The planet Mars Essay Example for Free

The planet Mars Essay The atmosphere above the surface of Mars is about 100 times less dense than the atmosphere of Earth. The Martian atmosphere is dense enough to support a weather system that includes clouds and winds. According to experts, Mars roller coaster-like weather is more chaotic and unpredictable than scientists first thought. At times, the sky can appear pink and cloudless, filled with windblown dust raised from the rusty Martian surface. Tremendous dust storms sometimes rage over the entire planet. Most of the dust storms occur during the perihelion when Mars is closest to the sun. In addition, the dust storms continue to dominate the atmosphere and climate during the aphelion when Mars is furthest from the sun. Perihelion and aphelion occur every Mars year, which equals two Earth years. (Mars Atmosphere, 2002) Mars is much colder than Earth. The average temperature on Mars is about -80  °F (-60  °C).Temperatures at the Martian surface vary from as low as about -195  °F (-125  °C) near the poles during the winter to as much as 70  °F (20  °C) at midday near the equator. (Mars Science, 2000) These shifts in climate are caused by three factors: Mars thin atmosphere, its elliptical orbit around the sun, and strong climatic interactions between dust and water ice clouds in the atmosphere. Mars atmosphere is so thin that it weighs less than 1 percent of Earths atmosphere. Because Mars atmosphere is so paper-thin and there are no oceans to store up heat from the sun, the planets temperatures respond more quickly and intensely to surface changes and atmospheric heating by the sun. There are also much larger annual changes in sunlight falling on Mars than on Earth, because Mars distance from the sun varies by 20 percent in its orbit around the sun every two years. (Mars Science, 2000) Mars has many of the kinds of surface features that are common on Earth. These include plains, canyons, and volcanoes. Overall, craters occur throughout the surface of Mars, while they are rare on Earth. In addition, fine-grained reddish dust covers almost all the Martian surface. Many regions of Mars consist of flat, low-lying plains. Most of these areas are in the northern hemisphere. They may be so smooth because they were  built up from deposits of sediment. There is evidence that water once flowed across the Martian surface. The water would have tended to collect in the lowest spots on the planet and thus would have deposited sediments there. Near the equator of Mars, there are is a string of canyons known as Valles Marineris. Scientists believe that they were formed by the crust of the surface being stretched and ultimately split. Volcanoes appear throughout the planet. Many of these volcanoes resemble volcanoes that are in Hawaii. Their slopes rise gradually and they are referred to as shield volcanoes. They were formed from eruptions of lavas that can flow for long distances before solidifying. (The Surface of Mars, 2002) Martian craters are similar to craters on Earths moon. The craters have deep, bowl-shaped floors and raised rims. Some large craters have central peaks that form when the crater floor rebounds upward after an impact. Much of the surface of the southern hemisphere is extremely old, and it contains many craters. Other parts of the surface, especially in the northern hemisphere, are younger and thus have fewer craters. (Mars, 2002) References The Surface of Mars. (2002). Canyons and plains. [Online]. Available: http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/mars/surface.html Mars Atmosphere. (2002). [Online]. Available: http://chapters.marssociety.org/polska/mars_atmosphere.html

Examining Crime And Gender Crimes Committed Criminology Essay

Examining Crime And Gender Crimes Committed Criminology Essay Criminology has treated womens role in crime with a large measure of indifference. The intellectual tradition from which criminology derives its conception of these sexes maintains esteem for mens autonomy, intelligence and force of character while disdaining women for their weaknesses of compliance and passivity. Women who conform as pure, obedient daughters, wives and mothers benefit men and society (Feinman, 1994: 16). Those women who dont, that is are non-conforming, may simply be one who questions established beliefs or practices, or one who engages in activities associated with men, or one who commits a crime. These women are doubly damned and doubly deviant (Bottoms, 1996: 1). They are seen as mad not bad (Lloyd, 1995: 36). These behaviors frequently lead to interpretations of being mentally abnormal and unstable. Those doing the defining, by the very act, are never defined as other, but are the norm. As men are the norm, women are deviant. Women are defined in reference to me n (Lloyd, 1995: xvii). In the words of Young (1990), sexual difference is one of the ways in which normal is marked out from deviant (Young, 1990: ix). So why do these differences exist within the criminal justice system and society as a whole? In order to understand why offending and punishment differs between genders it is important to acknowledge and analyses past perceptions, theories and perspectives from predominant sociologists and criminologists of that time towards women in society. Up until the turn of the century, women were primarily perceived as sexual objects and expected to remain within male dominated ideologies such as homemaker, carer and nurturer taking second place after men (Oakley, 1985: 56). Women who strayed from the norm were severely punished, void of any opportunities to explain their actions. Perhaps interventions from Elizabeth Fry in the early nineteenth century campaigning for women to be housed in separate prisons from men and offered rehabilitation could be marked as the starting point for intense studies being conducted into relationships between women and crime. The conception at that time was that women must be protected from, rather than held responsible for their criminal actions. Unfortunately, such intervention only caused coaxing rather than coercion, that is, women became segregated even more as individual members of their community (Bardsley, 1987: 37). Later in the late nineteenth century, Lombroso and Ferrero (1895) wrote a book called, The Female Offender. Their theories were based on atavism. Atavism refers to the belief that all individuals displaying anti-social behaviour were biological throwbacks (Smart, 1978: 32). The born female criminal was perceived to have the criminal qualities of the male plus the worst characteristics of women. According to Lombroso and Ferrero (1895), these included deceitfulness, cunning and spite among others and were not apparent among males. This appeared to indicate that criminal women were genetically more male than female, therefore biologically abnormal. Criminality in men was a common feature of their natural characteristics, whereby women, their biologically-determined nature was antithetical to crime. Female social deviants or criminals who did not act according to pre-defined standards were diagnosed as pathological and requiring treatment, they were to be cured or removed (Lombroso and Ferrero, 1895: 43). Other predominant theorists such as Thomas (1907) and later, Pollack (1961), believed that criminality was a pathology and socially induced rather than biologically inherited. As Thomas (1967) says, the girl as a child does not know she has any particular value until she learns it from others (Thomas, 1967: 68). Pollack (1961) believed, it is the learned behaviour from a very young age that leads girls into a masked character of female criminality, that is, how it was and still is concealed through under-reporting and low detection rates of female offenders. He further states, in our male-dominated culture, women have always been considered strange, secretive and sometimes dangerous (Pollack, 1961: 149). A greater leniency towards women by police and the justice system needs to be addressed especially if a true equality of genders is to be achieved in such a complicated world . Although it may be true that society has changed since the days of Lombroso and Ferrero, past theories appear to remain within much of todays criminal justice system. Women have so many choices of which they didnt before. It would appear naive to assume that women and crime may be explained by any one theory. Any crime for that matter, whether male or female, may not be explained by any one theory. It is an established and non-arguable fact that males and females differ biologically and sociological influences, such as gender-specific role-playing appears to continue within most families. Its a matter of proportion not difference. According to Edwards (1984), the enemy is within every woman, but is not her reproductive biology, rather it is the habit regarding it into which she has been led by centuries of male domination (Edwards, 1984: 91). Many argue, the main culprit for aggression as seen in many men is testosterone. This hormone appears responsible for much of the male crime, even in todays society of increased knowledge on the subject. In contrast, extensive research over the past twenty-five years done on the testosterone/aggression link focusing on prenatal testosterone predisposing boys to be rougher than girls, concluded it was very difficult to show any connection between testosterone and aggressive behaviour (Lloyd, 1995: 26). Cross-cultural studies of ninety-five societies revealed fourty -seven percent of them were free of rape while at least thirty-three societies were free of war and interpersonal violence was extremely rare (Meidzian, 1992: 74). Based on these studies, it may be evident to suggest that sociological factors and environmental influences appear to have greater credibility in explaining criminal behaviour, whether male or female. As most women commit crimes of a lesser violent nature such as shop-lifting, leniency is given to them from law enforcement officers and judges. It is true that many women use their femininity to their advantage which makes it very difficult to argue equal rights for both sexes (Lloyd, 1995: 56). This unequal position of women in society due to social oppression and economic dependency on men and the state, needs to be addressed. Offences by women remain sexualised and pathologised. In most ways, crimes women commit are considered to be final outward manifestations of an inner medical imbalance or social instability. Their punishment appears to be aimed principally at treatment and resocialisation (Edwards, 1984: 216). The victimisation of women in medicine seems to be for her own good or in her best interests. Changing social and economic conditions, environmental influences, cultural traditions and physiological factors must be taken into account when dealing with crime. It has only been over the last thirty to fourty years that women have empowered themselves and fought for equality within all areas of society. After so many centuries of oppression and inequality, these changes can not be expected to happen over night. It is essential that society be well informed in the quest for justice. Creating a framework that is truly equitable requires a proper understanding of life beyond the courtroom door. The world is infused with gender bias and no single explanation exists for human behaviour or passivity or aggression. A complex interplay of cultural and biological factors makes people as individuals. Behaviour may be changed. All have the potential for aggression and compliance. The view that women are other, inferior and unstable because of their hormones and emotions makes it all too eas y to see them, by their very nature, as unstable, irrational, neurotic and MAD. Bardsley, B. (1987) Flowers in Hell: an investigation into women and crime, Pandora Press, London. Bottoms, A. (1996) Sexism and the Female Offender, Gower Publishing, Sydney. Carrington, K. (1993) Offending Girls, Allen and Unwin, Sydney. Edwards, S. (1984) Women on Trial, Manchester University Press, New Hampshire. Feinman, C. (1994) Women ion the Criminal Justice System, Praeger Publishers, Westport. Lloyd, A. (1995) Doubly Deviant, Doubly Damned, Penguin, Sydney. Lombroso, C. and Ferrero, W. (1895) The Female Offender, Fisher Unwin, London. Miedzian, M. (1992) Boys will be boys: Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence, Virago Press, London. Oakley, A. (1985) Gender and Society, Adlershot Gower, London. Pollak, O. (1961( The Criminality of Women, A.S. Barnes, New York. Smart, C. (1978) Women, Crime and Criminology, Routledge London. Thomas, W. (1967) The Unadjusted Girl, Harper and Row, New York. Young, A. (1990) Femininity in Dessent, Routledge, London.

Cross Linguistic Influence English Language Essay

Cross Linguistic Influence English Language Essay The research area of this paper is a cross-linguistic influence or as otherwise known transfer. Specifically, I propose to examine orthographic transfer and its potential effects on English native speakers pronunciation of segmentals in German as their second language. The fact that orthography can influence second language pronunciation is recognized by many foreign language teachers. Nevertheless, there is not enough evidence for such influence and more research is needed (Bassetti, 2008). Previous research on orthographic transfer has mainly looked at its effects on reading and spelling (Jarvis Pavlenko, 2008). Cook and Bassetti (2005) argue that writing system transfer is separate from language transfer maintaining that it is not so much aspects of the language that may be carried over as the attributes of a particular writing system (p. 29). Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008) concur with the above statement; however they also emphasize the importance of the connection between orthographic transfer and language use, since it relates to the orthographic effects on phonology and vice versa. According to Jarvis and Pavlenko, during the development of L1literacy skills, which uses the phonetic alphabet, important sound-letter correspondences are acquired which later can be transferred to the acquisition and use of the second language. Before proceeding any further, the discussion of two key terms that are extensively used in this paper as well as their definitions as proposed by the researchers in the field of SLA is required. The terms are writing system and orthography. The first term to define is writing system. Coulmas (1999) defines writing system (WS) as a set of visible or tactile signs to represent units of language in a systematic way (p. 560). There are various types of writing systems depending on what type of linguistic units they represent (Bassetti, 2005). Consequently, there are writing systems whose linguistic units are consonants hence the name consonantal WSs (for example, Hebrew and Arabic). Morphemic WSs are represented by morphemes (Chinese) and alphabetic WSs are represented by phonemes (English, German, and Spanish). In addition, there are also syllabic WSs whose linguistic units are syllables (Japanese). This paper will specifically focus on alphabetic writing systems of English and German languages which use the same script the Roman alphabet. The term writing system relates to orthography which is the second term and is defined as a set of rules for using script in a particular language, such as symbol- phoneme correspondences, capitalization, punctuation, etc. (Coulmas, 2003, p. 35). For example, in English orthography the letter Ë‚s˃ is read as /s/ and in German orthography as /z/ (Benware, 1986). Thus, the same script- the Roman alphabet- is used differently in the English and German orthographies. Orthographies of the same type of alphabetic writing system and script are also varied in their regularity of sound-symbol correspondences (Cook Bassetti, 2005). For instance, in English, the letter Ë‚a˃ maps to different phonemes in words such as park, bank, and ball, whereas in German the same letter Ë‚a˃ has only one pronunciation /a/ as in German nouns Park, Ball, Bank (Goswami, Ziegler, Richardson, 2005). English orthography is very inconsistent in terms of its sound-letter correspondences thus it is considered to have deep orthography. Languages such as German, Italian and Spanish have relatively consistent letter-to-sound correspondences, so their orthographies are shallow or as otherwise called phonologically transparent (Cook Bassetti, 2005). Thus, it should be easier for English native speakers to acquire German sound-letter correspondence rules than for German native speakers to acquire English sound-letter correspondence rules. Nevertheless, there has been observed a considerable number of segmental mispronunciations by English native speakers learning German as a foreign language. Therefore, the question arises whether the knowledge of L1 orthography has an effect on how English native speakers pronounce segmentals in German or are there any other factors such as cognate status or the age of acquisition that contribute to the orthographic transfer?. Literature review The focus of this paper is to explore whether the knowledge of L1 (English) orthography, namely its sound-letter correspondence rules, is transferred to L2 (German) and whether it has any positive or negative effects on L2 pronunciation of segmentals in adult language learners of different proficiency levels. The paper also aims at investigating whether there is a significant difference of orthographic transfer produced by learners at different proficiency levels (beginning, intermediate and advanced). Finally, the study will examine whether a lexical factor such as cognate status has either positive or negative effect on the acquisition and use of German as a foreign language. A number of studies have examined orthographic effects on either spelling or reading. Many studies also have looked at the effects of L1 orthographic experience on L2 word learning and decoding. However, there has been little research examining the effects of orthography on phonology and vice versa. According to Hayes-Harb, Nicol, and Barker (2010) no research has examined spelling conventions of the native and second languages where both share the same script. Although there is some evidence of the relationship between orthographic and phonological representations in learning new vocabulary, more research is needed to shed light on this phenomenon (Hayes-Harb et al., 2010). As this study examines orthographic transfer from English to German, the notion of cross-linguistic similarity should be taken into consideration especially given the fact that both languages share a significant number of cross-linguistic similarities in cognate, lexical, phonological, and writing systems areas. Ringbom and Jarvis (2009) discuss the importance of cross-linguistic similarities in foreign language learning. Specifically, they maintain that learners rely on their previous linguistic knowledge and look for similarities rather than differences between the L1 and the TL. Ringbom and Jarvis also state that second language learners refer to their previous linguistic knowledge mostly at the beginning stages of second language acquisition. Another important factor such as phonetic awareness and phonetic sensitivity should not be neglected. Piske (2008) maintains that children develop phonetic sensitivity to speech contrasts specific to their L1 long before they begin read and write and at the same time their ability to perceive non-native speech contrasts (L2) weakens with age. So for adult language learners perceiving non-native speech contrast and sounds that are particular to the target language is difficult. To develop phonological awareness and sensitivity would require an extensive practice and frequent exposure to target language. Considering this fact, Piske states that adult language learners are influenced by writing systems of their L1 during L2 acquisition. Consequently this results in learners pronunciation errors which are linked to the reliance on L1 grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules. Especially this refers to the cases when sound-letter correspondences are inconsistent between the L1 and L2. Odlin (1989) also provides ample evidence compiled from different studies that demonstrate the clear effect of first language influence on L2 speech production and orthography. Odlin states that similar writing systems in L1 and L2 represent a much easier task for learners acquiring a new language. The same however, cannot be said of pronunciation, as other variables may influence decoding of written symbols in L2. Flege, Freida, Walley, and Randaza (1998) examined whether lexical factors such as frequency, familiarity, cognate status and the age of acquisition have an effect on production. The authors provide an insight into what role the cognate status of words can play and how it effects speech production. More specifically, Flege et al. state that degree of perceived relatedness can vary depending on degree of cross-linguistic similarities the L1 and L2 share. Specifically, they point to the proximity of cognate pairs in L1-L2 in their meaning and especially in sound. This paper will also examine whether cognate pairs influence L2 pronunciation of target sounds. Based on these statements it is also likely that English-speaking learners of German will rely on their knowledge of English sound-letter correspondence rules when speaking or reading in the target language. This may result in either mispronunciation of certain sound-letter correspondences that are inconsistent with English orthography or it may have facilitatory effects on L2 phonology acquisition. In terms of findings several studies particularly stand out. Young-Scholten (2002)1 provides evidence of orthographic effects on the production of German consonants by English speakers. Another study conducted by Young-Scholten, Akita, and Cross (1999)2 also shows evidence of the effects of written representations on the pronunciation of consonant clusters in learners of Polish as a second language. These findings led the researchers to conclude that there is a relationship between orthographic representations and L2 phonology. Other studies investigating the effects of orthography on second language phonology demonstrate that second language learners pronunciation can be influenced by orthographic input (Bassetti, 2007). Bassetti (2007) examined the effects of pinyin (a romanized version of the Chinese language) on pronunciation in learners of Chinese as a foreign language. The author predicted that orthographic representation of pinyin would result in learners not pronouncing the main vowel in the rhymes whose transcription does not represent that main vowel as in rhymes /iu/ which maps to [iou], /ui/ [uei] and /un/ [uÓâ„ ¢n]. The results of the study suggest strong influence of pinyin orthographic rules on the pronunciation of Chinese rhymes. Specifically, learners of Chinese as a foreign language would delete the main vowel, which is not present orthographically; however they would always pronounce the same main vowel in the rhymes /you/, /wen/, and /wei/ (Bassetti, 2006; Bassetti, 2007). One of the most recent studies conducted by Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) provides some evidence of orthographic influence on the acquisition of the phonological forms of new words. In this study, Hayes-Harb et al. recreated conditions in which subjects experienced learning new vocabulary in a new language. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the presence of the written form of the new words affected the learning of their phonological form. Thus, native speakers of English were divided into three groups. The first group was provided with the written forms of new words that were inconsistent with English spelling. The second group was presented with words that were matching the English sound-letter correspondences. The third group had only an auditory input and no written forms of the new words were provided. The results demonstrated that L1 orthography interfered with students ability to learn new words especially when new vocabulary differed from English sound-letter correspo ndences. While Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) provide some evidence of orthographic effects in the process of learning new phonological forms of words, the authors admit that the method is a novel one and in the future should be controlled by learners spelling ability. Previous studies show clear effects of a relationship between orthography and phonology in second language acquisition. Much of the research has analyzed orthographies that use different writing systems, and as Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) point out very little research has been done investigating the effects of orthographies on L2 pronunciation within the same writing system and script. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate further the notion of orthographic transfer by analyzing the relationship between orthography and phonology of two languages that share the same script and the following research questions are addressed in this paper: Is orthographic transfer statistically present in the sample? Do results vary and are they statistically significant between different proficiency levels? What is the nature of relationship between error score and students perceptions of cognate status? Method 2.1 Participants The participants of this study were 28 undergraduate American English speakers from Ohio University. The students were enrolled in the 100, 200 and 300 levels of German as a foreign language. The levels differ by proficiency. The 100 level is offered to beginners, the 200 level is an intermediate level, and the 300 level is taught to the advanced students respectively. Each proficiency level consists of a three quarter sequence meeting four hours per week with regular homework assignments. Each year sequence of German series focuses on developing all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). 2.2 Materials and procedures The study consisted of two phases: the screening phase and the data collection phase. During the screening phase, students enrolled in all three proficiency levels volunteered to fill out an online language background survey. The purpose of this survey was to select potential participants for the study by controlling several variables that could have had an effect on the results. It was set up in such a way that participants could be screened based on their responses to the first three questions. Thus, those who did not qualify for the study were automatically eliminated without going over all of the survey questions. First of all, it helped eliminate the students with any reading or speech disorders. It also helped exclude those students who were taking another foreign language class along with German. The survey also eliminated the students who had taken a foreign language other than German less than a year ago, which could have contributed to transfer from that language into their knowledge and use of German. In addition, information such as students motivation, number of years they have studied German and the time spent in German speaking countries was collected through this survey. As a result, out of 63 students who had volunteered to fill out the survey, 28 were qualified and participated in the data collection phase. The selected participants included nine beginners, eight intermediate-level students, and eleven advanced-level students. The data collection phase consisted of three tasks administered in the following order: an informal reading aloud task, a formal reading aloud task, and a perception task. All three tasks were performed by the students during individual single session meetings lasting fifteen minutes. Reading aloud is considered to be the best way to test the knowledge of sound-letter correspondences. It provides good control and allows for comparison of speech samples from different subjects. Reading aloud is also a technique that is widely used in a foreign language class thanks to which participants feel more comfortable during data collection (Madsen, 1983). During the informal reading task, students were asked to read aloud a German text which was adapted in order to target certain German consonants and consonant clusters as detailed in Tables 1 and 2. The inventory sets (see Table 1) include incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences students presumably would have had the most difficulty producing. Table 1. Incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences Sounds exist in both languages, but are represented with different letters German phoneme-grapheme correspondences English phoneme-grapheme correspondences 1 Ë‚w˃ / [v] e.g., Wind [vÉ ªnt] Ë‚v˃ /[v] eg.: van [và ¦n] 2 Ë‚v˃ / [f] e.g., Vogel [foË gl] Ë‚f˃ / [f] eg.: fan [fà ¦n] 3 Ë‚s˃ / [z] e.g., sinken [zÉ ªÃƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¹knÃÅ' ©] Ë‚z˃ / [z] eg.: zone [zoÊÅ  n] 4 Ë‚s˃/[ʃ] when followed by e.g., Sport [ʃpɆrt] Ë‚s˃ / [ʃ] when followed by eg.: shine [ʃaÉ ªn] 5 Ë‚s˃ /[ʃ] when followed by e.g., Student [ʃtudɆºnt] Ë‚s˃ / [ʃ] when followed by eg.: shed [ʃɆºd] Sounds are different in both languages, but are represented with the same letters 6 Ë‚t˃/ [ts] e.g., Tradition [traditsioË n] Ë‚t˃/[ʃ] e.g., tradition [trÉâ„ ¢Ãƒâ€¹Ã‹â€ dÉ ªÃƒÅ Ã†â€™http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngÉâ„ ¢n] 7 Ë‚z˃/ [ts] e.g., Zimmer [tsÉ ªmÉ ] Ë‚z˃ / [z] e.g., zone [zoÊÅ  n] 8 Ë‚ch˃/[à §] e.g., sportlich [ʃpɆrtlÉ ªÃƒ §] Ë‚ch˃/ [tʃ] e.g., rich [rÉ ªtʃ] Also is included a set of congruent phoneme-grapheme correspondences that exist in both English and German languages (see Table 3). Table 3. Congruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences Grapheme-phoneme correspondences existing in both languages German examples English examples 1 2 3 4 5 Ë‚b˃ maps to [b] Ë‚n˃ maps to [n] Ë‚l˃ maps to [l] Ë‚t˃ maps to [t] Ë‚p˃ maps to [p] Bank [baņ¹k] Nuss [nÊÅ  s] Land [lant] Tag [taË k] Park [park] Bank [bà ¦Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¹k] Nut [nÊŒt] Land [là ¦nd ] Tag [tà ¦g ] Park [pÉ‘rk ] To test students pronunciation of the targeted German segmentals in relation to potential transfer effects, each grapheme-phoneme correspondence listed in Tables 1 and 2 was encountered at least twice in the informal reading task and once in the formal reading task. Students readings in both tasks were recorded in a soundproof recording laboratory using audio recording software. During the first task, students had one minute to read the text silently before being recorded. The formal reading task followed the informal one and required the participants to read words with the targeted sounds in isolation. The words in the formal task were a subset of those used in the informal task and some of them were cognates with English. Finally, during the perception task students had to categorize a list of both cognate and non-cognate German words in terms of their similarity to any of the English words. Students had to rate the words on a three-point scale (1=same; 2= similar; 3= dissimilar) relying on their own perceptions. Table 3 below contains examples of words students rated in the perception task. Table 3 Categorization of cognate and non-cognate words Same meaning Form Same Similar Dissimilar Ger. Wind Eng. Wind Ger. Sturm Eng. storm Ger. Viel Eng. many Ger. Student Eng. Student Ger. Milch Eng. Milk Ger. Vogel Eng. bird Ger. Winter Eng. Winter Ger. Temperatur Eng. Temperature Ger. Zeit Eng. time Ger. Warm Eng. Warm Ger. Wetter Eng. Weather Ger. Zimmer Eng. room Ger. Sport Eng. Sport Ger. Naturlich Egn. Naturally Ger. traurig Eng. sad Ger. Tradition Eng. Tradition Ger. Sportlich Eng. sporty Ger. Information Eng. Information Ger. Sonne Eng. Sun Ger. Strudel Eng. Strudel Results from these tasks revealed whether the reliance on first language orthography had a positive or negative effect on students pronunciation of segmentals in German. The mispronunciations in the recordings were quantified, categorized and recorded in a data file. Their performance was then codified and entered in the data file. Finally, student survey responses and identifying information collected through the questionnaire were matched with participants reading performance results and the perception task. Once the survey information and performance results were merged, the data was de-identified to ensure the confidentiality of the participants. Data analysis and results In order to address the first research question of whether orthographic transfer is statistically present in the sample, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, the nonparametric alternative to the paired-sample t-test was used to examine whether the participants pronunciation errors were statistically more prevalent in cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences between the L1 and L2 than in cases of congruent sound-letter correspondences. That is, we tested whether the participants distribution of errors and successes is keyed to the specific ways in which the L1 and L2 are related in terms of sound-letter correspondences. The results of the test revealed that orthographic transfer is statistically present in the sample (p=.00). Students indeed produced more errors in cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences and there were zero number of mistakes in cases with congruent sound-letter correspondences. In order to address our second research question concerning whether there is any difference in the mean scores between proficiency level groups, The Kruskal Wallis test was performed. This test was conducted on the results of the reading tasks of the experiment to test whether the subjects from the three proficiency level groups differed significantly in producing German segmentals [à §, f, ts, ʃp, ʃt, z, v]. It was assumed that the distribution of errors would be more prevalent in the beginner level group as opposed to intermediate and advanced level groups. The results demonstrated a significant difference in mean scores between all three proficiency groups for both informal and formal reading tasks (p =.009). The results of the descriptive statistics are summarized below in Table 5.   Table 5 Mean error scores for each proficiency level Beginners group mean score Intermediate group mean score Advanced group mean score Group Mean Informal reading task 22.50 15.58 8.00 14.83 Formal reading task 20.42 13.85 5.41 12.64 Cumulative error mean 43.37 30.43 13.41 27.90 Valid N 9 8 11 28 Finally, in our last research question we examined the relationship between students performance results in both reading tasks and their perceptions regarding cognate status of the words. For this purpose a correlation analysis was conducted to examine what kind of relationship there exist between the number of errors produced in the target sounds and the number of students rating the words as same or dissimilar. As a result, correlation coefficient between error score and a number of students rating the words as same revealed a weak negative relationship between these two variables, with correlation coefficient r = -.47. On the other hand, correlation analysis between error score and a number of students rating the words as dissimilar showed a moderate positive relationship between the variables with r = .57. Discussion The present study is exploratory in its nature yet the results show evidence of orthographic transfer in the sample. By that we mean that students do tend to rely on their L1 knowledge of sound-letter correspondence rules specifically in the cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences between the L1 and L2. The results also indicate a significant difference in mean error scores at different proficiency levels. Thus, the beginner level students produced the highest number of errors in targeted segmentals than students from intermediate and advanced levels. These findings support the idea Ringbom and Jarviss (2009) stated that the second language learners rely more on their previous linguistic knowledge at an early stages of second language acquisition. This especially applies to the languages that share a significant number of cross-linguistic features in cognate, lexical, phonological and writing systems, as in case of English and German. The results of this study are also in line with previous findings of Piske (2008), which suggested that adult learners are influenced by the writing systems of their L1. A considerable number of errors were observed in producing in seven out of eight German segmentals [à §, f, ts, ʃp, ʃt, z, ts] with the exception of [v] which maps to Ë‚w˃ in German. For example, the highest number of errors students produced was the German consonant Ë‚g˃ in word final which maps to palatal fricative [à §] when preceded by front vowels as in traurig and consonantal cluster Ë‚ch˃ in word final which also maps to palatal [à §] in words such as Milch, natà ¼rlich, sportlich. Students produced these two sounds as [k]. They also confused German Ë‚v˃ which maps to [f] with its English counterpart [v]. The same was observed with the other two German consonants Ë‚s,z˃ which map to [z,ts] respect ively and were pronounced as English phonemes [s, z]. This can be explained by the fact that all German consonants mentioned above are represented by the same graphemes in English, which resulted in students mispronunciations. Interesting results were obtained from the words that contained labio-dental [v] which in German maps to Ë‚w˃ grapheme. None of the students had errors producing this sound despite the fact that the same grapheme /w/ maps to an approximant [w] in English. This could be interpreted as following: it appears easier for students to produce sounds that are far apart in terms of their place of articulation than for instance, the sounds that vary only in their voicing. Thus students in this study had difficulty to devoice fricative [f] in German because it is represented by grapheme Ë‚v˃, which in English maps to voiced fricative [v]. Participants of this study also struggled producing consonantal clusters Ë‚ st, sp Ã⠀¹Ã†â€™ which in German language map to [ʃt, ʃp]. Although English has phoneme [ʃ], it exists in different phonetic environment and is never followed by [p,t] phonemes in onset. Therefore students confused these two consonantal clusters with their English counterparts and produced them as [sp] for example English sport or [st] as in English student. Lastly, the perception task yielded somewhat ambiguous results. It appears that there might be a relationship between the error score and a number of students rating the words as dissimilar. Nonetheless, this needs to be investigated in the future research using a larger sample as there was insufficient amount of data to strongly support the findings. For more details regarding error score and the students perceptions see Table 6 in Appendix A. Conclusion The purpose of this study was to find out to what extent English-speaking learners of German rely on the English orthography and whether the presence of cognate words results in mispronunciation in the target language or vice versa helps learners to acquire L2 phonology. Given what was found (a) evidence that English orthography, namely its grapheme-phoneme rules interferes with learners pronunciation of German segmentals, (b) evidence that learners were influenced by L1 writing system mostly at the beginning stages of second language acquisition, and (c) some evidence of potential relationship between the errors produced and students perceptions of cognate status, we might consider some practical implications for foreign language classroom as well as future research implications. As Hayes-Herb et al. (2010) suggested language teachers might find it beneficial presenting new vocabulary using initially auditory input only. This may particularly refer to the non-cognates words as students in this study made more errors in words that they rated as dissimilar with English. At the same time, it may be helpful for learners to receive written input of the words that contain German Ë‚w˃ in word initial, as students produced zero errors, which might suggest that in this particular case written input positively influenced learners pronunciation. Therefore it is important for language instructors to be aware of orthographic transfer and its positive and negative effects so that they can address this information accordingly in their classroom. On the other hand more research is needed to support these findings. For this purpose a more comprehensive study with a larger sample would help to expand the current analysis of data and make the findings general izable for a larger population of students studying German as a foreign language. Teacher surveys might reveal whether language instructors focus on orthographic transfer or is it something new to them as well as to what extent they focus on pronunciation of those specific sounds that might be problematic due to the reliance on L1 sound-letter correspondence rules in their classroom. The results can provide valuable insights that can be applied to the teaching of German as a foreign language. Furthermore, given the scope of this study only eight German segmentals were investigated. Examining other segmentals whose orthographic representations exist only in German (for example, Ë‚Â Ã‚ ¢Ãƒâ€¹Ã†â€™, Ë‚Ã ¼, à ¶, à ¤ ˃) or segmentals whose sounds exist only in German but are represented by the same graphemes (for example German Ë‚r˃ which maps to several phonemes [Êâ‚ ¬, Ê , r] depending on the in word position) would clearly provide better results on the way English and German orthographies interact with German as a foreign language phonology. To conclude, while the this study attempted to address questions on how orthography of L1 and its sound-letter correspondence rules can be transferred to L2 phonology resulting in mispronunciation of certain segmentals still more research on this topic is needed.

The City of the Sun :: Essays Papers

The City of the Sun In Tommaso Campanella’s document, The City of the Sun, a new social order is introduced amongst the Solarians. Campanella presents his readers with a utopian society that is ordered by rationality and reason. This ideal visionary is a redeemed world, free from injustice and competition in the market structure. Campanella, however, grew up in a society that was exploited and based on irrational principles. Campanella, therefore, reconstructs a society that operates in opposition to the one that he considers to be corrupt and irrational. The document, The City of the Sun, can be used to critically compare the social and political order that exists today. Moreover, Campanella’s work reveals the weaknesses that exist in today’s society and its structure. One characteristic of this utopian society is its system of meritocracy. In this system, positions of power are determined by one’s ability and excellence; factors such as gender or social class do not result in positions of leadership. For example, leaders and ministers are chosen according to which individuals learn the greatest number of skills and practices them best. Individuals who work extremely hard and acquire knowledge are judged to have the greatest nobility. Moreover, the Solarians have a Prince Prelate called Sun. Sun is elected by knowing a significant amount of information in diverse academic fields. For example, he must know all the mechanical arts and the mathematical, physical, and astrological sciences. In his dialogue, Campanella stresses the importance of acquiring knowledge in this ideal city. He demonstrates this by describing the position of the Prince Prelate: â€Å"Once appointed, his tenure lasts until someone with greater knowledge and greater ability to rule is discovered (Campanella 45)†. Therefore, those who wish to live in great power, must strive for this achievement in the area of academics. Also, ones level of knowledge determines the pursuit of happiness an individual will receive in the city of the Sun. The Solarians are granted the opportunity to alter their status if they desire, and live a life according to their standards. Campanella directly criticizes the society he grew up in by stating in his dialogue, why the Solarians mock the material world for the way it is structured: Thus they laugh at us because we consider craftsmen ignoble and assign nobility to those who are ignorant of every craft and live in idleness, keeping a host of dissolute and idle servants about them to the great detriment of the state (Campanella 43).

Something to Sing About in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Essay -- Buffy the

  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout much of recorded human history, people have written tales of the dead returning to life, usually to trouble the living in some way. These traditional myths have progressed from ancient superstitions, to campfire ghost stories, to television shows such as Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the series, vampires are created from the dead victims of other vampires (as long as a certain rite is performed during the victim's death). After a time they rise from their graves and immediately seek to kill and drink the blood of the living. Creatures such as these are, as Lacan [give first name when you first mention someone] describes them, "between the two deaths" and live again only to fulfill insistent, mechanical drive. This drive, often centered on killing, vengeance, or some other quest for closure, is distinct from desire in that it is not "caught up in dialectical trickery" (Zizek 21). According to Zizek [ditto], normal desires are not alway s what they seem, for when we desire something, we may be seeking something else entirely (21). Most of the vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer fit Lacan's profile of between the two deaths, and, as one might expect, they are antagonists to the protector of the living, Buffy. However, in the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling," Whedon explores two protagonists who are also between the two deaths, each struggling to revert back to their prior state of being, but both in a different situation. One of these characters, Spike, once fit the archetype of the vampire, but now faces difficulty as he is forced to cope with normal dialectical desire in order to exist in the civilized, symbolic world. The other, Buffy, fulfilled the death drive when she sa... ... her to be the Slayer. Her only chance to find motivation in the world is to find a new desire. Both characters approach the same center, but from different ends of the drive-symbol spectrum. Thus, Whedon not only makes use of the Lacanian "between the two deaths" concept, but he also plays with making it dynamic (Spike) and with inverting it (Buffy). Then, at the very end of the episode, the two experiments are united in an elegant closure.    Sources Cited or Consulted Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Once More, with Feeling." Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Lacan: On Desire." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Date March 11, 2003. Purdue U. March 23, 2003. <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/psychoanalysis/lacandesire.html>. Zizek, Slavoj. Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture. Cambridge: MIT P, 1991.

President: American Civil War and United States Essay

What’s the best president of the United States of all time? In my opinion most of the 44 presidents have been good to descent guys. But my all-time favorite is number sixteen the one and only Abraham Lincoln. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky in 1809 he grew up to be one of the most influential presidents. He was selected in to office in 1861 until 1865 when he was killed. He’s my favorite because he lead the civil war, because he abolished slavery, and risen from the poor beginnings to become a president. Probably the most important thing he did was to lead and unify the country by choosing to go to war. With a firm conviction, Lincoln declared South Carolina’s secession illegal and pledged to go to war to protect the federal union in 1861, that’s when everything went to shit resulting in the baggiest casualties number in any war which are 620,000 Americans. This war last four years and with Abe’s helped he drove the north to victory. One of the most important ways he did that was with a speech that was called Gettysburg Address where justify why to protect the image of the United States by not allowing the Southern states to secede. What an important turning point of the war and that basically when union started to kick the south ass. This showed everyone what an amazing president he was and helped him gain momentum in the war. The second and also every significant action that he did were to abolish slavery. Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery in public and privately matter one of the reasons was because in his youth his Baptists church had moral standards against alcohol, dancing and slavery. So when he was elected in to office he issued an order called Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Where he basically he said that all union states know too as â€Å"free states† were not allowed to have salary and south states can but with certain limitations. This was first stepping stone for freedom of Africans Americans. He did lot of small less know speeches that were anti –slavery and kept conniving people that it was wrong to own people. Son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Lincoln he lived in Indian where help out his parents with chores and other labor work. Lincoln was never closed to his father having a family troubles was not the only thing wrong with childhood. Another trouble that young Lincoln’s had was his formal education consisted approximately of a year’s worth of classes from several homeschooled teachers, he was mostly self-educated and was an avid reader and often sought access to any new books in the village. Making him a remarkable and successful well know president. I this is I think one of the best unknown accomplishments a good role model for anyone that thinks they can’t be successful because they were poor or uneducated beginning. So next time people are talking about presidents or of popular political figures you can talk about Abraham Lincoln. You can tell then that he lead the bloodiest war of the United States and won, and he abolished slavery making it illegal to own anyone , or and that he had a bad childhood and that later in his life he became one of the most know president to this day. He did all this in four years before being assassinated in the fords theatre in Washington D.C. By a man named john Wilkes booth a known confederate spy from Maryland. He fired his gun in to the head of the Lincolns in point blank range killing him after 72 hours.

Importance of Effective Communication

IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION In this age of competition communication is the number one problem of the management. Competition,  complex  methods  of  production,  large  scale  operations  and  specialisation  in  production  functions  have  increased  the  importance  of  communication. Without  effectivecommunication  a  manager  cannot  perform  his  duties  well. Communication  is  as  essential  to  business as blood is to the human body. Success of the communication system affects the successof business. The following points will prove its  importance in business: 1.Smooth  Working of a  Business Firm Communication is necessary for the successful smooth and unrestricted working of anenterprise. All organisational interaction depends upon working of an  enterprise. All organisationalinteraction depends upon communication. The manager co-ordinates the human and the physicalelements of an organisation into an  efficient and working unit that achieves common objectives. Beit an activity of purchase or sale or production or finance it is the process of communication thatmakes  cooperative  action  possible.The  internal  and  external  communication  process  of  anorganisation  decides  the  various  activities  to  be  done  and  various  objectives  to  be  achieved. â€Å"Communication is basic to an organisation’s existence from birth of the organisation through itscontinuing life when communication stops, organised activity ceases to exist. † 2. Basis of Managerial Function Communication  plays  an  important  role  in  discharging  the  various  functions  of  management. No function of management is possible without the communication process.Itsimportance in performing the various functions is as  follows:i. Planning : Planning the most important among the functions of management, require sextensive communication among the executives and the other personnel. Communication isimportant in executing a planned programme and then controlling the activities of the  personnel with the help of feedback information. ii. Organisation :  Organisation  is  the  second  important  function  of  management  whichdecides  the  various  activities  of  an  organisation,  divides  them  into  workable  units,delegates authority to perform the.For this purpose, communication is a must becausedifferent persons, departments and group come to know their powers and jurisdiction onlythrough an effective means  of communication. iii. Direction and Leadership : Direction and effective leadership requires an efficient systemof communication in an organisation. A good leader can direct or lead his subordinatesonly when an efficient system of communication is present. It brings both the leader andthe subordinates in close contact with each other and r emoves  misunderstanding if any. iv. Motivation An efficient system of communication enables management to change theattitude  of  the  subordinates  and  to  motivate,  influence  and  satisfy  them. Most  of  theconflicts in business are not basic but are caused by misunderstood motives and ignoranceof facts. Proper and timely communication between the interested parties, reduces the  points of friction and minimises those  that inevitably arise. v. Co-ordination : The present day big organisations, designed on the basis of specialisationand division of labour are constituted of a large number of people.In order to achieve thedesired objective, it is very necessary to co-ordinate the efforts of labour engaged in thevarious  activities  of  production  and  the  organisation. Co-ordination  requires  mutualunderstanding about  the  organisational goals  and the  mode of  their accomplishment;  andthe interrelationship betwee n the works being performed by various individuals. vi. Control : Communication aids in controlling the activities of the individuals departmentand groups. The facts standards and information are  communicated to the concerned partiesand they perform their respective obligations according to the standards set forth in the  plan. . Maximum Production at Minimum Cost Every organisation aims at getting the maximum output at the minimum cost and for this  purpose it requires an effective internal and external communication system. In the external field,and efficient communication system  helps in  improving public  opinion  having  contacts  withgovernment departments and getting market information in order to achieve the  primary goals. 4. Prompt Decision and  its Implementation In order to make prompt decisions, fact collecting process is necessary. Information must  be received before any meaningful decision and for this purpose communication is a primaryrequi rement.Again to  implement the  decision  effectively its  communication to  subordinatesconcerned is essential. Thus, decision-making and its implementation require and effective systemof communication. 5. Building Human Relations Man is the most active and effective factor of production and good human relations are the  basis  of  cooperation  and  industrial  peace  that  requires  good  working  conditions  and  work-environment. As  we  have  discussed  earlier  communication  is  a  two-way  traffic  which  helps  promote  cooperation  and mutual  understanding between the  two partners of  an  organisation.Efficient  downward  communication  helps  the  management  to  tell  the  subordinates  what  theorganisation wants and how it can be performed. On the other hand upward communication helpsthe workers in putting their grievances and suggestions and reactions to the policies, befor e themanagement. 6. Job-satisfaction and  Good Morale Morale is the human element that motivates a man to work in the right spirit. Goodcommunication removes the possibility of misunderstanding among the parties  concerned. Workersknow what they have to do and how it creates a sense of cooperation among them.It increases themorale of the workers and each worker will have job satisfaction. 7. Avoids Illusion While passing through various stages information may be distorted by interested partiesand many create illusion and misunderstanding among persons. Illusion is the great enemy of  communication. An  efficient  system  of  communication  aims  at  removing  illusions  andmisunderstanding by communicating facts and figures. 8. Contacts  with External  Parties Communication is essential not only for the internal management of the organisation but italso helps contacts with the outside world.Contact with outside agencies such as customers,associations,   other manufacturers, advertisers,  suppliers,  trade  unions,  research  councils  andinstitutions, etc. are necessary for furthering the interests of the organisation. It increases thegoodwill of the firm and helps in  creating a favourable public attitude towards the organisation. Steps to Make Communication Effective In order to remove barriers to communication an open door communication policy should  be prepared and followed by managers at all levels.The superiors in the organisation must createand atmosphere of confidence and trust in the organisation so that the credibility gap may benarrowed down. Major efforts in this direction are: 1. Two-way communication The  organisation’s  communication  policy  should  provide  for  a  two-way  traffic  incommunication upwards and downwards. It brings two minds closer and improves understanding  between the two parties the sender and  the receiver. A sound feedback system should be  int roducedin the organisation so that distortion in and filtering of messages should be avoided.There should  be no communication gap. 2. Strengthening Communication Network The communication network should be strengthened to make communication effective. For  this  purpose  the  procedure  of  communication  should  be  simplified,  layers  in  downwardcommunication should be reduced to the minimum possible. Decentralisation and delegation of  authority  should  be  encouraged  to  make information  communication  more efficient,  throughfrequent meetings, conferences and timely dissemination of information to the subordinates. 3. Promoting  Participative  Approach