialization. This results in polluted air, water, noise and population in big cities and towns.
What are the advantages of population limits?
Advantages of Population Control
- Avoid overpopulation.
- Ensure sustainability on our planet.
- Mitigation of the resource depletion issue.
- Reduction in pollution levels.
- Protection of natural habitats.
- Reduction in global warming.
- Reduction in poverty.
- Mitigation of illegal actions.
What are some reasons population growth may increase?
Reasons for the expected population growth include increase in the number of young unmarried mothers, high fertility rates for some ethnic groups, and inadequate sexual education and birth control provision.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of population growth?
What are the Advantages and disadvantages of population growth?
- Conflict and War. Keeps humans from going extinct.
- Better Economy. – A large amount of people lead to a higher chance of disagreement.
- Pollution.
- Poverty.
- New Ideas and Cultures.
- Food and land shortages.
- Crime increase.
- By: Jennifer, Charlynne, Selah and Jessica M.
How can we stop population growth?
Reducing population growth
- Contraception.
- Abstinence.
- Reducing infant mortality so that parents do not need to have many children to ensure at least some survive to adulthood.
- Abortion.
- Changing status of women causing departure from traditional sexual division of labour.
- Sterilization.
What is logistic growth in population?
In logistic growth, population expansion decreases as resources become scarce, and it levels off when the carrying capacity of the environment is reached. The logistic growth curve is S-shaped.
What is the relationship between population growth and resources?
Resource use, waste production and environmental degradation are accelerated by population growth. They are further exacerbated by consumption habits, certain technological developments, and particular patterns of social organization and resource management.
What can cause a decrease in population?
Causes. A reduction over time in a region’s population can be caused by sudden adverse events such as outbursts of infectious disease, famine, and war or by long-term trends, for example sub-replacement fertility, persistently low birth rates, high mortality rates, and continued emigration.
Which limiting factor is independent of the number of individuals in a population?
Density-independent factor
What are the benefits of living in a very densely populated area?
Concentrating workers in densely populated urban areas creates many production advantages due to cost efficiencies from large scale production, better employer-employee job matching, and increased creation and dissemination of knowledge among skilled workers.
What is the relationship of global food production to population growth?
Global population growth means that food production needs to increase by 70% by 2050, placing pressure on food quality standards. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) forecasts that global food production will need to increase by 70% if the population reaches 9.1bn by 2050.
What is the relationship between population and food supply?
Contrary to the widely held belief that food production must be increased to feed the growing population, experimental and correlational data indicate that human population growth varies as a function of food availability.
What are the negative impacts of overpopulation?
Human overpopulation is among the most pressing environmental issues, silently aggravating the forces behind global warming, environmental pollution, habitat loss, the sixth mass extinction, intensive farming practices and the consumption of finite natural resources, such as fresh water, arable land and fossil fuels.
What will happen if food grain production is not increasing according to population growth?
This growth will subsequently reduce farm labor availability in many countries and put pressure on supply chains. According to the CGIAR, this effect will require the development and use of technologies and production systems that increase input-use efficiency in agriculture.
Does population outgrow food supply?
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates the world population will surpass 9.1 billion by 2050, at which point agricultural systems will not be able to supply enough food to feed everyone. However, new research suggests the world could run out of food even sooner.
Why is population important for a country?
A healthy population only can provide welfare and well-being of a society. A healthy population only bear healthy mind to have responsible citizens and to contribute economic development of the country.
What are the benefits of population control?
What are the major component of population growth?
Complete Answer:The major components that affect population growth are birth rate, death rate, and migration. The birth rate is the ratio of live births per thousand persons in a year. The death rate is the ratio of deaths per thousand persons in a year.
What is the importance of population education?
The purpose of population education is to help people understand the impacts of population change on lives and to develop decision-making skills. Population education helps to improve the well-being of their families and communities.
What is population growth What are the various factors affecting the population growth?
Population growth rate is affected by birth rates, death rates, immigration, and emigration. If a population is given unlimited amounts of food, moisture, and oxygen, and other environmental factors, it will show exponential growth.
What are the effects of population?
What are 3 factors that limit population growth?
Limitations to population growth are either density-dependant or density-independent. Density-dependent factors include disease, competition, and predation. Density-dependant factors can have either a positive or a negative correlation to population size.
What are the factors affecting death?
The factors affecting death are age, sex, diseases, heredity, nutritional level, health facility and services and health education. Three of them are described below: Age: Mortality rates are different in different age group. Mortality is high among children and old people but it is low among youths.
Is population growth bad for the environment?
2 Population is growing rapidly, far outpacing the ability of our planet to support it, given current practices. Overpopulation is associated with negative environmental and economic outcomes ranging from the impacts of over-farming, deforestation, and water pollution to eutrophication and global warming.
How does population growth affect the economy?
Population is beneficial to an economy due to the fact that population growth is correlated to technological advancement. Rising population promotes the need for some sort of technological change in order to meet the rising demands for certain goods and services.
What are the pros and cons of population growth?
1 Answer. Pro: keeps a viable population of a given species and in humans at least can produce a great deal of wealth. Cons: over population can lead to overuse of resources, and eventual collapse of a population by starvation.
What is the scope of population education?
The scope of population education can be divided into the following five categories: demography, Determines of population change, Consequences of population growth, Human sexuality and reproductive system, Planning for the future.
What are the factors that affect migration?
Migration is affected by various factors like age, sex, marital status, education, occupation, employment etc. Age and sex are main demographic factors that affect the migration.
Can environmental factors affect the population growth and size?
Environmental factors do affect a population’s growth rate, however. The interaction of the population’s natural growth rate and the environment determines the density of the surviving population. The maximum number of individuals that a given environment can support is called the carrying capacity.
What are the benefits of one child policy?
women also means that families had a better opportunity to change their financial situation. Men were the primary income earners for much of the one child generation, which meant fewer food shortages, less poverty, and better educational options for the next generation.
What are some of the five advantages of high population growth?
Explanation: Advantages :- More human population so more workers in different fields,More economy growth,More tax payers, More funds, More diversity ,More share of people for particular programs.
5 possible solutions to overpopulation
- Empower women. Studies show that women with access to reproductive health services find it easier to break out of poverty, while those who work are more likely to use birth control.
- Promote family planning.
- Make education entertaining.
- Government incentives.
- 5) One-child legislation.
How is population growth good for the environment?
In brief, the direct evidence of the effect of population growth on the environment is clearer for forest loss and soil degradation than for pollution. But population is not the only factor affecting environmental degradation. And population control may not produce less environmental degradation. | https://www.vikschaatcorner.com/what-are-advantages-of-slower-population-growth/ |
Protected yet pressured
Protected areas are increasingly recognized as an essential way to safeguard biodiversity. Although the percentage of land included in the global protected area network has increased from 9 to 15%, Jones et al. found that a third of this area is influenced by intensive human activity. Thus, even landscapes that are protected are experiencing some human pressure, with only the most remote northern regions remaining almost untouched.
In an era of massive biodiversity loss, the greatest conservation success story has been the growth of protected land globally. Protected areas are the primary defense against biodiversity loss, but extensive human activity within their boundaries can undermine this. Using the most comprehensive global map of human pressure, we show that 6 million square kilometers (32.8%) of protected land is under intense human pressure. For protected areas designated before the Convention on Biological Diversity was ratified in 1992, 55% have since experienced human pressure increases. These increases were lowest in large, strict protected areas, showing that they are potentially effective, at least in some nations. Transparent reporting on human pressure within protected areas is now critical, as are global targets aimed at efforts required to halt biodiversity loss. | https://sustainablebizness.com/one-third-of-global-protected-land-is-under-intense-human-pressure/ |
Vanuatu, an archipelago of 83 small, mainly volcanic, islands in the SW Pacific, forms part of the East Melanesian Islands biodiversity hotspot (see Figure 1). In the tropical climate of Vanuatu, the vegetation is mainly forest with scrub. On the wetter, windward side (SE aspect) of the main islands, montane forest occurs at altitudes higher than 500m above sea level, with lowland rainforest at lower altitudes. Drier slopes, with an NW aspect, have seasonal forest, scrub and grassland. Mangroves and other salt-tolerant pioneer species also occur along the coast.
Although forming part of the East Melanesian Islands biodiversity hotspot, the islands themselves have only low to moderate biodiversity; this is due to their small areal extent (approximately 12,189 km2), their isolation from large landmasses, and their relatively recent formation. However, some islands have a high degree of endemism as their isolation, and deeply dissected mountainous terrain has encouraged speciation and sub-speciation. Of these endemics, there are two genera and five other species of birds, mammals including one dugong, invertebrates including 57 land snails and five butterflies, reptiles including four lizards, and 130 vascular plants including orchids.
Natural and human stresses on biodiversity
Natural stresses on the biodiversity of Vanuatu include volcanic eruptions and cyclones. There are seven active volcanoes on the land, e.g. Mt Yasur on Tanna, that disturb and destroy the natural vegetation and can cause the extinction of species when they erupt (see Figure 2). Cyclones occur from November to April and, in some years, six cyclones have occurred within one season. In 2015, Category 5 Cyclone Pam, with wind speeds estimated at 250 km/hour struck Vanuatu; the heavy rain, strong winds and storm surges associated with these cyclones can devastate natural ecosystems.
Human stresses are, however, the greatest threat to the biodiversity of Vanuatu. The population of approximately 298 333 inhabit 65 of the islands, with 75% of the population living in rural areas (see Figure 3). Subsistence farming, fishing, logging, cattle ranching, copra and cocoa plantations, sand extraction, tourism and urbanisation have all resulted in unsustainable pressure on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, particularly in the coastal lowlands where much of the lowland forest has been cleared. This clearance of vegetation has resulted in a loss of habitat, increased soil, coastal and riverbank erosion, and increasing sediment load in freshwater and marine ecosystems. For example, sedimentation in the lagoons of Emten and Ekasuvat at Port Vila has reduced the deepest depth from 20m to 6m. Dams and weirs also disrupt aquatic ecosystems as they reduce water levels downstream, and rivers become polluted as they are used for washing and disposal of waste in urban and rural areas.
Removal of vegetation along river banks to facilitate tourist activities has also impacted on the endemic fish, Stiphodon mele, at the Mele Cascade on Efate Island, whilst sand extraction, particularly at the mouths of the Eratap River and Mele River, has altered the temperature and salinity of freshwater ecosystems as seawater flows further upriver.
Figure 3: Subsistence farming in rural Vanuatu
Human activities have also introduced species to the islands that have become invasive; these compete with native species, suppress their growth and introduce diseases. 15% of threatened species in Vanuatu are impacted by invasive species of flora and fauna. Invasive plants include the mile-a-minute or American rope (Mikania sp.) that was introduced as camouflage by American troops during the Second World War, water hyacinth (Eichhornia sp.), Ecuador Laurel or Salmwood (Cordia alliodora) introduced as a forestry tree in the 1970s, and Kasis (Leucaena leucocephala). Invasive fauna include feral pigs, rats, the Little Fire Ant (Wasmania auropunctata), the African snail (Euglandina fulica) and the Indian Mynah Bird (Acridothere tritis).
Climate change is affecting the biodiversity of the islands through rising sea levels, rising sea temperatures, increasing intensity of storms and ocean acidification. By 2030, climate change will threaten 90% of the coral reefs of Vanuatu, with changes in the variability of rainfall affecting the distribution of terrestrial species. Increased storm intensity will damage mangrove and seagrass ecosystems due to high winds and heavy rain that washes sediment and pollutants into the waterways resulting in increased water turbidity.
Human stresses on the natural environment are likely to increase with the growth of population and a desire for economic development. In a largely subsistence society, the need for increased food production risks soil degradation, as the soil is left fallow for shorter periods, and requires further clearance of vegetation. Declining soil productivity may also increase the risk of overfishing because of an increasing reliance on fish as a food source. It has been estimated that between 2011- 2016, as the population of Tanna (area 550km2) grew by approximately 2000 people, 80.75 km2 of ecosystems on the island were converted into subsistence farming. This is not sustainable if, as predicted, the population of Tanna more than doubles by 2070. As economic growth in Vanuatu is currently primarily driven by tourism, the development of tourist resorts is also a contributing factor to land clearance, increased waste and overfishing.
Management of biodiversity
Management of biodiversity is essential for the functioning of ecosystems and maintenance of their intrinsic value, heritage value, utility value, and to ensure the maintenance of genetic diversity. The sink, service, spiritual and source functions that ecosystems provide, not only play a direct and indirect role in human wellbeing but also have an economic value and contribute to economic development. For example, in 2012 the ecosystem services provided by the 136.5ha of mangroves in Crab Bay, Efate Island was estimated to have a value of US$586,000.
Management strategies
Several government measures have been put into place to manage the threats to biodiversity in Vanuatu; these include biological control of invasive species and legislation for the sustainable management of forests. Since independence, however, indigenous individuals or groups hold most land under customary tenure, and there has been a change from top-down government initiated conservation practices, such as national parks, to a bottom-up approach of Community Conservation Areas (CCAs).
Community groups in Vanuatu have traditionally used customary law to sustainably manage resource use in local customary areas (community ‘tabu’ areas). This local voluntary conservation, using traditional knowledge and practice, is now being more formally recognised and promoted through the Environmental Management and Conservation Act 2003. Under the Act, customary landowners can register their area as a CCA if the site has special characteristics such as unique genetic, cultural, geological and biological resources, or suitable habitat for species of wild flora and fauna. By formally registering their land as a CCA, communities may receive technical, financial and practical assistance from the government to manage the CCA. This is a change from the early CCAs, such as the Kauri Forest Reserve, that were initiated by the government.
CCAs may be large or small and include land and/or marine resources. Networks of CCAs also exist, such as the 3000ha Nguna-Pele Marine and Land Protected Area Network (Nguna-Pele MLPA) that has 11 marine and 2 forest conservation areas on the two islands and is collaboratively managed by 16 indigenous communities (see Figure 4).
Although conservation of biodiversity is a key aim of a CCA, it is intended that resource use continues within the CCA using indigenous or non-indigenous activities and practices, albeit in a sustainable manner. Typically in the marine reserves, villages impose management rules regarding fishing to protect the marine ecosystems from overfishing, particularly of reef molluscs. These regulations may include permanent and temporary bans on fishing and controls on fishing methods. For example, in Unakap village on Nguna Island, there are three different marine conservation areas; a permanent reserve where no fishing is allowed, a periodic reserve where harvesting occurs only for special community events once or twice a year and a general use zone where fishing can occur but where destructive fishing practices and overharvesting are prohibited. Other management activities also occur in the Nguna-Pele MLPA; for example, the community has been involved in reef surveys, planting coral, running environmental awareness campaigns and removing the invasive crown-of-thorns starfish and African snails. These measures have resulted in increased biodiversity and increased abundance of marine fauna and live coral cover in the reserves compared to unmanaged areas.
Figure 5: Ecotourism in Vanuatu
Ecotourism is also being developed in the Nguna-Pele MLPA and has enabled the traditional turtle hunters to continue their way of life without endangering the population of turtles. Traditional turtle hunters now catch turtles so that ecotourists can pay to tag and release the turtles for conservation; the data is entered onto a conservation database, and the income is shared between the hunter, the village conservation committee and the Nguna-Pele MLPA. This sea turtle sponsorship has not only protected the turtles from decline but has enabled islanders to maintain their cultural link with the turtles, and provide an income for further conservation of marine resources.More than 60 local, national and international organisations now support conservation in the Nguna-Pele MLPA and promote the islands as an ecotourism destination (see Figure 5).
Evaluation of CCAs
CCAs allow local communities to use traditional community knowledge and experience, with some government technical and financial assistance, to manage their natural resources for subsistence purposes while also achieving biodiversity conservation. With no loss of control of their land, this approach towards conservation is more likely to be accepted by the community than top-down approaches imposed by the government whilst also raising awareness in the local communities of the need for sustainable development. In the Unakap village in the Nguna-Pele MLPA, community stewardship and engagement were considered to be the most important element in achieving the increased abundance of marine species and higher fish biomass. CCAs are of benefit to countries with limited financial resources as top-down approaches to conservation can be prohibitively expensive. The opportunity to develop ecotourism within a CCA, often in association with national and international partners, can also provide financial support for conservation and economic development to improve community wellbeing. For example, in the Mt Tabwemasana Community Conservation Area on Santo, ecotourists pay a conservation levy to the Kerepua Community that funds management of biodiversity in the area, while the community is also benefiting from the improvement of tourist facilities by tour operators. This success of CCAs can have a multiplier effect as villages choose to register their land once they observe the positive impact of the programme in other areas.
The success of CCAs is, however, dependent upon the voluntary contribution of the community, and this may make it challenging to enforce management strategies and monitor the progress of CCAs. Where government assistance is limited, there may also be little incentive for villages to register their land as a CCA. It has been estimated that there are over 250 CCAs in Vanuatu that have yet to become formally registered but even on an informal basis these areas are of value in supporting sustainable development and conserving biodiversity on the islands.
Student activities
1. Describe the absolute and relative location of Vanuatu.
2. Define the terms biodiversity hotspot and endemism.
3. Outline the factors that have affected biodiversity and endemism in Vanuatu.
4. Explain why it is important to manage ecosystems to conserve biodiversity.
5. Discuss the impact of natural and human stresses on biodiversity in Vanuatu.
6. Evaluate the use of CCAs for conserving biodiversity in Less Economically Developed Countries. You should consider the short and long term advantages and disadvantages of CCAs.
7. Using the information in this article, and research from the Internet, describe the management strategies applied in the Nguna- Pele MPLA.
8. Construct a PMI chart of the benefits and problems of developing ecotourism in CCAs.
References
Central Intelligence Agency.(2020, January 28). Australia -Oceania: Vanuatu.Retrieved February 5, 2020, from The World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/print_nh.html
Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation (a).(n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2019, from The republic of Vanuatu’s Fifth National Report Country Report to the Conference of the Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity: https://www.cbd.int/doc/world/vu/vu-nr-05-en.pdf
Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation (b).(n.d.). Vanuatu National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NSAP) 2018-2030. Retrieved January 28, 2020, from https://www.sprep.org/attachments/VirLib/Vanuatu/nbsap-2018-2030.pdf
Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation (c).(n.d.).Retrieved February 20, 2020, from Information Booklet on the registration of Community Conservation Areas (CCAs): https://environment.gov.vu/images/Forms/EMC%20Information%20Booklet%20Final.pdf
Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation (d).(n.d.). Biodiversity.
Retrieved November 19, 2019, from https://environment.gov.vu/index.php/biodiversityconservation/biodiversity
Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation (e).(n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2020, from Conservation: https://environment.gov.vu/index.php/biodiversityconservation/conservation
Equator Initiative.(2019). Retrieved February 25, 2020, from Nguna-Pele Marine and Land Protected Area Network: https://www.equatorinitiative.org/2017/05/29/nguna-pele-marine-and-land-protected-area-network/
Griffith University. (2017). Retrieved February 6, 2020, from Vanuatu Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping (ESRAM): https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/528080/vanuatu-ecosystem-socioeconomic-resilience-analysis-mapping.pdf
International Union for Conservation of Nature.(2014, May 28). Retrieved February 22, 2020, from Pacific communities demonstrate marine management: https://www.iucn.org/content/pacific-communities-demonstrate-marine-management
Jeffery, M. I., Firestone, J., & Bubna-Litic, K. (2008). Biodiversity Conservation, Law and Livelihoods: Bridging the North-South Divide.Cambridge University Press.Johnson, J., Welch, D., & Fraser, A.(2016, March).Retrieved February 7, 2020, from Climate change impacts in North Efate, Vanuatu: https://www.spc.int/sites/default/files/wordpresscontent/wpcontent/uploads/2016/12/Climate-change-impacts-North-Efate.pdf
Roberts, A.(2019, June 22).Retrieved February 25, 2020, from agreement-signed-to conserve-mt-tabwemasana: https://dailypost.vu/news/agreement-signed-to-conserve-mttabwemasana/article_7fd23b86- c29c-51a3-af91-336714176247.html
Techera, E.J.(2009).Retrieved February 26, 2020, from Customary Law and Community-Based Fisheries Management across the South Pacific Region: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/JlALawTA/2009/24.pdf
Tuinaceva, E.(2013, December 2013). Retrieved February 25, 2020, from Nguna-Pele Does Vanuatu Proud: https://www.sprep.org/news/nguna-pele-does-vanuatu-proud
United Nation Environment Programme. (1998, February 11). Island directory Vanuatu.Retrieved December 5, 2020, from UN system-wide earthwatch. | https://www.warringalpublications.com.au/update-series/the-role-of-community-conservation-areas-to-manage-human-stresses-on-biodiversity-in-vanuatu/ |
Ecology is a branch of biology concerned with understanding how organisms relate with each other and their environment. This branch of biology mainly deals with the relationships between the organisms, their relationships among each other, their relationships towards the shared resources, their relationships with the space they share, and even their relationships with the non-living aspects in the environment.
In understanding the given relationship, ecology encompasses aspects such as population growth, competition, symbiotic ecologic relationships (mutualism), trophic relations (energy transfer from one section of the food chain to the next), biodiversity, migration and physical environment interactions. Because ecology includes all the living organisms on earth and their physical as well as chemical surroundings, it is divided into several categories which bring about different types of ecology as discussed below:
Contents
- Types of Ecology
- Importance of Ecology
- Examples of Ecology
Types of Ecology
1. Microbial Ecology
Microbial ecology looks at the smallest fundamental levels of life, that is, the cellular level. It involves mainly the first two life kingdoms which are; Kingdom Monera and Kingdom Protista. Here, the connections are made between microbes and their relationships with each other and their environments.
Microbial ecology is particularly important in the analysis of evolutionary connections and events leading to existence (known as phylogeny). These connections help us understand the relationships shared among organisms. It is particularly interested in DNA and RNA structures as they carry most of the information passed along from organisms to their progeny, providing the data ecologists need.
2. Organism/Behavioural Ecology
This is the study of the organism at its fundamental levels and can encompass microbial ecology. In this type of ecology, the main goal is to understand the organism’s behaviours, adaptations for such behaviours, reason for those behaviours as explained through the lens of evolution, and the way all these aspects mesh together.
In this case, the main concern is the individual organism and all its different nuances, especially in trying to understand how it all ties together to enhance the survival of the organism or any beneficial adaptations.
3. Population Ecology
Population ecology is the next rank on the ecological ladder. Population ecology focuses on the population, defined as a group of organisms of the same species living in the same area at the same time. Here, attention is given to things such as population size, its density, the structure of the population, migration patterns, and the interaction between organisms of the same population.
It tries to explain the different changes in each of the dynamics of the population such as why numbers would increase and whether this affects any other aspects of the population such as its density.
4. Community Ecology
Community ecology takes a look at the community, defined as all the populations that live in a given area. This includes all the different species populations. The focus here is usually on the interactions between the different species and how their numbers and sizes all mesh together and how change in one population change the dynamic of the whole community.
The animal populations here are exposed to more complex interactions given their increased species numbers which give rise to dynamics such as trophic relationships (who eats who), space dynamics, migration patterns and the most important ecological driving force when it comes to inter/intra species interaction.
5. Ecosystem Ecology
Ecosystem ecology makes a unique contribution to understanding ecology by adding abiotic (non-living) factors to the items analysed, alongside the biotic (living) factors involved. This interaction therefore involves all aspects of the environment and how they interact.
It includes understanding how things like climate and soil composition affect the behaviours and interactions of populations from different species. It also includes a wide range of factors to better understand the whole aspect of interaction between the living things and their environments/habitats.
6. Global Ecology (Biosphere)
The global ecology is principally important in understanding all the ecosystems affecting the entire globe. This includes all the different biomes, with considerations of aspects such as climate and other environmental geography.
It means, global ecology takes into account the whole world’s biosphere while considering all living organisms from the microscopic to higher lifeforms, the environments they leave in, the interactions that they have with each other, the influences that their environments have on these interactions and vice versa, and finally, how they are all interconnected under the common ground that they all share a single planet – the Earth.
Importance of Ecology
The study of ecology is important in ensuring people understand the impact of their actions on the life of the planet as well as on each other. Here are the reasons why ecology is important:
1. It helps in environmental conservation
Ecology allows us to understand the effects our actions have on our environment. With this information, it helps guide conservation efforts by first showing the primary means by which the problems we experience within our environment begin and by following this identification process, it shows us where our efforts would have the biggest effect.
Ecology also shows individuals the extent of the damage we cause to the environment and provides predictive models on how bad the damage can get. These indicators instil a sense of urgency among the population, pushing people to actively take part in conservation efforts and ensure the longevity of the planet.
2. Ensures proper resource allocation
Ecology equally allows us to see the purpose of each organism in the web of connectivity that makes up the ecosystem. With this knowledge, we are able to ascertain which resources are essential for the survival of the different organisms. This is very fundamental when it comes to assessing the needs of human beings who have the biggest effect on the ecosystem.
An example is human dependency on fossil fuels that has led to the increase of carbon footprint in the ecosystem. It is ecology that allows humans to see these problems which then calls for the need to make informed decisions on how to adjust our resource demands to ensure that we do not burden the environment with demands that are unsustainable.
3. Enhances energy conservation
Energy conservation and ecology is connected in that, it aids in understanding the demands different energy sources have on the environment. Consequently, it is good for decision making in terms of deciding resources for use as well as how to efficiently convert them into energy.
Without proper understanding of energy facts through ecology, humans can be wasteful in their use of allotted resources such as indiscriminate burning of fuels or the excessive cutting down of trees. Staying informed about the ecological costs allows people to be more frugal with their energy demands and adopt practices that promote conservation such as switching of lights during the day and investing in renewable energy.
4. Promotes eco-friendliness
With all the information and research obtained from ecology, it ultimately promotes eco-friendliness. It makes people aware of their environment and encourages the adoption of a lifestyle that protects the ecology of life owing to the understanding they have about it.
This means that in the long-term, people tend to live less selfishly and make strides towards protecting the interest of all living things with the realization that survival and quality life depends on environment sustainability. Hence, it fosters a harmonious lifestyle and assures longevity for all organisms.
5. Aids in disease and pest control
A great number of diseases are spread by vectors. The study of ecology offers the world novel ways of understanding how pests and vectors behave thereby equipping humans with knowledge and techniques on how to manage pests and diseases.
For example, malaria which is one of the leading killer diseases is spread by the female Anopheles mosquito. In a bid to control malaria, humans must first understand how the insect interacts with its environment in terms of competition, sex, and breeding preferences. The same applies to other diseases and pests. By understanding the life cycles and preferred methods of propagation of different organisms in the ecosystem, it has created impressive ways to device controls measures.
Examples of Ecology
Examples of ecology are simply aspects that seek to study how the various types of ecology come about. For instance, the study of humans and their relationship with the environment gives us human ecology. Alternatively, studying a food chain in a wetland area gives wetland ecology while the study of how termites or other small organisms interact with their habitat brings about niche construction ecology. Here are two basic examples to elaborate examples of ecology in details.
1. Human ecology
This aspect of ecology looks at the relationship between humans and the ecosystem as a whole. It is centred on human beings, studying their behaviour and hypothesises the evolutionary reasons why we might have taken up some traits.
Emphasis is placed on this due to the impact human beings have on the environment and it also gives us knowledge about the shortcomings of the entire human population and how to better ourselves for our own sake and that of the environment.
2. Niche construction
Niche construction is an example of ecology dealing with the study of how organisms are able to alter their environment for their benefit and also for the benefit of other living things. It is of particular interest to ecologists who desire to understand how some organisms overcome the challenges presented to them.
A prime example is how termites are well organized and equipped to erect mound that stand over 6 feet tall while at the same time protecting and feeding their entire population. In going about their niche, ants also recycle nutrients for plants. This presents a good example of ecology because it is all about evolution and other several aspects regarding population, community and ecosystem ecology. | https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/types-importance-examples-ecology.php |
Increases in human population and food consumption are likely to lead to greatly increased agricultural demand in coming decades. There has been a recent debate about what kind of farming can provide adequate amounts of food while conserving biodiversity and the ecosystem services the natural environment provides. One possibility is land sparing, in which farming using high-yielding methods is linked to the conservation of natural habitats, or land sharing, in which farming has lower yields but this allows wild species to live on farmland in greater numbers. Biodiversity on farmland obviously benefits from land sharing, but it leaves less land potentially available for natural habitats which many species must have.
In southern Uganda there is pressure on forest ecosystems from farming activities and a study into the effect of farming practices on biodiversity in the coffee-producing areas of central Uganda, led by the British Trust for Ornithology, was carried out across the region between 2006 and 2008. A paper recently published in the online journal PLoS ONE has suggested that, in order to conserve the greatest diversity of birds of conservation concern, forests ought to be retained while yields on farmland are increased. Farming at lower yields, which requires a greater area of land to produce the same amount, would risk greater encroachment into forest habitat. The paper can be accessible online.
White-thighed Hornbill, Uganda (Photo: Jon Mercer)
The researchers surveyed bird densities in native forest and on agricultural land across a gradient of agricultural yields. They calculated yields and the monetary value of the harvest. For each of 256 bird species they worked out whether farming less land at higher yields, more land at lower yields or a mixed strategy was best for each species at different targets for food production. The majority of species were predicted to do better with more forest and high-yield farming in the remaining areas, particularly those with smaller global ranges that are likely to be of greater conservation concern. This result is consistent with those from similar studies carried out in Ghana and northern India.
The authors caution against uncritical advocacy for high-yield farming alone as a means to deliver land sparing if it is done without strong protection for natural habitats, other ecosystem services and social welfare. Instead, they suggest that efforts are urgently needed to explore how conservation and agricultural policies can be better integrated to deliver the desired results by, for example, combining land-use planning and agronomic support for small farmers. Dr Mark Hulme, Research Ecologist at the BTO and lead author of the paper, said "Wildlife-friendly farming, which can involve some reduction in yield, has been shown to have a positive impact on bird species which depend on agricultural land, particularly in the UK and other temperate regions. In this tropical system, however, with a large number of forest specialists, the greatest bird diversity gains, while ensuring enough food is available for the local human population, appear to be through increasing yield on existing farmland while ensuring existing forest is protected. Significant increases in yield can be achieved without large-scale industrialisation and measures would need to be in place to ensure the adequate protection of forest areas as well as monitoring the impacts on other ecosystem services and farmers' livelihoods."
Bar-tailed Trogon, Uganda (Photo: Jon Mercer)
Mr Achilles Byaruhanga, the Executive Director of NatureUganda, one of the organisations involved in implementing the project, said "The Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture in Uganda as well as the National Development Plan (2010–2015) emphasise increasing both agricultural productivity and incomes while enhancing environmental sustainability and resilience to climate risks and land degradation. The results of the study show that you can increase food production while conserving biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services on same landscape but strong environmental protection laws are required to protect natural and semi-natural habitats. This study has direct practical application in supporting policy implementation particularly maintaining a landscape rich in biodiversity without diminishing the capacity of rural farmers to produce enough food."
This work was funded by The Darwin Initiative, The Leverhulme Trust and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and is a partnership between the BTO, Makerere University, NatureUganda, RSPB, Technical University of Denmark, Cambridge University's Department of Zoology and the University of Turin. | https://www.birdguides.com/articles/farming-in-the-tropics |
COCOMO Model – Introduction
COCOMO (Constructive Cost Estimation Model) model was proposed by Boehm (1981). According to Boehm, software cost estimation should be done through three stages: Basic COCOMO, Intermediate COCOMO, and Complete COCOMO.
Organic, Semidetached and Embedded Software Projects
According to Boehm (1981), any software development project can be classified into one of the following three categories based on the development complexity: organic, semidetached, and embedded.
Organic: A development project can be considered of organic type, if the project deals with developing a well understood application program, the size of the development team is reasonably small, and the team members are experienced in developing similar types of projects.
Semi-detached: A development project can be considered of semidetached type, if the development consists of a mixture of experienced and inexperienced staff. Team members may have limited experience on related systems but may be unfamiliar with some aspects of the system being developed.
Embedded: A development project is considered to be of embedded type, if the software being developed is strongly coupled to complex hardware, or if the stringent regulations on the operational procedures exist.
Also Read: Software Maintenance
Three stages of software cost estimation
Basic COCOMO Model
The basic COCOMO model gives an approximate estimate of the project parameters. The basic COCOMO estimation model is given by the following expressions:
where,
- KLOC is the estimated size of the software product expressed in Kilo Lines of Code,
- a1, a2, b1, b2 are constants for each category of software products,
- Tdev is the estimated time to develop the software, expressed in months,
- Effort is the total effort required to develop the software product, expressed in person months (PMs).
The values of a1, a2, b1, b2 for different categories of products (i.e., organic, semidetached, and embedded) as given by Boehm are summarized below.
Estimation of Development Effort: For the three classes of software products, the formulas for estimating the effort based on the code size are shown below:
Estimation of Development Time: For the three classes of software products, the formulas for estimating the development time based on the effort size are given below:
Example: Assume that the size of an organic type software product has been estimated to be 32,000 lines of source code. Assume that the average salary of software engineers be Rs. 15,000/- per month. Determine the effort required to develop the software product, the nominal development time, and cost required to develop the product.
From the basic COCOMO estimation formula for organic software:
Intermediate COCOMO model
The basic COCOMO model assumes that effort and development time are functions of the product size alone. However, a host of other project parameters besides the product size affect the effort required to develop the product as well as the development time. Therefore, in order to obtain an accurate estimation of the effort and project duration, the effect of all relevant parameters must be taken into account.
The intermediate COCOMO model recognizes this fact and refines the initial estimate obtained using the basic COCOMO expressions by using a set of 15 cost drivers (multipliers) based on various attributes of software development.
For example, if modern programming practices are used, the initial estimates are scaled downward by multiplication with a cost driver having a value less than 1. If there are stringent reliability requirements on the software product, this initial estimate is scaled upward. Boehm requires the project manager to rate these 15 different parameters for a particular project on a scale of one to three. Then, depending on these ratings, he suggests appropriate cost driver values which should be multiplied with the initial estimate obtained using the basic COCOMO.
In general, the cost drivers can be classified as being attributes of the following items:
- Product: The characteristics of the product that are considered include the inherent complexity of the product, reliability requirements of the product, etc.
- Computer: Characteristics of the computer that are considered include the execution speed required, storage space required etc. Personnel: The attributes of development personnel that are considered include the experience level of personnel, programming capability, analysis capability, etc.
- Development Environment: Development environment attributes capture the development facilities available to the developers. An important parameter that is considered is the sophistication of the automation (CASE) tools used for software development.
Complete COCOMO model
A major shortcoming of both the basic and intermediate COCOMO models is that they consider a software product as a single homogeneous entity. However, most large systems are made up of several smaller sub-systems. These subsystems may have widely different characteristics.
For example, some subsystems may be considered as organic type, some semi-detached, and some embedded. Not only that the inherent development complexity of the subsystems may be different, but also for some subsystems the reliability requirements may be high, for some the development team might have no previous experience of similar development, and so on.
The complete COCOMO model considers these differences in characteristics of the subsystems and estimates the effort and development time as the sum of the estimates for the individual subsystems. The cost of each subsystem is estimated separately. This approach reduces the margin of error in the final estimate.
The following development project can be considered as an example application of the complete COCOMO model. A distributed Management Information System (MIS) product for an organization having offices at several places across the country can have the following sub-components:
- Database part
- Graphical User Interface (GUI) part
- Communication part
Of these, the communication part can be considered as embedded software. The database part could be semi-detached software, and the GUI part organic software. The costs for these three components can be estimated separately, and summed up to give the overall cost of the system. | https://www.geektonight.com/cocomo-model-software-engineering/ |
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Software project managers are responsible for controlling project budgets so, they must be able to make estimates of how much a software development is going to cost.
Effort costs (the costs of paying software engineers).
The dominant cost is the effort cost.
This is the most difficult to estimate and control, and has the most significant effect on overall costs.
Software costing should be carried out objectively with the aim of accurately predicting the cost to the contractor of developing the software.
Software cost estimation is a continuing activity which starts at the proposal stage and continues throughout the lifetime of a project. Projects normally have a budget, and continual cost estimation is necessary to ensure that spending is in line with the budget.
Effort can be measured in staff-hours or staff-months (Used to be known as man-hours or man-months).
(1) Algorithmic cost modeling A model is developed using historical cost information which relates some software metric (usually its size) to the project cost. An estimate is made of that metric and the model predicts the effort required.
(2) Expert judgement One or more experts on the software development techniques to be used and on the application domain are consulted. They each estimate the project cost and the final cost estimate is arrived at by consensus.
(3) Estimation by analogy This technique is applicable when other projects in the same application domain have been completed. The cost of a new project is estimated by analogy with these completed projects.
(4) Parkinson's Law Parkinson's Law states that work expands to fill the time available. In software costing, this means that the cost is determined by available resources rather than by objective assessment. If the software has to be delivered in 12 months and 5 people are available, the effort required is estimated to be 60 person-months.
(5) Pricing to win The software cost is estimated to be whatever the customer has available to spend on the project. The estimated effort depends on the customer's budget and not on the software functionality.
(6) Top-down estimation A cost estimate is established by considering the overall functionality of the product and how that functionality is provided by interacting sub-functions. Cost estimates are made on the basis of the logical function rather than the components implementing that function.
(7) Bottom-up estimation The cost of each component is estimated. All these costs are added to produce a final cost estimate.
Each technique has advantages and disadvantages.
For large projects, several cost estimation techniques should be used in parallel and their results compared.
If these predict radically different costs, more information should be sought and the costing process repeated. The process should continue until the estimates converge.
Cost models are based on the fact that a firm set of requirements has been drawn up and costing is carried out using these requirements as a basis.
However, sometimes the requirements may be changed so that a fixed cost is not exceeded.
Costs are analyzed using mathematical formulae linking costs with metrics.
The most commonly used metric for cost estimation is the number of lines of source code (LOC) in the finished system (which of course is not known).
may simply be a question of engineering judgement.
Code size estimates are uncertain because they depend on hardware and software choices, use of a commercial database management system etc.
An alternative to using code size as the estimated product attribute is the use of `function- points', which are related to the functionality of the software rather than to its size.
Files used by the system.
Each of these is then individually assessed for complexity and given a weighting value which varies from 3 (for simple external inputs) to 15 (for complex internal files).
The function point count is computed by multiplying each raw count by the estimated weight and summing all values, then multiplied by the project complexity factors which consider the overall complexity of the project according to a range of factors such as the degree of distributed processing, the amount of reuse, the performance, and so on.
Function point counts can be used in conjunction with lines of code estimation techniques.
The number of function points is used to estimate the final code size.
The advantage of this approach is that the number of function points can often be estimated from the requirements specification so an early code size prediction can be made.
Uses a negative exponential curve as an indicator of cumulative staff-power distribution over time during a project.
Technology constant, C, combines the effect of using tools, languages, methodology, quality assurance procedures. standards etc. It is determined on the basis of historical data (past projects). C is determined from project size, area under effort curve, and project duration.
Rating: C = 2000 -- poor, C = 8000 -- good, C = 11000 it is excellent.
e.g. Assume C=4000; size estimate = 200,000 LOC.
Most widely used model for effort and cost estimation.
Considers a wide variety of factors.
a and b are constants that change according to the estimate required.
Projects fall into three categories: organic, semidetached, and embedded, characterized by their size.
There is also an intermediate model which, as well as size, uses 15 other cost drivers.
Cost Drivers for the COCOMO Model.
Values are assigned by the manager.
The intermediate model is more accurate than the basic model.
Automated estimation tools allow the planner to estimate cost and effort and to perform "what if" analyses for important project variables such as delivery date or staffing.
From these data, the model implemented by the automated estimation tool provides estimates of the effort required to complete the project, costs, staff loading, and, in some cases, development schedule and associated risk.
are automated estimation tools that are based on COCOMO.
Each of the tools requires the user to provide preliminary LOC estimates.
(i.e., adapted code, reused code, new code).
The user also specifies values for the cost driver attributes.
Each of the tools produces estimated elapsed project duration (in months), effort in staff-months, average staffing per month, average productivity in LOC/pm, and cost per month.
This data can be developed for each phase in the software engineering process individually or for the entire project.
SLIM is an automated costing system based on the Rayleigh-Putnam Model.
SLIM applies the Putnam software model, linear programming, statistical simulation, and program evaluation and review technique, or PERT (a scheduling method) techniques to derive software project estimates.
(3) conduct software sizing--the approach used in SLIM is a more sophisticated, automated version of the LOC costing technique.
Once software size (i.e., LOC for each software function) has been established, SLIM computes size deviation (an indication of estimation uncertainty), a sensitivity profile that indicates potential deviation of cost and effort, and a consistency check with data collected for software systems of similar size.
The planner can invoke a linear programming analysis that considers development constraints on both cost and effort, and provides a month-by-month distribution of effort, and a consistency check with data collected for software systems of similar size.
ESTIMACS is a "macro- estimation model" that uses a function point estimation method enhanced to accommodate a variety of project and personnel factors.
the effects of "development portfolio."
The system development effort model combines data about the user, the developer, the project geography (i.e., the proximity of developer and customer), and the number of "major business functions" to be implemented with information domain data required for function point computation, the application complexity, performance, and reliability.
ESTIMACS can develop staffing and costs using a life cycle data base to provide work distribution and deployment information.
The target hardware configuration is sized (i.e., processor power and storage capacity are estimated) using answers to a series of questions that help the planner evaluate transaction volume, windows of application, and other data.
The level of risk associated with the successful implementation of the proposed system is determined based on responses to a questionnaire that examines project factors such as size, structure, and technology.
project related cost data (e.g., length of work week, average salary).
number of defects per KLOC.
Each of the automated estimating tools conducts a dialog with the planner, obtaining appropriate project and supporting information and producing both tabular and (in some cases) graphical output.
All these tools have been implemented on personal computers or engineering workstations.
Martin compared these tools by applying each to the same project.
A large variation in estimated results was encountered, and the predicted values sometimes were significantly different from actual values.
This reinforces the fact that the output of estimation tools should be used as one "data point" from which estimates are derived--not as the only source for an estimate.
Boehm, B. W. (1981). Software Engineering Economics. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall.
Pressman, R. S. (1997). Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach (4th edition). New York, McGraw-Hill. (chapter 7). | http://ksi.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/courses/451-97/CostEffort.html |
Software development is burdened with high levels of complexity (and many unknowns), yet it requires perfection for the software to compile and work. Because of these factors, no estimation approach is going to be foolproof. It is believed that relative item point estimation is just as accurate as any alternative (WBS, UCP) while offering the advantage of being far more simple and elegant in comparison.
Relative estimation applies the principle that comparing is much quicker and more accurate than deconstructing. That is, instead of trying to break down a requirement into constituent tasks (and estimating these tasks) as what are often being done with Work Breakdown Structure, the estimator (e.g., TA, BA) compares the relative effort of completing a new requirement to the relative effort of a previously estimated requirement.
The estimator can use any estimation method that he/she prefers, as long as it is not excessively detailed and does not require too much time. The idea is to rapidly produce a rough estimate that is good enough for strategic planning, but one that should not give the illusion of being definitive.
Term
Description
BA
Business Analyst
Item Point
A subjective measure of the size (or bulk) and complexity of the requirement item. The estimator assigns item points by considering several factors and estimating how big an item is compared to other items in the catalogue.
IP
Improvement Proposal
Requirement Catalogue
(or Requirement List)
Catalogue is a list of requirement items that can be grouped by business use cases. The catalogue is produced from eliciting/analyzing the high-level user specifications.
Requirement Item
A requirement item is described as a function in a business use case. This function can be a specific purpose to indicate WHAT user wants (not WHAT the system is supposed to accomplish). See further on Requirement Item in the Appendix section.
RIP
Relative Item Point
TA
Technical Architect, Senior Engineer
UCP
Use Case Point method is a software sizing and estimation based on Use Case document.
Use Case Transaction
Transaction is a "round trip" from the user to the system back to the user; a transaction is finished when the system awaits a new input stimulus. It's an atomic set of activities that are either performed entirely or not at all.
WBS
Work Breakdown Structure is a (deliverable-oriented) hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish projects objectives and create the required deliverables.
OVERVIEW
During requirement analysis the team may have a requirement item that requires the design of a complex optimization algorithm as it may not require many lines of code but instead a lot of thinking and analysis time. Also, it may have another requirement item that is user-interface focused, requiring significant HTML tweaking across multiple browser types and versions. Although this work is not complex, it is very repetitious, requiring a lot of trial and error. Another requirement item may require interfacing with a third party product that the estimator has not dealt with before. This is the requirement with risk and may require significant time to overcome teething issues.
The effort is determined based on three factors: complexity, repetition, and risk.
RIP represents the amount of effort required to implement a requirement item. This is the calculation of not only complexity but also risk inherent in and the repetition involved in implementation the item. Its focus is to estimate the requirement catalogue based on relative magnitude (size) and complexity / difficulty.
Note: It doesn't require detailed specifications to make effort estimates. If the customer wants a login screen, it doesn't need to know what the exact mechanics, workflow, screen layouts, and so on, are going to be. Those can come later when the team actually implements the requirement during development phase (or during the sprint). All we need to know at this early stage is roughly how much effort the login function is going to require relative to, for example, a search requirement that we had already estimated. It could be said that if the search function was indicated as 'Medium' (i.e., allocated 5 points), then the login function should be indicated as 'Small' (that is 2 points).
RIP estimation is done using relative sizing by comparing one item with a sample set of already sized sampling items. Relative sizing across items tends to be much more accurate over a larger sample, than trying to estimate each individual item for the effort involved.
The benefit with using RIP is that it is not time-based so does not require deeply detailed functional breakdown like WBS, if something is big and complex in most cases it will stay big and complex. And, it is not transaction-based like UCP because it takes into account the complexity of internal processing inside a requirement item. It is more efficient to estimate using RIP in several specific context of work than using WBS and UCP.
ENTRY CRITERIA
The catalogue is in forming of a list of requirement items, for example:
#
Use Case
1.1
View innovation details, including the innovation list and the detail when user selects
UC01 - Innovation Management
1.2
Search innovation (supports restricted and full facilities)
1.3
Add/Edit innovation details
1.4
Evaluate innovation progress (Progress tab)
2.1
View list of registered users
UC02 - User Management
2.2
Add new user (note: user account is loaded from Active Directory using auto-lookup functionality)
Estimate Setting
a. T-Sizing
Complexity
Acronym
Very Small
SS
1
Small
S
2
Small Medium
SM
3
Medium
M
5
Medium Complex
MC
8
Complex
C
13
Super Complex
SC
21
Epic
34
Some key points as below:
- Using only complexity labels above for estimation
- Using a number series from the Fibonacci sequence (each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers) to express the difficulty of a manageable task. 34 is the most complex and largest value.
- Anything smaller than a 'Very Small' is free.
- Anything bigger than an 'Epic' is X-Epic. An X-Epic item must be broken down.
This can be re-used from WBS approach.
Software Process
Distribution
In Scope
Requirement
10%
Y
Design
11%
Code & Unit Test
38%
4
Test
23%
Deployment
2%
6
Customer Support
7
Project Management
Configuration Management
9
Quality Assurance
Total
100%
Sample for Estimating
There are two common ways to get started estimating the requirement items.
- The first approach is to select an item that is expected to be one of the smallest items will be worked with and said that item is estimated at one item point.
- The second approach is instead to select an item that seems somewhat medium and give it a number somewhere in the middle of the range expected to use. This means look for a medium-size item and call it five story points. Once we have fairly arbitrarily assigned an item-point value to the first item, each additional item is estimated by comparing it with the first item or with any others that have been estimated.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
- The sampling items need to be indicative of all the items. Estimator can do task-breakdown estimation of these items and extrapolate it to the whole lot. The picked-up items need to be good enough that they are exhaustive of the scope of project.
- Item points are used to estimate items on the requirement catalogue, i.e. items that represent value to the customer. They are not used to estimate effort to produce artifacts (e.g., in WBS) needed by the development team. So use item points to estimate the requirement items, not tasks.
For example, a list of sample requirement items as below.
- The most important thing to remember is that item points do NOT equal units of time. The estimator can try to convert item points to days, or estimate in days or hours, and then try to convert that to item points. In this IP document, the Coding Unit is prefered to use in unit of days.
- The coding unit is identified by TA.
- With a new project it is impossible to know how quickly features will be produced. There are just too many variables, e.g., learning of the domain & tool set, agreement within the team, stabilizing of work patterns. More risk may be added into and got it more complicated.
Estimation Process
Step 1. Requirement analysis
From the high level customer's requirements, the estimator, uses his/her expertise analysis skills, to produce the requirement catalogue that can be in form of use case names with a list of functions, or can be a list of features required to do in the system.
Step 2. This is the first step of sampling process. The estimator picks up a number of requirement items from the catalogue, those items will be considered as requirement sample. The selection of items must be representative of the population, and must be exhaustive of the project scope.
Step 3. Based on technology & framework assumptions, the technical expert will estimate coding effort for each requirement item in the sample. This works similar to WBS method.
Note: The estimation should include the amount of effort required to get the requirement done. The 'done' here should ideally involve coding effort only, neither testing nor other effort to fully complete the item. The effort distribution is based on estimation setting. Total effort is the sum of all distributed ones.
Step 4. Average productivity is calculated as an average number of the coding effort per item point for all sampling items. This is manday(s) to finish an item point. The estimator then applies T-Sizing values into these items.
Step 5. With RIP Template given, the estimator walks through the catalogue and identifies the size of all requirement items by selecting the T-Sizing value for each item. Item point, coding effort, and total effort will be calculated automatically.
Step 6. The total effort amount calculated from above step is considered as modelled effort. The estimator may add further effort, buffer (e.g., for risks), and management contingency into that. This works similar to WBS/UCP methods.
Exit Criteria
Use case list of number of requirement items with the complexity identified and size calculated. This will come up with total coding effort and total development effort (as modeled effort) BEFORE adding risks, contingency management, and others.
COMPARING ESTIMATION METHODS
Use Case Point
Use-case points, as the name implies, are derived from the information captured in use cases. UCP calculations represent a count of the number of transactions performed by an application and the number of actors that interact with the application in question. These raw counts are then adjusted for the technical complexity of the application and the percentage of the code being modified.
Pros
UCP is applicable to waterfall development and can be used by teams following Agile methodologies as long as the Agile teams use UCs to gather requirements.
- UCP can be calculated early in a project's life cycle and then refined as more requirements are specified and more of the design work is completed. As a result, it is useful for project planning, team performance management, and retrospective performance evaluation.
- Not necessary to involve the experts
- Technical expertize not needed
- Can be used for rough pre-sale estimation
- Can be made very fast (e.g., ball park estimate)
- Intuitive enough for the customer
Cons
- This method counts the number of transactions, and then calculates the complexity. While there are kinds of 'engine' requirements that need complex algorithms, that makes the estimate is not accurate.
- Actor identification needs technical details in case it involves many protocols the actor will use.
- Estimates only requirements, but not tasks that have to be estimated later.
- Strongly depends on the requirements completeness
- Coefficients (e.g., environmental and technical factors) need to be adjusted for the company. | https://www.modernanalyst.com/Community/CommunityBlog/tabid/182/ID/3021/Relative-Item-Point-RIP-Estimate-Methodology.aspx |
I guess a lot of people probably have a question like “What is Microservice?”, Or “Why is it now Microservice but not from the old days, from the day I started learning?” code? “. And basically every time I hear about a Microsoft service, people get a very vague feeling. And I have spent a lot of time to learn about it, and also fortunate to try with a few microservice systems so I would like to have a bit of sharing, so everyone can understand more about Microservice Architecture.
II. Background
To be precise about the context of Microservice or history, etc., it must be quite confusing, and difficult to remember, so I will explain in the most understandable way so that everyone can grasp the most basic way, with the keyword to help you can further research on your own. Now that we have heard about Microservice, what architecture were we using before? That is Monolith . So what is Monolith? Google translate means monolithic =))))) detach, you see the phrase “mono” – it means single (like a single speaker (mono) – double speaker is (stereo)). From that, we can understand roughly that everything we will build on a system, single codebase, all will be compile and deploy simultaneously.
III. So why is Monolith now obsolete?
The first is the development of the Internet, which has started to rekindle the microservice since 2004, but not so prominent. But in recent years, with the explosion of technology with smartphones, Wifi, etc., leading to more and more access to technology services, more technology businesses have appeared to meet the demand. current needs. Instead of just small systems, with news sites, information, and traffic and interaction are not too large, now are social networking services, fintech, development that requires growing faster and faster to meet the growing demand from users. Therefore, the disadvantages and disadvantages of Monolith began to appear.
IV. Cons of Monolith
1. Application Scaling:
With the exponential growth of service companies, their demand for software expansion is also increasing. For example, Facebook initially had a user base of Harvard students but now with the strong growth, they need to expand the system to be able to handle a lot more users. So scaling is an extremely important thing for today’s applications, and that’s something that monolithic applications cannot do.
2. Development Velocity:
At the moment, all companies want to develop features in the fastest way. However, in a large and complex system, adding a feature will be very slow, especially with Monolithic Application. Applying new technology is difficult because the whole application must change. So many monolithic applications often depend on old and outdated technology, leading to changes that will take time and money. And with the current characteristics of small and medium-sized companies, mostly start-ups, constantly changing the spec to suit the needs of the market will make it difficult for Monolithic Application to meet demand.
3. Development Scaling:
Companies often expect their products or businesses to be developed in parallel to minimize development time, but with a monolithic system, even if there are many more developers, it is still impossible to solve. The problem is because when processing code, logic, or infrastructure will involve other parts of the code, it can sometimes lead to waiting for each other, conflict, etc. In addition, with Monolithic systems, it is difficult for the new developers to join the project or the young graduates to grasp such a large and complex system.
4. Release Cycle:
The release time for a large Monolithic system is usually about 6 months excluding the delay due to a number of different factors. Currently, the release time greatly affects the competitive factors of companies. For example, big e-commerce apps like Lazada or Tiki have a lot of events for September 9, October 10, November 11 or December 12. If the development team still uses the Monolithic structure, can it guarantee release features in a short period of time?
5. Modularization:
The components are closely linked, leading to unwanted side effects like changing one component affects another component. The entire application needs to be redeployed for any changes. It is not easy to understand the project because the modules are closely related. A small issue can kill an entire application.
IV. Microservice Architecture
To address these issues, along with the advantages of Cloud Computing, Containerization, DevOps, modern Programming languages, and the need for modern software development (fast development, horizontal scaling), a Software Architecture Style was developed. developed from 2012: Microservice Architecture. So, what exactly is microservice architecture? There are many definitions of Microservice Architecture and below are my own definitions of it
The microservice architecture is about splitting the system into smaller units that can be independently deployed and communicated through a fairly simple way, with a new language that is fast, light, and together, complete the business in the fastest way. and the best.
The microservice architecture also uses the same technique ( Divide and conquer ) to solve the complexity in systems, and it is similar to the Monolithic architectrure where complex systems are divided into multiple Microservices with the ability to communicate. via external interfaces. The main difference between Modular Monolithich and Microservice Architecture is that every Microservice can be independently deployed, while with Modular Monolithich, modules must be deployed simultaneously. You can understand it in a simple way through the image below
The monolithic application is a single unit (tightly coupled) like a cube in rubik. Modular applications are similar to Rubik’s, which consist of a lot of small modules, but these modules cannot be separated and must be deployed simultaneously. Microservice is like Lego pieces, we can easily split and reassemble them to form a big block. So we can deploy each service separately, then connect them together, will not reduce the impact on the current system.
V. Advantages of Microservice
1. Application Scaling:
Firstly, microservices are mostly stateless (to understand more about stateful and stateless) and if you use Docker, Kubernetes or Infrastructures, Microservices can be horizontal Scaling in just a few seconds. In fact, the high horizontal Scaling has been used in many large companies such as Netflix, Spotify, Uber, and Google to move from Monolithic architecture to Microservice to ensure the growth of their business. . Second, it will distribute and optimize the system better, for example if a microservice such as intensive processing of machine language, CPU, it is advisable to use specific languages that are optimal for operation. with CPU such as (C / C ++, Rust), or with microservice implementations of logic, or the server will be optimized in programming languages to be easily changed, easy to work for developers (Java, PHP, Ruby on Rails).
2. Development Speed:
Microservice is usually quite small in size (several hundred to several thousand). Due to the size, adding new features in the microservice is often faster.
3. Development Scaling:
Microservices are autonomous and can be independently developed. Therefore, scaling (development, expansion) will be better for developers / teams who can work in environments that are less affected by other environments. The simple understanding is to divide and conquer, so it will be easier to expand. Therefore, companies can easily hire more developers and can scale. Similarly, due to their size, and specificity, developers will be able to capture and integrate faster with the project and with the code. Because this is simply a small part of the architecture to handle, rather than having to understand a very big and messy system like Monolithic.
4. Release Cycle:
Personally, one of the best features of Microservice Architecture is that every microservice can be independently deployed. Since then, the Software Release Cycle in Microservice Applications will be smaller, simpler with CI / CD, and can be released by day / week, something that Monolithic can hardly do.
5. Modernization:
With the rapid development of technology, technological change is a continuous thing, so with microservice it is easier to develop new technology on a new module and then later. that just connecting to it will be a lot easier than before. For Monolithic, this can sometimes be extremely difficult, because the system processing, logic, coding are closely related, sometimes changes are not possible, leading to business or costly costs. and time to rebuild an entirely new system.
BECAUSE. The disadvantages of Microservice
Like everything in life there are two sides to it and so does Microservice Architecture. Microservice solves many of the problems that businesses are facing, resolving the disadvantages that Monolithic is facing, but it is not necessarily a universal key for all systems, and is not always Using Microservice is good as standard, but sometimes we need to balance and find the architecture that best suits it. I have a little time to read about some articles about it such as “Building Microservices”, “Goodbye Microservices: From 100s of problem children to 1 superstar” or “The Death of Microservice Madness in 2018” where the authors Having mentioned the shortcomings that microservice is having and we need to know especially before moving from Monolithic to Microservice. Here are some disadvantages that we have distilled:
1. Design Complexity:
Monolithic architecture gives us a “One size fits for all” type of solution for business applications. For example, if your Web application has thousands of lines of code, Monolithic Architecture will give you quite similar solutions. (Enterprise Java or Ruby on Rails or PHP). But with Microservice Architecture, there will be many solutions (possible solutions) to solve your problems depending on the specific business, customer needs, etc. Therefore, if we apply a solution The “non-standard” approach will lead to many problems (for example, simply buying a childish t-shirt for an adult or vice versa) that will have many business consequences (user experience, turnover v..v). Since then, the design microservice architecture requires a lot of carefulness and needs people who are experienced and highly specialized to understand the nature of their business and customers, which I personally think is not simple. , and not on day 1 and 2 we can design exactly. In contrast to Monolithic, sometimes the development of packages will come with dedicated support from the developers themselves and thus will reduce the initial difficulty in designing the system.
2. Distributed Systems Complexity:
The microservice is known as a distributed system and surely we have heard that it is quite confusing and headache (sometimes even unknown), and it is actually quite is complicated. I won’t say much about the distributed system but with it there are many difficulties that surely for those who do not have much experience will be difficult to solve and overcome.
3. Security:
Security in Software Systems is usually something that anyone can see but nobody wants to mention. Securing an application is hard, so securing a different set of microservice and countless distributed links is really something trivial.
4. Data Sharing and Data Consistency: | https://itzone.com.vn/en/article/what-is-microservice-architecture-why-do-we-need-it-now/ |
Software Development Methodologies [Infographics]Sunny Dhanoe
Software Development Methodologies also called as the System Development Methodologies or in short a Software Process is a set of software development activities that are divided into phases for the purpose of planning and management of software and application. The project team develops deliverable in a structured way to develop and maintain an application.
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES
Software Development Methodology is also called as System Development Methodology or in short a Software Process. It is a set of software development activities that are divided into phases for the purpose of planning and management of software and application. The project team develops deliverables in a structured way to develop and maintain an application.
Some of the common methodologies include:
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Agile Methodology
Agile Methodology is based on continuous iteration each having its own design, development and testing cycle. It helps you to deliver the solution faster with less documentation. It is performed on daily basis.
Project owner defines a set of requirements. Accordingly the project is planned and breakdown into various tasks. It is developed and tested on regular basis. At the end of the day the scrum meeting is carried out. The client (Project owner) also have right to makes changes in the module. Each module is updated every day. Changing requirements are welcomed even in late development.
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Crystal Methods Methodology
Crystal Methods Methodology focuses on people rather than process. This approach is developed by Alistair Cockburn. According to him people, skills, talents and communication is important. Basically it is designed for small project comprising up to 2-8 developers. This small team interact with each other and form its own logics and finally come up with end product. They can use their own coding styles. The main motive is to deliver the end product.
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Dynamic System Development Model Methodology (DSDM)
Dynamic System Development was developed in mid 1990’s. It is an incremental and iterative approach which emphasizes user involvement. Its main focus is on solution delivery rather than code creation or development.
Principles:
- Deliver work on time.
- Collaboration between stakeholders.
- Focus on the requirements.
- No compromise in quality.
- Iterative and incremental approach for better output.
- Communicate continuously and clearly.
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Extreme Programming (XP)
Extreme Programming is used to develop the software within unstable environment. In XP,
elimination of defects is done in early stage using the whole team. Its main focus is to deliver the product quickly.
XP Core Practices
The core practices of Extreme Programming, as described in the first edition of “Extreme Programming Explained” can be grouped into four areas (12 practices) as follows:
- Fine scale feedback
Test driven development
Planning game
Whole team
Pair programming
- Continuous process rather than batch
Continuous Integration
Design Improvement
Small Releases
- Shared understanding
Simple design
System metaphor
Collective code ownership
Coding standards or coding conventions
- Programmer welfare
Sustainable pace (i.e. forty hour week)
In the second edition of “Extreme Programming Explained” a set of corollary practices are listed in addition to the primary practices.
The core practices are derived from generally accepted best practices, and are taken to extremes:
- Interaction between developers and customers is good. Therefore, an XP team is supposed to have a customer on site, who specifies and prioritizes work for the team, and who can answer questions as soon as they arise. (In practice, this role is sometimes fulfilled by a customer proxy.)
- If learning is good, take it to extremes. Reduce the length of development and feedback cycles. Test early.
- Simple code is more likely to work. Therefore, extreme programmers only write code to meet actual needs at the present time in a project, and go to some lengths to reduce complexity and duplication in their code.
- If simple code is good, re-write code when it becomes complex.
- Code reviews are good. Therefore XP programmers work in pairs, sharing one screen and keyboard (which also improves communication) so that all code is reviewed as it is written.
- Testing code is good. Therefore, in XP, tests are written before the code is written. The code is considered complete when it passes the tests (but then it needs refactoring to remove complexity). The system is periodically, or immediately tested using all pre-existing automated tests to assure that it works. See test-driven development.
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Waterfall Methodology
Waterfall methodology also known as traditional methodology depicts a lifecycle of software engineering process. It is a sequential non-iterative design process which consists of various phases namely:
- Requirement Analysis
- Design
- Implementation
- Testing
- Maintenance
The project moves step by step. You cannot move to next phase unless you complete previous phase. There is no turning back. Once the application goes in testing stage you cannot go back and change something when a new requirement arises. Their exists high amount of risks. Therefore it is avoided. Joint Application Development, Rapid Application Development and Spiral Model are alternatives to Waterfall Methodology.
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Software Development Life cycle
Software Development Life Cycle, SDLC for short, is a well-defined, structured sequence of stages in software engineering to develop the intended software product.
Software Development Life cycle also called as Application Development life cycle comprises of various phases viz.
- Planning
- Analysis
- Designing
- Implementing
- Testing
- Maintenance
It describes the phases of software cycle and the order in which those phases are executed. In general, an SDLC methodology follows these steps:
- If there is an existing system, its deficiencies are identified. This is accomplished by interviewing users and consulting with support personnel.
- The new system requirements are defined including addressing any deficiencies in the existing system with specific proposals for improvement.
- The proposed system is designed. Plans are created detailing the hardware, operating systems, programming, and security issues.
- The new system is developed. The new components and programs must be obtained and installed. Users of the system must be trained in its use, and all aspects of performance must be tested. If necessary, adjustments must be made at this stage.
- The system is put into use. This can be done in various ways. The new system can phased in, according to application or location, and the old system gradually replaced. In some cases, it may be more cost-effective to shut down the old system and implement the new system all at once.
- Once the new system is up and running for a while, it should be exhaustively evaluated. Maintenance must be kept up rigorously at all times. Users of the system should be kept up-to-date concerning the latest modifications and procedures.
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Spiral Methodology
Spiral model is a combination of both, iterative model and one of the SDLC model. Spiral m is similar to incremental model but more focused on risk analysis. It has four phases: Planning, Risk Analysis, Engineering and Evaluation.
The software project passes through these phases repeatedly in iterations also called as spirals. Requirements are gathered in the planning phase. The process is undertaken to identify risks and other solutions in risk analysis phase. At the end of this phase a prototype is produced.
Software is produced at engineering phase and testing is carried out at its end. The evaluation phase allows the client to evaluate the output of the project to date before the project continues to the next spiral.
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Scrum Methodology
Scrum is an agile method for project management developed by Ken Schwaber. Its goal is to dramatically improve productivity in teams previously paralyzed by heavier, process-laden methodologies. Scrum is an iterative and incremental agile software development framework for managing product development.
Process:
A product owner creates a prioritized list called a product backlog. During sprint planning, the team pulls a small chunk from the top of that list, a sprint backlog, and decides how to implement chunks. The team has a certain amount of time. A sprint (usually two to four weeks) has to complete its work, but it meets each day to assess its progress i.e. daily Scrum. Along the way, the Scrum Master keeps the team focused on its goal. At the end of the sprint, the work should be shippable and ready to hand to a customer, put on a store shelf, or show to a stakeholder. The sprint ends with a sprint review. As the next sprint begins, the team chooses another chunk of the product backlog and begins working again.
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Feature Driven Development
Feature Driven Development was invented in 1997 by Jeff De Luca.
Feature Driven Development is a client centric, architecture centric, and pragmatic software process. It aims to deliver tangible and working results.
There are five main activities in FDD that are performed in different steps. The first step is to develop an overall model. In this step, initial results contain high-level object model and notes. At the beginning, your goal is to identify and understand the fundamentals of the domain that your system is addressing. The next step is to build a Features list. Features are grouped into related sets and subject areas. These first two steps map to the initial modelling. The third step is Plan by Feature, where the developer set a project plan and end result is a developed. The fourth and fifth steps are Design By Feature and Build By Feature where the majority of the effort on an FDD project, about 75%, is comprised of. These two activities mainly include tasks such as detailed modelling, programming, testing, and packaging of the system.
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Joint Application Development
Chuck Morris and Tony Crawford, the two employees of IBM, developed the JAD methodology in the 1970s. JAD is a requirements-definition and user-interface design methodology in which users, developers and executives attend off-site meetings to work out a system’s details. There is more involvement of client in development and designing the application. It involves continuous interaction with the users and designers of the system. JAD is similar to traditional design and analysis phases of SDLC where it delivers same outcome that of traditional methodology. The developer approach client by conducting one-on-one interviews. Unlike waterfall method JAD IS a modern method for gathering requirements involving one or more workshops which bring all of the stakeholders in one location. This method reduces the time required to accomplish requirements analysis. JAD workshops can take anywhere from one day to a couple of weeks depending on the size of the project.
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Rapid Application Development
Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a variation on JAD to create applications quickly through strategies that include some methodologies and reusing the components. RAD is a incremental model which contains five different phases.
- Business modelling: Business analysis is performed to find the important information for business and how it is obtained also how and when the information processed and the factors driving successful flow data.
- Data modelling: Information is collected from business modelling. It is analyzed and reviewed. This phase is used to define data objects for the business.
- Process modelling: The data object sets defined in the Data Modelling phase are converted to establish the business information flow. This is needed to achieve specific business objectives. The process model for any changes or enhancements to data objects sets are defined.
- Application Generation: To convert process models into code and the actual system, automated tools are used. The actual system is built and coding is done by using automation tools which is used to convert process and data models into actual prototypes.
- Testing and turnover: New components and all the interfaces are tested. The prototypes are independently tested and therefore the testing time is reduced.
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Lean Development Methodology
The main idea of lean is to eliminate or reduce non value added activities termed wastes and thus increase customer value. Lean Development focuses on the creation of change-tolerant software. Lean software methodology is an agile practice based on lean manufacturing. It focuses more on project management aspects of software development.
As mentioned in http://www.itinfo.am there are 12 principles of Lean Development:
- Satisfying the customer is the highest priority.
- Always provide the best value for the money.
- Success depends on active customer participation.
- Every LD project is a team effort.
- Everything is changeable.
- Domain, not point, solutions.
- Complete, don’t construct.
- An 80 percent solution today instead of 100 percent solution tomorrow.
- Minimalism is essential.
- Needs determine technology.
- Product growth is feature growth, not size growth.
- Never push LD beyond its limits.
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Rational Unified Process
RUP is a software development process from Rational, a division of IBM. It is an iterative software development process.
Following are the phases of Rational Unified process
- Inception: Identify the initial scope of the process, a potential architecture for system and obtain initial project funding and stake holder acceptance.
- Elaboration: Prove the architecture of the system.
- Construction: Build the working application on incremental and regular basis which meets the needs of stakeholder.
- Transition: Validate and deploy the system into product environment. | http://www.skyindya.com/blog/web-development/software-development-methodologies-infographics/ |
You are required to make use of appropriate structure, including headings, paragraphs, subsections and illustrations as appropriate, and all work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system.
LO1 Define basic algorithms to carry out an operation and outline the process of programming an application.
LO2 Explain the characteristics of procedural, object-orientated and event-driven programming, conduct an analysis of a suitable Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
LO3 Implement basic algorithms in code using an IDE.
The research and development team you work with have been tasked with further investigation into how best to build more efficient, secure software. You have been asked to look into programming paradigms and the advantages and disadvantages of using different programming language approaches.
You will need to create a report covering findings from research into the characteristics of different programming paradigms – procedural, object-orientated and event-driven programming.
P2: Give explanations of what procedural, object orientated and event driven paradigms are; their characteristics and the relationship between them.
For each of the above ensure you include in your explanations their characteristics and the relationship between them.
M2: Analyse the common features that a developer has access to in an IDE.
b. For each paradigm perform an analysis of suitable IDEs describing the key features of the IDE you used developing your programs.
D2: Critically evaluate the source code of an application which implements the programming paradigms, in terms of the code structure and characteristics.
The software development unit of the company you are currently working for have a position available for an application developer which you are interested in applying for. As part of the application process they want to see that you can implement algorithms using an IDE.
Your aim is to create a fully working, secure application developed using an IDE and adheres to coding standards based on the scenario given in Appendix A.
1. Evidence of how the IDE was used to manage the development of your code.
3. An evaluation of the debugging process in the IDE used and how it helped with development.
4. An evaluation of coding standards and the benefits to organisations of using them.
The working application produced must also be demonstrated to your programming lecturer.
P3: Write a program that implements an algorithm using an IDE.
a. Demonstrate implementation of algorithms, using the features of a suitable language and IDE. Consider possible security concerns and how these could be solved.
P4: Explain the debugging process and explain the debugging facilities available in the IDE.
b. Using the debugging facilities available in the IDE used in developing your application, explain the debugging process.
P5: Outline the coding standard you have used in your code.
c. Discuss the coding standard you followed in developing your application.
M3: Use the IDE to manage the development process of the program.
d. Demonstrate the use of an IDE to implement designed algorithm from source code to its execution.
M4: Evaluate how the debugging process can be used to help develop more secure, robust applications.
e. Discuss how you can use the debugging process to develop a more secure and robust application.
D3: Evaluate the use of an IDE for development of applications contrasted with not using an IDE.
f. Evaluate your own experience of using and IDE to develop an application contrasting it with not using an IDE.
D4: Critically evaluate why a coding standard is necessary in a team as well as for the individual.
g. Considering the coding standard you followed, critically evaluate why this is necessary for individual and/or team of programmers.
• Work, which is significantly similar to that of another, will be treated as plagiarised and disciplinary action will be taken in accordance with course regulations.
• This is not intended to discourage you from discussing your work with other students. In fact, such discussion may well be beneficial provided the final work is clearly original. | https://plagfree.com/it-assignment/ |
Programming software is the procedure of developing and programming an executable computer programs program to do a specific function or to perform a certain job. In certain situations in addition, it involves the writing of user cadre or scripts to automate duties.
Common applications of programming software include web site design, data exploration, database management, net programming, elektronische geschäftsabwicklung, email software program, spreadsheet application, database the use software, and findinternetonline.com web design. It can also be intended for scientific research. Various programming software program is available on the Internet.
Development software is frequently used to develop laptop programs by compiling these people into an easy-to-use structure. A typical program in this file format contains a number of commands which can be all carried out as if these were one training at a time. Most commonly it is composed of a variety of individual application modules that include the application coding interface (API), the language specification language (LSL), and several libraries such as data types, procedures, features, operators, and data treatment language (DML).
Many people that work in this field are called programming application engineers. They can be found in large companies and smaller companies that develop and maintain computer software.
Language designers are those who find themselves responsible for the definition of a particular language, its grammar and syntax, as well as the formal format. Chinese specification is actually a type of development which relates to the requirements of the attributes of a terminology and how it should be used by programmers to create programs.
A programmer, in order to set a program, earliest decides the actual purpose of the program will be and then selects the type of encoding vocabulary that is suitable. There are several distinct programming different languages. The most commonly used programming languages are C++, Java, C#, Python, and Ruby.
You will also find other ‘languages’ that are similar to coding ‘languages’. Some examples of them languages are PHP and ASP. The word “language” on its own can be used to identify the software, application, or execution of an existing language.
Programming software, which includes several different aspects of software engineering, is essential to produce trustworthy software systems. This type of computer software needs to be effective, flexible, customizable, extensible, and portable, all of which make that ideal for use in several situations, from your smallest hobby to considerable organizations and business organizations.
Application development is definitely the process of having a software system employing a defined set of tools and techniques. It is a special discipline that focuses primarily on creating and restoring new computer software systems. Computer software development experts also cope with the design, architecture, maintenance, application, and maintenance of software devices.
Software examining involves a procedure where a program is carefully checked to ensure that the software program satisfies all the requirements of users. This type of software program testing is essential to be sure that the program fulfills all the anticipated requirements and will continue to connect with new needs.
Software executive, which includes computer software engineering, application testing, and software design and style, is a specialized field of computer system science that studies the development of software and how it works. Program design can also be labelled as software systems design.
Computer software technicians are responsible for creating and handling the software program which they develop. Software design entails the study of several techniques and methods that can help create the required software system.
One of the many fields that an experienced software engineer might choose to specialize in is a field society testing. A software engineer is associated with testing program systems prior to they are produced to the open public. Software testing helps to ensure that the software is certainly fully functional and up-to-date in order that it can perform the functions it had been designed to perform before being released to the public. | https://gyd-auditores.cl/wp/what-does-software-evaluating-involve/ |
Calculating the estimate cost for software development is a very tricky process since various factors go into the calculation process. Having an estimated cost in hand is necessary for software developing businesses because it helps streamline their efforts and functions.
Therefore, to learn how to estimate costs for software development, read this guide right now.
What Factors Affect The Estimate Cost Of Software Development?
There are several factors that affect the estimate cost of software development. These factors are:
1. Size Of Software
The size of the software to be developed plays a major role in dictating how much it will cost. This is a pretty obvious metric and the most important one. It is such because of the fact that this factory influences all the other factors on this list.
As a rule of thumb, creating bigger software will take a longer time to do so. Therefore, costs will proportionally be higher. The size of most applications is determined by their feature pages or screens. The more screens your application has, the more it will cost for software development.
Small apps have around 10 to 25 feature pages. Medium-sized apps have anywhere between 25 feature pages to 40. If your app has more than 40+ feature pages, then it will be considered a large-scale application. Steps To How Link Square Enix with Sqex me Link Code
2. Complexity Of Software
Adding more and more features and uses to your application will automatically make it more complicated. Therefore, the more complicated your application will become, the more its costs will rise significantly.
Here, complexity can be subdivided into three major categories. They are:
- Feature Set Complexity: The number of features to be included in this application depends on advanced business logic. Therefore, the requirements of the clients will determine its complexity, along with costs.
- Tech Complexity: Sometimes, various high-end complicated technologies and other software are required to be used to build one. The more external software is used, the more its development price will be.
- Design Complexity: When software is to be developed, the requirements of the clients are to be kept in mind. Therefore, to make its quality better, various personalized design ideas are necessary to be implemented.
3. Design Of UI & UX
When an app is developed, it is necessary to make it as friendly as possible to as many users as possible. This is because complicated pieces of software will only make it difficult for end users. Therefore, you will need to streamline and simplify all the functions of the application in the most concise manner possible.
The ultimate goal of simplification of UI is to make the user experience (UX) better. Therefore, if you want to streamline lots of features of the application, the effort required will go up accordingly. The more effort is required, the more it will cost to develop the app.
Read Also: How Do You Write A One Page Plan For A Business?- 2022 Guide
4. Size Of Team
To develop software, you will need a proper team to ensure the project is a success. In software development, there are five primary specialists required. They are:
- Frontend Developer
- Backend Developer
- Project Manager (PM)
- Business Analyst (BA)
- Quality Assurance Engineer (QA)
The frontend and backend developers of the software are responsible for the main developmental process of creating the application. On the other hand, the PM, BA, and QA are uncredited for software development. They look over the management and the business-related processes of the development phase.
5. Platform
The platforms on which the software will be developed play a huge role to estimate the cost for software development. This is because you might be tasked with creating software that will be launched on multiple platforms at once.
For example, to create software as expansive as Uber, you will be required to release it on multiple platforms. This includes releasing it on both Android and iOS as well. Therefore, you will need to create two versions running on two different codes, successfully increasing the estimate cost for software development.
Read Also: Which Of The Following Is Not A Benefit Using Fully Integrated E-Commerce Platforms?
How To Estimate Estimate Cost For Software Development?
To learn how to estimate cost for software development, you can apply two different methods. They are:
1. Straightforward Cost Estimate
This is the easiest way to estimate cost for software development. Here, you simply estimate costs by using one simple formula, which is:
Estimated cost of project resources x estimated time to complete project = Estimated Project Cost.
However, this can sometimes be more complicated. This is because of the fact that various resources are not used throughout the entirety of the project development time.
2. Rough Cost Estimate
When you try to estimate cost for software development roughly, you take certain rough estimates instead of actual estimates. Doing so will not give you a straightforward figure but will give you a rough estimate of total costs.
In the opinion of various financial experts, this is the best way to estimate costs because certain uncertainties might arise from time to time. These can lead to an increase or decrease in costs. Therefore, estimating a rough range will help you better understand the final value.
Conclusion
There are various factors that go into estimate cost for software development. This takes into account the size and complexity of the software developed, the number of employees required, and the platforms it will be released on.
There are two ways to estimate costs. You can either do it by giving a straightforward cost estimate or by a rough cost estimate. However, most experts suggest you use rough cost estimation to estimate costs.
Read Also: | https://exetal.com/what-factors-go-into-reaching-an-estimate-cost-for-software-development |
Python was originally conceived by Van Rossum as a hobby language in December 1989. In addition, a major and incompatible version of the common programming language was released on December 3, 2008. But Python has recently been rated by a number of surveyors as the most popular coding language of 2015. Mass popularity points to the effectiveness of Python as a modern programming language. At the same time, Python 3 is currently used by developers around the world to create various desktop graphical interfaces, web applications, and mobile applications. There are also a number of reasons why Python’s enormous popularity and market share will remain intact over a longer period of time.
Eight reasons why Python’s massive popularity will remain intact in the future
Supports Multiple Programming Paradigms
Good developers often use different programming paradigms to reduce the time and effort required to develop large and complex applications. Like other modern programming languages, Python also supports a number of widely used programming styles, including object-oriented, functional, procedural, and imperative. In addition, it has automatic memory management, as well as a dynamic type system. Thus, programmers can use this language to develop large and complex software applications.
Does Not Require Programmers To Write Long Code
Python is designed with a focus on code readability. In this way, programmers can create a readable code base that can be used by members of distributed teams. At the same time, the simple syntax of the programming language allows them to express concepts without writing longer lines of code. This feature makes it easy for developers to create large and complex applications within a set period of time. Because they can easily skip specific tasks required by other programming languages, it makes it easier for developers to maintain and update their applications.
Provides a Comprehensive Standard Library
Python has even more points than other programming languages, thanks to its extensive standard library. Programmers can use these libraries to perform various tasks without writing longer lines of code. In addition, the standard Python library is designed with a large number of programming tasks that are often used in it. Thus, it helps programmers to perform tasks such as string operations, development, and implementation of web services, working with Internet protocols and processing the operating system interface.
Carries Out The Development Of Web Applications
Python is designed as a general-purpose programming language and has no built-in web development features. But web developers use many additional modules to write modern Python web applications. When writing web applications in Python, programmers have the ability to use several high-level web frameworks, including Django, web2py, TurboGears, CubicWeb, and Reahl.
Download Python (Programming Language) PNG images transparent gallery. | https://www.pngall.com/python-programming-language-png |
Application Development Runs Far Over Just Authoring Source Code
Software production is an umbrella term for several techniques involving software development, which are essential for business, scientific disciplines, technology, and math. Program development can be broadly labeled into two main types: software executive and application development. Computer software engineering handles conceptualizing, planning, implementing, auditing, and screening involved in building and maintaining software devices, frameworks, or any type of other software products. On the other hand, software expansion deals with the production of functioning software products. Both of these professions take part in software development.
There are application development tactics used in equally disciplines. As an example, in the case of computer software engineering, requirements gathering is a part of the program development process. This involves collecting requirements coming from customers, coders, and other people involved in the computer software development procedure. The programmers then work to create a list of essential software products, which are made to satisfy the requirements of the end-users. This is often known as application expansion.
Similar requirements gathering and application expansion techniques are used in computer software development. The application engineer usually begins the needs gathering activities by simply sending away Request For Inquiries (RFQ) to stakeholders. RFQ’s are needs made by computer software developers whom are looking for possible solutions to program development concerns. The RFQ serves as a database with respect to developers exactly who may also be involved in software advancement.
After getting the RFQ, the stakeholders will be able to tell any time they have the essential information to formulate software goods. In technical terms, this is known as an RFP (request intended for proposal). When the stakeholders have decided on what style of software production they need, software program developers are now able to work on their particular requirements. If the client confirms to use a specific program development business, the company may possibly already provide them with an RFP. However , most software development teams develop their own computer software development system or custom software creation.
Custom application development strategies differ greatly from typical software technological innovation and software production methodologies. As an example, in traditional software production, a programmer or crew of developers to work on a basic plan or https://yenmovement.com/2020/05/12/the-exchange-rate-and-the-future-of-japanese-economy/ application. They just do not attempt to associated with program simply because efficient as is feasible. Instead, the programmer concentrates on making it function according to the users’ specifications and at the best possible expense. This type of application development technique is called object-oriented programming.
The waterfall style is another sort of a typical application development strategy. In the design model, all ideas of software advancement occur in a reasonable order. Because of this the builders first have to write a series of program arguments and select a grouping of developers to execute these statements. All code that is made during the creation cycle is usually tracked and executed according to the set of established rules. This method has a number of advantages over traditional methodologies, such as the MRP (model, procedure, proposition) programming model and the SCRUM (stack, framework, requirements, consensus) coding model.
Also to encoding languages, application developers must also use various software production tools to write the original source code. A large number of software designers use a exclusive database, conversation protocols and application web servers. In addition , there are numerous web-based server-side technologies that software technicians use to build client-server applications. These development languages and tools, coupled with the large number of open source alternatives written in various languages, make the development method quite manageable.
Computer research, in particular, keeps a lot of answers towards the complex computer software development operations. Pc scientists may explain as to why certain code works for some types of devices, nevertheless does not automatically work for various devices. Various other computer experts can teach you how particular code works in certain environments, although does not actually operate other surroundings. Researchers in computer scientific disciplines can even demonstrate that a particular piece of software creation will not do the job everywhere. There are numerous interesting solutions to look at just how things work with a more deeply level. | https://eps2008.com.sg/application-development-runs-far-over-just-authoring-source-code/ |
We have all been there asking ourselves this question. Should I be using Swift or Objective-C? It is a common dilemma that developers find themselves in. And you might get different answers to this question depending on who you ask. Someone may have had a bad experience with one of these programming languages, and they will always steer clear of the other one.
On the other hand, some people would go with the language they feel more comfortable with or the one they learned first. Everyone has their favorite one.
Choosing the right language for your project needs depends on a lot of different factors. This guide will look at different circumstances where one excels over the other and is more appropriate in the given circumstances. This doesn’t necessarily make one or the other better; it just means it will work best for that particular scenario.
This guide will give you directions to make an informed decision for yourself and learn about the differences between Objective-C and Swift.
What is Objective-C
Objective-C was introduced in 1984 and used to be the main programming language for iOS and Apple OS X. It is older than Swift and offers dynamic runtime and object-oriented functionalities. Objects are at the core of building any IOS or OS X application.
Using Objective-C means that you’ll get language-level support for your object-graph management and object literals. Being familiar with Xcode is a prerequisite to using Objective-C since it is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) you’ll be building in.
If you haven’t used Objective-C before but are familiar with some object-oriented languages like C# or Java, then it would be relatively easy for you to learn. There are a lot of established good case practices or coding rules that you need to follow while writing code in Objective-C — for example, using camel case notation while writing commands.
What is Swift
Swift is a newer programming language developed by Apple. Swift was released back in 2014, and developers are still getting used to it. It works for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. Some core concepts in Swift are the same as in Objective-C, such as dynamic dispatch, extensible programming, and late binding. But Swift exceeds the ability to catch software bugs. It also addresses things like null pointers, which happen to be a common example of programming errors.
Swift programming language is open source, which means it was built by both Apple developers and the open-source community. In the early years of Swift’s release, it could already support Linux in addition to all of Apple’s platforms.
Swift also eliminates a lot of classes that are thought of as unsafe code. Swift’s objects can, by default, never be null. As a result, it’s a clean and safe way for you to write code, ultimately preventing a large number of crashes.
Swift has a unique feature called optionals. Optionals allow you to define certain instances where null would be valid, and the syntax is also very safe and easy to understand. Another considerable benefit of Swift syntax is that you can define your intent easily with keywords that are only three characters long. This saves you time while coding and can prove to be very beneficial in the long run.
Similarities and Differences
When your aim is to develop a mobile application for iOS, the first important thing you need to do is to pick up the right programming language. In terms of native app development in iOS, you get two choices: the good old Objective-C or the next-gen Swift.
Now, in order to pick up the right programming language for your project, you need to consider the pros, cons, features, and differences of both choices you have on hand.
Pros and cons of both languages
There is no denying that you can develop apps faster in Swift, but that doesn’t mean it is the end-all decision to choose a programming language for your project. So let’s take a close look at some of the pros and cons of both programming languages.
Objective-C
Pros
- Objective-C has been around for a long time and has been tried and tested over the years. Millions of developers have used it before, and that means that you can get an answer to almost every question or any error that you might face during programming, thanks to its brilliant community and the documentation that exists.
- Objective-C comes with a feature called dynamic tapping, where the code environment is more flexible. Thus, developers are allowed to make any changes whenever required at different stages of development.
- Objective-C has very effective support for binary frameworks and has been around for over three decades, which means it’s very stable at this point.
- Objective-C is basically a superset of C programming language and, hence, it works quite smoothly for both C and C++ codes.
Cons
- Objective-C is significantly different from other programming languages. The memory management in Objective-C is quite complex, making it hard to get used to the finer details of the language.
- Given the difficulty posed in the learning curve of Objective-C, the new-age developers prefer learning Swift. On the other hand, developers who already know Objective-C find it easy to learn Swift, so there is a ready stream of developers’ migration from Objective-C to Swift.
- Objective-C is quite renowned by now, which means the apps made with Objective-C are easier to reverse engineer and the tools for reverse engineering are also quite sharp at this point.
- Objective-C comes with a complex syntax with problems like Block Syntax, and since it is dynamic, the debugging becomes really difficult.
Swift
Pros
- The features that Swift offers, such as type interference, optionals, and generics make sure that the apps created in Swift are not as error-prone or likely to crash as the ones made in Objective-C. This makes Swift more favorable for writing code and avoiding crashes.
- Swift uses Automatic Reference Counting (ARC), which tracks how much memory is being used by an app. However, in more traditional languages, it is the developers’ job to track it manually by allocating memory.
- Swift tops the list in speed and high performance. This is because it uses enhanced memory management and object-oriented functionalities without garbage collection.
- Apple is actively developing the language with future updates and offers support to the community constantly. The developers are also raving about the functionalities of Swift, which indicates that this is a language that deserves all the attention.
- According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020, Swift leads the race in the most loved language compared to Objective-C.
Cons
- The weakest link of Swift is the change and migration that comes with it. However, it is starting to stabilize, and there have been some definite improvements after the introduction of ABI stability. Constant changes in the language used to be a huge problem earlier, and developers had to shift to newer versions, which cost both time and money. The good thing is that the newer versions are better than ever before.
- It cannot handle the direct usage of C++ libraries in it.
Check out software development methodologies useful tips for the long life of your mobile application.
We have discussed the pros and cons of both languages and what makes one better over the other. Now let’s compare some language-rich features to make a decisive conclusion, when and why you should use Swift or Objective-C. Let’s take into account the following factors:
Safety
Swift was inherently designed to improve the safety of iOS products. It was created as a memory-safe and type-safe language. Type safety means that the language itself will prevent type errors making it very important to avoid vulnerabilities typically associated with uninitialized or dangling pointers. These types of errors are the most common in programming and the hardest to debug.
Objective-C uses null pointers, and the important thing to understand here is that pointers can cause vulnerabilities in code. They are basically a way to give developers higher access to data, and there could be discrepancies in the way pointers are handled. Swift, on the other hand, doesn’t use pointers.
If you forget a pointer in the code, perhaps, null value, the app crashes. This makes it easier for developers to find and fix bugs quickly. As a result of this, the code written in Swift is cleaner and easier to understand. Features such as optionals, generics, and type interference make sure that your app is less inclined to contain unnoticed bugs.
Maintenance
Managing files in Objective-C can be a frustrating process because developers are required to manage two separate files. Swift, on the other hand, requires less. Swift automatically performs an incremental build in the file and completes the reliances, thus not asking you to manage two separate files.
Objective-C was originally made from C and still depends on it when it comes to improvements and changes. Developers are supposed to manage two separate files of code to improve the efficiency and developing time and also require effort in synchronizing method names and comments.
Swift, like many modern programming languages, is easier to maintain. The LLVM compiler automatically figures out the requirements and completes the required incremental builds.
Syntax
Objective-C has an inherent complex code structure since it’s built on top of the C language. It includes a lot of different symbols, lines, parentheses, conditionals, and semicolons. One of the many reasons Swift has become popular is because of its simple and easy-to-understand syntax. This makes the language relatively simpler to both read and write.
You also need fewer code strings in Swift, and it resembles natural English statements, just like many other higher-level programming languages.
Code Complexity
You need to write code that isn’t too hard to measure to manage your program successfully. The fewer lines of code your app has, the easier it is to maintain and scale. If we take a brief look at the Objective-C code, we will notice that it is very verbose and requires a lot of code to link two pieces of information.
Developers need to use special string tokens and provide a list of variables to replace each token, not to mention that messing up the order or using the wrong string token causes the app to crash.
One of the important benefits of Swift is that it requires less code for string handling and repetitive statements. Swift uses string interpolation so developers can insert variables directly. This also helps avoid a lot of crashes that take place in Objective-C.
Memory Management
Objective supports ARC (Automatic Reference Counting) inside the object-oriented code. However, the issue is that it cannot access C code and other APIs like Core Graphics. This causes extensive memory leaks and affects memory management. On the other hand, Swift is more consolidated and supports ARC for all APIs.
This allows a streamlined way for memory management. The issues with Objective-C can be solved by making ARC complete with the object-oriented code paths, thus saving the developer’s time and making them worry less about memory management.
Runtime
You don’t need to get used to a new IDE if you’ve been using Xcode to write iOS apps. All the latest versions of Swift are catered to the new Xcode upgrades. Objective-C, on the other hand, has a superior runtime as compared to Swift. It’s probably going to take some years for Swift to catch up with that.
Objective-C is also your best option if you are using powerful SDKs. However, Swift is a safer option in terms of stability and the ability to handle errors.
One thing that is important to note here is that even though runtime allows programmers to remove a lot of boilerplate and to write smaller programs, it can make bugs difficult to debug. It is a double-edged sword and can cause some problems for the developers. The Swift core team is committing a lot to it and is adding powerful dynamic features to it. The ground for that has already been laid in Swift 3.
The Swift community is also putting a lot of work into developing powerful libraries to make it easier for developers to solve problems statically instead of dynamically in Objective-C. However, the main concern of the users of Swift is that Swift does not seem to provide anything comparable to Objective-C solutions.
Moreover, Apple is not discussing or considering developers’ perspectives as to what desirable Swift features are needed to solve the same problems in Swift that were solved through dynamism in Objective-C. The gist of it all is that there are still some improvements required in Swift to catch up with the dynamism in Objective-C.
Conclusion
So back to the initial question, “Which one should I pick for my project? Should I learn Objective-C or Swift?” The answer for most people will be Swift. Apple is actively pushing Swift to be its go-to language for iOS development. Consequently, Swift will only continue to become more performant as ABI stability matures over time until Swift becomes packaged with the OS itself.
Swift is also being used along with Objective-C to develop Apple products, so to use Swift in Objective-C is also a viable option. If you are looking to get a job as an iOS developer, Swift is the language you might want to learn.
Most startups and some mid-level companies are starting to write their iOS apps completely in Swift. This means that your chances to be able to apply for and secure a job can increase dramatically if you learn Swift. Even at larger companies where Objective-C is still being used heavily, interviews can still be done in Swift.
With that said, there can be certain circumstances where you may lean towards one language over the other based on your team’s familiarity, your own experience, or the timeline and size of your project. Always weigh the pros and cons of your runtime, tooling support, stability, and APIs.
All these factors must be taken into consideration when deciding which language to go with. Regardless of what you choose, Swift is becoming the go-to programming language for developing Apple products.
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A cure for complexity in software development
I recently read Scott Carey’s great InfoWorld article that focuses on the complexity of the application as an agent for reducing productivity and livelihoods for developers.
The article has some great ideas, such as focusing on curbing complexity by using standardized third-party services and other techniques. This is a strategy that I agree has value for many organizations.
However, the article also states that microservice architectures are more complex than the equivalent functional application in a monolithic architecture, and uses it to promote the cause that “complexity kills.” I do not agree with this assessment.
The implicit message I take from this point of view is that microservice architectures create complexity that reduces the efficiency of developers. This is not true. Microservice architectures create a generally more complex application than an equivalent application built as a monolith, but this does not mean that the work of the developer or architect is more complex as a result.
Complexity of microservice architecture
Many companies have created large monolithic applications just to meet a burden of complexity. Too many developers working on a single code base makes it difficult to add features and fix bugs independently. This limits the number of concurrent projects that developers can work on in a single application. In addition, individual projects make changes that can have a broad impact on the code base, an impact that becomes more difficult to understand as the application becomes larger and more complex. Taken together, these problems lead to more defaults, lower quality, and an increase in technical debt as complexity continues to increase.
When you split an application into separate modules or parts, you’re trying to split that complexity to reduce the number of developers who need to work on a single code base. Also, reduce the impact of your changes. This tends to create more stable code, more compatible code, less technical debt, and higher overall application quality and developer productivity.
Improving application quality and stability and improving developer productivity also lead to a better developer experience, reducing fatigue, exhaustion, and ultimately team rotation. development.
There are many ways to modulate an application, some more effective than others. The best model for modularizing applications is to use a microservice-based application architecture.
Combining a microservice architecture with a solid model for organizing your development teams and their ownership and responsibility, you end up with an organization where individual developers can focus on a smaller code base. These developers end up being more efficient and productive, and create higher quality code with less technical debt. These developers experience greater job satisfaction and less exhaustion.
The application as a whole may be more complex, but the individual piece on which a single developer should focus is substantially less complex. Thus, the microservice model enhances the developer experience.
Not all microservices are equally micro
However, simply switching to a service-based or microservice-based architecture does not automatically give you that advantage. Rather, you need to design your application rationally and organize your computers appropriately. There are two things to keep in mind in particular: the size of the service and the organization of the equipment.
Service size
The size of your services has a big impact on the complexity of developers. If the size of your services is too small, your application ends up with a very large number of interconnected services. This connectivity between services significantly increases the inherent complexity. Your application as a whole becomes more complex. Your developers see this complexity and have to deal with it, first and foremost defeating the purpose of moving to services.
If you oversize your services, you will lose the benefits of microservice architectures. Your services become mini-monoliths, with all the inconveniences of complexity of the larger monoliths. Again, individual developers have to deal with greater complexity, and you have simply switched to multiple complex applications instead of a single complex application. These mini-monoliths can alleviate the complexity load of the developer in the short term, but not in the long term.
Only when you properly size your services do you achieve the right balance that effectively decreases the complexity and cognitive load of your individual developer.
Team organization
Team size, structure, ownership responsibilities, and lines of influence are as critical to creating your application as the code itself. To manage a service architecture efficiently, you need to properly organize your development teams around the application architect. In addition, your teams must be given the responsibility, authority, ownership, and support necessary to provide complete management of their services.
Failure to provide this organization and support will add a different kind of complexity that is just as destructive to your organization. Team organization, along with proper team assignments and the establishment of responsibilities and ownership, is critical to reducing the cognitive load of the application for individual developers.
I recommend the standard STOSA organizational model, which describes a model for creating your organization and assigning team-level responsibilities in a service-based application architecture. I cover the STOSA model extensively in my book O’Reilly Media, Scale architecture.
Tools to reduce coding complexity
Going back to my partner’s original article, which focuses on reducing complexity for developers, there are other techniques you can use to achieve this, as well as leveraging STOSA microservice architectures and organizations.
One technological direction that will have great benefits in reducing the complexity of developers in the future is software-assisted development. This is the ability to use tools, often assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques, to help the developer write code, diagnose code problems, and manage the overall complexity of the code.
There are many companies that focus on software-assisted development tools for programmers. The GitHub Copilot AI Wizard for Visual Studio Code uses AI to help developers write more reliable, less flawed code. Performance monitoring companies such as Datadog and New Relic recently announced tools that provide high-end support for developers to diagnose problems within their code. Finally, coded and low-coded tools, such as the OutSystems application development platform, provide support for creating higher-level services that reduce the cognitive load needed to create and deploy individual services and applications.
Application complexity is an issue that most organizations have to deal with, and the way you handle it will affect the future of your application, the health and stability of your development organization, and the future of your application. your company. But there are many ways to deal with the complexity of the application. The approaches discussed by Scott Carey, which include creating an internal platform and standardizing services outside of your organization, are great strategies.
But also seriously consider microservice architectures. While microservices can increase the overall complexity of the application, they add value to reduce the cognitive load and complexity visible to individual developers. This will lead to higher quality code, higher availability, lower technical debt, and better developer morale.
Copyright © 2021 IDG Communications, Inc. | https://benri.tech/a-cure-for-complexity-in-software-development/ |
To be able to write programs that are not only correct but also understandable and maintainable requires discipline. These skills evolve as one becomes a more experienced programmer.
Well written programs will save time whenever examined, changed or reviewed. If the outcome is unreadable, it will be difficult and time-consuming to find and correct the errors in it. Making changes and testing those changes also take more time and cost valuable human resources.
Picture 1. Left: Simply Explained: Code Reuse 2009-12-03. Right: Behind The Lines 2010-09-23. By Oliver Widder, Webcomics Geek And Poke.
Projects always grow in size and become more complex in time. Being able to respond timely manner to bug reports like security flaws depends on the modularity and clarity of the implemented design. Part of the clarity becomes from the technical measures like using good names for directories, files, classes, methods, variables and by using proper structure (like indentation). Part of it comes from recording enough information in comments for the reader to understand how a program is designed and why. The rest comes from applying principle of KISS everywhere; by using simple building blocks that are elegant; methods and classes that illuminate their clarity.
"We discussed the removability of code. Before we get into it, let’s agree on one thing. Source code is a liability, not an asset. The more lines of code you have, the more time you will spend maintaining them, the more bugs you will have, the harder it will be to implement new code. When it comes to code, less is better." In blog post Removability of code, Sami Honkinen, 2012-12-06.
Merely producing code that works is like saying that a car "works". But what kind of motor drives the car is important. The engine may leak, drip oil, the car may have bad batteries and exterior covered in rust. It may have tires that slip on rain. Arguable the car "works" but at the same time most people would hesitate to run such a car for long. Writing programs is best treated like making good cars, houses or books. The basis, the style, is the key to everything.
A consistent style is important for all projects that share files. The code (or text) communicates the ideas from reader to reader. The selection of one style over another is a matter of convention. Switching from one project to another may also change the requirements in style. Good style, being a subjective matter, is difficult to concretely categorize; however, there are several elements common to a large number of programming styles. A competent programmer can fluently adapt to the style being valid for the project at hand.
will produce mediocrity and inherently lead to unsustainable code base where parts are kept together with patches and gum. The "No change" attitude and tight project management is a blockade to innovating the product to evolve better and faster than competitors.
Software is always incomplete and broken by nature due to shifting and evolving requirements. Constantly evaluating and refactoring the code can make gum and patches unnecessary. The healthiness is ensured at all times with systematic approach, applying style, keeping documentation in shape and using continuous testing practices.
Making things readable by others is the measure that helps grasping the concept "what a good style is all about".
Reusable components are the keys to success. This is best achieved by designing functions and methods to do one single thing and not multiple things. The beauty of the design stems from simplicity. Duplicate code is by nature a maintenance burden.
"Functions should be short and sweet, and do just one thing. They should fit on one or two screenfuls of text (the ISO/ANSI screen size is 80x24 and A4 paper), and do one thing and do that well (...) Another measure of the function is the number of local variables. They shouldn't exceed 5-10, or you're doing something wrong. Re-think the function, and split it into smaller pieces." (Chapter 6: Functions).
Long lines (past column 80) may cause interoperability problems. Long lines may not be handled well by in limited terminals, manipulating tools or different displays and editors. To review and share code using long lines may cause difficulties electronic exchange (email, IM, IRC). The 80th column convention is widely recognized. (Cf. foreword in Code Conventions for the Java Programming Language; PHP PEAR and Zend coding standards; Chapter 2: Breaking long lines and strings in Linux Kernel coding style).
Indentation step of 4 characters (half tab2) is quite common and works with variety of screen resolutions and text font sizes. There are also less common practices which make use of multipliers: 2, or 8 (practically only in use in Linux Kernel development; See chapter 1). If the code becomes too nested that is a sign to refactor the code into smaller pieces.
Choosing spaces or TABs for indentation3 can ensure that code is treated and rendered consistently in the project.
One statement per line –rule4 improves top-down reading and attaching comments to the right.
The reason why half-tab indentation is considered industry standard is quite understandable. If it were less, like 2, we easily run into practical issues like: (1) If you adjust screen resolution to higher ones, would you you still feel comfortable with the indentation? (2) If you adjust font size of your editor to a smaller one to increase visible area for your coding, would the indentation still be as clear? (3) If the code were printed on paper, multiple pages on a sheet (4 on a page), would you still read the code fluently?
The use of tabs vs. spaces is an eternal question. See e.g. article "Tabs versus Spaces: An Eternal Holy War" by Jamie Zawinski, 2000. See Coding Horror blog titled "Death to the Space Infidels" by Jeff Atwood which ends in words "only a moron would use tabs to format their code". The tabs are favored in Linux Kernel Coding Style. On the other hand, if code is copy/pasted/indented the spaces ensure uniform layout. In Version Control Systems spaces are also known to be diff-safe, whereas with TABs, an unlucky indentation boundary can cause output to jump many display columns to the right, due to the "+"/"-" column along the left edge of the diff. This makes reading diffs of TAB-indented code a dicey game.
One statement perl line rule is well established in programming circles. See chapter 6.1 Number Per Line in Code Conventions for the Java Programming Language and Chapter 1: Indentation in Linux Kernel coding style.
Lines of code matter (p. 1021 ). For every written line, the programmer needs to read and understand anything that surrounds it (compare to YAGNI, cf. XP ). Any extra code is in the way towards understanding. A high level of abstraction and exception handling and error checking can easily bury the "meat" under its surroundings. In addition, accumulating a bigger code base means taking longer to code new features.
The more code there is, the more potential bugs it can contain (p. 1021 ). Just merely glancing over the code to see obvious mistakes is easy with few lines.
Writing code is not the only cost (p. 1031 ). Spending time in coding the application may seem like a costly investment when the schedules are tight and the customer is demanding ready product. Still, the code does not stay put once it has been written. The real costs come later from maintenance, upgradeability and overall modifiability. It must be remembered that people have to be trained to maintain and extend the code when developers leave.
The KISS2 principle effectively is the analogy of thinking the task first and not applying aphorism "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail3 ". In graphical programs the KISS translates to MVC and tries to strive to keep the UI as thin as reasonably possible since that's the hardest thing to write tests for, and code as much as possible to be UI agnostic. As the very last step, the UI itself is written.
Considering to write a Java program to solve a text or file handling problem would be unwise if the same could be done 5-10 times more productive with Perl, Python or Ruby instead (measured in code lines and time). Similarly considering to write a web application with Java from ground up should be preceded by a serious analysis and evaluation of more rapid alternatives like Solar PHP, CakePHP or Ruby on Rails. Making a Java web application on a relational database will require a steep learning curve to cover tons of needed frameworks and APIs: something that is readily accessible only to only years trained Java programmers.
The thing to embrace from KISS is that there is no single programming language that would be suitable for every task and problem size. There is nothing that inherently limit what different programming languages can do, but there are certainly comfort zones for different languages. There is no need to struggle beneath mountains of complexity and collapsing under the weight on abstraction if alternative solutions work better and can be implemented in less time (p. 1171 ). The KISS principles and Agile methodologies aim to manage the fundamental problem of software development: the complexity. Sometimes the simplest answer, picking suitable language, is the best.
See also "The Principle of least surprise"
There are two major1 brace styles: the K&R end-brace style and line-up style. Some projects use end-brace style and some projects use line-up style. E.g. The SUN's Java coding convention describes the end-brace style.
The styles presented above are two of the most known. There exists multitude of variations to deal with e.g. the exact place of else keyword and how to treat simple if-else statements: are braces really always required or not. Hundreds of web pages and millions of discussions have been fought on behalf of the One-True-Brace religion for nothing. Inherently there is no point in arguing which one would be objectively better over another. There is no answer: it would be like deciding if "left lane" car driving (British style) is more natural than "right lane" (non-British style) driving. The habit is learnt when repeated long enough. In this regard the project's responsibility is to decide which to select and how to communicate the decision to all members. The decision is usually enforced using Quality Assurance (QA) and Lint utilities that may, among other things, check style violations.
There exists other brace placement styles and variations (compare to GNU Coding Standards), but most of the projects settle for one of the two above mentioned styles.
Similar to the brace style discussion, there are two major identifier naming styles: the Camel-Case style and underscore_between_tokens style. Some projects use former and some projects use the latter. E.g. the Java uses the Camel-Case (like System.out.println()) whereas PHP uses function names like str_replace().
The CameCase style is in some cases more convenient because editors usually support selecting a word by clicking over it. With underscore style the separate_words may not be copied as a single entity when clicked.
The fine print is that there is also variation of CamelCase called Pascal Style that is seen in Java class identifiers. There also existed a short while Hungarian notation which was popularized by Microsoft in its C/C++ programs. The style was short lived. The Problem with Hungarian identifier notation was that if the data type was changed, say from int to long, changes in variable names would have been required. Linux Kernel coding style (Chapter 4: Naming) describes Hungarian notation: "...brain damaged - the compiler knows the types anyway and can check those, and it only confuses the programmer".
It is not uncommon that non-native speakers are reading the documentation and code. To overcome language barriers there must be some smallest common denominator to transfer the knowledge. In multi-cultural, – possibly globally wide – projects, the communication language is english and therefore it is natural to write comments, documentation, function names, variable names with it.
If URLs are needed in documentation, there are safe names like example.com, example.org and example.net that can be used for links and email addresses. See Internet standard RFC 2606 (Reserved Top Level DNS Names; Chapter 3) for more information.
The code can be made self documenting with descriptive identifier names. Thoughtfully selected names communicate the flow of code without additional documentation.
Picture 3. The Real Coder by Oliver Widder, Webcomics Geek Aad Poke, 2011-02-14.
There are other type of variables in context of classes. These variables can have various access modifiers like public, private, protected, static. This presents an interesting problem. Some projects differentiate the class level variables from the rest with initial uppercase letter: e.g. Variable. Some make distinction between the private and public variables. In any case, too many naming conventions usually lead to confusion especially when people work with several programming languages and switch between them.
Note: some comment styles, like multi line comment, like /* */, can be used for special cases like documentation (see next chapter). The single line comment, like //, is the simplest and safest1.
Comments are good, but there is also a danger of over-commenting. NEVER try to explain HOW your code works in a comment: it's much better to write the code so that the working is obvious, and it's a waste of time to explain badly written code. (Chapter 7: Commenting in Linux Kernel coding style).
// and possibly tests something more.
// Notice an empty line separating the code statement.
//and possibly tests something more.
//it's stuck to the code and has no leading indent space "// "
//Comment placement disrupts reading the LOGIC of code.
The design becomes visible in classes and functions. They introduce the building blocks of the program which can be explained to the reader. By documenting each function and method keeps the code easily maintained. Any "out of synch" problems are usually inevitable if separate documentation is kept outside of the actual code.
Considering the comments like a story describing the system gives a feel how they should be laid out. Expecting that the comments are to be extracted and analyzed by other programs will remind the writer how important they are. If there is support for programming language1 and special comments, their use will help integrating documentation next to the real "action". This is the currently favored practice.
* @param name Username to set.
* @return status non-zero if failed.
Java was the first language which had the documentation comments built-in. It also helped to popularize the concept of documenting code using special commenting rules and tokens. However the father of the idea can be considered Perl/POD although the POD is not widely used for documenting functions per se; in Perl, POD is more used for manuals and separate documentation. The code documenting idea was soon followed by PHP, where – while the syntax is not yet part of the language – http://www.phpdoc.org/ is widely in use. For C/C++, Objective-C, Python, IDL (Corba and Microsoft flavors), Fortran, VHDL, PHP, C#, and to some extent D there exists utility Doxygen. In contrast, See Microsoft's support for documentation comments in 2008-08-06 blog post "C# documentation comments: useless?".
Legibility and layout of the code can be improved with minor changes in spacing. If language support readable alternative keywords over the more technical && and ||, their use will also improve legibility. Also the conditions around keywords and or can be made more distinct with two or more spaces. Any non-programmer can understand the meaning of written words, but punctuation like && and || need "a priori" learnt understanding.
// Read as: "if there is nothing in status"
// Traditional: What does "true" mean here?
Now, the actual function definition can stay the same. The point is not to think literal meaning of "boolean", but to understand how the programming language's power can be used better e.g. in truth tests. Because in these languages, any non-empty value is true, there is no need to always use literal true, but you can use "any string" for the same effect. The two calls above behave identically.
* Inserts DATA from array to database TABLE.
* @param string $table Table name.
* @param array $data Values for database TABLE.
* @param boolean $flag If true, remove whitespace from values in DATA.
The ISO C++ standard defines readable and, or, not, not_eq keywords that are synonyms for &&, ||, ! and !=. See ISO/IEC 14882:1998 "2.11 Keywords / Table 4 – alternative representations" at page 40, "2.12 Operators and Punctuators [lex.operators]" and C++ operator synonyms at Wikipedia.
"You're not going to get it right the first time ... Change must be easy and cheap ... A quick look at physics makes this obvious. The more massive a moving object the more energy it takes to change its direction. What applies to the physical world also applies to the business world. Less mass makes change easier." (Mike Mindel, 2005-03-24 in Signal vs. Noise weblog, article Getting Real: Less Mass).
Using assignments (=) inside tests must be considered carefully. The condition statement usually stays more descriptive when there is not too much going on in it. Using simple tests also make code more easy to test and debug when the results are stored separately. In earlier decades extra variables were avoided due to limited PC memory and CPU performance, but today the compilers are smart enough to do the optimizations for the developers. Extra variables may also be very effective way to document the design decisions. Note: there are very good reasons to place assignments inside conditionals. These include looping e.g. inside while where the input is read and tested. For if statements the variable assignments are not always imperative.
There are two major styles and opinions about when and if each pair of quotes should be used.
Style one: Use double quotes always. Reserve single quotes for only special cases.
Style two: Use single quotes for literals, double quotes for interpolations.
Broken down, it looks like this. Is this the path to the wisdom?
In good Object Oriented Programming (OOP) style all classes are stored to separate files. The file is usually named with the same name as the class itself.
Java: In Java, there is only constructor (see Providing Constructors for Your Classes) but no destructor. A finalize method would exist, but it cannot be used like a real destructor because there is no guarantee when the finalize will be invoked by the Java JVM. In Java, to make the constructor well behaving, the access modifier private, static or public are best left out (see Controlling Access to Members of a Class).
In standard Object Oriented Programming paradigm (OOP), direct access to instance variables is a discouraged practice. A class is best treated like self containing object that is responsible for managing its state. The properties of the class are not made visible to user. The class interacts with outside world by providing accessor methods. These methods are by custom prefixed with get for returning values or prefixed set to change the values.
It must be kept in mind that OOP can also lead to problems. Adding an abstraction is like adding a new word to the to language. It requires learning new vocabulary. Real languages rarely invent new words, because the same can be expressed with existing words. Only specific circles – like families, culture minorities – invent expressions which are meaningless outside of the circle.
If abstraction is taken too far, the result maybe code that is structured like a big pyramid (inheritance). If any of the abstraction layers change, it forces repair of all of its uses. The more the abstraction is shared, the more repair will be needed. A highly abstracted code is very difficult to maintain after the original designers and architects have disappeared.
The norm of the software development is that they grow, change, and are repaired. A minimalist approach to inheritance and object features in general ensures that program is maintainable in the long run by others after the original architects are long gone. | https://koti.tamk.fi/~jaalto/course/coding-style/ |
Our client, a leading pharmaceutical company, is hiring a Java Developer on a contract basis.
Work Location
New Brunswick, NJ/Hybrid
Summary
Actual job title is Java Front End Developer.
Create applications from detailed specifications using specified programming language(s)
• Develops software applications solutions, of intermediate, to complex complexity, for all or part of an assigned project.
• Develops, codes, tests, debugs, and documents applications systems to achieve the objectives of the client group relative to identified system needs. These systems may be new, replacement of existing systems, or significant modifications of existing software modules.
• Implements activities that impact mid-level components of the functional area. Participate in the review of requirements, design, code and supporting documentation. Design, develop and test software as part of new product and maintenance development. Help investigate issues and support production systems. Mentor less experienced staff as necessary.
Experience
• 5+ years of software development experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science
• Well versed with modern software development methods and best practices
• Ability to initiate and participate in design/architecture creation and review.
• Owning the product cycle from cradle to grave and continuous improvement.
• Familiarity with OO concepts
• Ability to work well with a variety of people
• Some experience using source control, like Subversion .
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team, and follow coding standards
• Demonstrated experience with REST, creating RESTful services
• Ensure that each system developed follows the standard systems development policies.
Skills
Create applications from detailed specifications using specified programming language(s).
• Code, test, debug, document and maintain programs.
• Good understanding of DB and interactions with web tools (Oracle, Sql Server, MySQL).
• Good understanding of HTTP request life cycle.
• Should have good hands-on in Web Application development using the latest UI & Java technologies, browsers.
• Good understanding of Object Oriented design and programming methodologies.
• Experience with SVN version control applications and build process
• Experience with Web Services.
• Experience with WebLogic, Tomcat, WildFly (Nice to have).
• Good interpersonal and communication skills.
• Experience with multi-tiered architectures.
• Java (JDK 1.7/1.8), JSP, Servlets, Struts
• J2EE (JMS, EJB).
• Spring, Hibernate
• Siteminder / LDAP integration (Nice to have).
• Junit (Nice to have).
• ANT , Maven.
• XML and XSD Technologies. (Nice to have)
• Quality reviews of code developed by other development staff.
• An understanding of and experience with full software development lifecycle including functional & technical specification, development on object oriented design, documentation, QA processes, source control, maintenance and deployment.
• Designs for more complex integration with other applications/technologies.
• Develops test plans and test scripts.
• Experience with HP ALM (Nice to have).
• Understanding of application architecture. | https://www.tsrconsulting.com/jobs/java-developer-2/ |
Introduction to Machine Learning
10 years ago, Rober Downey Jr. playing Iron Man is what got me interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI). He is my inspiration for Machine Learning and AI. But first, What is AI? And how do Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DP), and Natural Language Processing (NLP) come into AI?
ML, DP, and NLP are subsets of AI; Machine Learning is a subset of AI, Deep Learning is a subset of Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing overlaps ML and DL. Natural Learning Processing uses all these techniques, among other things.
What is Machine Learning?
“Machine Learning is the field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed” Arthur Samuel, 1959.
The definition of Machine Learning hasn’t changed since 1959, but what has changed is the computing power and the way we handle the data.
What’s the difference between Machine Learning and Python? Traditional Programming works in a rule-based model, while in Machine Learning the program will learn itself from a set of data we provide.
The engineering definition of Machine Learning as defined by Tom Mitchell in 1997 is: “A computer program is said to learn from experience E with respect to some task T and some performance measure P, if its performance on T, as measured by P, improves with experience E.”
Ergo, it is a computer program that learns from the data that we provide. The data is the only information we have that we feed the program. With respect to some task T, that would be the solution we are trying to get. Performance measures P is related to the Machine Learning model itself. When we create a Machine Learning Model and train it with the data, we need to make sure it is trained correctly, hence this is where performance measures come in. It is the metric to analyze our model.
We create a model, we train the model with a set of data, then we use another set of data which helps the model predict the solution we are looking for. We improve the model by checking the performance measures.
Machine Learning can be seen everywhere. It’s in even your pocket! A lot of applications on your phones use Machine Learning; If you are using g-mail, when you type an email, there is an auto-suggestion to complete your sentence, that is machine learning. Even when you forget to write a subject line, Machine Learning suggests the best subject line for your email.
Amazon Go uses Machine Learning along with other technologies to allow a queue-less grocery store. There is no cashier. You scan a QR code, take what you need, and leave. The different technologies used to calculate the price of the things you picked up and they charge your wallet.
Netflix also uses Machine Learning by suggesting movies and shows based on what you previously watched. Over 75% of what people watch on Netflix comes from recommendations.
Airbnb uses Machine Learning for a lot of things too. It suggests the appropriate pricing for hosts and helps customers find the right place for them.
Machine Learning is everywhere. AI is the future. Whether you know it or not, you are already using Machine Learning.
When to use Machine Learning?
- Problems for which existing solutions require a lot of fine-tuning or a long list of rules: one Machine Learning algorithm can often simplify code and perform better than the traditional approach.
- Complex problems for which using a traditional approach yields no good solutions: the best Machine Learning techniques can perhaps find a solution.
- Fluctuating environments: a Machine Learning system can adapt to new data.
- Getting insight into complex problems and a large amount of data.
Types of Machine Learning
- Supervised Learning can be used for predictions. When you want to predict something these are the techniques to use. This is applied when you are already giving the input and the output to the model. The input being features and the output being labels.
- Unsupervised Learning can be used to get insights into the patterns which were unknown before. You add data and the model will find the patterns. It is mainly used by Deep Learning techniques. Here we don’t know the output or labels. There are some sets of problems, and we have the data, but we need to get information out of this data.
- Reinforcement Learning can be used for the action. It’s mainly used in the gaming and robotics world.
Types of Supervised Learnings
- Classified: A classification problem is when the output variable is a category, such as “red” or “blue” or “disease” and “no disease”. The only thing we want our model to tell us here is in which category does the set of features belong.
- Regression: A regression problem is when the output variable is a real value, such as “dollars” or “weight”.
Types of Unsupervised Learnings
- Clustering: A clustering problem is where you want to discover the inherent groups in the data, such as grouping customers by purchasing behaviour.
- Association: An association rule learning problem is where you want to discover rules that describe large portions of your data, such as people that buy X also tend to buy Y.
7 Step Machine Learning Approach
- Data Collection: We have to collect data such as information, inputs and outputs depending on the industry and type of problem you want to solve.
- Data Preparation: Once the data is collected we have to prepare the data by cleaning it from all the excess noises or unwanted things.
- Choose model: We have to pick the model to which we will be giving all the data we have. We don’t have to create a model, we choose the model based on the problem we want to solve.
- Train Model: Once we choose the model and have the data, we train the model and add the labels.
- Evaluate Model: We need to make sure the model is trained well and we use performance metrics to evaluate the model.
- Parameter Tuning: If the model isn’t working well we then tune it.
- Predict: At the end, once the model is working well and we add the inputs we have it predict our solution/answer.
Application of ML
- Analyzing images of products on a production line to automatically classify them
- Image Classification
- Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)
To analyze images there are certain models to solve these kinds of problems such as CNN.
- Detecting tumours in the brain
- Semantic Segmentation (CNN)
- CNN
We can solve these kinds of problems using Semantic Segmentation.
- Segmenting clients based on their purchase. You can design different marketing strategies for different segments
- Clustering (K means)
- Unsupervised
Why should you learn ML?
- Machine Learning helps increase your efficiency.
- You can understand your customers better.
- You can personalize your marketing campaigns
- Machine Learning recommends products to your customers
- Machine Learning helps to detect fraud.
- Learning ML brings in better career opportunities
- Machine Learning Engineers earn a pretty penny
- Machine Learning Jobs are on the ride.
To learn more in depth about Machine Learning and all its advantages, watch the full video of the mini class below.
Register now for our Data Science Course and learn more. | https://grow.astrolabs.com/articles/introduction-to-machine-learning/ |
A new study by Monash University, together with Alfred Health and The Royal Melbourne Hospital, has uncovered how machine learning technology could be used to automate epilepsy diagnosis.
As part of the study, Monash University researchers applied over 400 electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of patients with and without epilepsy from Alfred Health and The Royal Melbourne hospital to a machine learning model. Training the model with the various datasets enabled it to automatically detect signs of epilepsy — or abnormal activities known as “spikes” in EEG recordings.
“The objective of the first stage is to evaluate existing patterns involved in the detection of abnormal electrical recordings among neurons in the brain, called epileptiform activity. These abnormalities are often sharp spikes which stand out from the rhythmic patterns of a patient’s EEG scan,” explained Levin Kuhlmann, Monash University senior lecturer at the Faculty of IT Department of Data Science and AI.
Read also: AI and machine learning facilitate pioneering research on Parkinson’s (TechRepublic)
Doug Nhu, fellow project researcher and PhD candidate from the faculty said applying machine learning to the process has the potential to free up the time of medical professionals, as the current process to diagnose epilepsy is often a lengthy one.
“Being able to apply a machine learning model across various datasets demonstrates our ability to create an algorithm that is more reliable, adaptive, and intelligent than existing models, making our model more useful when applied in real-world scenarios such as diagnosing patients in a clinic,” he said.
In addition to diagnosing epilepsy patients, machine learning technology has the potential to be used as a training tool for graduate neurologists, who can use the technology as a baseline to compare against epilepsy patient records, the university said.
“Our plans for this research will be to continue to improve the current models and further train it against additional datasets from other hospitals,” said Patrick Kwan from the Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Neuroscience at Monash University.
“We aim to develop an accurate algorithm which will be reliable across multiple hospital settings and usable in the early stages of epilepsy diagnosis, from both routine and sleep-deprived EEG recordings.”
According to Kuhlmann, the next stage of the project will see the machine learning model focus on detecting novel seizures and prediction methods.
Related Coverage
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The university has also teamed up with other partners to create an AI system to help teachers maximise student engagement in classrooms.
Monash University and RMIT develop AI and AR device to read emotional cues
Designed to augment emotional communication beyond traditional settings.
IBM, Monash and Southampton Uni develop mind-reading ebike to save live
The bike can read a rider’s brain activity to detect if they are in danger.
Monash University researchers use AI technology to examine hospital readmissions
In hope that it will relieve some pressure off the healthcare system.
Monash, Swinburne, and RMIT universities use optical chip to achieve 44Tbps data speed
Claimed as the fastest internet speed that has been tested and recorded in the world. | https://hekayatfardayeemaaa.ir/monash-university-researchers-speed-up-epilepsy-diagnosis-with-machine-learning/ |
Machine learning aims to produce machines that can learn from their experiences and make predictions based on those experiences and other data they have analyzed. The Center for Machine Learning at Georgia Tech (ML@GT) is an Interdisciplinary Research Center that is both a home for thought leaders and a training ground for the next generation of pioneers.
The field of machine learning crosses a wide variety of disciplines that use data to find patterns in the ways both living systems, such as the human body and artificial systems, such as robots, are constructed and perform. Whether it’s being applied to analyze and learn from medical data, or to model financial markets, or to create autonomous vehicles, machine learning builds and learns from both algorithm and theory to understand the world around us and create the tools we need and want. | http://ml.gatech.edu/ |
Q&A with Bo Wang: why collaboration is essential for the future of AI in healthcare
Dr. Bo Wang is jointly appointed between the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology and the Department of Computer Science and is an expert in Artificial Intelligence in healthcare and medical research.
We spoke to him about AI and machine learning, and its role in laboratory medicine.
What is Artificial Intelligence and why do we need it in healthcare?
“AI generally is a computer program that we teach to analyze data and answer questions. At the core of AI is machine learning, which is a subset of algorithms that enables computers to learn, with deep learning being a further division of that. Deep learning is based on human biological neural networks, it consists of multiple layers of programming which have neurons and connections. We ‘feed’ these neural networks with millions of examples which the AI can adapt within certain rules.
AI is most used in facial recognition, as in your smartphone or on Facebook. AI algorithms teach your phone camera to recognize a face. The same techniques can be applied to medicine. For example, we can feed the machine learning model lots of medical images and teach it to recognize the heart, or what a tumor or certain disease looks like.
There are two main benefits of AI in healthcare from my perspective:
One is to help doctors and clinicians with some of the more time-consuming tasks, such as image segmentation. A machine learning program can identify and contour medical images much faster and more accurately than a human.
Another benefit of AI is to deal with data overload. Clinicians have to be able to spot subtle signs in oceans of data. The human brain has a limited capacity to process information, but AI does not. It can sift through large amounts of noisy data to find patterns and signals that could help with diagnosis and treatments.”
Will AI replace humans in healthcare?
“I often get asked this question by my collaborators, but the answer is emphatically no! Replacement is not the key word, enhancement is. We’re trying to develop tools to improve workflows, not to replace humans, which is a vital aspect of healthcare.
AI has already had lots of applications in day-to-day life such as smartphones, self-driving cars, and high-end entertainment systems. Although there is some adoption on the research side, very little is adopted in clinical application because medicine is a very unique field. There are considerations of governance, regulations, and ethics.
Many biological researchers use traditional types of statistical modeling, which have limitations when it comes to large-scale or noisy datasets. AI is a new tool that can help them overcome these challenges.
I once read that “AI will not replace doctors, but doctors with the knowledge of AI will replace doctors who don't”. I think this is an accurate prediction. Clinicians need to know what’s available and the pros and cons of these new tools.
But we’re still a long way off adopting AI in clinical settings. We need to make algorithms more robust, more interpretable, and more trustworthy for clinicians. It is a field still very much in its infancy.”
What is one of the major challenges in machine learning?
“Alongside the adoption and acceptance of AI, one issue we’re dealing with is that of bias.
Machine learning is only as good as the data you input. Many traditional clinical diagnosis systems come from old studies that only focused on very small subsets of populations without considering the variety of the wider population.
When we design the dataset, studies or machine learning tools, we have to pay particular attention to any bias in the data. Once the model is trained, we have to validate it across different groups to see whether it's biased. Testing is really key here. It may, for example, have a high accuracy in the male population, but not in the female population, or work well in hospital A, but not in hospital B. We have to be very cautious in validating our own models.
An example of this was when a deep learning program had 100% accuracy in detecting an image of a polar bear. However, under further testing, it was discovered that the program was recognising the snow in the image, not the bear - it was learning the wrong thing! This is why algorithm development and testing is so essential.”
How can AI be applied in the field of laboratory medicine and pathology?
“AI can have huge applications in medical imaging for laboratory medicine and pathology, which is a main focus of my research. There are two main applications: segmentation and prediction.
Clinicians, particularly pathologists, spend a long time contouring images for analysis, known as segmenting them. This involves painstakingly ‘drawing’ around images on the computer.
This task is important because many downstream variables are calculated based on the contours, for example, the size of the contour or tumor is a very important indicator of the grade for the disease or cancer. But this takes a lot of time, involves a certain level of skill with computer equipment and there is a margin of human error.
We have developed an AI-enabled tool to help automatic segmentation of different organs with a very high accuracy which only takes seconds. We trained it by loading millions of ‘raw’ images and images contoured by human experts, and it learns how to contour from these patterns. This is available to all researchers now and is incredibly accurate.
Another application in medical imaging is in predictive tasks. The AI tool can take images, such as an MRI, and predict if there is, for example, cancer, if so, which subtype. It’s a binary yes or no answer which can classify images for clinicians much more quickly.”
What role does the University of Toronto play in the future of AI?
“The University of Toronto has some real pioneers in AI, particularly on the algorithm side, people like Dr. Geoffrey Hinton.
U of T is uniquely placed to play a leading role in AI for healthcare and biology. Toronto has a single-payer health system, lots of hospitals, and a wide diversity in human populations so we have access to a huge and very valuable dataset for AI to explore.
With the development of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and now The Temerty Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM), Toronto, and U of T is placing itself at the forefront of this area of research.”
How can we make AI in medicine and healthcare successful?
“When it comes to AI in healthcare, collaboration is the key. We need to learn from each other and can only develop AI in healthcare together.
Computer scientists and clinicians or biologists speak very different languages so it can be hard to communicate.
Computer scientists need to understand why a particular clinical question is important and clinicians need to understand how AI is going to enable them to answer, even partially, the question they are asking.
We need to understand what the data is looking at and what the question is. We then pre-process the data and train the model. Almost always, this first attempt will fail, so we need to be able to work with clinicians and biological researchers to understand why. It’s important that they understand the process, the limitations, pros and cons.
This is the reason why I am cross-appointed between Computer Sciences and LMP. I am a computer scientist, but being part of LMP allows me to build these collaborations and get a true understanding of the clinical aspects which is so vital in this kind of development.”
You’re developing a new graduate module on machine learning in healthcare: tell us about it
“Yes, I’m developing a machine learning module for graduate students in LMP which will be launched in Winter 2022.
It will cover the basic principles of machine learning in biomedical research and teach graduate students what machine learning can and cannot do. They’ll learn what machine learning is, how to construct it, how to train it, and how to make a diagnosis based on the model. I’ll also cover the limitations of machine learning when it comes to biomedical research - machine learning is not perfect and still needs lots of development.
The plan is to first launch the course in LMP and then gradually expand it across the Temerty Faculty of Medicine for all learners. It’s very exciting.”
Find out how an LMP graduate student taught himself machine learning and changed the course of his PhD.
Find out more
Research focus: Bo Wang and machine learning in biomedicine
Bo Wang - Demystify Machine Learning in Biomedicine: A Monday Seminar Series event. Monday April 19th 2021. | https://lmp.utoronto.ca/news/qa-bo-wang-why-collaboration-essential-future-ai-healthcare |
Reinforcement learning has been successful and applied in many areas of AI and beyond. This success can be attributed to the philosophy of the underlying data behind machine learning, which supports the automatic discovery of patterns from the data instead of manual methods using expert knowledge.
Here are some points that will help you guys to understand reinforcement learning optimization more clearly
Learn to lift
Review the general performance of continuous optimization algorithms. They work repeatedly and maintain some iteration, which is the central part of the objective function. At first, the iteration is random in the domain. At each time, the step vector is calculated using a fixed update method, which is used to update the iteration. This update process is often a function of the history of functional objective gradients evaluated in the present and past periods.
Learning to learn
Consider the case where the objective functions are loss functions to train other models. With this setting, we can use an optimizer for “learning to learn.” For clarity, we will refer to the model prepared using the optimizer as the “base model” and prefix the familiar words “base-” and “meta-” to break down the related concepts.
What exactly does ‘learning to learn’ mean?
Although this word appears from time to time in newspapers, different authors have used it to refer to other things, and there has yet to be a consensus on its exact meaning.
Often, it is also used with the term “meta-learning.” Learn what you have to learn
These methods aim to learn basic modeling principles sound in a family of related tasks. Meta-knowledge captures standard features within families, so essential learning about new family roles can be done quickly. Examples include transfer learning, multi-task learning, and crash learning.
Learning how to learn
While the methods in the previous sections seek to know more about the learning outcomes, the ways in this section seek to understand more about the learning process. Meta-knowledge captures the standard features and behaviors of learning algorithms. There are three things under this scope:
- the base model
- the base algorithm for training the base model
- the meta-algorithm that learns the base algorithm
What is learned is not the core model but the core algorithm, which trains the model and the function.
Generalization
Learning each model requires training on a small number of examples and clustering with a large class from which examples are drawn. Therefore, it is instructive to consider measures in the class corresponding to our situation of learning optimizers for basic model training. Each sample is an objective task, which corresponds to the task of death to train the leading model in the study. The job is characterized by a set of models and accurate predictions, or in other words, data input, which is used to train the base model. Meta classifiers have multiple objective functions, and meta-analysis methods have different objective functions assigned to the same class. Objective functions can be different in two ways: they can correspond to different main types or parts. Therefore, clustering means the learner works in other settings or jobs.
Why is it important?
Let’s assume that we don’t care about collections. In this case, we will analyze the optimization on the same objective function used to train the optimization. If we use only one objective function, the best optimizer will be the one at the top of the best: an optimizer always converges to the maximum in one step, regardless of the start. In our case, the objective function corresponds to the loss of training a single base model in a single operation; thus, the optimization takes the weight of the base model into account. Even if we work with multiple targets, the learner can try to identify the target of the task and jump to the saved location as soon as it happens.
In case you want to learn more about reinforcement learning and reinforcement learning optimization then you can visit our website. | https://insidebusinessonline.com/reinforcement-learning-for-optimization/ |
Classifying happy and sad faces is an easy task for most humans, but can we teach a machine to do it? In this fun lesson, students will use machine learning to try this out and see how easy it is for bias to creep in. This experiment requires no computer programming skills! In an optional extension, students will also use their imaginations to explore the potential benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence solutions. This lesson will give students an awareness of how prevalent artificial intelligence is, see its benefits, and realize its challenges.
Remote learning adaptation: This lesson plan can be conducted remotely. Students can work independently on the Explore section of the lesson plan using the Student Worksheet and the slides as guides. The Engage and Reflect sections can be conducted over a video chat. The optional reflect section can be done remotely.
Learning Objectives
- Know that machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence (AI).
- Train and test a machine learning tool to classify drawings of happy and sad faces.
- Give examples of a bias that can arise in machine learning and understand how biases may arise.
- Revise the learning data to reduce bias and increase accuracy.
- Recognize that new AI inventions can help people but can also have unintended effects.
NGSS AlignmentThis lesson helps students prepare for these Next Generation Science Standards Performance Expectations:
- MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
- MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
|Science & Engineering Practices||Disciplinary Core Ideas||Crosscutting Concepts|
|Science & Engineering Practices||Planning and Carrying Out Investigations.
Collect data about the performance of a proposed object, tool, process or system under a range of conditions.
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Analyzing and Interpreting Data. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for phenomena.
|Disciplinary Core Ideas||ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions.
A solution needs to be tested, and then modified on the basis of the test results, in order to improve it.
||Crosscutting Concepts||Influence of Science, engineering and Technology on Society and the Natural World.
The use of technologies and any limitations on their use are driven by individual and societal needs, desires, and values; by the findings of scientific research; and by differences in such factors as climate, natural resources, and economic conditions. Thus, technology use varies from region to region and over time.
|
Materials
For each group of 2–3 students.
- Face template, 1 per student and one extra per group.
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Construction paper, the same color for all groups.
- Coloring pencils, crayons, or markers
- Access to a computer with a webcam. [Note: cell phones and tablets will not work. Instead of a webcam, digital photos can be taken with another device and uploaded, but this will take more time. ]
- Access to the internet, specifically, the Teachable Machine web page.
Background Information for TeachersThis section contains a quick review for teachers of the science and concepts covered in this lesson.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that tries to build machines that demonstrate intelligence. Machine learning is a sub-division of AI; its goal is to create machines that can improve and learn over time using data.
Figure 1. Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence and is part of computer science.
A widely used machine learning application is image recognition. In image recognition, a computer learns to classify images by analyzing and finding patterns. AIs that use image recognition can do many things like classifying cancerous from non-cancerous tissue in medical images or recognizing a person's face in digital pictures. Interactions with the outside world, for example, a doctor re-classifying an image that the program wrongly classified as cancerous, can help the application refine and improve the accuracy of its algorithm.
Unlike classical computer programs where the decisions and rules are built into the program, machine learning programs construct their algorithm from data and feedback. This allows machine learning programs to find trends and patterns in enormous quantities of data, including patterns that are hard for humans to catch. They can also make predictions and improve themselves without human intervention and can handle complex, changing environments. But machine learning has its limitations. It requires a neutral and complete set of data to learn from, it uses a lot of computer power, and the results need to be taken with some precaution as it is susceptible to systematic errors.
In machine learning, a repeatable and systematic error that favors a specific incorrect outcome is referred to as a bias. It can have a racial or gender component—for example, some commercial face recognition programs are more likely to misclassify female dark-skinned people compared to male light-skinned people—but it can also be as simple as misclassifying high heeled shoes more often than sneakers. The video Machine Learning and Human Bias explains how human bias can creep into machine learning tools.
Learning to write a machine learning program takes dedication and work. Programmers have developed many ways to make machine learning more accessible, and Teachable Machine is one answer to these attempts. It is a web-based tool that allows users to quickly and easily make a teachable computer program without programming. It allows users with no computer programming background to experience the power of artificial intelligence.
In this lesson, students will develop an AI machine that can recognize drawings of happy and sad faces as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Examples of happy and sad face classifications.
After building and testing their AI machines, students can use their first-hand experiences to imagine and explore the potential benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence solutions. | https://www.sciencebuddies.org/teacher-resources/lesson-plans/machine-learning-bias-faces |
Google has inked a deal with India’s third-largest telecom operator as the American giant looks to grow its cloud customer base in the key overseas market that is increasingly emerging as a new cloud battleground for AWS and Microsoft .
Machine learning resources containing Deep Learning, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligent resources. A-Z Machine learning resources to learn machine learning.
Affine Transformation helps to modify the geometric structure of the image, preserving parallelism of lines but not the lengths and angles. It preserves collinearity and ratios of distances. It is one type of method we can use in Machine Learning and Deep Learning for Image Processing and also for Image Augmentation.
AI, ML and DL are related to each other. AI is a superset of ML and DL. What we do in the field of ML and DL all comes under AI. To better understand all of them, Let’s dive in…
A hyperparameter is a parameter or a variable we need to set before applying a machine learning algorithm into a dataset.These parameters express “High Level” properties of the model such as its complexity or how fast it should learn. Hyperparameters are usually fixed before the actual training process begins.
In this notebook we will be learning how to use Transfer Learning to create the powerful convolutional neural network with a very little effort, with the help of MobileNetV2 developed by Google that has been trained on large dataset of images.
Training error should steadily decrease, steeply at first, and should eventually plateau as training converges.If the training has not converged, try running it for longer.
In the real world, it is very difficult to explain behavior as a function of only one variable, and economics is no different.
Deep Learning is a subfield of Machine Learning because it makes use of Deep Neural Networks inspired by the structure and function of the brain called Artificial Neural Networks.
Regression is basically a statistical approach of finding a relationship between the variables. Linear regression is one type of regression we use in Machine Learning.
Here are 15 Best Machine Learning Course for Machine Learning. It will give you the great knowledge about Machine Learning and Deep Learning.
We all love to see beautiful images, but have you ever thought how do computers see an image? In this tutorial, we will give an explanation of how images are stored in a computer.
CNN’s achieve state of the art results in the variety of problem areas including Voice User Interfaces, Natural Language Processing, and Computer Vision.
Though there are various fields out there which requires a laptop with good specifications and you can get it at an affordable price but that’s not the same case for deep learning.
Machine Learning today is one of the most sought-after skills in the market. Here are some of the best books which you can use to learn Machine Learning.
The NumPy library is the core library for scientific computing in Python. It provides a high-performance multidimensional array object, and tools for working with these arrays.
Foundation is the basement for a healthy home. So here comes with the languages too which acts…
Before, to train an AI model that can recognize whatever you want it to recognize in pictures, involves lots of expertise in Applied Mathematics and use Deep Learning Libraries. To write the code for the algorithm and fit the code to your images involves lots of time and stress.
Logic as well as discrete mathematics are premise for computer based disciplines such as Computer Science, Software engineering and Information Practices.
Java is a general-purpose programming language that is class-based, object-oriented, and specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible
When you work as a developer everything seems challenging at the beginning whether it is the Functionality, or Storing the precious data that our user is using.
The art and science of :
Giving Computers the ability to learn,
To make decisions from data,
Without being explicitly programmed .
Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority brought to you by the non-profit Internet Security Research Group (ISRG). It gives you free Certificates for your website. You can also get free SSL certificate from this website.
Here goes the learning path to become an expert in machine learning.Learn any programming language (Python is highly preferable)
Introduction to Tensorflow the core open source library to help you develop and train ML models.
Here, Github gives us the opportunity to use this software for free in its Github Student Developer Pack. So, that you ship software like a pro. Github collaborated with many organizations and made this software available you for free.
We will be downloading Python form its official website which is listed below and then installing it in the windows operating system. Follow the below step for the successful set up of Python.
Learn to program and you will be able to experience the following seven, awe-inspiring realities of being a Digital Native.
A high level scripting language, Python codes are designed to be highly readable. Its programs are written in nearly regular English and are neatly indented. It uses English keywords, concise codes, and simple syntax.
In computer science, artificial intelligence, sometimes called machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans.
Today,Python is a trending language in the industry and it replaced many of the other programming languages.Machine Learning got easier in Python than from any other language. Whether it is Machine learning or Artificial Intelligence or Data Science it is fun doing with Python.
Every ML project starts with knowing what your data is all about.You should analyze and understand your data and should think of what Algorithms we should choose.
In Todays era people want automation in their life.People want everything on the tip of their finger.People do not care about money they only care about advancement in their life.They want to adapt technology trendz.
Our main goal is to prepare people for trending technologies like Cloud, Machine Learning. We make Technology based and Educations based videos.
There are some basic steps involved to develop a machine learning application. I will guide with the basic 7 steps to get started with a machine learning application.
“AI is any technology that enables a system to demonstrate human-like intelligence”. “Machine Learning is one type of AI that uses mathematical models trained on data to make decisions.
We will be taking an example of a classification problem with the help of KNearestNeighbors in Scikit-Learn.
In machine learning, Classification is a supervised learning approach in which the computer program learns from the data input given to it and then classify it. | https://mlait.in/author/patidarparas13/ |
Machine Learning in Python shows you how to successfully analyze data using only two core machine learning algorithms, and how to apply them using Python. By focusing on two algorithm families that effectively predict outcomes, this book is able to provide full descriptions of the mechanisms at work, and the examples that illustrate the machinery with specific, hackable code. The algorithms are explained in simple terms with no complex math and applied using Python, with guidance on algorithm selection, data preparation, and using the trained models in practice. You will learn a core set of Python programming techniques, various methods of building predictive models, and how to measure the performance of each model to ensure that the right one is used. The chapters on penalized linear regression and ensemble methods dive deep into each of the algorithms, and you can use the sample code in the book to develop your own data analysis solutions.
Machine learning algorithms are at the core of data analytics and visualization. In the past, these methods required a deep background in math and statistics, often in combination with the specialized R programming language. This book demonstrates how machine learning can be implemented using the more widely used and accessible Python programming language. * Predict outcomes using linear and ensemble algorithm families * Build predictive models that solve a range of simple and complex problems * Apply core machine learning algorithms using Python * Use sample code directly to build custom solutions
Machine learning doesn’t have to be complex and highly specialized. Python makes this technology more accessible to a much wider audience, using methods that are simpler, effective, and well tested. Machine Learning in Python shows you how to do this, without requiring an extensive background in math or statistics.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Two Essential Algorithms for Making Predictions
Chapter 2 Understand the Problem by Understanding the Data
Chapter 3 Predictive Model Building: Balancing Performance, Complexity, and Big Data
Chapter 4 Penalized Linear Regression
Chapter 5 Building Predictive Models Using Penalized Linear Methods
Chapter 6 Ensemble Methods
Chapter 7 Building Ensemble Models with Python
Book Details
- Author: Michael Bowles
- Pages: 360 pages
- Edition: 1
- Publication Date: 2015-04-20
- Publisher: Wiley
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1118961749
- ISBN-13: 9781118961742
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The post Machine Learning in Python: Essential Techniques for Predictive Analysis appeared first on Fox eBook. | https://books.hellaz.eu/2015/04/10/machine-learning-in-python-essential-techniques-for-predictive-analysis/ |
Machine Learning is the subset of Artificial Intelligence and the branch of Computer Science based on the idea that systems can learn from data, identify patterns, and make decisions with minimal human interventions. As a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the main focus of Machine Learning (ML) is developing computer programs to access data and later use it to learn by itself.
So, the main aim of ML is to let computers learn automatically without human interventions and make the necessary adjustments in actions accordingly.
To make better future decisions based on the examples given, we initiate the process of learning with data or observations through examples or direct interactions and then look for patterns in those data.
Today, we are living in a world of humans and machines. Humans have been evolving for ages by learning through their past experiences, while machines are just in their primitive age. It means that the development of machines has just begun. So, the evolution of machines in the future is considered enormous and beyond our imagination’s scope.
At present, we need to program machines or robots to follow our instructions. What if machines start operating by themselves based on past experiences like humans? These things sound fascinating and exciting, right?
The concept of machine learning was developed to solve problems. Because of the growth in more powerful and less expensive processing, use cases, and nearly limitless volumes of data, ML is growing at an accelerating world rate. It deepens the work of Artificial Intelligence, so don’t be confused with AI as machine learning.
It is important to know what makes machine learning work and how it can be used in the future.
We have thousands of machine learning algorithms, and hundreds of them are developed every year. However, every machine learning algorithm has three basic components: representation (how to represent knowledge), evaluation (way of evaluating hypothesis), and optimization (how search processes are generated).
The machine learning process begins by inputting trained data into the selected algorithm. A model is created using these training sets of data. So, when a new input is fed into the algorithm, it makes predictions based on the model. A new set of input data is introduced into the ML algorithm to test the algorithm’s accuracy. If the algorithm is accurate, then the learning algorithm is deployed; if not, the model is trained until we get the desired output.
Generally, there are two common types of Machine Learnings: Supervised Learning and Unsupervised Learning.
Supervised learning uses known sets of data that act as a teacher to train the model. Once the model gets trained based on known data, we can use unknown data to get a new response. Algorithms like Naive Bayes, Linear Regression, Decision Trees are used in supervised learning.
In contrast to supervised learning, unsupervised learning has untrained or unknown data sets. It means that data is not guided. When such data is fed into the machine learning algorithm, it tries to train the model. Then, the model tries to search for a pattern and give the desired response. Fuzzy means, Apriori, and K-means clustering are some of the algorithms used in unsupervised learning.
The application of machine learning is slowly adapting. For example, banks use machine learning to predict the loan-giving mechanism by training the model based on past data from their customers and banking services. Similarly, in social media like Facebook, ML is used for automatic tagging and suggestions. Likewise, self-driving cars, virtual personal assistance, fraud detection, health care, recommendations systems, etc., are some of the application areas of Machine Learning.
Day-by-day, our society is getting digitized through information and technology. Machine Learning is one of the fields that has played a significant role in digitizing society; since it can automate many tasks which previously only humans could perform with their innate intelligence. And this intelligence can be replicated into machines only with Machine Learning. As a result, it has helped businesses and industries to gain profits and avoid unknown risks. On a footnote: if you require assistance in building AI systems using Machine Learning, we’re always here to help. | https://volgai.com/blog/introduction-to-machine-learning |
For machines to learn, you first have to provide them with a suitable basis of relevant knowledge. While devices in deep learning know to learn independently, in traditional machine learning, the first imprint is taken over by humans. Today, machine learning is increasingly deep learning.
To learn, a basis of data sets as a kind of knowledge database is necessary, which provides central information for pattern recognition. Artificial Intelligence can either access data from an online database such as Wikipedia or supplied with its database set up and used offline. While the data sets that artificial intelligence can find and evaluate online can hardly be created offline, the data can be more strictly controlled offline. Machine learning takes on recognizing individual data strands from the data sets and evaluating them. At the same time, it summarizes the data strands as groups and clusters.
Incidentally, before actual use with available data sets, an AI is always “fed” with specific training and sample data. The behavior of your algorithms compared to these training data sets is carefully checked and evaluated to determine whether it is qualitatively appropriate and precise. This process is called model training. The model training can be viewed as a simulation that precedes the “real world” use with unknown data.
Algorithms
Algorithms determine how and to what extent patterns can be recognized and evaluated. You define the steps required to evaluate a task. Machine learning always requires a central machine learning algorithm and, in addition to it, various other algorithms, which in turn contain a series of predefined actions. Different possible solutions depend on a specific task, its complexity, and the type of problem. The central algorithms are the
- Decision Tree Algorithm: This algorithm is a kind of tree diagram in which various decisions are recorded according to which the AI reacts. Banks and companies active in the financial sector, for example, use decision trees to determine whether an investment is worthwhile.
- Random Forest Algorithm: A randomized Classification and Regression Tree (CART) is created for every conceivable scenario of a concrete situation. This means that an accurate prediction can be made for every reasonable possibility of how a specific problem could turn out. In simplified terms, this algorithm can be imagined as a thought construct designed as part of a chess game. All options are played through mentally before an actual one is made.
- K-Means Algorithm: This algorithm solves clustering problems, i.e., the grouping of data strings. They classify data and subdivide it accordingly. For example, K-Means can cluster visitors to a website into actual people and bots.
Algorithms can either make outputs simultaneously as inputs ( batch learning ) or learn sequentially, i.e., evaluate the input data first and make outputs staggered.
Learning Categories
So-called learning categories distinguish how algorithms analyze and evaluate data. They are models according to which algorithms develop and which focus they have. Machine learning can
- unsupervised learning ( supervised ),
- supervised learning ( unsupervised ),
- semi-supervised learning or
- reinforcing learning ( reinforcement ).
The difference between supervised and unsupervised learning is that data is manually assigned to appropriate model groups of the algorithms with supervision. If there is no monitoring, the machines automatically compare data with patterns and form independent model groups. Supervised learning lends itself to measurable predictions such as risk assessment, accurate/false estimation, or spell checking. Unsupervised learning is mainly used when evaluating larger data sets. Partially supervised learning describes the partly manual and partly automated formation of model groups. An example area of application is face and object recognition, evaluation, and adaptation.
In reinforcement or reinforcement learning, algorithms learn what data processing is desired through “rewards” and “punishments.” This category of education bears a certain parallel to human knowledge. Reinforced learning is mainly used in autonomous driving, autonomous robotics, or in games (i.e., for fun AIs). Research also hopes to become a general, i.e., superordinate, artificial intelligence that can become completely independent. Reinforced learning can be implemented as Temporal Difference Learning (TD-Learning), in which rewards are given directly in response to appropriate behavior; or according to the Monte Carlo principle, after which the prize is only awarded at the very end of a mission. | https://www.techsngadget.com/how-does-machine-learning-work/ |
Steam locomotives are a type of train that use steam to power their engines. These trains operate on railroad tracks and were first used in the early 1800s.
Railroads before the invention of cars and planes relied heavily on steam locomotives for transportation. The first railway bridge over the Thames was built with a steam locomotive in 1825.
What came before cars?
The invention of the car is a significant event in history. Before cars, people relied on bicycles for transportation. Mass production of bicycles began in America in 1885, and bicycle racing began soon after.
When was the first car made?
The first cars were made in 1886. This event marked the beginning of the automobile industry.
When was the train first invented?
The first railway locomotive was built in 1804. It used high-pressure steam to drive the engine and was designed by Richard Trevithick. The first railway was made in Britain, and it changed everything.
What came first the car or the plane?
The first car was not the plane, it was Benz’s car. The Wright brothers made their first successful flight on Dec. 17, 1903 and Benz’s car was not even the first gas-powered automobile.
Why was the train invented before cars?
The first steam powered vehicles were trains. Roads at the time weren’t good enough to support these cars, so railways were invented. The two big problems with early steam cars were that they could be very dangerous and unreliable.
Railroads solved both of these issues by making it possible for more people to use them and improving reliability overall.
When were cars and trains invented?
Cars and trains were invented in various years throughout the 1800s. The first modern motorcycle was invented in 1885, while the first car appeared on roads in Detroit, Michigan, in 1896.
Did a black man invent the first car?
Frederick Douglas Patterson was an inventor who made significant contributions to the development of motor vehicles. His father, Charles Rich Patterson, created C.R.
Patterson and Sons Company in Greenfield, Ohio beginning in 1865. The company built fashionable carriages which helped pave the way for automobile ownership by African Americans
Did Henry Ford invent the car?
Henry Ford is credited with inventing the automobile, though his role in its development was significant. Prior to Ford’s time, automobiles were manufactured by hand.
After the moving assembly line was developed, however, cars became much more mass-produced and affordable.
When were trains first used for transportation?
Railways were first used for transportation in Germany in the 1830s. They made it easier to move things along dirt roads with wooden rails, and the first trains ran on coal and oil.
Steel was used as a replacement for wood in the 1930s, but modern trains use electric power to run themselves. There are thousands of railways worldwide today.
Who invented first train?
George Stephenson is credited with inventing the first train in 1814. The first railroad was built in Scotland, American engineer Charles Babbage designed a machine that could calculate railway distances and timetables, but it never progressed beyond the prototype stage.
Sir William Symington is credited with developing the modern steam locomotive – he patented his design in 1814. The world’s first commercial railway opened on July 1st, 1825, between Liverpool and Manchester.
What was the first train called?
George Stephenson built the first locomotive in 1814, and it was called “Locomotion No. 1”. The engine had four small driving wheels on an iron frame, powered by a steam engine.
George Stephenson drove the first train along the Stockton & Darlington Railway on July 14th of that year.
What is the oldest form of transportation?
The oldest form of transportation is walking. There are many different ways to walk, and technologies such as wheelchairs and crutches have made it easier for people with disabilities.
The development of cars has changed how we commute, allowing us to travel further distances in shorter periods of time. With the advent of GPS devices and apps, walking can now be done virtually anywhere at any time.
What was the first transportation invented?
People have been using different forms of transportation for centuries. The first form of transportation was a human walking on two feet. The first transport was animal-drawn carts, and people started using trains in 1825.
Planes were invented in 1903, and nowadays they are the most common type of transport used around the world.
Is train a automobile?
TRANSPORTATION is the process of moving people or goods from one location to another. Vehicles are powered by engines, which convert energy into movement.
Different vehicles use different types of fuel sources (gasoline, diesel, electricity), and vehicle parts can be reused or salvaged for other purposes after they’re used in another vehicle.
Roads and infrastructure are necessary for transportation to occur.
What was used before trains?
Pre-train transportation methods included wagons, hand powered cars and locomotives. Railroads replaced these modes of transportation in the early 20th century.
To Recap
The trains came first, and they changed the way we live. They allowed us to move faster and further than ever before. Cars followed soon after, and they have also had a huge impact on our lives.
They allow us to travel in comfort and style, which has made life much easier for many people. The question of which came first – trains or cars – is one that will likely remain unanswered forever. | https://www.czechheritage.org/which-came-first-trains-or-cars/ |
Theoretical work diagrams are balanced by taking actual readings from a working steam engine via a device called an engine indicator. This device causes a pen to move as pressure in the cylinder rises or falls. The device is a delicate construct of springs and linkages so as to scale the pressure range to a graphical output.
An alternative approach might be to buy a digital pressure sensor and interface it to a data gathering computer. This has the advantage of being able to collect all data and average the results. It can be also be trigger to collect data once the engine has reached operating speed and temperature.
See pressure sensor in Wikipedia for types of sensors.
Indicator Diagram Information
The main value of the indicator diagram is that it shows the mean effective pressure exerted on the piston during an entire engine cycle and thus shows the power of the engine. It also shows information about the engine's design and performance including:
- Valve Performance
- Properly set
- Admission of steam is late or early
- Initial pressure is unduly lower than the boiler pressure
- Degree to which pressure is maintained up to the cutoff point
- Point in the stroke at which steam is cutoff and if the cutoff is sharp or gradual.
- Point in the stroke where release takes place and steam pressure at that point.
- Exhaust Characteristics
- Amount of back pressure opposed to the exhaust
- Point that exhaust is closed
- Amount of compression at the end of the stroke
- Whether the steam ports are of adequate size
- Wheater the valve or piston leaks
- Appropriate amount of steam is consumed in a given time
- Several vital features concerning the balance of the engine
Indicator Diagram Analysis
Once the indicator diagram is plotted, a diagram similar to the figure CDFGHI is produced. The lines of this diagram and certain points have specific names, described below.
The Engine Cycle
Immediately on admission of steam, the admission line CD is traced, its height above the atmospheric line, measured to scale, showing the initial gauge pressure of the steam admitted to the engine cylinder.
The engine piston starting on it's stroke, the steam line DF is traced during the time steam is being admitted into the engine cylinder.
At the point of cut-off, F, the valve closes, preventing any further admission of steam inot the cylinder. The exact point of cut-off, when effected by the valve, is difficult to locate, owing to the fall of steam pressure due tot he gradual closing of the port by the valve, shown by the curving of the diagram about F.
The expansion curve FG represents the fall in pressure of the steam confined in the cylinder after cut-off in forcing the piston to the end of the stroke.
A G, the point of release, the valve opens to the exhaust (or exhaust vent is reached), releasing the steam from the cylinder. The higher the rotational speed of the engine the earlier the steam must be released to enable it's pressure to fall to that of the back pressure before the piston commences it's return stroke (hence the use of vacuum on the exhaust vent in the White Cliff's engine).
The exhaust line GH is traced in the interval between release and the end of the stroke, the pressure falling rapidly to that of the back pressure opposed to the exhaust.
In order that the exhaust steam may flow from the cylinder of a condensing engine to the condenser, or into the atmosphere from the cylinder of a non-condensing engine, the actual back pressure must be greater than atmospheric pressure in the other and this excess of pressure depends largely upon the freedom of passage fro the exhaust steam from the cylinder to the condenser or atmosphere. The release of steam from 88 to 90 per cent of the stroke assists materially in the freedom of the exhaust; this is necessary in a condensing engine to insure a nearly complete vacuum when the piston starts on its return stroke and with a non-condensing engine it enables the exhaust steam to begin it's flow into the atmosphere before the return stroke commences.
The back-pressure line HI shows the pressure opposed to the piston on its return stroke. In non-condensing engines this line is slightly above the atmospheric line and in condensing engines it is below the atmospheric line a distance corresponding to the vacuum obtained; but in either case it is back pressure. Vacuum is expressed in inches of mercury and since one cubic inch of mercury weights 0.491 pound, the inches of vacuum multiplied by 0.491 will give the pressure equivalent to the vacuum in PSI.
A I, the point of exhaust closure, the valve closes the port to the exhaust (or the exhaust vent is covered) and the compression of the steam trapped in the cylinder begins.
The compression curve IC represents the rise in pressure of the trapped steam due to it's compression into the clearance space by the piston. The advancing piston compresses the steam, its pressure rising to some point C where the valve opens to lead, the pressure rising suddenly to D and a new stroke commences.
Locating the Vacuum Line
For the study of the diagram and for computations involving pressures, it is necessary to locate the vacuum line OO', or line of no pressure, from which all pressures must be measured to make them absolute. The vacuum line is parallel to the atmospheric line and at a distance below ti equal to the pressure of the atmosphere measured scaled appropriately to the diagram. The average atmospheric pressure is 14.7 pounds, but this will vary by altitude above sea level and the weather.
Locating the Clearance Line
Of equal importance to the vacuum line in computations involving the indicator diagram is the clearance line OB. it is perpendicular to the atmospheric line and at a distance from the end of the diagram equal to the same percentage of the length of the diagram that the volume of the clearance space of the cylinder bears to the volume displaced by the piston.
The diagrams from the two ends of the cylinder should be taken simultaneously if two indicators are used,or one immediately after the other if only one be used (this refers to continuous flow engines vs. uniflow engines).
Theoretical Differences
Diagrams taken from the engines of proper design and adjustment do not differ very materially from the theoretical diagram, but it requires careful study and discriminating judgment to make proper use of the information presented by them, a fact that may be appreciated when it is considered that the only absolute information a diagram gives is the varying pressure of the steam in the cylinder.
The full-line diagram of this figure would indicate a very satisfactory performance. The gradual fall in pressure in the steam line from a to b indicates wire-drawing, the technical name given to the reduction pressure due to friction in the passages. Improper design of the ports may cause this loss to be excessive.
The dotted lines illustrate some possible defects of an engine which would readily be detected by the indicator. The line cd would show that the release was too early and the life ef that it was too late; the inclination of the admission line to the left at ga would show the lead to be too great and its inclination to the right at hi would show insufficient lead.
Should a diagram be looped (as in the illustration above), the area adc represents a negative work and in obtaining the mean pressure from such a diagram, the lengths of the ordinates included in the loop must be subtracted from the total length of those within the area eba. A loop like this is the result of excessive expansion. At the point a, where the expansion curve crosses the back-pressure line, it is evident that the pressures on both sides of the piston are equal and a cut-off which would occasion an expansion so excessive as to reduce the steam pressure to a point below the back pressure opposed to the piston would be manifestly too early. The theoretical limit of expansion is such that the terminal pressure should be just equal to the back pressure, but practical considerations make it exceed this, varying from 24 to 28 pounds absolute in non-condensing engines and from 10 to 15 pounds in condensing engines. In actual practice, a loop in the diagram would very likely indicate that the engine was overloaded.
It has been shown that the mechanical work is produced by a force working through a distance. In the case of any gas working within a cylinder against a piston, the force will be the mean value of the pressure of the gas multiplied by the area of the piston and the distance will be the stroke of the piston. In order that the work may be expressed in food pounds, the force must be expressed in pounds and the distance in feet. it is seen then that the area of an indicator diagram is the measure of the work performed on once side of the piston during one revolution; for this area is the product of the length of the mean ordinate of the diagram and the length of the diagram, the first factor expressing the mean effective pressure on the piston in pounds per square inch and the second factor expressing the length of the stroke in feet.
Mean Effective Pressure
Method of Ordinates
To obtain the mean effective pressure from the indicator diagram by the method of ordinates, erect perpendiculars to the atmospheric line touching the extreme ends of the diagram. Divide the space between these perpendiculars into ten equal parts and at the middle points between these divisions erect ordinates to the diagram perpendicular to the atmospheric line. The first and last of the ordinates will be 1/20 of the length of the diagram from the ends and the common interval between the ordinates will be 1/10 of the length of the diagram. One-tenth of the sum of the lengths of the ordinates will be the length of the mean ordinate and the length of the mean ordinate multiplied by the scale of the indicator spring gives the mean effective pressure on the piston throughout the stroke in pounds per square inch.
This diagram was taken from a high speed engine of the Harrisburg type. The sum of the lengths of the ordinates of the diagrams from the two ends of the cylinder is 3.2 inches and 3.25 inches and the scale of the indicator spring is 100 pounds to the inch. Then for one revolution:
M.E.P. = (100(3.20+3.25))/20 = 32.25 pounds.
Method of the Planimeter
The planimeter is an instrument designed primarily to measure the areas of plan figures. its application to finding the area of an indicator diagram, from which the length of the mean ordinate is readily obtained, enables the main effective pressure to be found more quickly and accurately than by the method of ordinates.
The instrument most commonly used is some form of the polar planimeter of Amsler. Here is one manufactured by Keuffle and Esser (K&E):
(a detailed description of the planimeter is provided)
The perimeter of the indicator diagram is traced by the device and the result is modified by the indicator diagram scale. Given the lack of such a device, the exact operation is omitted here. See original text on pgs 235-239 for detailed instructions.
Computational Method
Given a set of pressure readings collected by a digital pressure sensor, the Method of Ordinates could be expressed as an algorithm implemented in a software function that would calculate the mean effective pressure. M.E.P. and engine power should be calculated and included in the output plot of a digitally created indicator diagram.
Engine Power
Having found from the indicator diagram the mean effective pressure in pounds per square inch acting on the engine piston throughout one revolution, the product of this pressure and the area of the piston in square inches will be the total pressure acting on the piston in pounds. If this total pressure be multiplied by the distance in feet moved through the piston in one minute, the product will be an expression in foot-pounds of the work performed by the engine in a minute and this product, divided by 30,000 will be the horse-power of the engine.
The mean effective pressure having been found from the indicator diagram, the power thus obtained is called the indicated horse-power, usually denoted by the initials I.H.P. and is equal to the useful work delivered by the engine and the work expended in overcoming the friction of the engine itself.
Clearance
The volume of all the space between the piston when at the end of its stroke and the value face is known as clearance of the engine. Clearance is expressed in terms of percentage of the volume proper of the cylinder, that is, of the volume displaced by the piston in one stroke. The amount of clearance varies in the different types of engines. In engines of slow speed and long stroke, the variation is from 2% to 4%; in engines of high rotational speed and short stroke, it may be as much as 8%; an din maritime engines a clearance of 15% is no uncommon.
Clearance can be measured from an indicator diagram (see text).
The clearance space at each end of the cylinder must be filled with steam from each revolution of the engine (in a continuous flow engine) and this steam must come from the boiler or from the steam left in the cylinder by the exhaust closure or from both. since the piston does not traverse the clearance space, the clearance steam performs no initial work; it does no work during the period of admission, but after cut-off its effect is to raise the pressure during the expansion and thus increase the area of the expansion part of the diagram. If there were neither expansion nor compression, the clearance steam would perform no work at all and would be a total loss in the exhaust. On the other hand, if the expansion curve were carried down to the back pressure and the compression curve carried up to the initial pressure, there would be absolutely no loss from clearance. Such conditions are never realized in practice, there for there is always a loss from clearance and this loss is greater as the clearance is proportionally large.
One effect of cushioning is that it reduced the loss from waste of steam in the clearance space, but its most important effect is that it provides for smooth running of the engine by preventing shocks at the end of the stroke. it is especially desirable that the diagram of an engine of high rotational speed have its compression curve well rounded.
Clearance in the engine occasions a loss when the consumption of steam per unit of power is considered, but there are practical considerations which make its existence highly desirable, if not necessary. the clearance space between the piston and the cylinder head, when the piston is at the end of its stroke, give space for the variable amount of water which is always present in a cylinder and doubtless prevents serious accidents which might otherwise occur.
Ratio of Expansion
The ratio of expansion of the steam used in an engine is he quotient derived from dividing the final volume of steam found in the cylinder by he initial volume admitted. By initial volume is meant the volume of steam admitted to the cylinder up to the point of cut-off, plus the clearance volume, and by the final volume is meant the volume of the volume of the cylinder, plus the clearance volume.
Since the cross-section area of the cylinder is uniform, the volume displaced by the piston at any point is directly proportional to the fractional part of the stroke completed at the point, so that the volumes may be represented by their corresponding fractions of stroke. In like manner, the clearance volume, when divided by the cross-section area of the cylinder, will be expressed as fractional part of the stroke. Then, if we denote the full stroke of the piston by unity, it may also represent the volume displaced by the piston in one stroke, in which case the fraction of the stroke denoting the cut-off will represent the volume displaced up to the point of cut-off.
Neither the volume of the receiver nor the cut-off in the L.P. cylinder has anything to do with the question of the total ratio of expansion in stage-expansion engines. The effect of the receiver is to make the initial pressure lower in the L.P. cylinder than it otherwise would be if the exhaust from the H.P. to the L.P. cylinder were direct, and this reduction in pressure is due to the drop occasioned by the unrestricted expansion of the steam when it enters the receiver space. The receiver only plays the part of a large clearance space.
The low-pressure cut-off will increase the receiver pressure and therefore the power of the L.P. Cylinder, as has been shown, and this increase in the receiver pressure increases the back pressure on the piston of the next proceeding cylinder in the expansion and therefore decreases the power of that cylinder. So it is seen that the function of the L.P. cut-off is to equalize the power between the cylinders and has nothing to do with the total ratio of expansion. Whether the steam is or is not cut off in the L.P. Cylinder, the same weight of steam must find its way into that cylinder at each stroke, and if, by means of the cut-off, a less space be provided the reception of the steam, the pressure will increase accordingly. The question of expansion in stage-expansion engines may be understood better with the aid of an example.
In the above calculations the effect of compression has been neglected, but the only way this could affect the question would be to reduce slightly the quantity of steam withdrawn from he boiler at each stroke, which may be regarded as virtually increasing very slightly the ratio of expansion, because a less weight of fresh steam would be used each stroke.
The effect of cylinder condensation has also bee neglected, but this also would occasion a virtual augmentation of the ration of expansion, because a smaller weight of steam than that delivered to the H.P. cylinder would be found in the L.P. cylinder at the end of its stroke. | https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Steam_Engine_Specifications/Indicator_Diagrams |
Prior to 1834, a trip across Pennsylvania was a long and arduous journey. Using a combination of horses and wagons to cross the Allegheny Mountains, the trip could take as long as 23 days. However, that all changed in 1834 with the construction of the Allegheny Portage Railroad.
Using an ingenious combination of canals, horses, and steam locomotives, the Portage Railroad cut travel time to a mere four days. The leap forward was amazing. I mean, imagine a new airplane technology that shortened the travel time from Philadelphia to Australia to only an afternoon.
Surpassed in speed by the Mainline Railroad and Altoona’s Horseshoe Curve it closed operations in 1854. However, during those 20 years, the Allegheny Portage Railroad was one of the nation’s most important transportation route for people and goods heading west.
Today, the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting places in Pennsylvania.
When I visited Altoona, I really didn’t know too much about the Portage Railroad and decided to check it out.
From the moment I walked in the visitor center, I was impressed by the detailed displays they offered and clear explanation of how the railroad worked. Even better, their information video was absolutely fantastic! Easily the best I’ve seen at a historical site in a long while. When you visit the railroad, make sure you take the time to watch the video.
From the visitor center, my wife and I headed over to the actual historic site. Included in the main area of the site are one of the engine houses and a restored tavern that served riders. There is also an auxiliary area near Johnstown that has the nation’s first railroad tunnel. I’m definitely looking forward to stopping there at a later date.
The engine house is one of ten that were built along the 36-miles of the Allegheny Portage Railroad. The job of the engine house was the haul boats, goods, and people up and down the inclines that made up the Portage Railroad. Using rope, railroad track, and specially designed cars, the steam engine pulled each car to the top of the incline before sending them on their way, led at first by horses and later by steam engines, to the next incline.
Also on site is the Lemon House. Serviced primarily as a restaurant and bar to patrons of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, the Lemon House served an important function in the haul of people over the Allegheny Mountains. Inside, rooms have been restored to show what they looked like during the 1840s, with one room set aside as a bar, one as a restaurant, and one as a parlor.
In my opinion, the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site is a fantastic place to visit for anyone interested in transportation or history in general.
I personally found it to be one of the most fascinating places I’ve been to in Pennsylvania.
Looking to explore more of the area’s history? Check out the Railroaders Memorial Museum and the Johnstown Flood Museum. | https://uncoveringpa.com/allegheny-portage-railroad |
flywheel.
View of the ‘low pressure side’ of the same engine, with
steam cylinder towards the right. The extended piston rod of the
steam cylinder which operated the gas compressing cylinder can be
seen in this view.
Burnsville, West Virginia, is located in Braxton County, and is
near what is regarded as the geographical center of the Mountain
State. It is a small town, situated in a limited flat area,
surrounded by nearby hills and streams, with only the constant
highway traffic on Interstate 79 to disturb its peaceful setting.
With no exotic tourist attractions, most travelers simply speed
through the town; they are there only because of the
Interstate’s routing. But, on the northwest edge of the town,
the Equitable Gas Company operated the state’s very last steam
compression station. Some of the company’s management personnel
also claimed this steam compression station was the last one on our
nation’s east coast to move natural gas through the pipelines.
For the station’s employees, and a few others aware of it,
Burnsville, West Virginia, was an exotic place. Lady Luck had
kindly permitted me to be at this steam compression station in 1982
and 1983, a time in my life I’ve greatly come to relish.
For the reader lacking the knowledge, a compression station is
also known as a compressor station, and called by a few people a
pumping station. Natural gas will normally flow out of a gas well
via naturally occurring pressure, the higher pressure within the
well pushing the gas to a lower pressure area. Natural gas is
transported via pipeline(s), but the well pressure is not
sufficient enough to flow the gas for extended distances through a
pipeline. Like air, natural gas is compressible. To deliver natural
gas from well-heads to the users of it, often several hundred miles
away, the gas is compressed at intervals along its transport, which
in creases its flow rate. This is the purpose of compression or
compressor stations to boost the flow of the gas by increasing the
occurring pressure of it at various intervals. This process can be
thought of like moving water through a pipeline for an extended
distance, as well as uphill and downhill, with the use of water
pumps, but gas is compressed, not pumped.
Originally, most gas compression stations were operated, or
powered, by stationary steam engines of various sizes, types, and
manufacturer. In time, steam engines were replaced by natural gas
fueled reciprocating engines, similar to gasoline or diesel engines
in their appearance but with a portion of the engine’s
cylinders being solely for gas compression purposes. Still later
came gas turbine powered compressors, and even, at some small
outdoor installations, electric motor driven compressors.
The switch away from steam compression usage allowed financial
savings to the gas companies. The need for steam generation boilers
was eliminated, as well as their operational and upkeep expenses.
The need for a boiler house building was also eliminated, which
saved on the station’s taxation costs. The manpower
requirements were lessened. Utilization and efficiency were greatly
increased, as gas flow could be instantly increased when required,
without having to delay until additional boilers were fired up to
meet increased steam demands. In some instances, the conversion
simply allowed modernization improvements to the transportation
network of the gas companies. Often two or three smaller steam
stations could be replaced with a single compressor station, yet
requirements for gas supply could still be met. Most steam
compression stations were replaced after World War II, when gas
supply demands greatly increased for the Atlantic Coast’s
metropolitan areas.
As other steam stations were being replaced, the Burnsville
station continued to survive, eventually becoming the very last
one. While old in age, and often regarded by some Equitable Gas
Company officials as ‘ancient’ or ‘outdated,’ the
station continued to serve the need. The Burnsville steam station
was still a well designed installation with sufficient capacity. It
continued to meet the demands imposed upon it, and did so in the
most efficient and cost-conscious manner possible by its staff. The
station’s crew were loyal to its operation, and to the
requirements of steam. Some of these crewmen had even requested
specific assignment to Burnsville, to be a part of this steam
operation. Out of this came a team loyalty and spirit that, more
than any other factor, allowed the steam operation to exist as long
as it did. Individual job performance, to these men, was a matter
of pride in and devotion to a day’s work.
View of one of the Nordberg duplex compression engine’s
‘high pressure’ side. Note how the moving parts of the
steam engine were shielded to prevent injury to the crewmen, as
well as to prevent the ‘slinging’ of the oil lubricants
used in the engine’s operation. Flywheel partially revolved in
a floor pit, below floor level of the engine house.
Closeup view of the high pressure steam cylinder, and the gas
compressing cylinder it operated, just to the right of I beam in
the photo. The Burnsville station had four of the Nordberg duplex
steam engines.
Looking across the line of steam cylinders from the side of the
Nordberg compression engines, showing the governor of the nearest
engine.
The Burnsville station had been built in 1916, and when
originally constructed, it was entirely self-sufficient. Not only
did it compress the gas, but it furnished its own water supply and
electricity. Later, the electric power would be purchased from the
local power company, but an emergency electric generator was
maintained within the station. Often, while storms would darken the
rest of town, the compressor station would remain brightly aglow in
the darkness.
The ‘business end’ of the compression station was housed
in the engine house. This was where the station’s steam engines
were housed and the compression process took place. Burnsville held
onto the old name usage of ‘engine-house.’ At other
stations, where gas fueled engines were used for compression, their
shelter was generally called the ‘compressor building,’ a
reflection of modernization. The Burnsville engine house structure
was constructed of a steel framework, covered with steel sheathing.
It was a large size building with a high ceiling that allowed a
bright and airy interior. In it were located the steam compression
engines and the other required equipment for their needs and
operations. The building’s interior, the steam engines, and all
the other equipment was kept well maintained and very clean.
Everything was regularly cleaned, wiped or shined. Some station
visitors were often very surprised to discover the floor in a much
cleaner state than the floors of restaurants that they had just
earlier eaten in, at Clarksburg, West Virginia, where the company
had its area office building. While it’s a common rule to
maintain all gas compression stations in a clean state of order,
the Burnsville staff strived for that ‘extra mile.’ They
desired that this last bastion of steam operation be a true
showcase, and their efforts reflected very positively.
Steam powered washing machine at the Burnsville station. It
cleaned the station’s many wiping rags that kept the steam
machinery so clean.
Across the engine house’s front area sat the station’s
four Nordberg duplex steam compression engines, painted a pleasing
green hue. Situated side by side in a single row, they were an
impressive sight to behold. Each of these engines was composed of
two steam engine cylinders, two gas compressing cylinders, and a
single flywheel. These Nordberg engines were two-sided, each side
having one steam cylinder and one gas compressing cylinder. The two
sides were split by the large diameter flywheel, that partially
revolved within a pit below floor level, with the engine’s two
sides joined with connection to the single flywheel.
Steam was delivered to the Nord-bergs via an overhead piping
system from a separate boiler house. The steamline then dropped
towards the floor, to enter the first side of the engine and its
steam cylinder, the ‘high pressure’ side. Once steam was
used to power this cylinder (or side), the steam was exhausted
through a piping arrangement that made connection of the other, or
second, side of the Nordberg engine. Here, this steam entered the
other steam cylinder, which was of a larger bore (or size), known
as the ‘low pressure’ side.
Once the steam was used to power the second cylinder, it was
exhausted into the atmosphere. This use of steam twice, in separate
cylinders, is known as ‘compounding.’
Both the high and low pressure steam cylinders had an extended
piston rod that exited the front of their respective cylinders.
This piston rod, in turn, operated by direct action the natural gas
compression cylinder. This compression cylinder was located
directly in front of the steam cylinder, and was a part of the
overall Nordberg engine assembly. These gas compressors were not
driven by a belt-drive arrangement from the engine’s flywheel.
Some readers might envision this occurring from observations where
belting was, and is, used to power equipment and machinery, but
this was not so with the Burnsville compressors.
As this compression station was a major one, and its machinery a
bit rare with some age, the maintenance and repair of it was of
great concern to the company. The station’s personnel would
pre-plan any such required work, scheduling it for the year’s
summer months when the demand for gas was at its lowest. During the
summer, the station usually needed to operate only two of the
Nordberg compression engines, and they could be run at a lower RPM
speed.
At this time, repair or major maintenance work could be
performed on a shut down engine, with the shutdown period rotated
among the four engines. Any needed replacement parts could not be
obtained off-the-shelf from any equipment or machinery dealer. A
major repair could require both foundry and extensive machine shop
work to create such needed parts.
During the winter months, when the gas demand was at its peak,
any breakdown of the four engines became critical. If such a
breakdown did occur, it meant overtime hours for the crew, with the
work pushed to its completion. However, regular attentive
maintenance, careful inspection, experienced personnel, and the
summertime rotation shutdown of the engines, caused unexpected
breakdowns to be almost nonexistent.
One observation of mine about the use of steam compression
engines should be mentioned, and this is about their noise level.
Even with all four of the Nordberg engines running together at
their maximum compressing capacity, their noise level was
relatively quiet. It was not unpleasant to be about them. While
demand for increased capacity required the speed of the engines to
be increased, their noise level did not increase all that much. The
most noticeable difference with their increased speed was that the
faster RPMs of their flywheels created more air movement about
them. These steam engines were pleasant to be near.
On the other hand, the gas fueled reciprocating compression
engines were noisier. While their exhaust was muffled, its
‘chant’ could get to a person over time or at least to me.
With their multi-cylinders, their exhaust sound was more strident
in nature. These gas engines, at certain workload speeds, also
seemed to cause vibrations that could get on a person’s nerves,
too. At times these vibrations could cause small, loose items to
move about, such as on tool chests. And to me it also often seemed
to pulsate the station’s window glass. Most of the ‘young
bucks’ about these gas fuel reciprocation stations would laugh
at my observations of this, claiming it as only my imagination, but
I don’t think it was.
Overall view of the station in November 1982. The front center
structure is the engine house, with a Nordberg Duplex engine under
each of the four roof peaks. Behind this building was the
station’s boiler house with its eight smokestacks. The house to
the left served as a dweUing for the station’s superintendent
and his family.
Interior of the boiler house. Six of the twelve natural gas
fired steam boilers can be seen in this view. Note cleanliness of
this building. Water glasses can be seen to the left of boiler
doors, with steam gauges on right.
One of the Ingersoll-Rand single steam cylinder air compressors
located in the rear portion of the Burnsville engine house in 1982.
The air compressing cylinder was operated by an extended piston rod
of the steam engine. The steam cylinder sits under oil can and its
speed governor, the air cylinder to the right.
Located elsewhere in the Burnsville engine house were various
other pieces of equipment and machinery that supported the steam
station’s operation. Most of these were located in the rear
portion of the building. Among the more interesting were two
Ingersoll-Rand single steam engine powered air compressors. Each of
these also used an extended steam piston rod to operate the air
compressing cylinder. Compressed air was necessary for several
reasons, but its main use was to operate air-powered tools used in
repair and maintenance work about the station. Because of possible
spark hazard, portable power tools were driven by small air motors,
rather than the small electric motors normally found on such
items.
The most unique piece of ‘support equipment’ in this
building was a home-built steam washing machine of substantial
construction. It was used to wash the station’s wiping rags,
and occasionally employee overalls. Its agitator was propelled by a
small steam turbine, with the wash water coming from the boilers.
Oddly, the washer’s wringer was a hand operated one. Perhaps
its creators didn’t have access to a suitable small steam
engine with which to power the machine’s wringer? The washed
rags were dried on a clothesline, located out of the way, near the
steam pipes. Also in the building were various appliances as found
in many other stationary steam engine-houses elsewhere, such as to
recover lubrication oil from the exhaust steam, prior to its
exhaust into the atmosphere.
Directly behind the engine house, separated by a distance of
open space, was the station’s boiler house. Here, twelve
boilers were available to generate required steam. This building
was a large, lofty structure that, with its high roof, made a more
pleasant environment to toil in on hot, humid summer days. Its
construction was also metal sheathing over a steel framework, and
like the other buildings of the station’s complex, it was white
in exterior color. Eight smokestacks, twice as high as the
building, poked skyward through the metal roofing. There were four
smaller diameter smokestacks that served a boiler apiece, and four
larger diameter stacks that served two boilers each. Like the
engine house, the boiler house was kept cleaned and shined. Even
the boiler tops were regularly cleaned of dust. The twelve boilers,
all in a row, made as impressive a sight as the Nordberg engines in
the engine house.
Back when the Burnsville station began its operation, bituminous
coal was used to fuel the boilers. It then was less expensive to
use than the natural gas the company moved through its pipeline. A
spur track from the nearby railroad delivered the coal into the
station. Also at that time, two different railroad companies
operated through Burnsville, and a good grade of steam coal could
be readily obtained from nearby mining districts.
I was told that to fire the boilers with coal was not that
difficult a task. What was dreaded though, by the firemen, was the
removal of the ashes. It seems an extensive pathway of wood planks
once extended from the boiler house to various far reaches of the
station’s boundaries. Over this would travel the ashes, in
wheelbarrows, to wherever the dumping site was designated. If wet,
these boards became slick to walk over and cold temperatures made
it more taxing. However, if it was to snow enough this pathway also
required shoveling. Over time the various ground depressions about
the station were filled in, then earth placed atop the ashes, and
grass planted. The station’s appearance became greatly improved
as a result.
At a later date, a more extensive supply of natural gas became
available and, with prices increasing for suitable coal, the
station boilers were converted over to use natural gas for their
fuel. The use of gas also allowed a cleaner operation of the
station. Any boiler repair work would be arranged for summer months
when boilers could be shutdown for this work, in conjunction with
the partial shutdown of the steam compression engines.
The rest of the station’s complex was open space, known as
the yard area. It was here that the underground gas pipeline
entered and exited the compression station. Valves on the pipeline
in this area could route the gas flow about and through the station
as needed. At some locations the underground pipe would emerge to
the earth’s surface for short distances. This exposed pipe
allowed interior access into the pipe and its periodic inspection.
Also in this same area were various appliances to serve the gas
flow in the pipeline, such as heaters to warm the natural gas.
Also, extra valves and sections of pipe were stored about for
possible emergency nature replacement use by the company.
By 1982, Equitable Gas Company had already announced its intent
to replace the Burnsville steam compression station with a new one.
This replacement station would be built on a site just north of the
existing enginehouse. It would be powered by a single gas fueled
reciprocating engine of capacity to replace the four Nordberg steam
compression engines. Helping to achieve this were improvements made
elsewhere in the company’s gas distribution system. Once the
new station was completed and tested, the steam station would be
dismantled and removed.
Since this was the very last steam compression station, it was
hoped that it, or a portion of it, might be somehow preserved as an
exhibit of its technology and time. Reportedly, the gas company did
permit recognized, and suitable, historical interest organizations,
including representatives of the Smithsonian Institution, to view
and examine the steam station. Unfortunately, none of these groups
could, or wanted, to undertake the humongous project of acquiring
the station, removing it from its site and then reconstructing it
at some other acquired location. As such, it seemed the steam
station and its contents would be scrapped for its steel and metal
content.
Another interior view of the boiler house at Burnsville, showing
the top portion of several boilers and their steam lines that
delivered the steam to the station’s steam compression engines.
Stairway, on the right front, leads to the roof.
Surprisingly, the construction schedule for the new replacement
station got delayed, and the Nordberg engines continued to serve
the company’s needs a while longer. Once the construction work
did get under way, it progressed swiftly and was soon completed.
Not long afterwards, the Burnsville steam compression station was
retired.
I regret I cannot provide the reader with the date of the steam
power cessation. I was not back to the Burnsville, West Virginia,
area from late 1983, the last time I saw the Nordberg engines in
operation, until November 1988, at which time I found the new
station completed and in operation, with the former steam station
removed. At this time I was able to talk briefly with one of the
old steam crewmen who provided me with the date of the steam’s
last usage. However, I failed to write the date down, and today
I’m no longer sure of it in my mind, but I believe it was in
1985. He also informed me that the entire steam station had been
acquired by South American interests, for operation there in a
developing natural gas field. It was also his understanding that
this project had gone sour in some way, prior to all of the steam
equipment being shipped from the Burnsville area.
Today, I still do not know how much of this equipment ever got
to South America. Nevertheless, there is a strong possibility that
a portion of the old Burnsville steam compression station remains
in service today. I’d like to think so, but does any reader
know for sure? | https://www.farmcollector.com/steam-traction/the-burnsville-steam-compression-station/ |
Harry Valentine, Transportation Researcher, [email protected] writes:
Steam locomotives that use condensers have periodically appeared on railway during the heyday of steam operation. The most notable examples were the Class-25C's used on the South Africa Railways during the post WW2 years, to extend their operating range of steam locomotives across the arid Great Karroo region located on the western side of South Africa. The SAR Class-25C's did experience a range of problems, such as fouling by lubrication oil and insufficient condensing capacity that required extra water be frequently added. These problems led the SAR to eventually remove the condensers from their class-25C's. A brief experiment using condensers was undertaken on a steam-turbine-electric locomotive in the USA, except that the condensers froze during cold sub-freezing winter temperatures.
When condensers are used in conjunction with a steam engine, the exhaust heat is usually transferred to a body of water, as was done on steam-powered marine equipment and at steam power stations located next to rivers or lakes. Water is preferred as a heat sink as it has 4-times the heat capacity of air per unit weight at 27-degrees C (80.6-degrees F) and 849-times the density. This gives an equal volume of water over 3,500-times the heat capacity of air at sea level pressure and temperature. A condensing steam locomotive is constrained by being only able to reject heat to the atmosphere.
If the exhaust from a steam (turbine) engine is at 20-psia and 228-degrees F (1.38-bar at 109-degrees C), over 960-BTU/lb or 2228-KJ/Kg of heat has to be removed from the saturated steam to convert it to liquid water. The condenser would need to be able to remove at least 1000-BTU/lb (2300-KJ/Kg) in order to be effective. If the steam mass flow is 5-lb/sec through the engine, the condenser needs to process 5000-BTU/sec ( x 3600/2545) or 7072-Horsepower of thermal energy just to convert vapour into liquid that can be pumped by a water pump.
Condenser Layout:
The South Africa class-25C's used 2 x cross-flow radiators mounted along each side of the tender. Research undertaken by Ranotor of Sweden (http://www.ranotor.se) has shown that counterflow heat exchangers have a higher level of effectiveness than cross-flow radiators. The counterflow heat exchangers may be mounted on the roof of a railway vehicle, or on the sides. However, the size of the air inlet may be restricted in these locations.
To ensure sufficient condensing capacity in a steam locomotive, a Garratt-layout may enable the condensers to be optimally located in the lead unit (that is usually a water tender in a Garratt). The entire lead unit would be a condenser on wheels, that is, it will have an air intake at the front (6' x 7' = 42-sq.ft or 3.9-sq.m) that will feed air into the heat exchangers. A extractor fan with variable pitch blades (mainly for forward running) would be located at the rear of the roof of the lead unit. The pitch of the blades would be reversed (pushing air through the condensing heat exchangers in parallel-flow mode) for low speed, short distance reverse operations at low power. To allow for multiple-unit operation, the rear sides of the tender may be equipped with louvres to direct air flow from the side and out the rear, directly into the condenser of the trailing locomotive.
Cooling Performance:
Air at 27-degrees C (80-deg F) and a pressure of 1-atm (14.7-psia) has a density of 0.0735-lb/cu.ft. and a heat capacity of 0.24-BTU/lb-deg F. The high temperature is 228-deg F (exhaust steam) and the air temperature is 80-deg F. The following table gives the mass flow rate of air at various rail speeds and 80% heat exchanger effectiveness:
The cooling capacity of the air flowing through the heat-exchanger(s) can be matched with the exhaust steam flow rate (requiring 1000-BTU/lb of steam). The steam turbine has an isentropic efficiency of 80% and uses steam at 1000-deg F at 800-psia, which yields 350-BTU/lb-steam of engine work. The following table illustrates possible steam flow rates at various rail speeds:
The steam turbine horsepower figures have been based on the condenser cooling fan turned off. These power levels are the maximum power that the condensers can allow for. Of interest, the SAR Class-25C's were rated for a maximum of 2,600-HP which would have taxed the side-mounted, cross-flow heat exchangers to their limit.
Increasing Cooling Capacity:
One way to increase turbine engine power would be to increase the cooling capacity of the condenser, which would be achieved by increasing air mass flow rate through the unit. The condenser cooling fan may be operated so as to increase the volume of air that can flow through the condensing system. Example, while train speed in 40-miles per hour (60-Km/hr), the mass of air flowing through the condenser could be equal to a rail speed of 80-miles/hr (120-Km/hr). This means that 362-lb/sec of air would be entering the condenser. However, it may also require the cooling fan to utilize some 1335-HP if the fan operates an an isentropic efficiency of 85%, yielding a net power output of 3602 - 1335 = 2265-Horsepower
Using a Water-based Heat Pump:
An alternate way to remove heat from the turbine exhaust steam would be to use a heat pump circuit between engine exhaust and the condenser/radiator. The temperature of the saturated exhaust steam is at a level that allows water to be used as a refrigerant in a pressurised heat-pump circuit, which transfers heat from the exhaust steam into the preheater. A diagram of the circuit may appear as follows:
Saturated exhaust steam from the turbine enters the heat pump's evaporator at 228-deg F and 20-psia. A expansion valve located at the exit of the evaporator and on the exhaust steam line, reduces exhaust steam pressure and temperature while enabling more heat to be transferred from the exhaust steam and into the heat pump circuit. The cooling effect in the radiator would cause the water in it to contract, enhancing the performance of the expansion valve as it changes saturated steam into liquid water (at 202-degrees F).
Water is cooled from 202-degrees F to 160-deg F in the radiator. The compressor raises pressure of the saturated water in the closed circuit from 20-psia at 216-degrees F to 100-psia at 328-degrees F. The exhaust steam from the turbine enters the evaporator at 20-psia at 228-degrees F. Heat is transferred in the counterflow heat-exchangers (in the condenser and evaporator) at effectiveness levels of 80%. The circuit compressor operates at an isentropic efficiency of 80%, consumes 150-BTU/lb of energy when running at a coefficient of performance of 5.35 to 1. It can transfer 150 x 5.35 = 802-BTU/lb of heat at 100% effectiveness, or 642-BTU/lb at 80% heat exchanger effectiveness.
This accounts for 66.86% of the thermal energy (960-BTU/lb) that would need to be removed from the exhaust steam to convert it to liquid, leaving 960 - 642 = 318-BTU/lb of heat to be rejected in the radiator. Given that the steam turbine work is 350-BTU/lb and the compressor uses 150/350 = 43% of the turbine power, the net power would be 200-BTU/lb. The heat pump reduces the heating load to the radiator/condenser by two-thirds, allowing turbine total power output and compressor power to both be raised by a factor of up to 3. Total net turbine power output could be increased by up to over two-thirds, making a condensing heat-pumped steam locomotive more able to contend the traction power demands of a modern freight railway operator.
Increased Net Power Output:
A condensing steam locomotive without an exhaust steam heat pump supplying energy to a pre-heater, may be rated at 2700-HP at 60-miles/hr. Increasing this by two-thirds due to using an exhaust steam heat pump would raise the net power level to 4500-HP, with the condenser compressor consuming 43% of the total turbine output. This would translate to 3500-HP for the compressor and 8,000-HP from the turbine. The heat pump would transfer some two-thirds of the exhaust heat to the pre-heater, leaving the condensing radiators to process the equivalent heat of a 2700-HP turbine.
The capital cost of the heat-pump steam turbine system would be high, costs that would include a high-powered steam turbine engine, the heat pump system and a higher capacity boiler. However, the higher capital cost could be justified if the locomotive used a low-cost fuel over the long term. It is possible that coal-water fuel could become such a fuel in the future. Other fuels may include biomass and solid fuels, including clean coal technology (gasification).
Pre-heating:
The cooled water from the radiator has its pressure increased by the water pump, which passes the high-pressure water through the hot side of the heat pump, where it can be supplied with up to 642-BTU/lb of heat. Saturated water at 800-psia can be heated to over 500-deg F and still remain in the liquid state. There is scope to use a cascaded heat pump circuit to transfer heat from exhaust steam to the water pre-heater, prior to it being heated/superheated to 1,000-deg F in the boiler.
Superheated steam at 800-psia and 1000-deg F has an enthalpy of 1512-BTU/lb and 42% of this thermal energy can be transferred from the exhaust steam by the heat pump circuit. The percentage of heat transferred into the water at the pre-heater is very close to the percentage of turbine power needed to drive the heat pump compressor. This indicates that the heat-pumped condensing steam locomotive would have an overall thermal energy efficiency level close to that of a non-heat-pumped condensing steam locomotive.
The heat pump can be used to enhance the performance of the condensing system, allowing the locomotive to generate more net horsepower at the drawbar. While a conventional water pre-heater does offer efficiency gains, the use of a heat pump allows more heat to be transferred from exhaust steam to the renewed water supply. Combining the heat pump with the condenser allows for higher power levels plus extended operating range. Boiler washdown intervals would be greatly extended due to the continuous recirculation of highly purified water through the boiler, the condenser and the turbine(s).
Increasing efficiency:
The enginion company ( http://www.enginion.com) built a steam engine for use in a car (http://www.autofieldguide.com/articles/070102.html link is dead), an engine that delivered an efficiency level comparable to a diesel engine. Its low exhaust emissions could barely be measured. Another contemporary high-efficiency steam technology comes from the USA ( http://www.cleanenergysystems.com) and can also deliver diesel level efficiency. These technologies can operate using ultra-critical steam at pressures up to 4,000-psia. Enginion's Caloric Porous Structure Cell technology can maintain a temperature of 1200-degrees C (2192-deg F) and generate superheated steam. It may be possible for an upscaled version of Enginion's technology to generate enough ultra-high temperature superheated high-pressure steam (at near 2000-deg F) for use in a high-efficiency condensing steam locomotive.
New engines using ceramic components such as silicon-nitride, boron-nitride and silicon-carbide need to be used as they can withstand the high superheat temperatures (up to 2,000-degrees F or 1100-degrees C). Possible engines for railway operation would be a compound-reheat expansion quasiturbine (http://www.quasiturbine.com) or a 4-stage expansion star rotor (http://www.starrotor.com) using reheat. Both rotary engines could be made from ceramic componentry and operate without lubrication. Power would be varied by varying steam density/pressure at constant superheat temperature. The engines would use fixed inlet ports and can drive electrical generation gear. They are also rugged enough to withstand the severe shock loadings that are common to locomotive operation.
One conventional steam turbine that may be rugged enough to be longitudinally mounted and drive electrical gear in the locomotive car body, would be the inward radial-flow design from Kuhnle, Kopp & Kausch in Germany. This turbine may be capable of withstanding the longitudinal shock loadings that occurred during coupling manoeuvres and broke turbine blades on an earlier generation of steam-turbine-electric locomotives. To ensure competitive engine efficiency levels, a compound-expansion reheat turbine engine may be needed.
Conclusions:
Scope exists to optimize the heat pumped steam condensing system for railway operation. The system presented in this article is a basic concept that was used merely to illustrate that an exhaust steam heat pump can transfer more waste thermal energy into the preheater, while reducing cooling demands imposed on the condensing radiator. New generation steam technology could theoretically raise the thermal efficiency of a a modern condensing steam locomotive to that of a diesel locomotive. The steam locomotive could may actually be able to burn fuels that would other wise be unsuitable for use in internal combustion piston engines.
Evolving and developing modern steam technology could also enable a modern steam locomotive to incur lower maintenance requirements, longer service intervals and comparable availability rates to a diesel locomotive. At present, Enginion technology may be suitable for low-power applications, including smaller railway locomotives. It may be possible to upscale their CPSC technology for use in high-powered railway locomotive applications in the future. Clean Energy Systems technology is presently aimed at large-scale (over 100-Mw) applications such as power station. A scaled-down version of Clean Energy's technology or a scaled-up version of Enginion's technology may be applicable to mainline locomotive operation.
Click here to return to the modern steam locomotive developments page. | http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/newsteam/modern36.htm |
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Steam engines ushered in the Industrial Revolution and paved the way for groundbreaking advances throughout the 18th century. A steam engine uses steam, a form of heat energy, to do mechanical work. Man has used steam engines for everything from locomotives and boiler systems to powering factories, ships, and automobiles. The steam engine allowed man to stop relying on sources such as wind power and devise machines for many budding industries. Steam engines gave man a transportation system that far surpassed the use of animals. Steam engines provided a reliable transportation system that helped revolutionize trade, commerce, and economic systems. The steam engine transformed 18th century life and created greater opportunities for all who lived in that era.
History
Though the earliest forms of heat engines date back to the first century A.D., it wasn't until inventors began patenting their early steam engine models throughout the 17th and 18th centuries that they became prominent. In 1781, inventor James Watt patented further enhancements to the Newcomen steam engine, which Thomas Newcomen developed somewhere around 1710. Watt's advancements resulted in a more resourceful steam engine that conserved power rather than wasted it, was cost-effective, and proved to be more efficient. Watt's enhancements fueled the Industrial Revolution in the United States and Great Britain. Watt's steam engines ran on water, wood, or coal, making them accessible for numerous industries and people.
Brief History of the Steam Engine
The Steam Engine
Steam Engines: Oil History
Components
People may categorize steam engines as having two main components: the boiler and the steam engine. The boiler is the section of the steam engine that produces steam. The steam engine is the motor and consists of mechanical parts that operate when fueled by steam. There are different types of steam engines that use different boiler systems and parts; however, they all have these two major components in common. As it takes heat to make steam, steam engines require a continuous heat source so that the boiler remains operational.
Other important components used in steam engines include the cold sink, water pump, governor, and devices used for controlling and monitoring the system. Different motor units allowed engineers to design steam engines for specific purposes and industrial uses.
Annotated Parts of a Steam Engine
Components of a Steam Locomotive
Steam Engines
Types of Steam Engines
An engine may be simple, compound, or multiple-expansion. Various types of steam engines depend upon the type of motor the system operates. These include turbine engines, rotary, oscillating cylinder, uniflow, and reciprocating piston. Piston steam engines are quite popular and appear in a wide array of devices. These steam engines allow steam to pass through both sides of the engine in a reciprocal manner. In a piston system, the high-pressure steam enters the engine through a slide valve. A piston steam engine also contains a valve rod, piston rod, piston, cross head, and cross guide that use the steam for work. The exhaust steam is released through the valve and leaves the system.
Logging Operations and Locomotives
From Horses to Engines
Steam Engine Uses
Steam engine use has been widespread and varied since the 18th century. While it might seem that the technology is outdated, modern society continues to use steam engines. During the Industrial Revolution, people used steam engines to power factory equipment, tools, and transportation such as trains and steam-powered travel boats. Steamships would bring greater speed to maritime travel, and people would commute on steam-engine locomotives. Over time, their use would power tractors, cars, tanks, rockets, ships, and other engines. Steam turbine plants continue to produce electricity. Before the 18th century, steam power was a common technology used in the mining industry. Miners previously used steam to pump water from mines, and the technology was invaluable to the industry. During the 19th century, machine workers powered tools with steam engine technology. Steam engines were an influential resource for those living in the 18th and 19th centuries. The technology revolutionized society, opened doors for global trade, and provided access for people to commute, sell and trade goods, and create products. There is no question that the steam engine played a vital role in America's economic success.
Steam Engines in England
History of the Energy System
Steam Powered Engines
Resources
BBC: Steam Trains
A Better Steam Engine
Steam Condensing Engine
Steam Engines-Corliss
The Growth of the Steam Engine
Historical Geography of Transportation: The Emergence of Mechanized Systems
American Railroad Steam Locomotives
A Note on Industrial Revolutions
All Day I Dream About Steam Engines
The Physics and Thermodynamics of Steam
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Dinesh Lahoti - Founder, Edugenie
This section will carry everything related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
Power of steam
People in the ancient world had few choices for getting work done. They could use wind, water, or muscles. Sailing ships used the wind to carry them along. Windmills were used to turn stones to grind grains. Water from rushing streams or dams could be used to turn mill wheels and grind grain. But wind was unreliable, and fast-flowing water was often unavailable in the location where it was needed. Muscle power was the only other choice. Horses carried riders and pulled chariots. Oxen pulled ploughs and heavily-laden wagons. Often, human beings had to do heavy work on their own. The Egyptians built the Pyramids with the help of as many as 100,000 labourers.
The invention of the steam engine changed the world. It reduced the oppressive use of manual labour and provided reliable power in places where water and wind were not practical. Although many people had a hand in making steam power possible, the one individual who made it practical was Scottish inventor James Watt.
As a selling point, Watt compared the power of his engine with that of a horse. He tested a strong horse which pulled a rope that used a pulley to carry a heavy weight. Watt called this ‘horsepower’. A seven-horsepower engine could do the work of seven horses. Engineers still use horsepower to measure power. In the metric system, the unit of power is watt, named in honour of James Watt. One horsepower is 746 watts.
Watt also invented a governor to control the speed of the engine and it was the first automatic control of machinery. Other inventors put the steam engine to different uses and this invention helped start the Industrial Revolution in the 1760s and changed the world in a fundamental way. | https://assamtribune.com/stem-corner/ |
Thomas Newcomen was one of the most prominent English inventors of the sixteenth century. Born in Dartmouth, Britain, in 1663, Newcomen was brought up in a family of well-established non-conformists merchants (Butterman, Eric). Newcomens father introduced his children into the trade at an early age which made them highly apprenticed. During this period, religious non-conformists in Britain were discriminated and denied freedom. As such, Newcomen and his siblings apprenticeships were never recorded. It is thought that Thomas Newcomen acquired training as a blacksmith apprentice in his before commencing to establish himself as an ironmonger in the year 1685 (Butterman, Eric). Part of his early enterprises included mending machinery, designing and crafting hardware components as well as and supplying and trading hardware tools to mine workers. Interestingly, Newcomen was a renowned teaching elder and a lay preacher in one of the local Baptist church (Butterman, Eric). It is believed that Newcomen and his brother received their education from John Fravell who served as a Baptist preacher at the local church.
As an established ironmonger, Newcomen became well versed with the challenges facing the mining industries as well as its laborious nature. He made numerous trips to the mines while trading hardware components and mending machinery. The deep mines were consistently full of flood water, and the miners used highly laborious and inefficient methods to drain the flooded mines. Thomas noticed that the inefficient methods used were expensive, limited and were responsible for the rising cost of tin. As a merchant, he began to gain interest on how to solve the problem by creating an alternative and efficient method of draining the flooded mines to regulate the cost of tin. For about ten years, Newcomen collaborated with John Calley, a renowned plumber, to design a sophisticated steam pump which was an improvement on vacuum pump initially designed by Thomas Savery (Butterman, Eric). The new atmospheric steam pump revolutionized the mining experience and later became the defining and one of the most important invention of the industrial revolution.
The first Newcomens engine began operating at a coal mine at around 1710 ("The Power Behind the Industrial Revolution"). The new invention became the powerful force behind the rapidly advancing textile inventions which included the power loom and the spinning mule. Practically, the steam pump was a symbol of transition from the use workforce in homes to the use of machine power in industries and factories. Also, Newcomens engine revolutionized transportation after it effectively applied to ships and locomotives ("The Power behind the Industrial Revolution"). Notably, the primary source of fuel in England and other parts of the world was wood from local forests. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, only a small percentage of the local forests remained, and the need to identify a new source of energy was inevitable. The discovery of coal as a new source of energy presented its challenges. The use of windmills, human power and domesticated animals in the mines was inefficient, expensive and extremely laborious. The invention of the steam pump by Newcomen paved the way for a new era of industrialization.
Even though the Newcomens engine was originally designed to lift water, it gradually outdid its original purpose and eventually rose to propel the human race into the modern industrial age ("BBC - Devon - Discover Devon - Newcomen's Steam Revolution"). Today, our world is propelled by highly efficient gas turbines, nuclear reactors and on a large scale, combustion engines. However, without the invention of the atmospheric steam pump, the current world would be a very different place. The effect of Newcomens invention on the world is still experienced today. His invention is widely described as the power behind the industrial revolution and ultimately, modern civilization ("The Power behind the Industrial Revolution"). From the transport industry, agriculture, mining, and manufacturing, the steam pump transformed the world by significant proportions. Also, the impact of this invention is widely exhibited through the printing press, telegraphy, the telephone, electric power, the telephone and computers that have exerted far-ranging and dramatic influence on modern civilization.
For more than two centuries, Newcomens prototype engine, as well as the improved version, has been the single most source of power for transport systems and industries in the west ("BBC - Devon - Discover Devon - Newcomen's Steam Revolution"). Virtually, the invention and later improvements on Newcomens engine altered and affected every industry. It was an invention that created a ripple effect across all societies both locally and overseas. The introduction of the engine to the coal mines in the west improved the coal mining industries which later became the most sourced source of fuel for the rising numbers of steam engines. It enabled miners to dig deeper without fear of flood waters. The metal industries responded to the effect of the new invention and in turn, made new improvements to create larger and powerful machines ("BBC - Devon - Discover Devon - Newcomen's Steam Revolution"). Following this, new industrial society was created, the factories. The textile industry, for example, expanded rapidly after the incorporation of the steam engines to drive the vast looms. His invention enabled commercial production of fabrics on a large scale.
A significant advantage of the Newcomens engine was its adaptability to rotary drives through mechanical linkages. Such flexibility enabled engineers and designers to create the steam-powered transportation system. The creation opened doors to other multiple inventions such as the steamships, locomotives and other steam-powered automobiles ("BBC - Devon - Discover Devon - Newcomen's Steam Revolution"). Within a few years, a network of rails connected towns, countries and eventually, the rails linked continents. The new mode of transport proved to be fast, cheap, more efficient and reliable. The steamboats and locomotives allowed transportation of large volumes of cargo in addition to increased safety. Consequently, the new means of transportation encouraged both local and international trade and the rise of major cities. Notably, the new invention enabled steamboats to travel upstream without depending on wind and water current for navigation. Travel times were also reduced by half and locomotives were modified to transport passengers and goods efficiently.
The economic impact of Newcomen's engine was of great benefit to the growing countries, especially in the west. The coal industry, for example, experienced a significant increase in the volume of that was mined. Together with the locomotive automobile, the steam engine enabled swift transportation of goods through the railway lines and across seas using steamboats (Butterman, Eric). It also facilitated easier transportation of raw materials such as cotton as well as manufactured goods to and from industries and markets. Newcomen's engine also promoted the growth of seaside towns. The new mode of transport encourages tourism and settlement of people in smaller towns. As a result of flourishing tourism industries, the smaller towns increased, and more and more people became drawn to them. Also, Newcomen's engine propelled industrial output by facilitating mass production of goods (Butterman, Eric). As a result, countries such as America and Britain experienced rapid economic growth in which was crucial in a rapidly growing population.
Thomas Newcomen's engine also played a massive role in changing the social life of many people. His role in social transformation in America, as well as other parts of the world, is still felt today. Perhaps the first to experience the social impact workers in the coal mines. Before his invention, miners used human labor, horses and oxens to drain the flooded mines. However, the introduction of the Newcomen's engine facilitated quick, efficient and automatic draining of flood water in both deep and shallow mines. In essence, the steam pump simplified the process of draining floodwaters. Later on, adjustment of the steam engine allowed miners to be lowered in and out of the quarries. Secondly, the Thomas invention had a huge impact on traditional farming which was practiced by a large percentage of the population. Before the invention of the steam engine, farmers cultivated crops for local consumption. However, the introduction of steamboats provide opportunities for farmers to transport their products across borders via inland canals. The change experienced by the society was positive and led to improvements in peoples living standards as well as their lifestyles.
The introduction of steam power in America has had significant impact and influence on the American culture. Since the introduction of the first steam engine in America, significant changes and refinements of the prototype engine have resulted in more practical and highly efficient equipment (Manley's Boiler, Inc.). This equipment has dramatically shaped the United States as well as the daily lives of American citizens. Devices and equipment such as steam boilers are some of the essential components of life to all Americans. The steam generating boilers have for long provided Americans with affordable steam power. The introduction of low-cost steam-generating boilers enabled Americans to utilize the steam power and ultimately enhance their lives (Manley's Boiler, Inc.). In essence, availability of affordable steam power facilitated extensive societal change across the American population about labor practices.
Introduction of the practical steam-powered equipment and machinery created numerous employment opportunities as well as a platform to showcase and develop individual skills. The steam engines encourage people to relocate to towns or cities to seek employment in the emerging factories. The livelihood of American citizens was significantly transformed in addition to the emergence of the middle class (Manley's Boiler, Inc.). More transformations were experienced after the creation of the power industry. The introduction of advanced boilers facilitated the distribution of electric power to industries and residential homes. New inventions and designs such as tube-designed boilers allowed the introduction of less expensive and yet very efficient steam power to American citizens (Manley's Boiler, Inc.). Without the Newcomen's engine invention, the lives of American citizens could perhaps be very different today. Without steam-powered equipment, the transportation and labor practices we experience and appreciate today would vary greatly. Indeed, the American history is inseparable from the invention of the Steam power.
Works Cited
"BBC - Devon - Discover Devon - Newcomen's Steam Revolution." Bbc.Co.Uk, 2018, http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/discovering/famous/thomas_newcomen.shtml.
"The Power Behind the Industrial Revolution." Telegraph.Co.Uk, 2018, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/4750891/The-power-behind-the-Industrial-Revolution.html.
Butterman, Eric. "Thomas Newcomen." Asme.Org, 2018, https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/history-of-mechanical-engineering/thomas-newcomen.
Manley's Boiler, Inc. "History Of Steam-Generating Boilers | ManleyS Boiler." Manley's Boiler, 2018, http://www.manleysboilerinc.com/the-history-of-steam-power-in-america/.
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According to the BBC, the steam engine offered an unprecedented way to generate power, leading to numerous advancements in technology, manufacturing, transportation and other fields. Ultimately, these advancements led to massive social changes as well, reducing dependence on manual labor and helping to lift entire populations out of poverty.
The invention of the steam engine was a game-changer in many different ways. First, it allowed the generation of power from a chemical source, burning coal to create steam and converting that into physical energy. This led to the development of transportation systems based around steam engine technology such as the locomotive and the steamship, drastically reducing the time it took to transport people and goods across long distances.
It also led to advancements in automation and manufacturing, since that same physical energy could be used to drive tools. A single worker armed with steam power could do the work of dozens if not hundreds of manual laborers in the same time period. Finally, steam power led to the one invention that made the modern world possible: electricity. Steam turbines were the first method of generating electric power on a large scale, and even in the modern world, technologies such as coal, natural gas and even nuclear power generation rely on steam to generate the power that drives the world. | https://www.reference.com/history/positive-effects-steam-engine-44b80cbf6a64b594 |
The potential of steam, the gaseous form of water, as an agent for the transfer of heat energy into mechanical work has been known for some two millenia. The eighteen hundred times expansion which occurs when water is boiled into steam had been recognized in classical times and the magic toys or perhaps temple devices of Hero of Alexandria utilized the properties of steam in a number of ways.
However, the restrictions of technology and a defective understanding of the nature of heat precluded further advances until after 1600 when the experiments of Torricelli on atmospheric pressure, Robert Boyle with gases and the demonstrations of von Guericke of the properties of a vacuum, coupled with early glimpses of an understanding of the nature of steam led to the conjectures of Samual Morland and others as to its possible use as a source of power.
In 1675, Papin devised an apparatus whereby a weight was lifted utilizing the condensation of steam. By 1698, further developments by Thomas Savery resulted in the first commercially successful steam engine "to raise Water by the force of Fire". However this, although utilizing both the expansive and condensing properties of steam, was restricted in its application to the lifting of water and pumping. The particular requirement for the draining of mines reflected the increasing demand for minerals especially coal.
The imperative for power, which hitherto had been met by the efforts of human and animal muscle, wind and water power, engendered by the burgeoning of the industrial revolution, led to further developments. While there may have been others, Thomas Newcomen, an ironmonger of Dartmouth, is credited with the building the first steam engine in which "a piston was moved in a cylinder by the agency of steam".
Usually described as the Newcomen atmospheric engine, the first full sized example, a mine pumping engine, appears to have been built in 1712 near Dudley Castle in Staffordshire. It was probably the outcome of a long struggle with models in which the many technical difficulties such as the matching of the piston to the cylinder were at least partially overcome. The Newcomen engine derived its effort from the condensation of steam, at very nearly atmospheric pressure, in the cylinder, the other end of which was open. The resulting partial vacuum led to the piston being forced down by atmospheric pressure. The piston was connected to a pivoted beam, which at its other end held a heavy set of pump rods. A valve was opened into the cylinder below the piston and steam (at a very low pressure) admitted. This permitted the piston to rise, drawn up by the weight of the pump rods. The. cycle was then repeated.
Immensely inefficient in that its action depended on the alternative heating and cooling of water and steam, the Newcomen engine nonetheless achieved widespread acceptance for pumping applications and by the middle of the eighteenth century several hundreds were in use.
In 1763, James Watt, a Glasgow instrument maker, developed and later patented his invention of the separate condenser, thus eliminating one of the major ineficiencies of the Newcomen engine. While still using steam at very low pressures, the increased efficiency of the Watt engines enabled them to be developed for rotative purposes. Aided by the manufacturing and business acumen of Watt's partner, Matthew Boulton of Birmingham, and his assistant, William Murdoch, their use became widespread. Almost contemporaneously Richard Trevithick used his experience with Cornish mining engines to employ the increased potential for work of the expansive properties of high pressure steam.
Technical advances such as the ironfounding innovations of the Darbys of Coalbrookdale, as well as the large cylinder boring techniques of Wilkinson soon resulted in the steam engine becoming the prime mover and facilitator of the rapid expansion of the industrial revolution, first in Britain then in Europe and the United States. As a translator of heat to mechanical energy, its potential for terrestrial and marine transport was being widely explored.
In Cornwall particularly the further applications of high pressure steam were investigated which lead to the development of Woolf ’s compound engines and the development of boiler design. At the same time, much effort and ingenuity was deployed in the development of valve gears, condenser design and packing and sealing materials.
The theoretical aspects of the steam engine remained empirical and erroneously understood. Concepts of the nature of heat were allied to current ideas of caloric and related power to steam pressure. The writings of Carnot, and the experiments of Count Rumford, and James Joule of Manchester culminated, in 1843 with the introduction of new concepts which led to the understanding that "Heat and energy are mutually convertible . . ." and that the heat in a steam engine is the vital driving force and the pressure only a secondary force.
The work of Rankine and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) further clarified the theoretical understandings and demonstrated that the steam engine was extremely inefficient. Thomson derived the key formula for the efficiency of a perfect heat engine which showed that the greater the temperature drop, the greater the efficiency of the engine. Henceforth the emphases of development were directed to "improving the construction of the steam engine and in seeking to obtain from it a larger amount of useful work with a given expenditure of fuel". There followed many technical advances including the Corliss Valve, high speed engines and improved governors. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the demands of steam power to generate electricity, as well as the massive power demands of textile mills and metal industries, represented only a fraction of the fields of application for what had become a universal prime mover. Other developments involved the Uniflow concept, superheating and innovations in boiler design and fuel utilization.
The reciprocating engine utilizes the expansion of steam, but the Aelopile of Hero, a turbine like toy, demonstrated the kinetic energy of steam. In 1884, Charles Parsons pioneered its practical application in the Steam Turbine. In this, the steam acts by either impulse or reaction as a mass that is set in motion in consequence of its own power to expand. Much development, including the discovery of the major contribution of efficient condensers to cycle efficiency, demonstrated the particular advantages of steam turbines for high speed applications such as electricity generation and, with appropriate gearing, ship propulsion.
Despite the development of various modes of internal combustion engine and their primacy in terms of size, flexibility and relative efficiency, the steam engine in its turbine incarnation remains a widely used form of power generator, and is virtually the universal final stage of the various methods of the conversion of nuclear energy into power.
REFERENCES
Bourne, J. (1846) A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Longmans, London.
Dickinson, H. W. (1938) A Short History of the Steam Engine, Cambridge, U.P. DOI: 10.1016/S0016-0032(39)90848-3
Farey, J. A. (1971) A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Volste 1 and 2, David and Charles.
Hills, R. L. (1988) Power from Steam, Cambridge, U.P.
Rankine, W. J. M. (1861) A Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers, Griffin, Bohn, London.
References
- Bourne, J. (1846) A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Longmans, London.
- Dickinson, H. W. (1938) A Short History of the Steam Engine, Cambridge, U.P. DOI: 10.1016/S0016-0032(39)90848-3
- Farey, J. A. (1971) A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Volste 1 and 2, David and Charles.
- Hills, R. L. (1988) Power from Steam, Cambridge, U.P.
- Rankine, W. J. M. (1861) A Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers, Griffin, Bohn, London. | https://thermopedia.com/jp/content/1148/ |
Teorico della dromologia (scienza che studia la velocità), il filosofo Paul Virilio (Parigi 1932) è autore di una riflessione critica – tanto diffusa quanto discussa – sulla pervasività delle nuove tecnologie e sui rischi a essa associati.
In un’intervista pubblicata nel 2000, alla domanda di John Armitage «Could you explain your interest in what you call ‘the transplant revolution’?», Virilio risponde:
«Oh yes, this is the ‘Third Revolution’. In the realm of speed, the first revolution was that of transportation, the invention of the steam engine, the combustion engine, the electrical motor, the jet engine and the rocket. The second revolution is the revolution of transmission, and it is happening right now in electronics, but it began with Marconi, radio and television. The third revolution, which is intimately linked to the miniaturization of objects, is the transplantation revolution. By this term I mean that technology is becoming something physically assimilable, it is a kind of nourishment for the human race, through dynamic inserts, implants and so on». | http://blog.fgm.it/nel-regno-della-velocita |
The British community had a huge change during the 18th and 19th century, mainly due to the Industrial Revolution. The British society changed in many different aspects, such as agriculture, the industry and even the social and living conditions of the society.
Firstly, the agriculture during the 18th and 19th century hugely improved due to the large increasing populations and the new advancements in the industry. As new tools, fertilisers and many different harvesting techniques were introduced, allowing the rate of growing crops and many other agricultural products to become a lot faster, allowing the British society to be fed a lot faster too. Different parts of the British land began to specialise in different types of crops and grains and livestock to grow in.
Secondly, the industry was one of the many aspects that had vastly changed the most. This was due to the fact that James Watt’s and Matthew Baulton had both introduced a new type of way to power their machines with steam, also known as steam power. Coal became a major resource for the British as this was what they had relied on to produce the steam power. The rotative engine that was also introduced was a major development, as this was what lead to the making of trains, steamships and faster machinery in the industrial facilities.
Lastly, the industrial revolution caused a lot of changes to the British society in many ways. The industrialisation vastly increased the population causing the population to rise by 5 million with the period of a century, but as the population grew, so did the urban centres. This was due to the fact that people were in need of a job and the families who were living in horrible conditions needed money, causing children and wives to work in factories where they were abused and ill-treated.
In light of the Industrial revolution and the movement of peoples, to what extent did the world change during the period between 1750 and 1900?
The industrial revolution marked an important milestone in history. This was due to the fact that it caused the whole world to change in many different aspects, including the complex communications between countries and the growth of the global economy. However, not only did the Industrial Revolution create a true global economy, but it furthermore created hatred due to the introduction of political and military power. In addition, it lead to the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment which caused people to have a more rational idea towards nature and the human behaviour. These revolutionary changes and events may be viewed very beneficial in the beginning; however it gradually became to be seen as a horrible idea due to all the problems they may have created.
Before the industrial revolution, villages had to be self-sufficient as transportation was often difficult, or impossible. Roads were impassable when carrying large supplies and horses were slow paced and could not travel the long distances needed for effective trade. Rivers caused difficulty when traveling by foot, and was not always accessible by boat. During the industrial revolution, more roads and bridges were constructed, as well as existing ones upgraded. Canals were built, which allowed much larger and heavier goods to be transported. With the invention of the steam engine in the early 1800's, the steam train came into effect, making traveling easier and quicker than ever. The new railway system enabled people to migrate, and helped aid one aspect of the movement of peoples. Steam engines changed the structure of ships as well, meaning world-wide travel was less challenging, and international migration was coming into effect, something which was scarcely seen before the Industrial Revolution. | https://www.majortests.com/essay/The-Global-Convergence-595791.html |
Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
prime mover
n.
1.
a. One regarded as the initial source of energy directed toward a goal: Patriotism was the prime mover of the revolution.
b. The initial force, such as electricity, wind, or gravity, that engages or moves a machine.
c. A machine or mechanism that converts natural energy into work. Also called primum mobile.
2. Any of various heavy-duty trucks or tractors.
3. Philosophy In Aristotelian philosophy, an eternal, immaterial being of pure motion that cannot be changed but is the cause of change and motion.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
prime mover
n
1. the original or primary force behind an idea, enterprise, etc
2. (Mechanical Engineering)
a. the source of power, such as fuel, wind, electricity, etc, for a machine
b. the means of extracting power from such a source, such as a steam engine, electric motor, etc
3. (Philosophy) (in the philosophy of Aristotle) that which is the cause of all movement
Prime Mover
n
(Philosophy) the Prime Mover philosophy God, esp when considered as a first cause
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
prime′ mov′er
n.
1.
a. the initial agent, as wind or electricity, that puts a machine in motion.
b. a machine, as a waterwheel or steam engine, that receives and modifies energy as supplied by some natural source.
2. a means of towing a cannon, as an animal, truck, or tractor.
3. Aristotelianism. that which is the first cause of all movement and does not itself move.
4. a person or thing that initiates or gives power and cohesion to an idea, endeavor, etc.
[1935–40]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
prime mover
A vehicle, including heavy construction equipment, possessing military characteristics, designed primarily for towing heavy, wheeled weapons and frequently providing facilities for the transportation of the crew of, and ammunition for, the weapon.
Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
|Noun||1.||prime mover - an agent that is the cause of all things but does not itself have a cause; "God is the first cause"|
causal agency, causal agent, cause - any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc. | https://www.thefreedictionary.com/prime+mover |
Home » Capabilities » Special Mission & Force Readiness » Intelligence Community Readiness
Missions that cannot fail require proficiency in a wide range of intelligence activities. At Athenix, we draw upon our experience in intelligence collection, analysis, and reporting to better enable intelligence service readiness. We understand the challenges facing Intelligence professionals and work closely with them to support their mission.
Our agile and adaptive training strategies advance learning, improve analysts’ performance, and enhance decision-making. Furthermore, as a developer of end-user intelligence tools, we train analysts on the proper use of each tool. We also make rapid adjustments to improve the performance of our purpose-built tools based on feedback gathered in the field.
We bring firsthand knowledge of intelligence operations and applications to our readiness solutions. By blending personnel with recent and relevant forward-deployed experience with subject-matter experts in training and exercise development, we deliver solutions that increase mission readiness and reduce training costs.
Athenix collects, analyzes, and manages data to maximize organizational readiness. We continuously modify and improve all our readiness products by regularly measuring performance and reviewing lessons-learned feedback from customers.
From exercise planning and execution to technology integration and over-the-shoulder training, we support our customers every step of the way. Our experience includes individual instruction, group training, and integrated training exercises.
8135 MAPLE LAWN BLVD | SUITE 450FULTON, MD 20759-2571
Follow Us:
Site Design By: | https://athenixsolutions.com/capabilities/special-missions-force-readiness/intelligence-community-readiness/ |
About the job Customer Success Intern
Ilara Health is looking for a Customer Success Intern to help launch and manage new healthtech products in Mombasa clinics and hospitals. Our products aim to improve clinic efficiency and quality of care by allowing practitioners to record patient information, set appointment dates, and communicate directly with the patients. As the Customer Success Intern, you will provide support to customers in fostering customer satisfaction. The key goal will be to monitor, troubleshoot and provide feedback from the customers while using Ilara’s software.
You will liaise with cross functional internal teams to continuously improve the entire customer experience.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
- Provide support to customers on the function and usage of the software.
- Provide outstanding customer service to ensure customer satisfaction.
- Work with the Product team to ensure that products and services meet customers’ current and future needs.
- Identify process improvements to achieve goals related to product marketing and customer support.
- Record product defects and appropriate resolutions.
- Maintain accurate and complete product related information.
- Share feature requests and effective workarounds with team members
- Gather customer feedback and share with internal teams. | https://cotakenya.org/customer-success-intern-deadline-not-specified/ |
Learn more about delivering excellence in customer service in the hospitality and retail industries.
Providing excellent customer service is essential to the long-term viability of every business. Alison's Diploma in Customer Service course introduces the fundamental elements of customer service and explains how they can be applied in any organization. Following this, it describes how a business can develop its customer service program to the highest level.
Alison's customer service certification course also details the role of customer service in the hospitality industry, the retail industry and the public sector. These sections explain the elements of customer service that should be focused on in these sectors.
This Diploma course is ideal for business managers, business owners and entrepreneurs who wish to learn how to implement an effective customer service program in their organization.
This course will also be of great interest to retail staff, hospitality workers and public servants who want to become more proficient at providing friendly and effective customer service.
After completing this course the learner will be able to: - Apply the fundamental aspects of customer service in a business; - Advance a customer service program from a fundamental to advanced level; - Communicate and collaborate with customers utilising efficient communication processes; - Obtain customer feedback to continuously refine a customer service program; - Implement a customer service program in the hospitality industry, the retail industry and the public sector. | https://alison.com/course/diploma-in-customer-service |
- Assists with the compilation of portfolio, program and project management reports.
- Maintains program and project files from supplied actual and forecast data.
Business analysis
- Investigates operational needs and problems, and opportunities, contributing to the
recommendation of improvements in automated and non-automated components of new or
changed processes and organization.
- Assists in defining acceptance tests for these recommendations.
Measurement
- Applies standard techniques to support the specification of measures and the collection and
maintenance of data for measurement.
- Generates, produces and distributes reports.
- Uses measurement tools for routine analysis of data.
- Identifies and implements improvements to data collection methods.
Learning delivery
- Delivers learning activities to a variety of audiences.
- Teaches, instructs, trains students/learners in order to develop knowledge, techniques and
Perfil
- Oversees students/learners in performing practical activities and work, advising and
assisting where necessary.
- Provides detailed instruction where necessary and responds to questions, seeking advice in
exceptional conditions beyond own experience.
- Assists with the development of examples and case study material for use within predefined learning material.
If required: People Management / Resource Management:
- May be involved and gives some input on hiring Transition decisions
- Ensures appropriate leadership skills are present at every level through creating a
motivational and supportive work environment in which employees are coached, trained and
provided with career opportunities through development
- Allocates the different work to the respective employees considering experience, complexity,
workload and organizational efficiency
- Continuously monitors and evaluates team workload and organizational efficiency with the
support of IT systems, data and analysis and team feedback and makes appropriate changes
to meet business needs.
- Provides team members/direct reports with clear direction and targets that are aligned with
business needs and GIT objectives
Relationship management
- Implements stakeholder engagement/communications plan.
- Deals with problems and issues, managing resolutions, corrective actions, lessons learned and the collection and dissemination of relevant information.
- Collects and uses feedback from customers and stakeholders to help measure effectiveness of stakeholder management.
- Helps develop and enhance customer and stakeholder relationships.
Individual key responsibilities:
- A good technical and process background would be a bonus (e.g. Omnichannel, Retail, IBM Sterling and SAP Retail or SAP ERP expertise)
- Strong partner for the adidas Omnichannel business and IT Teams to design industry leading agile processes (Scrum, ...)
- A team player with an open mindset to continuously improve current processes in the agile set-up and used tools (e.g. JIRA, FLOW)
Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications: | https://co.fashionjobs.com/empleo/Sr-tech-project-manager,3648423.html |
Work with the brightest minds at one of the largest financial institutions in the world. This is long-term contract opportunity that includes a competitive benefit package!
Our client has been around for over 150 years and is continuously innovating in today's digital age. If you want to work for a company that is not only a household name, but also truly cares about satisfying customers' financial needs and helping people succeed financially, apply today.
Position: UX Designer
Location: Minneapolis, Des Moines, Charlotte, Phoenix
Term: 6 months
Day-to-Day Responsibilities:
- Partner with the Product Manager and Lead Engineer to consider the customer experience across products and product areas.
- Critical to product management, the role of the UX Designer is to consider the product from the lens of the customer as product discovery and prototyping is taking place.
- Customer feedback will be incorporated throughout design and implementation phases with feedback loops, interviewing/surveying customers to improve the journey and experience.
- Work collaboratively with Product, and Engineering partners from concept to completion
- Own the end-to-end design (interaction, visual, etc.) across multiple features and projects
- Present designs, prototypes and concepts to cross-functional partners and stakeholders
- Provide implementation guidance to engineers and ensure features launch at the highest quality bar
- Stay on top of industry trends and emerging technologies
- Responsible for developing and executing customer experience solutions for online applications and Web sites.
- Accountable for creating the most complex industry-leading user interface design solutions.
- Leading teams of customer experience professionals defines and deploys interaction design strategies.
- Serves as design 'advocate' with the ability to forecast and assess industry trends and their impact on the company's product design alternatives.
- Establishes and promotes design guidelines, best practices and standards.
- Accountable for overseeing the execution of strategic design projects that influence design and strategic direction of the company.
- Builds and enhances strong working relationships within the information / interface design function and community outside of the company.
- Demonstrates ability to work effectively across relevant units and with company leaders.
- Provides product usability, evaluation and support to product development teams.
- May oversee work performed by others and serves as a mentor to the direction of the unit while not managing people.
- Presents and defends designs and key milestone deliverables to peers and executive level stakeholders.
- Leads customer experience strategy for platforms and products; influences roadmaps and business decisions by providing customer experience considerations; participates in roadmap planning and virtual teams; represents customer experience and ICS to our partners.
- Serves as SME for all aspects of customer experience.
Is this a good fit? (Requirements): | https://www.matrixres.com/en-US/job/ux-designer-29 |
The Company believes that stakeholder engagement is a crucial foundation to building and becoming a sustainable organization. We define stakeholders as all persons or organizations that are positively and negatively affected by our internal and external business activities.
We continuously conduct an analysis and a review to thoroughly identify stakeholders and emphasize continuous engagement through a variety of activities and communication channels. The frequency of communication with each stakeholder group varies, depending on the Company’s work plans and stakeholders’ needs. Understanding their needs, opinions, concerns and suggestions can help us improve our sustainability practices in an appropriate and fair way.
In 2019, the Company incorporated stakeholders’ issues and feedback covering economic, social, and environmental aspects. We prioritized those issues and conducted one-on-one interviews with representatives from stakeholder groups including customers, business partners, government agencies, academic institutes and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), to gather their views on the Company’s sustainable development. The feedback from these external stakeholders was also used to define contents in our sustainability report 2019. | https://www.cpfworldwide.com/en/sustainability/stakeholder_engagement |
GoSurvey blogs focuses on bringing you the latest industry trends, survey tips and strategies and much more.
5 Reasons Why Your Restaurant Should Gather Customer Feedback
How to Increase Business Output with Customer Feedback App?
Why Surveys are Important in Travel & Hospitality Industry?
Impact of Survey Design on Customer Engagement
Using Surveys to Enhance Customer Experience
Customer Satisfaction Surveys - A Key for the Retail Sector
How can Airline Companies Improve the Customer Experience?
The Importance of Guest Feedback in the Hospitality Industry
Customer Satisfaction Surveys - Essential for Building Brands
Why Feedback is Key to Your Hotel's Financial Success?
Customer Experience: Reading What Your Customers Want | https://www.gosurvey.in/blog?category=customers |
The Pinterest project: Using social media in an undergraduate second year fashion design course at a United States University
This article is a research evaluation of a project that utilizes the social media website, Pinterest.com, in a collaborative learning experience between second year fashion design students at a United States university and young urban professionals as customers. Technology is changing the higher education environment, and interacting with social media in engaging ways provides fashion design students the opportunity to connect with a wider community of customers to better understand their needs. Second year students in a fashion design course at a university in the United States were asked to collaborate with young urban professional customers using the website Pinterest.com to develop a six-piece garment collection based on the customer’s inspiration and feedback of the student designs. Student responses suggest this was beneficial experience for using social media in a learning environment. Communication between students and customers illustrate an example for interactive social media use that could be replicated in other fashion design courses.
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Keywords: Pinterest; collaboration; collective creativity; design education; fashion design; social media
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Kent State University
Publication date: December 1, 2014
More about this publication?
How can art, design and communication aid teaching? Do these teaching methods work better in certain fields of study? Focusing on arts and media-based subjects, and encompassing all areas of higher education, this journal reveals the potential value of new educational styles and creative teaching methods. | https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/intellect/adche/2014/00000013/00000002/art00005 |
The Oregon State University Seed Laboratory is the official seed testing laboratory of the State of Oregon, a member of AOSA and ISTA, and is ISTA accredited. As part of a leading university in Agricultural Science, we focus on testing services, but also have a strong capacity to contribute in research and education in our field of expertise. Our customers range from local to national and international. As a customer focused lab, operating in a world of changing needs and opportunities, we innovate constantly to provide high quality service. We hope the information we present will explain how we may be able to help you succeed in your business.
We have offered seed testing services continuously since 1909. We provide AOSA and ISTA testing for a wide range of crops and tests including purity, germination, tetrazolium, moisture content, ploidy by cytometry, endophyte, growout and many other specialized tests.
Research and Education
We are actively engaged in seed testing research and can perform specialized testing to meet many other research needs. We share information we learn through education, including individual instruction, workshops and publications. We can offer specialized or general training to a wide variety of audiences including seed analysts, seed cleaners and other research and industry needs.
As an accredited lab, we improve our quality management system continuously to respond to the needs of a changing global seed world, carry out research to develop better testing methods and constantly refine our electronic information system to provide customers the access and information they require. | https://seedlab.oregonstate.edu/ |
2) Identify and explain the intended use of safety equipment available in the classroom.
design of the building and the building’s placement on the site.
(number of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.).
with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
schematic site plan and floor plan for a given building program.
7) Create a properly scaled model of a building (physical or virtual) and study the model in the context of the site layout. Present the model along with supporting sketches and diagrams to an audience (such as the instructor and peers), explaining and justifying design ideas in a logical, coherent narrative. Gather feedback and use it to refine the design.
notes explaining the purpose of each component.
the design geometry of a part.
drawing sheet according to industry standards.
d. Printing drawing layouts at appropriate scales.
12) Building on techniques practiced in prior courses, continue to measure, record, and use field measurements to create drawings of increasingly complex objects and layouts. For example, create an accurate three-dimensional model of an actual screw and fastener by first measuring and examining the physical object in order to visualize and create the model.
performing an analysis of the model and gathering feedback from peers.
surfaces, and other mechanical details.
16) Employ basic methods of data collection and analysis to compile information for projects.
new product based on consumer market data for a target audience.
major or local design professionals.
and practicing specific career readiness skills. | https://mchs.millingtonschools.org/a_b_o_u_t_u_s/faculty/career___technical/jeffrey_owens/architecture___engineering_design_iii_syllabus |
SUSE documentation survey 2021 – some results
You might have noticed: I never tire to emphasize that documentation is an essential part of any product. This is especially true for enterprise software which covers many use cases. Most software solutions only become usable thanks to detailed documentation. We’ve got direct feedback from you, our customers and partners, how much you rely on documentation to get your tasks done. Being responsible for a functioning IT environment and smooth processes, missing or poor documentation can impact your daily work and even the success of your business.
Past surveys
To understand what information is vital to the usage of SUSE products and solutions, how the requirements evolve, and what we could do better in future, we heavily and continuously depend on feedback from our customers, partners, and also from our SUSE colleagues. Thus, during the past two years, we have conducted overarching and extensive documentation surveys. And we’ve got a great amount of responses and highly valuable feedback about what we do right, but more importantly, where we can improve and what is missing in our documentation.
Taking action
All feedback makes an impact. And our technical writers already started to act upon the past survey results. To help them proceed in a timely manner with these efforts, for the documentation survey 2021, we limited the questions to three products respective product groups: SUSE Linux Enterprise family, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, and SUMA products. And we decided to make the questionnaire shorter and more concise, to get some more concrete feedback.
For the first time, we asked the question “If you could change one thing to make SUSE documentation easier to use, what would that be?” Have a look yourself – we tried to visualize the result via a so-called WordCloud:
This proves also that our technical writers are definitely already focussing on the right improvements: They are looking into simplifying the structure of the guides, reducing the use of references and links, keeping relevant guides and chapters always up-to-date, and making SUSE documents easier to find via search engines. They are also working on closing the gap regarding types of documentation that has been identified as being missed, such as best practices, how-to’s, troubleshooting or better “common pitfalls” information, and integration with other SUSE and with third party products,
Going on
What motivates us to further improve the documentation according to the feedback and the requirements we received via the survey is that the Net Promoter Score (NPS) for SUSE documentation, which measures the satisfaction and loyalty, did grow by solid ten points since last year.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our survey. Be assured that we will continue to gather feedback from you (as you regularly work with our guides, manuals and technical documents), to continuously enhance the SUSE documentation for the benefit of our entire ecosystem. | https://www.suse.com/c/suse-documentation-survey-2021-some-results/ |
Job growth in the finance and accounting sector in New Zealand is heavily affected by automation, with many traditional bookkeeping functions such as data collection, report generation and data entry already automated. However, rather than eliminating available jobs, automation has provided the opportunity for bookkeepers to turn their focus to activities that add greater value to the organisation. Promisingly, 86% of CFOs agreed workplace automation demands a shift in the skills required for finance professionals to be relevant and competitive, meaning the growth of bookkeepers will depend on how effectively candidates can adapt to digitisation.
Bookkeepers are at the core of accounting teams, responsible for maintaining a variety of ledgers and financial processes. Though many of the traditional functions of the role have, or will be automated by digital transformation, candidates who are adaptable to change can leverage this quality to negotiate a more competitive Bookkeeper salary. Robert Half research found that an ability to influence ideas and communicate to a range of stakeholders are the top characteristics sought in candidates, so bookkeepers are advised to continuously refine these qualities in order to remain as leading industry talent. | https://www.roberthalf.co.nz/research-insights/salary-guide/finance-accounting/bookkeeper-salary |
As a part of our work in human practices, we performed a collection of 23 interviews with professionals from both academia and industries across the globe in order to refine our project idea. Through the course of these interviews, we were able to create a large network of connections and potential links, shown as in the figure below.
These interviews were central to the execution and creation of our customer discovery framework, since they provided us with feedback we could use to refine our final product. While the connections formed by the interviewing process are highly important, we also set out to test a series of hypotheses formulated around current technologies and issues in the market via our interviews. During the analysis of these interviews, we grouped our hypotheses into 3 categories to identify critical hypotheses and enable us to interpret the results of our experiments.
- Critical Hypotheses- Encompass the most crucial aspects of your project. Without these, your project will not proceed.
- Non-critical Hypotheses- These aid the outcome of your project but are not crucial for the success of your project.
- Superfluous Hypotheses- Have no effect on project success but may play a minor role in future applications.
After hypotheses analysis, we could draw out crucial information from interviews about our project and integrate this information into our project. Some of the most common topics and concerns that came up during these interviews included:
- The need to figure out a method to purify and isolate vesicles;
- The fact that our vesicles might be leaky since they are lipid based and non-rigid;
- The possibility that concentrating proteins within the vesicles would lead to inclusion body formation;
- The potential for the isolation of metabolic pathways and application towards metabolic engineering and;
- The fact that the vesicles that are produced are of inconsistent size.
Team Macquarie would like to thank the following academics, industry professionals and teaching staff for giving us their time and valuable knowledge in our interviews. | https://2018.igem.org/Team:Macquarie_Australia/Interviews |
of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
Subject handbook information prior to 2019 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Recommended studies:
Students are required to have completed the UTS recognised bachelor's degree in Fashion and Textiles Design, including all required subjects.
Description
This subject develops students' understanding of professional practice in the fashion and textile design industries. The focus for the subject is on contemporary fashion design as an interdisciplinary practice engaged in technology, creativity and innovation. Students develop an understanding of the current fashion industry as an engagement with global systems of culture and technology, and develop an individual visual language for their practice as fashion designers. Students engage with other design disciplines including graphic and visual documentation for fashion design and consider the role of the fashion designer as both professional and product. Students endeavour to develop a system of articulation of their creativity within the product and the systems of fashion design development as an adaptive system of creativity.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
|1.||Understand the role of the designer as a global citizen.|
|2.||Present work appropriate to the situated professional context.|
|3.||Demonstrate a capacity to work conceptually.|
|4.||Appraise, develop or redirect design ideas.|
|5.||Independently develop new skills and areas of knowledge.|
|6.||Cultivate an autonomous aesthetic sensibility.|
|7.||Develop skill in professional craft.|
|8.||Develop well-supported arguments in support of professional identity and practice.|
|9.||Analyse complex ideas related to professional context.|
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:
- Understanding and support of sustainable and ethical practices (A.1)
- Ability to work collaboratively with other professions and disciplines (C.3)
- Advanced aesthetic sensibility (I.1)
- Innovative approaches to materials, textiles and technology (I.2)
- Advanced fashion industry specific technology skills, digital skills and craft skills (P.1)
- Advanced engagement with professional and global fashion industry practices (P.2)
- Appreciation of global business and marketing frameworks and processes (P.3)
- Ability to develop sophisticated arguments and rationales (R.1)
- Ability to analyse and synthesise complex ideas (R.2)
Teaching and learning strategies
1 hour Lecture weeks 1-5, followed by a 2 hour studio weeks 1-11.
This subject is delivered in a combination of lectures and studio-based learning per week. This subject is offered face-to-face and incorporates a range of teaching and learning strategies within a collaborative workspace which includes-lectures, discussions, demonstrations, studio activities, design thinking, writing and presentations. Each class is complemented by prior reading, individual research and reflection, collaborative and individual tasks. The activities for this subject are centred on self-initiated learning, reinforcing the independent approach to building knowledge and skills. Students are expected to conduct independent research, attend all classes and follow up on design development required for the following week for each of their individual projects. Students must refer to the subject program for clarification of required assessment and weekly tasks.
LECTURES
Students will attend lectures by industry professionals in which professional practices will be discussed.
STUDIO WORKSHOPS
The two hours of weekly studio contact operates as guided studio-based workshops. Studio sessions with Tutors will elaborate on the lectures, require students to undertake particular studio tasks and individual work on the Assessment Tasks. Tutors will often work with students individually to develop individual work and provide feedback. Emphasising creative exploration, learning in all facets of studio workshops is crucial to ensuring students deploy the design thinking and professional technical expertise required in this subject and the field. All students are expected to attend studio sessions, and follow suggested learning patterns and activities. Students are also encouraged to participate actively in the group discussions that occur during the studio sessions. Students are required to keep a journal of studio tasks and activities as well as individual development of work for Assessment Tasks.
RESEARCH
Students are expected to conduct independent research supported by recommended texts accessible via UTS Online. Readings assist students to develop essential content knowledge related to both fashion and textile design principles, textile trends and technical systems. Independent research increases student capacity to experiment and develop confidence in testing, justifying and evaluating new and traditional methods of practice.
WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY (WHS)
An emphasis throughout the subject is placed on a professional and sustainable workshop/studio practice. Students are expected to demonstrate professional workshop practice and knowledge of WHS requirements in at all times.
ONLINE COURSEWORK
Resources for this subject are located on UTS Online. These are used to support the learning objectives of this subject. A detailed overview of the pedagogy and associated tasks and assessment items are included in the subject documents. In addition, a comprehensive reading list comprising recommended texts is accessible from UTS Online.
FIELD TRIPS / SITE VISITS
From time to time, students may be required to visit industry specialists or related exhibitions to support their learning. Students will be advised in advance and/or exhibitions will be recommended for students to visit for their research.
FEEDBACK
Students will have several opportunities to receive feedback during the subject. The feedback provided will vary in form, purpose and in its degree of formality. Typically, the format of feedback is verbal and /or written. All feedback on assignments will be cross-reference to the briefing/assessment documents
Formative feedback will be provided during the learning process, typically provided verbally by the subject's teaching staff during studio sessions. It will address the content of work and a student's approach to learning, both in general and more specific ‘assessment orientated’ terms. It is designed to help students improve their performance in time for the submission of an assessment item. For this to occur students need to respond constructively to the feedback provided. This involves critically reflecting on advice given and in response altering the approach taken to a given assessment. Formative feedback may also, on occasion, be provided by other students. It is delivered informally, either in conversation during a tutorial or in the course of discussion at the scale of the whole class. It is the student’s responsibility to record any feedback given during meetings or studio sessions.
Summative feedback is provided in written form with all assessed work. It is published along with indicative grades online at UTS REVIEW. Summative feedback focuses on assessment outcomes. It is used to indicate how successfully a student has performed in terms of specific assessment criteria. Feedback, grades and assessment criteria will also be available to students via the REVIEW assessment system 2-3 weeks after the submission date.
Content (topics)
- Contemporary Context for Emerging Fashion Design Professionals: The current cultural context for emerging fashion designers.
- Production of Cohesive Self Branding Across Digital and Print Platforms: Creation of a visual language in fashion design.
- Fashion Design Industry Processes and Systems.
- Professional Network of Creatives: Collaboration and working with other creatives to develop Fashion specific outcomes.
- Fashion Publication.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Digital Portfolio
|Intent:|| |
This Assessment Task can be downloaded from UTSonline. Students will develop a body of work that will sit alongside their final collection to provide a system of communication of fashion design work to the public, to stakeholders and other professionals. This assessment task is aimed at engaging with skills and confidence across multiple visual platforms and industry engagements to develop collateral as emerging Fashion Designers.
|Objective(s):|| |
This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:
1, 3, 4, 6 and 7
This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):
A.1, I.1, I.2, P.2 and P.3
|Type:||Portfolio|
|Groupwork:||Individual|
|Weight:||50%|
|Criteria linkages:|| |
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes
Assessment task 2: Emerging Designer Profile
|Intent:|| |
This Assessment Task can be downloaded from UTSOnline. This assessment task is aimed at fostering a collaborative approach to understanding design work, engaging other interpretations and insights into the ideas and designs that you are developing for your final collection. Students will produce Documentation and Designer Profile based on completed work by one of their peers for 83923: Fashion Concept Lab.
|Objective(s):|| |
This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:
2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9
This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):
C.3, I.1, P.1, P.2, R.1 and R.2
|Type:||Portfolio|
|Groupwork:||Individual|
|Weight:||50%|
|Criteria linkages:|| |
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes
Minimum requirements
Students are required to attend all lectures and studios scheduled. The Faculty of DAB expects students to attend 80% of all classes for all enrolled subjects as achievement of the subject's aims and successful completion of assessment tasks is considerably difficult if classes are not attended. Where assessment tasks are to be presented personally in class, attendance is mandatory.
Recommended texts
Readings and resources are available on UTSOnline for students.
Berlendi, C. 2011, The Role of Social Media within the Fashion and Luxury Industries, LAP Lambert Academic
Publishing
Bickle, M. 2011, Fashion Marketing: theory, principles & practice, Fairchild, New York
Brookes, A. 2014. Popular Culture : global intercultural perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Bruzzi, S & Gibson-Clarke, P. 2000. Fashion Cultures, Theories, Explorations and Analysis. Routledge Publishers, London.
Bubonia-Clarke, J. 2007, Developing and Branding the Fashion Merchandising Portfolio, Fairchild Publications, New
York
Griffiths, I & White, N. 2000. The Fashion Business: Theory, Practice and Image. Berg Publishers, London.
Kawamura, Y. 2005, Fashion-ology : An Introduction to Fashion Studies, Oxford, New York, Berg
Moore, G. 2012, Fashion Promotion: building a brand through marketing and communications, AVA Academia,
Switzerland
Ryan, Z. 2012, Fashion the Object: Bless, Boudicca and Sandra Backlund. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. | http://handbook.uts.edu.au/subjects/details/83922.html |
Position Overview: Job Purpose
We are growing at Oversight and adding a Director of SaaS Support to help us scale up our talented team.
You are an experienced “hands-on” technical leader who promotes a customer-centric support culture and seeks to ensure that every support interaction is best in class. You pride yourself on having a deep understanding of your product, the industry, and what success looks like for the customer. You are passionate about building, leading, and scaling an agile, flexible, and world-class onshore / offshore SaaS support organization by using creative and innovative problem-solving skills and driving continuous improvement.
This is a hands-on technical management role where you’ll need to work with solving customer issues while rapidly growing the support organization.
Recruit, train, develop and lead a growing team of Tier 1 and Tier 2 SaaS Support professionals onshore and offshore
Act as a Player/ Coach to serve as an escalation point for customer issues to ensure they are resolved quickly
Oversee and manage the requests, incidents and problems
Manage and coordinate urgent and complicated support issues
Mature the ticket escalation processes to ensure free flowing information within the organization
Ensure customer feedback is communicated internally to enable ongoing improvement of Oversight products and services
Provide data and reporting of KPI's and trends to others in ad-hoc, weekly, monthly reports and as needed.
10+ years of experience, at least 4 years at a management level capacity scaling teams from 5 to 50 resources to support large enterprise customers
Bachelor’s degree in computer related field preferred
Jira Service Desk Ticketing system or equivalent ticket system experience
RedHat Linux, or other Linux working experience
Working experience with SQL and stored procedures
Basic knowledge of Advanced SQL functionality
Working knowledge of ERP systems and expense management systems preferred
Ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams in a highly dynamic work environment
Current or previous industry certification is a plus
Strong empathy for customers AND passion for driving high growth
This position is located in Atlanta, Georgia.
If this sounds like a good fit for you, please submit your resume to [email protected].
Oversight is the world’s leading provider of AI-based spend management and risk mitigation solutions for large enterprises. Based in Atlanta, GA, Oversight works with many of the world’s most innovative companies and government agencies to digitally transform their spend audit and financial control processes.
Oversight’s AI-powered platform works across our customers’ financial systems to continuously monitor and analyze all spend transactions for fraud, waste, and misuse. With a consolidated, consistent view of risk across their enterprise, customers can prevent financial loss and optimize spend while strengthening the controls that improve compliance. Learn More.
Oversight is an equal opportunity employer. | https://www.oversight.com/careers/job-postings/director-saas-support |
We worked with a major Japanese global corporation during a two-year project to assess the development and introduction of a new module level power electronics product to the US residential solar segment. Since 2009, the global corporation had no experience in the United States solar market and was able to leverage on our regional experience. The corporation benefited from our extended network of customers and vendors across the entire US solar value chain to gather market intelligence and assessment feedback from industry professionals, which served as invaluable input for product development.
The project revolved around three main areas. The first area was commercial where we were able to provide the current market dynamics including products, channels to market, and pricing. The second area was technical where we were able to arrange project visits and key meetings with industry players. The last area was marketing for which we were able to arrange installers training sessions and trade shows collaboration.
This case study is a perfect example of how Industry Insights platform can help companies optimise their go-to-market strategies through primary research and initial market feedback.
CLIENT:
Confidential
YEAR:
2017-2018
ADVISORY SERVICES: | https://www.etiaminsights.com/works/usa-product-development/ |
Au Pair Care. February 11, 2013. (English). -There are many benefits to playing a musical instrument that go beyond improving hand-eye coordination and instilling a sense of responsibility in your child. Some other benefits include doing better in school, increasing attention span and having fun playing familiar songs for an audience of family and friends. It can also improve a child’s ability to socialize with their peers. Truly, the benefits are innumerable. Here’s a list of additional benefits that stem from playing a musical instrument that you won’t want your kids to miss.
- Time Management and Organizational Skills – Practice makes perfect, but you have to make time for practice. Learning to play an instrument requires a child to work on managing their time in order to fit the appropriate amount of practice into their day. In addition, a child must learn to be more organized so they don’t lose or misplace music books or parts of their instrument.
- Focus, Concentration and Determination – Playing an instrument helps improve focus and concentration skills. A child must learn to dedicate a certain amount of attention and focus to learning new notes or chords. Consequently, for them to learn an entire song they will have to assemble all the new notes they have learned. The reward of performing well can increase their level of determination to succeed, as well.
- Goals and Aspirations – It takes discipline to learn to play a musical instrument, and every note produced is another goal met, another triumph along the way. When a child gets into the swing of things, they often become committed to the idea of learning and perfecting a new song they enjoy. This part of the process can promote short term and long term goal-setting habits in a child.
- Sense of Achievement and Confidence – Learning how to read music is like learning a second language, so learning a new instrument is an accomplishment in itself. Conquering every song he tackles is hard work and something he will feel proud of. This will boost his confidence and sense of accomplishment, especially when he begins to learn songs that are familiar or tunes that he loves.
- Stress Relief – Initially, learning a new instrument can be a bit overwhelming and even a bit stressful. Over time, however, as your child becomes more comfortable, it can become a source of stress relief. Playing music that brings joy can help soothe a child. It can also be calming for others to hear them play music.
- Creative Expression – There’s nothing more releasing than learning a song that makes you happy or writing your own music that moves you. Playing an instrument allows your child to be expressive in how they are feeling by using music as an emotional and creative outlet. A child’s personality and talents can shine when they are allowed to be creative with music.
- Patience – Learning a new instrument takes patience. Mistakes are repeated many times before getting an entire song down pat. The process of learning through small triumphs and defeats teaches a child to have patience and to be diligent. They will begin to understand that with time and practice, they can achieve greatness.
- Improved Memory, Reading and Comprehension – Playing an instrument with sheet music requires constant reading and comprehension. Seeing notes and chords on the page and translating them to finger positions takes skill and committing them to memory takes persistence.
- Being a Team Player – Playing an instrument in a school band teaches a child to be a team player just as well as being on the football or basketball team. Each instrument has its own part and place in a song, and in order to participate in an ensemble a child will be forced to learn the art of working with others as a team to meet a common goal.
- Better Grades – A child who is taught music has been exposed to the necessary skills of concentration, focus and patience. These are abilities that tend to translate to above-average academic performance, as proven by a report released by the College Entrance Examination Board, which showed that students with a musical background outperformed their non-arts peers on the SAT and other standardized tests.
Playing a musical instrument promotes a child’s self-esteem by improving several key skills and habits. But most of all, playing a musical instrument is fun and exciting for kids. Children learn to overcome challenges in the process of learning an instrument, which spills over into a greater level of patience. Playing a musical instrument is a cycle of creative outlet and discipline that will likely carry on later in life. | https://kzjournal.kidzania.com/2013/02/11/10-benefits-of-playing-a-musical-instrument-parents-wont-want-their-kids-to-miss/ |
Coloring pages is useful for the development of children some of those benefits are:
* Increases self-esteem and self-confidence by coloring, as a child accomplishes a challenge and finishes the task. In addition to the fun of playing with colors, It also develops the self-assurance of children.
* Painting and coloring encourage creativity and self-expression by expressing their feelings, emotions, and ideas and develop the creative side of the brain through imaginative ideas.
* It helps develop muscle control, and hand strength and builds fine motor skills by gripping a paintbrush, sketching lines, squeezing a paint tube, or mixing colors.
* Children make decisions regarding how they choose to represent an idea, This helps developing the focus by putting their ideas and fantasies to the test.
* As in meditation and mindfulness coloring and painting can be relaxing to the Child, Which we probably notice when we see kids focusing on their piece of art. | https://cutecolors.com/kids-benefits.html |
Mindfulness practice helps individuals develop a greater capacity to be aware of their thoughts, feelings and actions in real time. So often our minds run on autopilot and we are left feeling that we are not in control or our own thoughts, leading to greater stress and anxiety. Mindfulness practice aims to slow down this process which enables us to regain focus and a better sense of control over our thoughts.
Develop the ability to experience unpleasant emotions safely.
Mood enhancement, most notably peace and calmness. | https://www.simplerecovery.com/services/meditation-mindfulness/ |
Positive discipline approaches help students learn—and practice—social and emotional skills, develop healthy relationships with peers and adults, and resolve disagreements in socially acceptable ways.
Although exclusionary discipline plays an important role in maintaining school safety, we now know suspending or expelling students for nonviolent behaviors (such as truancy, failure to follow directions, or disrespect) removes them from important learning opportunities.
Building a Positive Environment for All
When a school community creates a welcoming, emotionally supportive learning environment, everyone wins.
Students will develop a sense of belonging, which will help them learn important social and emotional skills and achieve academic success. Educators will strengthen their relationships with all students and have fewer discipline problems in their classrooms. Both teachers and students will experience less stress and greater satisfaction with their school.
To make this vision a reality, school and district leaders should offer teachers professional learning opportunities related to using culturally responsive practices, creating emotionally supportive classrooms, and using trauma-informed practices.
Shifting discipline practices to focus on teaching may require changing both policies and practices. A new training series from REL Northwest can help schools and districts do that.
Implementing Changes
The series provides resources to help school and district teams use data to identify areas of concern related to the overuse of exclusionary discipline or disproportionality in assigning discipline to student groups, such as students of color or students with disabilities.
The series also helps teams use evidence to identify interventions, develop an action plan, track their effectiveness, and inform improvement decisions. It is meant to complement—not compete with—current school discipline practices and social and emotional learning approaches.
Specifically, the training series provides resources to help school and district teams take the following steps to improve their school discipline policies and practices:
- Review school discipline policies and parent handbooks to ensure they address social and emotional learning. These documents provide an important way to communicate your values to students and families and welcome them to your school. They also offer important guidance to schools on how to respond to behavioral issues using proactive teaching approaches and when suspension or expulsion may be considered.
- Use data to identify schoolwide problems, as well as equity concerns for student groups. Data will help your school pinpoint problems that require intervention, such as overuse of exclusionary discipline for nonviolent behaviors or disproportionately high rates of suspension for certain student groups. Data will also help your school monitor progress toward reducing these problems and, if necessary, indicate whether your school discipline approach needs to be changed.
- Learn the perspectives of students, educators, and families. Understanding what is working to promote a positive, supportive school climate, as well as areas that require improvements and recommendations for making these improvements, requires incorporating the voice of all members of the school community. This is an essential step for successful implementation of school discipline practices.
- Use evidence-based practices. When addressing school discipline problems, regardless of whether they affect the entire school or a specific student group, use research-based practices. In addition, be sure the selected practices are a good fit for the culture, needs, and preferences of your school community. | https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/northwest/blog/positive-school-environment.asp |
My life changed in 1997.
And then went out and bought my own copy.
I went on to read many things Richard Foster has written. He speaks to me. He sparked something inside that resonated within my spirit. From Richard Foster was a natural flow into reading Dallas Willard’s Spirit of the Disciplines. Soon I found myself attending The Renovare Institute for Spiritual Formation. And I found the people I wanted to be like. People striving to know God more fully. People willing to learn and to practice new/old ways to experience God.
Discipline is a bad word in our world. It hints of punishment, of sacrifice, and something we “should” do, but really hate the idea of starting. What would it look like to see the word “discipline” as a good word, something positive and life giving? Perhaps Spiritual Practices is more palatable. But the sense of the word is the same: discipline, in general, helps us to move forward, to grow and mature. Discipline, specifically in a spiritual sense, helps us to know God more fully.
[pullquote width=”300″ float=”left”]The idols of pleasure, accomplishment, power, and food are potent. They obscure my view of God.[/pullquote]I need and desire discipline in my life. Not because I can gain or earn anything more from God. I know He is crazy about me- He says I’m the apple of His eye. I know that I am securely held in the palms of His hands by the grace He has given to me through salvation. What more can a girl ask for?
So why do I need to practice the Spiritual Disciplines? Because my flesh is weak. My tongue can quickly bypass my sense of discernment. My eyes see flashy things. My appetite is never satisfied. What I’ve learned about the disciplines is this: They help me smash the idols that keep popping up in my life.
The idols of pleasure, accomplishment, power, and food are potent. They obscure my view of God. I’ve been a Christian a long time… my heart of stone has been replaced by a heart of flesh. I have a new Spirit residing in me that helps me discern good from evil. Yet I am still susceptible to Idol worship.
Paul’s encouragement can only be accomplished by practice, practice, and more practice. You can’t win, much less even run, a marathon unless you train yourself. But we do this in the Christian life. We assume that it’s easy and we can just sit back without any effort to learn and to mature. We think our spiritual maturity will occur by osmosis. However, in reality, our lack of effort results in frustration with ourselves and this life we desire, but can’t quite realize.
Our goal is knowing Christ more fully and, as a result, becoming more like Him. So we train one step at a time. It’s not easy. Discipline is hard work from the moment you decide to start to the place where you decide to continue. The Spiritual Disciplines are our tools helping us attain this goal, and honestly, be patient with yourself because it takes a lifetime.
This is our hope and cause for celebration.
If you want to know more about the Spiritual Disciplines, begin with reading one or both of the books I’ve mentioned above. Seek out others who are like minded and will journey along with you. Sometimes it is helpful to speak with a Spiritual Director who will come alongside you as you follow this path of becoming more like Christ.
Recognizing and smashing idols….truly worth celebrating!!
Just the encouragement I needed this morning: from the truth about idols, to the truth about the tools I already have, chiefly Holy Spirit within & confident hope from God, to crush them.
Before putting faith in Christ, I was part of a volunteer team at a church I attended in Colorado. This volunteer team also met for study. I was invited to participate in this study, this study was through the book “Celebration of Discipline.” At that same time, a friend had also given me “Through Gates of Splendor.” Imagine a non-believer reading these two books at the same time! The two were instrumental in changing my life, and both are at the top of my all time favorite book list. And Dallas Willard’s book, well, there aren’t enough words.
Your commitment to helping others in this realm of disciplines is much needed. I appreciate the reminder of how important the training is as we run toward the ultimate prize.
Great reminder about how discipline can be a pleasure with the right heart. I forget that sometimes.
“we train one step at a time.” Yeah, but I want it right now! I don’t think I am ever more joyful as when I am in spiritual training. Not the facts and figures and memorizing, as much as the discipline of just sitting in that one step I just took. Thank, Beck, for taking the steps down this road to remind us to stay faithful to the road toward God.
Whenever I’m disciplined in anything it’s a cause for celebration! | https://graceandsuch.com/discipline-a-celebration/ |
Advancing Australia’s VET Sector – curated industry news #03 2022
Some progressive changes afoot at ASQA in the past month, which is great to see – with an objective to support the continued elevation of excellence in delivering quality VET in Australia and in ensuring the integrity of national qualifications, as well as a keen focus on the self-assurance of registered training organisations.
ASQA welcomed the appointment of members to the inaugural National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Advisory Council at the beginning of April.
“ASQA’s purpose is to ensure quality VET so that students, employers, governments, and the community have confidence in the integrity of national qualifications issued by training providers.” said ASQA CEO, Saxon Rice
“The appointment of the Advisory Council will facilitate continuous improvement of ASQA’s governance practices and improve ASQA’s access to high-level ongoing expert advice, including in relation to ASQA’s strategic objectives and approach to regulation. Our overarching goal is to move from input and compliance controls, to a focus on self-assurance and excellence in training outcomes.”
Additionally, ASQA has joined eight national regulators operating cost recovery models to review and develop best practice regulator performance.
ASQA is also participating in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s (PM&C) cost recovery review, which aims to improve regulator performance and accountability.
The PM&C’s Best Practice Cost Recovery Project brings 9 national regulators operating cost recovery models together to review best practice regulator performance. The project will review how regulators use cost recovery to inform their decisions around resource allocation, regulatory performance, and organisational design ahead of ASQA’s operation as a full cost recovery agency from 1 July 2022.
As part of this process, ASQA has developed a draft model for self-assurance, through a co-design process with the sector. | http://rtoadvance.com.au/advancing-australias-vet-sector-curated-industry-news-03-2022/ |
Passion to Succeed.
Mission
To develop winners with character.
Purpose Of CCA
- The CCA Programme provides students with a platform to discover their interests and talents. Well-organised and implemented, they can fuel in the individual a life-long love for a particular activity, be it a sport or a musical pursuit. This helps the individual to lead a balanced life in adulthood.
- Each CCA has its specific objectives. For instance, Physical Sports (PS) develop robustness, fair play and team spirit in pupils. The Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) instil in students a sense of graciousness and an appreciation for the rich culture and heritage of a multi-racial society. Uniformed Group (UG) activities aim to make good citizens of students by inculcating in them self-reliance, resilience, discipline and a spirit of service to others. Clubs and Societies (CS) allow students to explore and extend their interests in wide ranging and specialised areas which may be knowledge-based or skills-based. Students are honed in information, communication and technical skills as they strive to grow their mastery of the specialised areas.
- Students progressively develop CCA-specific knowledge, skills, values and attitudes through sustained participation in any of the CCA groups. CCA also offer excellent platforms for students to learn core values, social and emotional competencies and the emerging 21st Century Competencies.
- All CCA emphasise social interaction by providing a common space for friendships and social integration amongst students of diverse backgrounds. Through CCA, students develop a sense of identity and belonging to the school.
- Schools enable all students to have active and meaningful CCA participation when they provide a balanced, inclusive and diverse CCA programme which caters to a broad spectrum of interests and talents.
CCA in Evergreen
Co-Curricular Activities in Evergreen Secondary School is COMPULSORY.
Every student must take part in one school-based CCA, which can be from the Physical Sports, Uniformed Group, Visual & Performing Arts or Clubs & Societies. Participation in a second CCA may be allowed, subject to regular attendance in first CCA, good academic performance and not more than 3 days of CCA in a week. Students who are keen to experience the different CCA in school may opt for a change at the beginning of each academic year.
LEAPS 2.0
LEAPS 2.0 is a framework to recognise secondary school students’ holistic development. Students will be recognised with levels of attainment in four domains: Participation, Achievement, Leadership and Service.
Participation
This domain recognises students’ participation in one school-based Co-Curricular Activity (CCA). Recognition is based on the number of years of participation and exemplary conduct and active contribution to the CCA. Sustained engagement in the same CCA allows for progressive development of character, skills, knowledge and friendships, and will be accorded higher recognition.
Service
This domain recognises students’ development as socially responsible citizens who contribute meaningfully to the community. Every secondary school student will contribute at least 6 hours per school year to the community. They can choose to embark on a Values-In-Action project (VIA). Students will be recognised for the time they put into planning, service and reflection, when participating in a VIA project.
Leadership
This domain recognises students’ leadership development. Recognition is accorded to students’ ability to take charge of personal development, work in a team and assume responsibilities in service of others. In addition to formal leadership appointments, participation in student leadership modules/workshops, the National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) and leadership positions in the school, CCA or student-initiated/student-led projects will also be recognised.
Achievement
This domain recognises students’ representation and accomplishment in co-curricular involvements beyond the classroom. Opportunities for representation and accomplishment present valuable learning experiences for students to learn discipline, resilience and develop their character. Students may represent the school or organisations endorsed by the school. Recognising external opportunities better caters to students’ diverse interests and talents. It also recognises the community’s role in developing the child.
Representation refers to being selected and endorsed by the school or an organisation endorsed by the school (e.g. the community club or national association) to contribute, perform or compete. It need not be tied to his/her CCA in school.
Accomplishment refers to attaining accolades and awards at competitions, festivals, performances, exhibitions, conferences and symposiums where the student represents the school or other organisations endorsed by the school.
Recognition of Students’ Level of Attainment
At the end of the graduating year, students’ co-curricular attainment will be recognised according to Excellent/Good/Fair. The level of attainment will be converted to a bonus point(s) which can be used for admission to Junior Colleges/ Polytechnics/ Institutes of Education (JC/Poly/ITE).
Please note that these bonus points are used to determine the net aggregate scores of students during posting to post-secondary institutions. They are not taken into consideration in determining whether applicants are eligible for specific courses in post-secondary institutions.
|Co-Curricular Attainment||Details|
|Excellent
|
(2 bonus points)
|Student who attains a minimum Level 3 in all four domains with at least a Level 4 in one domain.|
|Good
|
(1 bonus point)
|Student who attains a minimum Level 1 in all four domains with any one of the following:
|
i. At least Level 2 in three domains;
ii. At least Level 2 in one domain and at least Level 3 in another domain; or
iii. At least Level 4 in one domain.
|Fair||Student’s attainment in co-curricular will not translate into any bonus points.|
For more details, please click link below.
https://www.moe.gov.sg/docs/default-source/document/education/programmes/co-curricular-activities/leaps-2.pdf
Key CCA Highlights
LEAPS stands for Leadership, Enrichment, Achievement, Participation and Service. LEAPS 2.0 builds on the LEAPS system to better reflect MOE’s current emphasis on Student-Centric, Values-Driven education.
School-based CCA refers to CCA that are organised within the school or have been endorsed by the school.
Schools have processes in place to determine ‘exemplary conduct and active contribution’ with respect to their school’s context. | https://evergreensec.moe.edu.sg/departments/co-curricular-activities/ |
In the United States Marine Corps (USMC) thirteen week bootcamp, many lessons are imparted to recruits from their drill instructors. One more recent lesson specifically designed by the USMC is to awaken a recruit’s internal locus of control. This is the belief that people can influence their future by the choices they make in the present. Studies have shown that internal locus of control can be linked to greater academic success, higher social maturity and self motivation, less stress and depression, and longer life span. USMC recruits are given opportunities to make decisions for themselves as an individual and a platoon, so they can start to realize how powerful it feels to be in charge of their lives. When faced with a decision, drill instructors want their recruits to make decisions during boot camp, even if it goes carries consequences. The Marines call this a “bias toward action.” This approach is extremely helpful when Marines are in a battle and they need to make their own decisions in real time.
Mansfield Hall’s coaching model operates in a similar manner to hopefully increase students’ internal locus of control. For many of our students, it is their first time away from home and they are not used to making many decisions throughout their day or semester. Having a new found ability to make many different choices surrounding time management, academics, what to eat, or where to go can be daunting at first. This is what we refer to as “the landing period.” The staff provide a comfortable buffer for students in this area through different coaching sessions or just having a presence in the building for students to ask questions or help problem solve.
The staff at Mansfield Hall have a similar role to drill instructors. What we lack in bulging muscles and extremely angry facial expressions, we make up for in patience and empathy. We work really hard to establish relationships with students through various means: having meals, going on weekend trips, helping with academics, playing games, etc. Also our approach using Motivational Interviewing (MI) helps students to be in charge of their decisions and goals. MI’s research based approach is student-centered and non-directive. Mansfield Hall staff coach students to look at their behaviors or goals to see where they want to make changes, and we help the student to explore various strategies that lead them closer to their goals.
As a staff member, it is incredibly rewarding to reflect on the difference between a student at the start of the first semester and now as we start the second semester. They are able to make so many more of the decisions that would have been challenging in July or August. The second semester is when many students can really start to take over more ownership of their goals or areas of focus as they have had the first semester to land and gotten used to a “bias toward action.”
Another great thing drill instructors do for the recruits during boot camp is by asking the question “Why?”. Recruits go through many long days of difficult and arduous work to become a Marine. Drill instructors often ask “Why are enduring this long run?” or “Why are you completing push ups?” or “Why are you crawling through the mud?” Many recruits come into bootcamp with greater goals then to be able to run a longer distance or do more pushups. They might have goals to have more discipline in their lives, get an education later, be a better husband/wife or father/mother. Drill instructors help recruits connect the difficult moment they are presently enduring to their larger goals or values. Anytime someone can make an unpleasant task or chore into a meaningful decision, greater self-motivation will emerge allowing the person to push through and accomplish the mundane or difficult task. This feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction from getting through a difficult moment provides a sense of accomplishment and helps to increase their ability to complete a similar or more challenging task in the future. Mansfield Hall provides the same opportunity for our students with learning disabilities such as ADHD and Asperger’s. Students and staff work closely together throughout the days and evenings constantly connecting the present moment to identified larger goals. Any time a staff member can help a student answer a question such as, “Why is it important for me to come to SST tonight?” or “Why do I need to exercise?” or “Why would I want to play ‘Exploding Kittens’?” by connecting it to their larger life goals, it works to increase the likelihood that they will follow through. Obviously, staff at Mansfield Hall can’t make any choices for students, nor would we want to. Our job is to work hard to show students the choices they make now are important for the future and their goals.
Authored by Mansfield Hall- Burlington’s Drill Sergeant and Director of Student Life, Bryan Wilkinson
Information from this blog post was taken from Charles Duhigg’s chapter on motivation in his book, Smarter, Faster, Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity (2016). | https://mansfieldhall.org/coaching-diverse-learners-success/ |
At St Edward’s, we recognise the importance of giving our students the opportunity to enrich their learning outside of the classroom and believe that engagement in co-curricular clubs and societies is key to their development.
Co-curricular clubs and societies are a great way to ignite interest and engage our students in new hobbies, as well as extend the work completed in lessons. By nurturing existing interests and encouraging new and exciting passions our students are able flourish into the rounded, community minded young adults that St Edward’s students are.
A comprehensive list of the co-curricular activities on offer is provided to students and parents each term. In addition to our wide range of clubs and societies. Supervised study is also available every day after school from 4.15pm to 5:30pm (with extension to 6pm for those making use of the late bus service).
Co-Curricular Categories
Our co-curricular programme is designed around six categories of activity:
|Category||Description||Clubs and Society Examples|
|Physical||Physical activities help students to develop fundamental movement skills and physical literacy. There are opportunities to learn and master both core and advanced skills in a variety of activities and sports. Activities also help to improve students’ teamwork and develop leadership skills.||
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|Creative||Being creative helps students to become better problem solvers in all areas of their life and work. Instead of coming from a linear, logical approach, creativity helps you see things differently and better deal with uncertainty.||
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|Community and Service||Volunteering can provide a healthy boost to students’ self-confidence, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Doing good for others and the community, provides a natural sense of accomplishment and a volunteer role can enhance to a sense of pride identity.||
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|Academic||Academic activities encourage students to develop their intellectual curiosity, expand their depth of knowledge in a particular area and develop the key skills needed for successful independent study.||
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|Well-being||A range of activities focussed on helping students to focus on self-awareness, providing them with a healthy means of defining their identities in positive and proactive ways.||
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|Interest||Our Interest activities provide students with an opportunity to try new and exciting things they might not have had the opportunity to experience before. It also allows our teachers to share their passions with the students.||
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<br\>The activities on offer enable our students to broaden their horizons and develop a skill set suited to the modern world. We greatly appreciate it when parents encourage their children to get involved and attend as many clubs and societies throughout the week as possible. Clubs run before school, at lunchtime and after school and therefore are a great way to positively extend the school day. | https://www.stedwards.co.uk/senior/co-curricular/ |
Student Wellbeing is at the centre of all our actions and interactions at Flemington Primary School: teacher-child; teacher-parent; teacher-teacher; child to child.
There are many elements to wellbeing, some dependent on the age and year level of the child; others dependent on the family circumstances.
FPS Child Protection Reporting Obligations
In 2015, Flemington Primary School commenced involvement in the State-wide Positive Behaviours in Schools project. Our Welfare team are using our agreed school values developed in 2014 with the new Strategic Plan:
BE YOUR BEST: Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Respectful & Be Ready to Learn
to develop a matrix of expected behaviours in all places around the school.
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/participation/Pages/wholeschoolengage.aspx
The whole school focus on Prevention and Intervention.
We aim to empower individuals and teams to enable a sense of connectedness, purpose and enthusiasm for learning and life. We attempt to help build self confidence, self esteem and resilience in order for our students to approach new experiences, opportunities and challenges with self-assurance and energy.
Our focus is on expectations rather than rules, consequences rather than punishments and problem solving rather that conflict. Our discussions with children is characterised by expressions such as getting along, cooperation and respect.
At the commencement of eacfh year, all children, teachers and grades follow a classroom culture of respect, co-operation and positive relationships. We provide a child centred, developmentally appropriate learning environment that recognises, fosters and promotes the intellectual, social, emotional and physical development of each child. We understand that many children have unique wellbeing and learning needs and we are committed to addressing these needs.
2. The Buddy Program - Students in Year 4 are assigned buddies in the Prep classes and mentor them over the first 3 years of school. The Buddies meet regularly in the first weeks of school, eating play lunch together, reading with them and providing a friendly face at lunchtimes. As Year 4 students, this assists with developing leadership skills but also allows a long term friendship to grow.
4. Positive Behaviours - the student behaviour and discipline program is based on a combination of the "Solving the Jigsaw", Naming It! and "Cool, Weak, Aggro" strategies. Students are encoouraged to be confident and name inappropriate behaviours, seek help from an adult and report problems to their teachers. They are also encouraged to think about their behaviurs and responses to situations, and to refer to the You Can Do It! catastrophe scale.
Any incident of physical or verbal aggression or bullying are dealt with immediately by the Principal or Assistant Principal.
5. eSmart - as part of our ICT Code of Conduct, all children are taught about safe and appropriate use of techology. In later years this also includes cyber safety and being eSmart. Guest speakers advise the children and their parents on eSmart practices and safe use of social media.
6. A clear Anti-Bullying Policy which supports the DEECD strategy 'Safe Schools are Effective Schools'. This highlights that every student has the right to feel safe from bullying at school. | https://www.flemingtonps.vic.edu.au/page/78/Student--Wellbeing- |
Fletcher (2011) suggests the following steps:
Books, especially children’s books, can be an effective tool for alerting students to the different techniques that make writing effective and memorable. Choose books that you enjoy reading and that contain the specific technique(s) you would like your students to develop.
- Initially read the chosen book for pleasure.
- Reread the book with a specific focus on the different writing technique(s) used by the author. Students can make a note of words, phrases or sentences they like and of special techniques used by the author that they found particularly effective. The starting point might be to use sticky notes to locate these sections and to annotate the effect it had on the student as a reader.
- Students now create their own piece of writing using similar techniques.
- I suggest taking this process one step further, and as a teacher or parent model the technique first before expecting students to create their own piece.
Shubitz (2012) suggests using picture books because they are:
- Short – you can read and analyse them quickly.
- Visual – help support comprehension.
- Engaging – especially important for reluctant readers and writers.
- Concept builders – provide an accessible medium for discussing difficult or sensitive topics.
In addition, picture books often have layers of meaning and complexity, allowing you to return to them with a different focus or to ‘dig deeper’ depending on the age of the students.
Students don’t need to write a full story every time. Starting and ending a story can be a very difficult skills. You can teach strategies for starting and ending stories as individual skills and practise these skills in isolation. Compare the different technique used by different authors for starting their story – it might be speech, a description of a setting or a character, etc. Have your students write the same starting story-line, but each time using a different technique. Then do the same with concluding a story.
Other Techniques to Investigate
- Using dialogue to advance the story
- Surprise endings – making a twist
- Taking readers into the past
- Using punctuation to create voice, suspense, surprise, emotion
- Using repetition to emphasises a point or build tension
- Create a picture for the reader
- Develop characters – consider appearance, attitudes, values, speech, how they are perceived by others
- Development of the structure of the story – beginning, middle, end
- Movement of time – passing of time during the day, week, month, year
- Varied sentence length – creates interest
- Code switching – using words from another language (real or imaginary)
- Exploring accomplishment or discovery – story ends by saying how character has changed/what they have learnt, etc
- Using sensory imagery – smell, touch, taste, sight – helps images come alive
- Pivot point – a key element that changes character, sequence of events, etc
- Circular story – story ends where it began
- Compare and contrast – characters or settings – highlights differences
- Power of three – repeating word, phrase or sentence three times to emphasise and draw attention to this element of the story
- Change to fonts – darker, italics, different font – emphasis, emotion, create tension
- Setting – vivid and detailed description – time period, weather, location, buildings, flora and fauna, etc.
- Leading with action (+ing) – results in a sentence with two verbs – creates a sense of movement
- Sharing a secret – insider information – hooks in reader – sense of being a part of the story
- Including rhyme – rhyming couplets
- Finish with action – key characters goes and does something
- Internal thinking – sharing character’s thoughts helps reader understand their actions and choices
- Similes, personification, metaphors
- Vivid and powerful verbs
- Emotional adjectives
More Ideas
- Build stamina for writing – begin with 10 minutes and gradually increase.
- Give strategies to overcome excuses like ‘writer’s block’.
- Have spare pencils, pens and rubbers – sharpening pencils shouldn’t be an excuse for stopping writing.
Click here for more narrative writing resources.
References
Anderson, C. (2000). How’s it Going? A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Fletcher, R. (2011). Mentor, Author, Mentor Texts: Short Texts, Craft Notes, and Practical Classroom Uses. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. | https://crackingtheabccodeusa.com/using-books-to-improve-narrative-writing-skills/ |
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