Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Essay on Common Man Tragedy in Arthur Millers Death of a...

The idea of dramatic tragedy is a classical one, discussed in Aristotles Poetics. Before it can be established as to whether Miller really has written a tragedy or not, the very concept of tragedy must be investigated. Aristotle asserted, Tragedy is a representation, an imitation, of an action.1? He went on to outline the common features tragic drama must have. Tragedy has six elements, which, in order of importance, are: plot, character, thought, music, language, and spectacle. The plot requires peripeteia, anagnorisis, and cathartic effect. It must take place in one day, in one setting, with a unity of plot (i.e. all tragic, no comic subplot). The character must be ?good? (there is some debate as to the vague nature of this word),†¦show more content†¦By his peripeteia, Aristotle means the tragic effect of human effort producing exactly the opposite result to its intention, the irony of human blindness4. The character of Willy Loman is appropriate to this meaning; his int ention was to make his fortune, and thus, by his own values, become a success. He devoted his life to the belief that popularity and loyalty were the keys to achieve this end. Miller has relayed this to the reader via the use of ?flashbacks? from Willy?s already ?failed? life. The reader is therefore able to see how Willy?s faith was misplaced. He didn?t realise that his beliefs were outmoded concepts, and that materialism reigned, despite the fact that he himself was a victim of that materialistic world (the refrigerator, the awe at the tape recorder, Biff?s sneakers, even his own success ethic). Willy clung to the idea of Ben [his brother] as the personification of success, but he didn?t hear what Ben was telling him about success5. Willy believed it to be a matter of personality: Willy: ?It?s not what you do, Ben. It?s who you know and the smile on your face! It?s contacts, Ben, contacts! The whole wealth of Alaska passes over the lunch table at the Commodore Hotel, and that?s th e wonder, the wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamonds on the basis of being liked! While Willy is being fired, he tells a story about David Singleman,Show MoreRelatedTragedy and the Common Man1191 Words   |  5 PagesArticle â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man† In Arthur Miller’s essay â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man,† Miller mentions tragedy as man’s struggle to gain his â€Å"rightful† position in his society, and whoever that character may be—king or common man—that character is eventually brought down by his or her tragic flaws and that’s what makes that character a tragic hero. In the past, there have been many tragic heroes which can relate to Arthur Miller’s essay â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man,† in bothRead More Death of a Salesman is a Tragedy as Defined in Millers Tragedy and the Common Man1046 Words   |  5 PagesDeath of a Salesman is a Tragedy as Defined in Millers Tragedy and the Common Man In Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller discusses his definition and criteria for tragedy as they apply to the common man. The criteria and standards proposed by Miller may be used to evaluate his timeless work, Death of A Salesman. The first major standard of tragedy set forth is:   â€Å"...if the exaltation of tragic action were truly a property of the high-bred character alone, it is inconceivable thatRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller1573 Words   |  7 Pagesliterature, a tragedy is one of the most popular genres. It always combines some story which discusses human sufferings with a certain sense of audience fulfillment. The roots of the tragedy are related to ancient Greece. A Greek tragedy is a sad story, which represents a character with a tragic flaw leading to his downfall. In addition, in traditional tragedy, the main character falls from high authority and often it is predetermined by fate, while the audience experiences catharsis (Bloom 2). Arthur Miller’sRead MoreExamples Of Everyday Tragedy732 Words   |  3 PagesEveryday Tragedy When a person thinks of tragedy the thing that flows to mind is death and destruction. Even though this way of thinking is valid, there are several ways to analyze the concept of tragedy. Tragedy is when one suffers an unexpected punishment that has merged together through ones actions. Arthur Miller believes that tragedy can happen to any type of person if youre rich or if youre poor, no matter what, it can happen to all of us. Arthur shows this to us in the book Death of a SalesmanRead MoreArthur Miller s Death Of A Salesman Essay1567 Words   |  7 PagesIt is known that in literature, a tragedy is one of the most popular genres. It always combines some story which discusses human sufferings with a certain sense of audience fulfillment. The roots of the tragedy are related to ancient Greece. A Greek tragedy is a sad story, which represents a character with a tragic flaw leading to his downfall. In addition, in traditional tragedy, the main character falls from high authority and often it is predetermined by fate, while the audience experiences catharsisRead MoreWilly Loman, the Modern Hero in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman1739 Words   |  7 Pages In Arthur Miller’s essay â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man†, a picture is painted of a â€Å"flaw-full† man, known as the modern hero of tragedies. Miller describes what characteristics the modern tragic hero possesses and how he differs from the heroes depicted by classic Greek playwrights such as Sophocles and Aristotle. In order to understand how drastically the modern hero has evolved, one must first understand the basic characteristics that the heroes created by Sophocles and Aristotle encompass. TheRead MoreAnalysis Of Arthur Millers Death Of Salesman 1548 Words   |  7 Pages Research paper on death of salesman Arthur Miller created stories that express the deepest meanings of struggle. Miller is the most prominent twentieth-century American playwrights. He based his works on his own life, and his observations of the American scene. Arthur Asher Miller was born 17 October 1915 in Manhattan, New York city. He was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland. His parents had a prosperous clothing company. Unfortunately when the stock market crashed, because his familyRead MoreAnalysis Of Arthur Millers Death Of Salesman 1611 Words   |  7 PagesResearch paper on death of salesman Arthur Miller created stories that express the deepest meanings of struggle. Miller is the most prominent twentieth-century American playwrights. He based his works on his own life, and his observations of the American scene. Arthur Asher Miller was born 17 October 1915 in Manhattan, New York city. He was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland. His parents had a prosperous clothing company. Unfortunately when the stock market crashed, because his familyRead More Destruction of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman Essay1042 Words   |  5 Pagesof ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success. It is the belief that, no matter how poor you begin life, you can achieve upward social mobility for your family and children. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, crushes the ethos of the American Dream. Miller’s ability to portray this delusional idea through the life and relationships of Willy Loman, a typical, low income American, i s exquisite. America, in 1949, was experiencing an economic boom, and Miller preciselyRead More Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman is A Modern Tragedy Essay1044 Words   |  5 PagesArthur Millers Death of a Salesman is A Modern Tragedy  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In the fourth century B.C., Aristotle set forth his description of dramatic tragedy, and for centuries after, tragedy continued to be defined by his basic observations. It was not until the modern age that playwrights began to deviate somewhat from the basic tenets of Aristotelian tragedy and, in doing so, began to create plays more recognizable to the common people and, thereby, less traditional. Even so, upon examination

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Sustainable Supply Chain Management A Fundamental...

Sustainable Supply Chain Management The general purpose of sustainable supply chain management, a fundamental element of corporate responsibility, is to ensure resource stakeholder value through supporting adequate availability of resources for all stakeholders, by remaining accountable for the â€Å"environmental, social and economic impacts† of the organization’s operations (Business for Social Responsibility, 2010, p. 5). By utilizing data analytics, an organization can garner a greater understanding of business drivers, perform supplier assessments, and assess the organization’s progress on goals for sustainable supply chain management (Business for Social Responsibility, 2010, p. 5). Sustainable supply chain management helps operations by†¦show more content†¦7). Lastly, supply chain sustainability reduces costs for overhead and labor through increased efficiency, and increases profit through increased productivity (Business for Social Responsibility, 2010, p. 13). Despite the numerous ways in which sustainable supply chain management helps operations, there are internal and external limitations to the technique. The first of such internal limitations is cost, which is an impediment for small and medium business to integrate sustainable activities (Alzawawi, n.d., p. 4). Without adequate funding, an organization is unable to implement and conduct all operations in a sustainable manner. Another limitation is a deficiency in understanding sustainable practices and the benefits therefrom (Alzawawi, n.d., p. 4). As such, an organization is incapable of undertaking sustainable activities when decision makers lack the knowledge required to implement changes. A third limitation is a dearth of employee training in the supply chain cycle and sustainable practices (Alzawawi, n.d., p. 4). Without proper training, the organization is unable to harvest the full potential of this technique. Similar to data analytics, the organization’s technology limits the application of sustainable

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Plagiarism checker are you working with content free essay sample

Our plagiarism checker has a high level of accuracy and will help you avoid big troubles with your texts.Upload your content and observe the result in a few seconds. Just some odd exercises I made a note of in writing classes years ago because they got me writing!1. Choose a color. Go for a fifteen-minute walk and notice wherever you see that color (take notes if you like). When you get back, write about the things you saw. This is a great exercise in observation.2. Write about the sun as though you love it. Then write about it as though you hate it. You can, of course, try this exercise on anything. 3. List five things you most dislike touching, then find five adjectives to describe each item (e.g. maggots slithery, wriggly, writing). Do the same for your other senses.4. Write about a recent incident you were involved in, from the point of view of someone else who was involved. We will write a custom essay sample on Plagiarism checker are you working with content? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 5. Find a news item that interests you. Using the who, what, when, where, why of the item and your imagination rewrite it as a detailed narrative story.6. Write about 300 words of dialogue. Show the difference between the two speakers only through the language they use (i.e dont use he said, she said, etc. ) You might want to use the dialogue generator to start you off with this one.7. Choose a cliche and write an argument against it. If you can use your own or someone elses experience, to support your argument, all the better. Here are a few cliches to start you off:- What goes around comes around- Money is the root of all evil- Laughter is the best medicine- Theres no such thing as a free lunch- All good things come to those who wait- Revenge is a dish best served cold8. Write from the point of view of a household item. Then write a dialogue between yourself and the item. 9. Find a headline in a newspaper. Take the first word in the sentence and use it to begin another sentence write whatever comes into your head, it doesnt have to be related to the original headline. Do the same for each word in the sentence. Later on, look back over your new sentences and see if theres one youd like to develop.10. Write a short story in less than 100 words (you might want to use one of the generators to start you off with this one)11. Go out and look for characters. Go somewhere busy, where people are moving around, not just sitting. Practice making quick, discreet observations, taking in hairstyle, clothes, shoes, jewelry, the manner of walking, expression.12. Write about five ridiculous things youd like to try once.Do visit my other website:QuickQuiz.co. ukProper quizzes to test your knowledge on a range of subjectsCopyright  © JG Publishing 2017. Please ask permission to use content from this site.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Rookie Of The Year Essays - Cactus League, Jackie Robinson

Rookie Of The Year Who is the rookie this year? Do you think that the Brooklyn Dodgers have had a rough season? With all of the sicknesses and all of the losses. And with the fact that the Cardinals are always in first. They want to win the pennant so bad. The manager Spike wants to win it fairly. They are doing pretty good though. Thrid place isn't a bad one. The Brooklyn Dodgers have been playing hard to get where they are. There were alot of hardships that they all had to over look. They also made an awsome come back to make it to the playoffs, then they beat out the Pitsburg Pirates so the can play the St. Louis Cardnials in the finals. If you wanna find out how they did your just going to have to read on. He doesn't want his players to be drinking anything during the season. If he catches them there in for it deep. The coach will fine the players the first time their caught with fifty dollars. The second time they get suspended and a hundred dollar fine. The third time..well there isn't a third time. When the coach made this statement at the end of a game in the locker room, the most mouthy person on the team even knew that he meant it because Raz didn't say a thing. The coach has also almost caught many people on the team but they get extremely lucky and get away with it. The players think that alcohol is the answer to all the stress after the game. Yet the coach knows that it will only get the players sick and he is only doing this so that the players stay safe for the games. Bones was fined once for alcohol and it wasn't to much his fault. It was because of his roomie who took him out and got him drunk because he thought he was to stressed out. Spike made an example out of Bones and they moved Bones with another room mate. Bones Hathaway was now stuck with an old veteran pitcher and he didn't like it. Mr. MacManus who owned the team was going to suspend Bones Hathaway because Spike was being a hot head. He kept screwing thing up and Mr. MacManus was going to take it out on his team. Luckely Spikes brother Bob was there and cooled Mr. macmanus' temper. The Dodgers have been playing tons of games just so they can win the pentane. All they want is the pentant. They even play games from like ten o'clock at night and can go on till two a.m. The Cardinals are in first, Pirates in second, and the Dodgers in third. They have beaten the Cardinals before but not enough times to move ranks around. They want to face the Cardinals in the World Series for the pentane because they are pretty sure that they can beat them. The Dodgers were actually on a winning streak at one point then their best rookie pitcher became sick. He was one of the reasons they had a winning streak but on the first day they won he had bacon, eggs, and toast. The next game he ate the same breakfast and they won again. So he was being superstitious and ate that breakfast for eleven days straight. The coach gave a long speach about them eating right and he was very upset that his best rookie pitcher was sick. Spike had a talk with Bones Hathaway after he got better and asked him some question. He wanted to make sure that Bones wasn't getting sick because the other team paid him and that Bones was a good hitter but didn't show it because the other team paid him. The last game. Only one game was left for those courageous Brooklyn Dodgers. They made it. They made it all they to the pentane game. It was just them and the St. Louis Cardinals. Before the game their manager Spike game them a little speech. It wasn't much, but it was enough. Spike told the team about what would happen if the won. He told them how great it has been playing ball with them. He also told them that he would rather lose with this team then win with the New York Yankees. Spike told them how happy they made him that they go this far and no matter win or lose he would always love this team.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

The Trials of the Scarlett Letter

The Trials of the Scarlett Letter Trial 1 In trial number 1 the jury found the defendant John proctor guilty to the charge of statutory rape, and innocent to the assault charges, innocent to child neglect charges. When finding a verdict on the statutory rape charge the jury looked at the defenses reasoning that was John Proctor was not in his right state of mind when admitting to having a sexual relation with Abigail Williams who is a minor. The defense stated that Mr. Proctor was so troubled over the witchcraft accusations against his wife that he was not in his right mind to make rational decisions when admitting to the rape. The jury concluded that although Mr. Proctor was a very stressed man his stress is not enough to cause him to admit to such a crime. Along with the honest, heartfelt testimonies of Abigail Williams, saying "she was taken advantage of ". we found John Procter guilty of Statutory Rape.John Proctor

Friday, November 22, 2019

Europasaurus - Facts and Figures

Europasaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Europasaurus (Greek for European lizard); pronounced your-ROPE-ah-SORE-us Habitat: Plains of western Europe Historical Period: Late Jurassic (155-150 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 10 feet long and 1,000-2,000 pounds Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Unusually small size for a sauropod; quadrupedal posture; ridge on snout About Europasaurus Just as not all sauropods had long necks (witness the short-necked Brachytrachelopan), not all sauropods were the size of houses, either. When its numerous fossils were unearthed in Germany a few years ago, paleontologists were astonished to learn that the late Jurassic Europasaurus wasnt much bigger than a large oxonly about 10 feet long and one ton, max. This may seem large compared to a 200-pound human, but its positively stunted compared to classic sauropods like Apatosaurus and Diplodocus, which weighed in the neighborhood of 25 to 50 tons and were almost as long as a football field. Why was Europasaurus so small? We may never know for sure, but an analysis of Europasaurus bones shows that this dinosaur grew more slowly than other sauropodswhich accounts for its small size, but also means that an unusually long-lived Europasaurus might have reached a respectable height (though it would still have seemed puny standing next to a full-grown Brachiosaurus). Since its clear that Europasaurus evolved from larger sauropod ancestors, the most likely explanation of its small size was an evolutionary adaptation to the limited resources of its ecosystemperhaps a remote island cut off from the European mainland. This type of insular dwarfism has been observed not only in other dinosaurs, but also extant mammals and birds.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Video Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Video Response - Essay Example Availability of physical space is another factor that was taken into consideration before preparing the video. Appropriate allocation and use of time was also allocated for each activity. Curricular resources such as books, desks, audio-visuals might have been collected and arranged at the right location in advance. Human resources i.e. the support staff in the high school class might have been oriented for the preparation of the video. Assessment of learning as indicated in the first clip might have involved an orientation of the students in order to prepare them for the video shooting. From the video, it is apparent that the teacher believes that teaching and learning requires a conducive environment, characterized by availability and proper arrangement of resources. This is indicated by the fact the teacher focuses on classroom arrangement, not only the arrangement of books, but also other learning resources such as

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Executive Summary and analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Executive Summary and analysis - Research Paper Example he reason behind selecting internet to carry out a research was, because, web based surveys are quite advanced technology which helps a researcher create complex and technical instruments using interactive features and multimedia. Moreover, the date is easily collected and analyzed and accurate, since, the answers are found to be more honest than any other way. Similarly, the decision to administer a questionnaire was decided on the basis that, where it is easy and quick to analyze, there it also enable researcher to collect large information. Furthermore, the project is been carried out to use the quantitative skills and managerial statistics to analyze the survey not only quantitatively, but quantitatively with the help of either ‘Z’ or ‘T’ statistics which does not only form an individual confidence level but also predict whether the confidence interval proved to be correct or not, hence leading to rejection or not rejecting the null hypothesis, which is our original statement or prediction. As the calculated value is more than the table value of ‘Z’ statistics, we reject null hypothesis. This means that the internet survey response was equal to or more than 50 at 0.05 alpha level. The outcome also illustrate that the confidence interval selected was most appropriate as the result are on the right side. The confidence interval shows how sure you can be of the result. The greater the interval the surer you are of the consequences, hence, 95% confidence interval depicts that you are 95 percent sure of what and how will be the outcome. On the other hand, alpha level or significant level is calculated by subtracting the confidence interval from 100. To give a brief, yet enhance version of the result, it can been seen that the result does not agree with our predicted or initial statement that the internet survey response will be less than 50, due to which rejection of null hypothesis occurred. However, certain problem that occurred during the

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Good Communication Drives Superior Financial Performance Essay Example for Free

Good Communication Drives Superior Financial Performance Essay According to Watson Wyatt’s 2009-2010 Communication ROI Study, businesses that communicate with courage, innovation and discipline, particularly in tough economic times, are more successful at engaging employees and achieving desired business results. â€Å"Effective internal communication can keep employees engaged in the business and help companies retain key talent, provide consistent value to customers, and deliver superior financial performance to shareholders,† said the study, which included 328 organizations across the world. Watson Wyatt’s newest communications study, like its other ones, found that businesses that communicate effectively with their employees are also the top financial performers. A key finding of the study was that companies that are highly effective communicators had 47 percent higher total return to shareholders over the last five years, compared to firms that are the least-effective communicators. According to the study, the best companies invest in helping leaders and managers communicate with their employees. While the study points out that only three out of 10 organizations are training managers to deal openly with resistance to change, highly effective communicators are more than three times as likely to do this compared to the least-effective communicators. A survey developed by Accountemps ®, a Robert Half Company, points out another reason why good communication equals good business. The survey found that better and more frequent communication with staff members is perhaps the best way to raise employee morale. The survey was conducted by an independent research firm in 2008 and is based on interviews with 150 senior executives from the nation’s 1,000 largest companies. Nearly half of executives who participated in the survey said better communication is the best remedy for low morale. According to the survey, the absence of open and honest communication with staff tops the list of management missteps that can wear down employee morale.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

State schooling and learning concepts :: essays research papers

While young people were grouped together and instructed/trained/initiated into adult life in the very earliest human civilizations, the story of state schooling best begins with Plato (427-347 BC), who really laid much of the philosophical and pedagogical framework for schools as we know them in the West. Plato believed that education and schools were the most important function of the state, and that school spending should equal that of the military. Precisely because schools were so important in Plato’s conception of the ideal state, he was adamant that education not be left to private interests, who could not be trusted to keep the good of the whole in mind. In The Republic Plato asserted that the state should take responsibility for training children from the age of three and that each citizen could be guided by the system towards an ideal conception of justice and into the social class and occupation best suited for him. Education had to be universalized so that all citizens2 could be effectively screened and placed. In this Plato was emphatic that it was the state’s job to support and control schools and to make them compulsory. There was no question in Plato’s mind that schools should be designed by the state to support the state. Through the rise of the Roman Empire Greek educational conceptions remained dominant, while being retrofitted to become more focused around literature, sciences, music, dancing, while becoming more pedagogically utilitarian. While the Romans overwhelmingly left education up to private citizens and independent schools, a succession of emperors became interested in public education. Monarchs like Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius developed various common school programs by insisting that municipalities set up schools for the public (largely children of families too poor to attend private institutions) staffed by physicians, grammarians and sophists. As the Roman Empire disintegrated however, ideals of secular education declined along with it, and for a millennia education became largely a matter of one’s relationship with God, and religious schools in various forms dominated European conceptions of education. The clerical monopoly of education established in the age of transition from the ancient world to the modern lasted for more than a thousand years, and its effects on the intellectual life of Europe were tremendous.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Phonetics as a Branch of Linguistics

GLOSSARY Academic style – also scientific style, a style of speech used in lectures, scientific discussions, conferences, etc Accent – 1) type of pronunciation, that is the way sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation are used in the given language community. 2) see stress. Accommodation – modifications of consonants under the influence of the neighbouring vowels and vice versa. Acoustic Phonetics – science which deals with the physical property of sounds.Affricates – noise consonants produced with a complete obstruction which is slowly released and the air stream escapes from the mouth with some friction. Allophones – variants of a phoneme, usually occur in different positions in the word, cannot contrast with each other and are not used to differentiate the meaning. Alveolar – sounds produced with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth (alveolar) ridge. American English – the national variant of the English language spoke n in the USA.Amplitude – the distance to which the air particles are displaced from their position of rest by the application of some external force. Apical – sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue. Applied Phonetics – a branch of phonetics used for practical purposes in speech therapy and logopedia. Articulatory Phonetics – also Physiological Phonetics, a branch of phonetics which is concerned with the study of speech sounds as regards their production by the human speech organs. Ascending head – a type of head in which syllables form an ascending sequence.Assimilation – The modification of a consonant by a neighbouring consonant in the speech chain. Auditory Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is concerned with the way our auditory mechanism works to process speech information, also Perceptual Phonetics. Back vowels – vowels formed with the tongue in the back part of the mouth. Back-advanced vowels – vowels formed with the tongue in the back-advanced position in the mouth. Back-lingual – see velar. BBC English – the accent used on BBC radio and TV channels, is considered a standard English spoken in Great Britain, also Received Pronunciation.Bilabial – sounds produced when both lips are active. Bilingualism – the command of 2 different languages by a person. British English – the national variant of the English language spoken in Great Britain. Broad transcription – also phonemic transcription, provides special symbols for all the phonemes of a language. Broad variations – a subclass of the vertical positions of the tongue which in this case is placed slightly lower in the mouth cavity. Cacuminal – sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue curled back.Central vowels – sounds articulated when the front part of the tongue is raised towards the back part of the hard palate. Checked vowels – short stressed vowels fol lowed by strong voiceless consonants. Checkness – a vowel property which depends on the character of articulatory transition from a vowel to a consonant Close vowels – sounds articulated when the tongue is raised high towards the hard palate. Closed syllable – a syllable which ends in a consonant. Coda – one or more phonemes that follow the syllabic phoneme.Communicative centre – a word or a group of words which conveys the most important point of communication in the sentence or the utterance. Commutation test – the procedure of substituting a sound for another sound in the same phonetic environment with the aim of establishing the phonemic system of a language Comparative Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which studies the correlation between the phonetic systems of two or more languages Consonant – a sound made with air stream that meets an obstruction in the mouth or nasal cavities.Conversational style – also convers ational style, a style of speech used in everyday communication. Declamatory style – a style of speech used in stage speech, recitations, etc. Delimitation – segmentation of speech into phrases and intonation groups. Dental – sounds produced with the blade of the tongue against the upper teeth Descending head – a type of head in which syllables form an descending sequence Descriptive Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies the phonetic structure of one language only in its static form, synchronically.Devoicing – a process that results in a voiced consonant being pronounced as voiceless. Dialect – a variety of language which differs from others in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Diglossia – a phenomenon when an individual may speak RP in one situation a native local accent in other situations. Dynamic stress – force accent based mainly on the expiratory effect. Diphthong – a vowel which consists of tw o elements, strong (a nucleus) and weak – (a glide).Diphthongoid – a vowel articulated when the change in the tongue position is fairly weak, in this case the articulated vowel is not pure, but it still consists of one element. Direct methods – methods of phonetic investigation which consist in observing the movements and positions of one's own or other people's organs of speech in pronouncing various speech sounds, as well as in analysing one's own kinaesthetic sensations during the articulation of speech sounds and in comparing them with the resultant auditory impressions. Discourse – a larger context in which sentences occur.Dorsal – sounds produced when the blade of the tongue is active. Duration – the quantity of time during which the same vibratory motion, the same patterns of vibration are maintained. Elision – complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants, often observed in spoken English. Enclitic – unstressed wo rds or syllables which refer to the preceding stressed word or syllable. Estuary English – a variety of modified regional speech, a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation. Estuary English speakers place themselves â€Å"between Cockney and the Queen†.Experimental Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which deals with research work carried out with the help of different technical devices for measurements and for instrumental analysis Extra-linguistic factors – non-linguistic factors, such as the purpose of utterance, participants and setting or scene of speaking, which result in phonostylistic varieties. Familiar style – see conversational style. Forelingual – sounds articulated with the front part of the tongue Fortis consonants – voiceless consonants pronounced with strong muscular tension and strong expiratory effect.Free variants – variants of a single phoneme which occur in a langua ge but the speakers are inconsistent in the way they use them, as for example in the case of the Russian words â€Å"/ †. Free vowel – a weak vowel followed by a weak (lenis) voiced consonant or by no consonant at all. Frequency – a number of vibrations per second. Fricative – constrictive noise consonants articulated when the air escapes with friction through the narrowing formed by speech organs. Front vowels – vowels in the production of which the body of the tongue is in the front part of the mouth cavity and the front of the tongue is raised.Front-retracted vowels – vowels produced with the body of the tongue in the front but retracted position in the mouth cavity. Functional Phonetics – see phonology. General American – the national standard of the English language spoken in the USA. General Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies all the sound-producing possibilities of the human speech apparatus and the wa ys they are used for purposes of human communication by means of language. Glide – the second weak element of English diphthongs. Glottal – sounds articulated in the glottis.Glottal stop – a sound heard when the glottis opens suddenly and produces an explosion resembling a short cough. Glottis – the opening between the vocal cords, through which the air passes. Hard palate – the roof of the mouth. Head – part of the intonation group, contains stressed syllables preceding the nucleus with the intervening unstressed syllables. Hesitation pause – silent or filled pause mainly used in spontaneous speech to gain time to think over what to say next. Historical Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies the phonetic structure of a language in its historical development, diachronically.Idiolect – individual speech of members of the same language community Informational style – a style of speech used by radio and telev ision announcers conveying information or in various official situations. Instrumental methods – methods of phonetic investigation based upon registering or computing machines and technical devices Intensity – a property of a sound produced by the amplitude of vibrations. Interdental – sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue projected between the teeth. International Phonetic Alphabet – a set of symbols adopted by theInternational Phonetic Association as a universal system for the transcription of speech sounds. Intonation – pitch (or melody) variations used to convey meaning. See also prosody Intonation group – an actualized syntagm. Intonation pattern – pitch movements together with loudness and the tempo of speech extending over an intonation group. Intonation style – a complex of interrelated intonational means which is used in a social situation and serves a definite aim of communication. Intonogramme – the pi cture of the sound wave of a syllable, word or an utterance received with the help of intonograph.Intonograph – a technical device which gives pictures of sound waves of syllables, words and utterances. Kinetic – relating to motion. Labial – sounds articulated by the lips. Labiodental – sounds articulated with the lower lip against the edge of the upper teeth Laryngoscope – a special device which helps to observe the vocal cords, epiglottis and the glottis. Larynx – part of the vocal tract containing the vocal cords. Lateral – sounds produced when the sides of the tongue are active. Lateral plosion – sudden release of air which escapes along the sides of the tongue.Lax – historically short vowels in the articulation of which muscular tension of speech organs is weak. Lenis consonants – voiced consonants pronounced with weak muscular tension. Lip rounding – a position of the lips when their corners are broug ht toward one another so that the mouth opening is reduced. Loudness – the intensity of sound is produced by the amplitude of vibrations. Manner of articulation – one of the principles of consonant classifications which is connected with the type of obstruction to the air stream.Maximum onsets principle – Medio-lingual – sounds produced with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate Minimal pair – a pair of words or morphemes which are differentiated by one sound only in the same position. Modifications of sounds – positional and combinatory changes of sounds in connected speech. Monophthong – a vowel articulated when the tongue position is stable, in this case the articulated vowel is pure, it consists of one element. Mouth cavity – the cavity between the teeth and the pharynx. Narrow transcription also phonetic transcription, provides special symbols for all the allophones of the same phoneme Narrow variatio ns – a subclass of the vertical positions of the tongue which in this case is raised slightly higher in the mouth cavity Nasal consonants – sounds articulated when the soft palate is lowered and the air stream goes out through the nose. Nasal Cavity – the cavity inside the nose which is separated from the mouth cavity with the soft palate and the uvula. Nasal plosion – sudden release of air by lowering the soft palate so that the air escapes through the nose.National variants – the language of a nation, the standard of its form, the language of its nation’s literature. Neutral vowel – a mid central vowel, also schwa. Neutralisation – the loss of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of vowels in unstressed positions. Noise consonants – consonants in the production of which noise prevails over voice, the air stream passes through a narrowing and produces audible friction (compare with sonorants). Normative Phonetic s – see Practical Phonetics. Notation – another term for transcription.Nuclear tone – a significant change of pitch direction on the last strongly accented syllable in an intonation pattern. In general nuclear tones may be falling, rising and level or a combination of these movements. Nucleus – 1) the last strongly accented syllable in an intonation pattern; 2) the most prominent part of a diphthong; 3) the centre of a syllable, usually a vowel. Obstructer mechanism – a group of speech organs which form obstructions during articulation of consonants, it includes tongue, lips, hard and soft palate and teeth.Occlusive – sounds produced when a complete obstruction to the air stream is formed. Onset – sounds that precede the nucleus of a syllable. Open syllable – a syllable which ends in a vowel. Open vowels – vowels produced when the tongue is in the low part of the mouth cavity. Opposition – see phonetic oppositions . Oral consonants – sounds articulated when the soft palate is raised and the air stream goes out through the mouth. Organs of speech – the human organs which together with biological functions take part in sound production.Palatal – sounds produced with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate. Palatalisation – softening of consonants due to the raised position of the middle part of the tongue towards the hard palate. Palato-alveolar – sounds made with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge and the front part of the tongue raised towards the hard palate, thus having two places of articulation (two foci). Paralinguistics – a branch of linguistics which is concerned with non-verbal means of communication. Perceptual Phonetics – see Auditory Phonetics.Pharynx – the part of the throat which connects the larynx to the upper part of the vocal tract. Phonation – voicing, the vibration of the vocal cords. Phone – a sound realised in speech and which bears some individual, stylistic and social characteristics of the speaker. Phoneme – the smallest further indivisible language unit that exists in the speech of all the members of a given language community as such speech sounds which are capable of distinguishing one word of the same language or one grammatical form of a word from another grammatical form of the same word.Phonemic transcription – see broad transcription. Phonetic mistakes – pronunciation mistakes made when an allophone of some phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a different phoneme. Phonetic oppositions – comparison of sounds, words and morphemes in order to single out their minimal distinctive features. Phonetic transcription – see narrow transcription. Phonetics – a branch of linguistics which is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is actualized. Phonetics analyses the nature of thes e sounds, their combinations and their functions in relation to the meaning.Phonological analysis – analysis whose aim is to determine which differences of sounds are phonemic/non-phonemic and to find the inventory of the phonemes of this or that language Phonological mistakes – pronunciation mistakes made when an allophone of the phoneme is replaced by another allophone of the same phoneme; in this case the meaning of the word is affected. Phonology – also Functional Phonetics, a branch of phonetics that is concerned with the social functions of different phonetic phenomena.Phonosemantics – a branch of psycholinguistics that studies the relations between the sound structure of a word and its meaning. Phonostylistics – a branch of phonetics that studies the way phonetic means of the language function in various oral realizations of the language. Phonotactics – the study of the possible phoneme combinations of a language. Physiological Phonet ics – see Articulatory Phonetics. Pitch – the auditory characteristic of a sound, it corresponds to the fundamental frequency (the rate of vibrations of the vocal cords). Pitch level – a particular height of pitch.Pitch range – the interval between two pitch levels or two differently pitched syllables or parts of a syllable. Place of articulation – the place in the vocal tract where the air stream is obstructed. Plosives – consonants produced when the air stream is completely stopped for a short time, also stops. Post-alveolar – sounds articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge Power mechanism – a group of speech organs which supplies energy for sound production, it includes lungs, diaphragm, windpipe, bronchi.Practical Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which teaches how to pronounce sounds correctly and what intonation to use to convey this or that meaning or emotion. It is called Normative Phonetics because teaches the â€Å"norm† of English pronunciation. Pragmalinguistics – a branch of linguistics that studies what linguistic means and ways of influence on a hearer to choose in order to bring about certain effects in the process of communication. Pragmaphonetics – a branch of Pragmalinguistics whose domain is to analyse the functioning and speech effects of the sound system of a language.Pre-head – the unstressed syllables which precede the first stressed syllable of the head. Primary stress – the strongest stress compared with the other stresses in a word. Principal allophone – allophones which do not undergo any significant changes in the chain of speech. Proclitic – unstressed words or syllables which refer to the following stressed word or syllable Prosody – a complex unity formed by significant variations of pitch, tempo, loudness and timbre. Psycholinguistics – a branch of ling uistics which covers an extremely broad rea, from acoustic phonetics to language pathology, and includes such problems as acquisition of language by children, memory, attention, speech perception, second-language acquisition and so on. Publicistic style – a style of speech used in public discussions on political, judicial or economic topics, sermons, parliamentary debates Qualitative – connected with the spectral characteristics of a sound. Quantitative – referring to the length of a sound. Received Pronunciation (RP) – the national standard of the English language spoken in Great Britain. Reduced vowel – a weakened vowel.Reduction – weakening (either qualitative or quantitative) of vowels in unstressed positions. Resonator mechanism – a group of speech organs which can change their shape and volume, thus forming the spectral component of the sound, it includes nasal and mouth cavities. Rhyme Rhythm – recurrence of stressed syl lables at more or less equal intervals of time in speech. Rhythmic group – a speech segment which contains a stressed syllable and a number of unstressed ones. The most frequent type of an English rhythmic group includes 2-4 syllables, one of which is stressed.Rounded – a sound articulated with added lip rounding. Schwa – see neutral vowel. Scientific style – see academic style. Secondary allophones – allophones which undergo some predictable changes in different phonetic context. Secondary stress – a less strong stress than the primary one, usually precedes the primary stress in a word. Segmental Phonetics – a division of phonetics which is concerned with individual sounds (â€Å"segments† of speech) Segmentation – division of speech into phrases and intonation groups. Semantic centre – see communicative centre.Sentence stress – the greater degree of prominence given to certain words in an utterance. Socio linguistics – a branch of linguistics that studies the way the language interacts with society. Soft palate – the back, soft part of the hard palate. Sonorants – consonants in the production of which noise prevails over voice, the air stream passes through a narrowing and produces audible friction (compare with sonorants). Sonority – a degree of loudness relative to that of other sounds with the same length, stress and pitch.Special Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is concerned with the study of the phonetic structure of one language only. Spectrogram – a picture of the spectrum of sounds, their frequency, intensity and time. Spectrograph – a device which carries out the spectral analysis of speech. Stops – see plosives Stress – a greater degree of prominence which is caused by loudness, pitch, the length of a syllable and the vowel quality. Stress-timed languages – in these languages stressed syllables ten d to occur at relatively regular intervals irrespectively of the number of unstressed syllables separating them.Strong vowel – the full form of a vowel in the stressed position. Stylistic modifications – sound changes which happen under the influence of extra-linguistics factors. Subsidiary allophone – see secondary allophone. Suprasegmental Phonetics – a division of phonetics whose domain is larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts Syllable – a sound sequence, consisting of a centre which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after this centre there will be greater obstruction to airflow and less loud sound.Syllable-timed languages – in these languages all syllables, whether stressed or unstressed, tend to occur at regular time-intervals and the time between stressed syllables will be shorter or longer depending on the number of unstressed syllables separating th em. Syntagm – a group of words which is semantically and syntactically complete. Tail – any syllables between the nucleus and the end of the utterance. Tamber – the same as timbre. Tempo – the rate of the utterance and pausation. Tense – historically long vowels in the articulation of which muscular tension of speech organs is great.Terminal tone – the nucleus and the tail of the utterance. Tertiary stress – a less strong stress than the primary one, usually follows the primary stress in a word. Theoretical Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in the language. It discusses the problems of phonetics in academic terms and gives a scientific approach to the phonetic theory. Timbre – voice quality. Tone languages – the meaning of words in these languages depends on the variations of voice pitch in relation to neighbouring syllables.Tongue – the most movable and flexible speech organ. Transcription – the system of symbols to represent speech in written form. Unstressed – bearing no stress. Utterance – a spoken sentence or a phrase. Uvula – the end of the soft palate. Velar – consonants produced with the back part of the tongue raised towards the soft palate Vibrator mechanism – a group of speech organs which vibrate while the air passes through, thus producing voice, it includes larynx, vocal cords, glottis. Vocal cords – two soft folds in the larynx which can be brought together and apart, thus producing voice.Voice quality – timbre. Voiced consonants – sounds produced when the vocal cords are brought together and vibrate. Voiceless consonants – sounds produced when the vocal cords are brought together and vibrate. Vowel – a sound in the production of which no obstructions are made. Weak form – the unstressed form of a sound or a word. Windpipe – trachea or air passage. Word stress – a greater degree of prominence on one of the syllables in a word. I. PHONETICS AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS. BRANCHES OF PHONETICS. METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 1. 1 IntroductionKnowledge of the structure of sound system and its articulatory and acoustic characteristics is very important in teaching and learning foreign languages. The teacher has to know the starting point from which to begin teaching; he must be able to point out the differences between the pupil’s mother tongue and the language to be learnt. He should be able to choose adequate training exercises. That’s why it is vital to know, at least, the basic principles of this science. The term â€Å"phonetics† comes from the Greek words meaning â€Å"sound or matters pertaining to voice†. What does phonetics study?It is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is actualized (that is the oral aspect of speech communication). However phon etics takes the content level into consideration too. Only meaningful sound sequences are regarded as speech and phonetics is concerned only with such sounds which are carriers of organized information of a language. Phonetics analyses the nature of these sounds, their combinations and their functions in relation to the meaning. No kind of linguistic study can be carried out without constant consideration of the material on the expression level.Consequently, phonetics is important in the study of a language. An understanding of it is a basis for any adequate understanding of the structure or functioning of a language. It follows from this that phonetics is a basic branch – many would say the most fundamental branch of linguistics, because it gives a language a definite form. The vocabulary and grammar of a language can function only when the language has a phonetic form. So grammar and vocabulary depend on phonetics, they cannot exist outside of phonetics, because all lexical and grammar phenomena are expressed phonetically.Neither linguistic theory nor linguistic description can do without phonetics and is complete without it. Phonetics, being a branch of linguistics, occupies a peculiar position. On the one hand it serves as a means of expressing grammatical and lexical phenomena. On the other hand it has laws of its own which are independent of grammar and vocabulary. Besides it is closely connected with a number of other sciences, such as physics, biology, physiology, psychology etc. The more phonetics develops the more various branches of science become involved in the field of phonetic investigation.Phonetics is not a new science. It was known to the ancient Greeks and to the ancient Hindus. The scientists of that time were concerned with speech sounds only. It may be said that the orthography of all written languages which use alphabets developed in the course of a very detailed phonetic analysis. Nevertheless, phonetics as an independent science began to develop only in the 19th century, before that it used to be a part of grammar. There has been considerable progress and growth in the 20th century. New concepts, methods of investigation, new theories and schools have been developed.Not only has the sphere of investigation in phonetics become wider, but several new branches of phonetics have also arisen. So our further point will be made on the branches and divisions of phonetics. 1. 2 Branches and Divisions of Phonetics Everyone who starts learning a foreign language first of all is introduced into practical or normative phonetics. It studies the material form of phonetic phenomena in relation to meaning. It teaches how to pronounce sounds correctly and what intonation to use to convey this or that meaning or emotion. It is called normative because we are to teach the â€Å"norm† of English pronunciation.Theoretical phonetics is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in the language. It discusses t he problems of phonetics in academic terms and gives a scientific approach to the phonetic theory. Other two important branches of phonetics are special and general phonetics. Special phonetics may be subdivided into descriptive and historical. Special descriptive phonetics is concerned with the study of the phonetic structure of one language only in its static form, synchronically and the domain of special historical phonetics is the phonetic structure of a language in its historical development, diachronically.Historical phonetics is part of the history of a language. Its aim is to trace and establish the successive changes in the phonetic system of a given language at different stages of its historical development. It is very important for the study of the modern phonetic system because without a historical approach it is impossible to understand how this modern phonetic system has developed and what further changes it is likely to undergo.General phonetics studies all the sound- producing possibilities of the human speech apparatus and the ways they are used for purposes of human communication by means of language, it finds out what types of speech sounds exist in various languages of the world, how they are produced and what role they play in forming and expressing thoughts; it also determines the nature, types and role of other phonetic means, such as word stress and intonation.General phonetics is based on the material which the special phonetics of a great number of languages provides; it also uses data of other sciences: physics, biology, psychology, speech pathology, etc. So it makes a number of general conclusions concerning the complex nature of speech sounds, analyses phonetic phenomena from different points of view and formulates phonetic theories. On the one hand general phonetics is based on the data of special phonetics; on the other hand it provides valuable theoretical material which enables us to understand and to interpret correctly differe nt phonetic phenomena of concrete languages.Another important division is into phonology and phonetics. According to the conception of the Prague Linguistic School phonetics and phonology are two independent branches of science, phonetics is a biological science which is concerned with the physical and physiological characteristics of speech sounds, and phonology is a linguistic science which is concerned with the social functions of different phonetic phenomena. Another term for this branch is functional phonetics. The father of Phonology is Prince Nicholas Trubetskoi.His work â€Å"Fundementals of Phonology† separates phonetics and phonology, saying that they are not related and that phonetics is not part of linguistics, but a biological science that deals only with the physiological aspect of speech sounds. Nevertheless it doesn't seem logical to separate function from phonetic forms, thus excluding phonetics from the linguistic sciences. So nowadays most phoneticians cons ider both phonetics and phonology part of linguistics. Phonetics itself is subdivided into 3 sub branches, each dealing with special aspects of sounds, their production by a speaker and perception by a listener.Phonetic processing starts on a neurophonetic level, in the brain of a speaker, where the formation of the concept takes place. The human brain controls the behaviour of the articulatory (or speech) organs and makes them move in a particular way. The branch of phonetics which is concerned with the study of speech sounds as regards their production by the human speech organs is called articulatory (physiological) phonetics. In other words it deals with the way human organs join to produce sounds.Articulatory basis of a language is a set of articulation tendencies characteristic for a particular language community, so articulatory gesturing is culturally specific and not universal. Different articulations produce different acoustic effects, or different speech sounds. Consequen tly, speech sounds have a second aspect, a physical or, more exactly, an acoustic one, which constitutes the domain of acoustic phonetics. Acoustic phonetics involves knowledge of physics as it deals with the physical property of sounds. Any sound is a pressure disturbance transmitted through an elastic medium.When articulatory gesturing starts it causes disturbance (a sound wave) in the medium, which is transmitted from one particle of the medium to another and is reproduced as a sound wave travels from the source to the listener. Perceptual or auditory phonetics is concerned with the way our auditory mechanism works to process speech information. There is a boundary line between reception (which doesn't involve understanding) and perception (which involves decoding and understanding). Phonetic perception is a product of sensation and interpretation of speech elements which take place in a human brain.Phonetics is also divided into two major components: segmental phonetics, which i s concerned with individual sounds (â€Å"segments† of speech) and suprasegmental phonetics whose domain is larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts. There are a number of other divisions of phonetics. We may speak about comparative phonetics whose aims are to study the correlation between the phonetic systems of two or more languages and find out the correspondences between speech sounds and intonation structures.Its data are extremely useful in teaching and learning a foreign language as they show differences and similarities of the phonetic systems of two or more languages and predict possible difficulties for the learners. It should be mentioned that the most difficult phonetic phenomena are those absent in the mother tongue. For example, the sounds [? -? ] cause a lot of difficulties for the Russian students of English, as there are no sounds with similar articulations in the Russian language.On the other hand the most stable and persistent p ronunciation mistakes are made in those phenomena which are similar in the two languages but not exactly the same. For example, falling intonation. In English it goes to the very bottom of the voice, while in Russian it is not so steep and it does not reach the same low note as in English. The data of applied phonetics are essential for practical purposes in speech therapy and logopedia. It helps to correct speech defects and to teach deaf-mutes (or people who do not speak as a result of an accident or some disease) to speak.Experimental phonetics deals with research work which is carried out with the help of different technical devices, machines for measurements and for instrumental analysis. Phonetics as a whole and all of its branches have not come into being all at once: they developed gradually, and their development was closely connected with and determined by the development of other branches of linguistics and other sciences. 1. 3. Phonetics and Social Sciences So our furthe r point should be made in connection with the relationship between phonetics and social sciences. Language is not an isolated phenomenon; it is a part of society.No branch of linguistics can be studied without taking into consideration at least the study of other aspects of society. In the past two decades we have seen the development of quite distinct interdisciplinary subjects, such as sociolinguistics (and sociophonetics correspondingly), psycholinguistics, mathematical linguistics and others. As their titles suggest, they are studied from two points of view and thus require knowledge of both. Sociophonetics studies the ways in which pronunciation functions in society. It is interested in the ways in which phonetic structures vary in response to different social functions.Society here is used in its broadest sense, it includes such phenomena as nationality, regional and social groups, age, gender, different situations of speaking – talking to equals, superiors, on the â₠¬Å"job†, when we are trying to persuade, inform, agree and so on. The aim of sociophonetics is to correlate phonetic variations with situational factors. It’s obvious that these data are vital for language learners who are to observe social norms and to accommodate to different situations they find themselves in. One more example of interdisciplinary overlap is the relation of linguistics to psychology.Psycholinguistics covers an extremely broad area, from acoustic phonetics to language pathology, and includes such problems as acquisition of language by children, memory, attention, speech perception, second-language acquisition and so on. Phonosemantics studies the relations between the sound structure of a word and its meaning. There is some data proving that the sounds that constitute a word have their own â€Å"inner† meaning, which causes certain associations in the listener’s mind. For example, close vowels produce the effect of â€Å"smallness†, and voiceless consonants sound more â€Å"unpleasant† and â€Å"rude† than their voiced counterparts, etc.Some sounds are associated with certain colours. These data may be helpful in teaching, for example, â€Å"tying† together the sound structure of a word and its meaning, thus facilitating the process of memorising new words. Scientists have always been interested how children acquire their own language without being taught. They hope that these data might be useful in teaching grown-up people a foreign language, too. Pragmalinguistics is a comparatively new science, which studies what linguistic means and ways of influence on a hearer to choose in order to bring about certain effects in the process of communication.Correspondently the domain of pragmaphonetics is to analyse the functioning and speech effects of the sound system of a language. Phonetics is closely connected with a number of other sciences such as physics (or rather acoustics), mathematics, biology, physiology and others. The more phonetics develops the more various branches of science become involved in the field of phonetic investigation. Phonetics has become important in a number of technological fields connected with communication.Phoneticians work alongside the communication engineers in devising and perfecting machines that can understand, that is respond to human speech, or machines for reading aloud the printed page and vice versa, converting speech directly into printed words on paper. Although scientists are still dissatisfied with the quality of synthesized speech, these data are applied in security systems, answering machines and for other technical purposes. 1. 4. Methods of Phonetic Investigation Methods applied in investigating the sound matter of the language have changed greatly with the development of technology and computer science.From the beginning of phonetics the phonetician has relied mainly on what he could feel of his own speech and on what h e could hear both of his own and the informant’s speech. Such methods are called direct and consist in observing the movements and positions of one's own or other people's organs of speech in pronouncing various speech sounds, as well as in analysing one's own kinaesthetic sensations (muscle tense) during the articulation of speech sounds and in comparing them with the resultant auditory impressions.Investigation by means of this method can be effective only if the persons employing it have been specially trained and have acquired considerable skills in associating the qualities of the perceived sound with the nature of the articulations producing it. Instrumental methods were introduced into phonetics in the last century to supplement the impressions deriving from the human senses. These methods are based upon registering or computing machines and technical devices, such as spectrograph, intonograph, x-ray photography and cinematography, laryngoscope and some others.The intr oduction of machines for measurements and for instrumental analysis into phonetics has resulted in their use for detailed study of many of the phenomena which are present in the sound wave or in the articulatory process at any given moment. These techniques can be very useful both for discovering in detail how English speakers produce their speech sounds, and for demonstrating to learners of English their pronunciation. Computers can provide additional pronunciation training, displaying useful information on the screen and being a powerful visual aid for effective phonetic practice.One more advantage of the modern experimental study of speech is the enormous amount of varied spoken speech data stored on computers. It facilitates the process of looking for cross-language differences and similarities. The data obtained from instrumental analysis supplement and verify those obtained by means of direct observation, thus making the research results more detailed and precise. II. THE ARTI CULATORY CHARACTERISTIC OF THE ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS 2. 1. The Anatomo-mechanical Aspect of Sound Production Speech is impossible without the speech mechanism.So now our attention will be focused on the articulatory aspect of speech sounds. Speech sounds are acoustic effects of the articulatory movements and positions of the human speech organs. The immediate source of speech sounds is the human speech mechanism developed and perfected in the process of the historical development of man. The organs of speech are the object of linguistic investigation mainly from the point of view of the functions they perform in speech production. So before analysing the linguistic function of phonetic units we need to know how the speech mechanism acts in producing oral speech.According to their main sound-producing functions the speech organs can be roughly divided into the following four groups: the power mechanism (lungs, diaphragm, windpipe, bronchi), the vibrator mechanism (larynx, vocal cords , glottis), the resonator mechanism (nasal and mouth cavities) and the obstructer mechanism (tongue, lips, hard and soft palate, teeth). From the lungs through the wind-pipe the air-stream passes to the larynx, containing the vocal cords. The opening between the vocal cords, through which the air passes, is called the glottis. The linguistic function of the vocal cords onsists in providing the source of energy necessary for speech production. When the vocal cords are kept wide apart (i. e. the glottis is open) the air passes between the cords and the result is non-phonic breath. Then the vocal cords may be drawn together tightly, so that air cannot pass between them. The sudden opening of the glottis produces an explosion resembling a short cough; this sound is called the glottal stop. It often occurs in English when it reinforces or even replaces the sounds [p], [t], [k] or even when it precedes the energetic articulation of vowel sounds.The most important role of the vocal cords i s their participation in the production of voice. The effect of voice is achieved when the vocal cords are brought loosely together, creating an obstacle to the air stream; when the air pressure becomes very strong the air forces its way between the vocal cords thus making the, vibrate. When, as is usual, these vibrations are regular, they produce vocal tone, or voice, whose pitch depends on the frequency of vibrations. We are able to vary the speed of vibration of our vocal cords and thus to change the pitch.Conscious variations of pitch are responsible for intonation. We are also able to modify the size of the puff of the air which escapes at each vibration, thus changing the amplitude of the vibration, which corresponds to the loudness of the sound heard by a listener. The air-stream, having passed through the vocal cords, is now subject to further modification, according to the shape of the pharynx, mouth and nasal cavities. The direction in which the air-stream will follow from the pharynx depends on the position of the soft palate.When it is lowered, the pharynx opens into the nasal cavity. When it is risen, the air-stream comes to the mouth cavity. As in the mouth cavity a lot of movable speech organs are situated it can easily change its shape, thus forming the majority of speech sounds. The movable (or active) speech organs, situated in the mouth cavity are: the tongue, the soft palate with the uvula, the lips and the lower jaw. Of all the movable organs within the mouth cavity the tongue is the most flexible and active.For convenience, the surface of the tongue or divided into several parts: the most flexible part of the tongue, which normally lies opposite the teeth ridge, is called the blade, the tip of the tongue being its extreme point. The part of the tongue next to the blade is called the front of the tongue. Then come the back and the root of the tongue. The tongue being the most active speech organ in the mouth cavity, the main principles of the majority of articulatory classifications of vowels are based on the movements and positions of the tongue. 2. 2. The system of English VowelsThe movements of the body of the tongue provide a convenient articulatory basis for classifying vowels according to two principles: 1) horizontal and 2) vertical movements of the tongue. According to the horizontal movement five classes of English vowels are distinguished. They are: 1) front [i:], [e], [e? ], [ ], [? ] 2) front-retracted [? ], [ ] 3) central [? ], [? :], [? ], [ ], [a? ], [a? ] 4) back [? ], [? :], [u:], [a:], [ ] 5) back-advanced [? ], [ ] Not all phoneticians single out the classes of front-retracted and back-advanced vowels. So both [i:] and [? vowels are classed as front, and both [u:] and [? ] – as back. The point is that the vowels in these two pairs differ in quality which is partially due to the raised part of the tongue. So in this case a more detailed classification seems to be a more precise one, since it adequately reflects the articulatory distinctions actually present in the language. Now let's view another articulatory characteristic of vowels, which is based on the vertical movement of the tongue. The way phoneticians of different schools approach this aspect is also slightly different.Some scholars distinguish three classes of vowels: high (or close), mid and low (or open) vowels. But to mark all significant changes in vowel quality it is not enough to single out these three groups of vowels. For instance, both English vowels [i:] and [? ] belong to the group of close vowels, but when the vowel [? ] is articulated the front of the tongue is not so high in the mouth as it is in the case of the vowel [i:]. Russian phoneticians made the classification more detailed distinguishing two subclasses in each class: broad and narrow variations of the 3 vertical positions of the tongue.Thus the following 6 groups of vowels are distinguished: 1) close a) narrow [i:], [u:] b) broad [? ], [? ], [ ], [ ] 2) mid a) narrow [e], [? :], [? ], [e? ], [ ] b) broad [? ], [? ] 3) open a) narrow [ ], [? :], [ ] b) broad [? ], [a? ], [a? ], [? ], [a:]. In addition to the above-mentioned principle of the classification of vowels phoneticians suggest five other criteria: 1) stability of articulation 2) lip position 3) character of the vowel end 4) length 5) tenseness The stability of articulation specifies the actual position of the articulating organ in the process of the articulation.There are two possible variants: a) the tongue position is stable, in this case the articulated vowel is pure, it consists of one element and is called a monophthong; and b) the tongue position changes, in this case a vowel consists of two elements, the first one is strong, it is a nucleus, the second element is very weak – it is a glide. There exists a third variety, when the change in the tongue position is fairly weak, in this case the articulated vowel is not pure, but it still consists of one element, such vowels are called diphthongoids.So according to this principle the English vowels are subdivided into: a) monophthongs [? ], [? ], [e], [? :], [? ], [? ], [? :], [? ], [? ], [a:] b) diphthongs [ ], [ ], [e? ], [ ], [ ], [a? ], [a? ], [ ] c) diphthongoids [i:], [u:] Some phoneticians, however, do not share this way of thinking and do not distinguish diphthongoids. But for the learners of English it is important to know this differentiation as it is useful for teaching purposes. Besides in modern English the tendency for diphthongization is becoming gradually stronger. Another feature of English vowels is lip rounding.Traditionally three lip positions are distinguished: spread, neutral and rounded. In English lip rounding is not relevant phonologically (it means that no two words can be distinguished on its basis). Our next point should be made about another characteristic of English vowels. It's checkness. The quality of all English monophthongs in the stressed pos ition is strongly affected by the following consonant. If a stressed vowel is followed by a strong (fortis) voiceless consonant it is cut off by it. In this case the end of the vowel is strong and the vowel is called checked.If a vowel is followed by a weak (lenis) voiced consonant or by no consonant at all the end of it is weak. In this case the vowel is called free. Now it should be useful to consider another articulatory characteristic of English vowels, that is their length or quantity. The English monophthongs are traditionally divided into short [? ], [e], [? ], [? ], [? ], [? ], [? ] and long ones [i:], [a:], [? :], [? :], [u:]. It should be noted that vowel length or quantity has for a long time been the point of disagreement among phoneticians. The problem is whether variations in quantity are meaningful (relevant) or not.Let's look at the pairs of words: [b? d – bi:d], [s? t – si:t]. Are they distinguished from one another by the opposition of different lengt h (that's the approach of D. Jones, an outstanding British phonetician) or is the difference in quality (or in other words the position of the active organ of speech) decisive here? Most Russian phoneticians are in favour of the second conception. They state that a feature can be systemic if it does not depend on the context. As to the length of English vowels, it varies and depends on a lot of factors, the first being phonetic context.The shortest are vowels followed by voiceless consonants and the longest are in free position. For example in â€Å"meat† [i:] is half as long as the [i:] in â€Å"me†, but may approximately have the same duration as the [? ] in â€Å"mid†. But still these words â€Å"mid† and â€Å"meat† are perceived as different words because the vowels are different in quality. So no matter what time is required for the articulation of these vowels, the main distinctive feature is quality, not quantity. As for tenseness we shall only mention that special instrumental analysis shows that historically long vowels are tense, and historically short ones are lax.To sum it up we may conclude that among all the articulatory features of English vowels only two are relevant: the stability of articulation and tongue position. 2. 3. The System of English Consonants Before passing on to the classification of English consonants the difference between consonants and vowels should be considered. Acoustically consonants are noises, not musical tones like vowels. From the articulatory point of view the difference is due to the work of speech organs. In case of consonants various obstructions are made. As to the classification of English consonants there are few ways of seeing the situation.One of them is the classification according to the type of obstacle. On this ground two large classes of consonants are distinguished: 1) occlusive, which are produced when a complete obstruction is formed: [t, d, p, b, k, g], [m, n, ? ]; 2) constrictive, which are produced when an incomplete obstruction is formed: [s, z, f, v, O, ? , ? , ? , h], [w, r, l, j]. Each of the 2 classes is subdivided into noise consonants (these are those in the production of which noise prevails over tone) and sonorants (in the production of which tone component prevails).Noise occlusive consonants are called stops because the air stream is completely stopped at some point of articulation and then released with an explosion, that is why they are also called plosives: [t, d, p, b, k, g]. Constrictive noise consonants are called fricatives, because the air escapes through the narrowing with friction: [s, z, f, v, O, ? , ? , ? , h]. Occlusive-constrictive consonants or affricates are noise consonants produced with a complete obstruction which is slowly released and the air stream escapes from the mouth with some friction. There are only two affricates in English: [? ,? . Other phoneticians suggest that the first and basic principle of clas sification should be the degree of noise. So consonants are divided first into noise consonants and sonorants and then each group is divided into smaller groups. Another very important principle is the place of articulation. According to this principle English consonants are classed into labial, lingual and glottal. I. Labial consonants in their turn are subdivided into a) bilabial (produced when both lips are active) [w, m, p, b]; b) labio-dental (articulated with the lower lip against the edge of the upper teeth) [f, v]. II.Among the class of lingual consonants three subclasses are distinguished: a) forelingual; b) medio-lingual; c) back-lingual. Forelingual consonants are also of three kinds: 1) apical (articulated with the tip of the tongue) [t, d, s, z, O, ? , ? , ? , ? , ? , n, l]. 2) dorsal (produced when the blade of the tongue is active). There are no dorsal consonants in English. In Russian these are the sounds [?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?]. 3) cacuminal (articulated with the t ip of the tongue curled back). There is only one cacuminal consonant in English – [r]. According to the place of obstruction forelingual consonants may be: – interdental, rticulated with the tip of the tongue projected between the teeth: [O, ? ]; – dental, produced with the blade of the tongue against the upper teeth: the Russian [?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?]; – alveolar, produced with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth ridge: [t, d, s, z, n, l]; – post-alveolar, articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge: [r]; – palato-alveolar, made with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge and the front part of the tongue raised towards the hard palate, thus having two places of articulation (two foci): [? ? , ? , ? ]. b) mediolingual consonants are produced with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate, so they are always palatal: [j]. c) backlingual consonants are also called velar, because they are produced with the back part of the tongue raised towards the soft palate: [k, g, ? ]. III. The glottal consonant [h] is articulated in the glottis. There are no glottal consonants in Russian. One more articulatory characteristic which should be mentioned is the position of the soft palate.According to this principle consonants may be oral and nasal. There are only three nasal consonants in English, which require the lowered position of the soft palate: [m, n, ]. The rest of the consonants are oral because in their production the soft palate is raised and the air escapes through the mouth. Our next point will be made in connection with another sound property, that is voice-voiceless characteristic. When the vocal cords are brought together and vibrate we hear voice and the consonants are voiced: [b, d, g, v, z, ? , ? , ? . When the vocal cords are apart and do not vibrate we hear only noise and the consonants are voiceless: [p, t, k, f, s, O, ? , ? ]. It should be noted that the difference between such pairs as [p, b], [t, d] and so on is based not only on the absence or presence of the voice component, as voiced consonants are not fully voiced in all word positions, in word final position, for example, they are partially devoiced. There's also energy difference. All voiced consonants are weak or lenis and all voiceless consonants are strong or fortis.Summing it up, it should be mentioned that the most important articulatory features, which could serve as a criterion for grouping consonants into functionally similar classes, are: type of obstruction; place of articulation and the active organ of speech; force of articulation. The rest of the characteristics are considered to be irrelevant, as they are of no importance from the phonological point of view, but they provide necessary and useful information for teaching purposes. It is for this reason that they are normally included into the classification. III.THE ACOUSTIC AND AUDITORY ASPECTS OF THE ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS The auditory aspect of any sound is inseparable from its acoustic aspect and acoustic phonetics is closely connected with auditory phonetics and both may, therefore, be considered together. Objectively sound is a physical phenomenon, a kind of moving energy generated by some vibrating body. Subjectively sound is our perception of the vibrations of the air next to our ear-drum. People can perceive not all vibrations of the air but only when they occur at the rate of sixteen to twenty thousand times per second.Sounds may be periodical and non-periodical. If the vibrations of a physical body (vocal cords in our case) are rhythmical, the sound waves are periodical. The auditory impression of such periodical waves is a musical tone or a speech tone. If the wave is non-periodical, it is perceived as noise. Sound has a number of physical properties which all exist and manifest themselves simultaneously. They can be singled out from the others o nly for purposes of analysis. The first of these properties is frequency which is a number of vibrations per second.Our perception of the frequency is the pitch of the sound. The greater the frequency, the higher the pitch and vice versa. The frequency depends on certain physical properties of the vibrator, such as its mass, length and tension. The greater the mass of the vibrator, the slower its vibrations and the lower the pitch. The longer the vibrator, the slower the vibrations and the lower the frequency and the pitch. Here the difference between men and women and adults and children voices lies. Men's and adults' voices are lower than women's and children's are, because their vocal cords are thicker and longer.Tension depends on the elasticity of the vocal cords. The vocal cords of elderly people are not as elastic as the vocal cords of younger people, children especially, so their voices sound rather low. As the tension increases – the frequency increases and the pitch rises. The second physical property of sound is intensity, changes in which are perceived as variations in the loudness of sound. The intensity of sound is produced by the amplitude of vibrations (that is by the distance to which the air particles are displaced from their position of rest by the application of some external force).Intensity is measured in decibels. The intensity and frequency of sound are closely interdependent. The same amount of energy will produce either greater amplitude with a lower frequency or a higher frequency with smaller amplitude. Therefore if you increase the frequency without increasing the amount of energy you will shorten the amplitude and therefore reduce the intensity, that is produce a less loud sound. People are able to produce vowel sounds of various qualities or timbres. This is achieved through the action of the resonator mechanism.So the production and differentiation of vowels is based on the acoustic phenomenon that is called resonance. So unds coming from different resonators travel different lengths (distances) or have different carrying power. The distance is proportional to the volume of the resonator and the size of its orifice. Any sound has a certain duration or length. In other words it can exist and move only in time. The duration or length of a sound is the quantity of time during which the same vibratory motion, the same patterns of vibration are maintained. For this reason, the duration of a sound is often referred to as is quantity.The duration is measured in millisecond. We perceive the variations in duration as tempo or speed of utterance. In speech there are not definite boundaries between different speech sounds. So it’s very difficult to measure the length of separate sounds. In addition it should be mentioned that along with various articulatory classifications of speech sounds, there exist acoustic descriptions and classifications. The chief drawback of articulatory classifications is that t hey don’t describe and define all shades of typologically identical speech sounds, especially vowels.Besides, one and the same speech sound can be pronounced by different people with slightly different positions and movements of their speech organs. Acoustic classifications seem to overcome these difficulties as they are more detailed and accurate. The first acoustic classification was based on spectrographic analysis. It was worked out by Roman Jakobson, C. G. M. Fant and M. Halle. However, acoustic classification, though more precise, are not practically applied in teaching. The acoustic features of speech sounds can not be seen directly or felt.But there are some other fields of the application of acoustic phonetics: speech synthesis, health service, security systems, etc. IV. THE FUNCTIONAL ASPECT OF SPEECH SOUNDS 4. 1 Phoneme and Allophones Phoneticians not only describe and classify the material form of phonetic units. They are also interested in the way in which sound phenomena function in a particular language and what part they play in communication. The branch of phonetics that studies the linguistic function of consonant and vowel sounds, syllabic structures, word accent and prosodic features is called phonology.Unlike phonetics itself, whose domain is articulatory and acoustic features, phono

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Hrm Assignment

Assignment 1 Question 1 i. Name and describe in your own words two such HRM challenges as discussed in class. (4 marks) Two of the challenges are technology and motivation. Technology challenge is a new change that HRM has to face when working in a corporate. Advanced technology changes HR practices such as recruitment, training and collecting information and so on. To specific, HR uses technology to work more efficiently than before. Therefore, in the information age, HR has to know how to use tech better or the organization would be fallen behind.Motivation also is a challenge for HR. One of HR’s responsibilities is encouraging employees working more passionately and earnest. If HR cannot drive them in their work, a company is likely to lose some talent employees. So increasing motivation is important and hard to do for HR. ii. For each named challenge, give a description of how an HRM professional may assist the company in responding to the presenting situation. (4 marks) H RM professional rely on new technology to recruit.For example, HR professionals can post jobs on the internet instead of on newspaper or Flyers. Thus, applicants around the world can know the jobs and try to employ, the corporate would have more chances to have capable workers. For training, technical utilities help new staffs to be trained better. They can learn more professional skills and practice software in training programs by PowerPoint and video. For data storage, â€Å"The use of electronic imaging has made it possible for companies to store and retrieve files in an electronic format† (Lewis, 2001).Tech has been saved HR professionals’ time in organizing information statistics. About motivation challenge that HRM has to deal, HR professionals must be capable to recognize what the employees’ advantages are and how to distribute their tasks. Under the detailed division of labor, HR manager can inspire their working enthusiasm to increase productivity. A H R manager is a leader to conduct the labors to show their talents and guide them for the effectiveness of the company. However, it is a huge challenge for HR professionals.Once a HR manager does not arrange accurately the division of labor, a company is likely to be fallen behind. Therefore, motivation challenge is always significant and difficult for HR professionals. iii. For one of your named challenges, explain whether you think the HRM manager’s response is â€Å"proactive† or â€Å"reactive†. (2 marks) In my opinion, technology challenge is proactive for the HRM manager. Technology not only makes work period shorten, but increases job competition. Tech has promoted society including HRM.Question 2 Name and define in your own words the competency you think is being shown in this HR generalist’s work. (2 marks) I think organizing ability is required in the HR generalist’s work. Organizing ability is keeping a scenario run in the normal order an d maintaining members in a group do their works disciplined and in order. Why in your opinion is this competency important for the HRM generalist to have in a company setting, particularly in light of the importance of productivity enhancements discussed in Chapter 1? 3 marks) Organizing ability is significant because HRM generalists need to organize the employees to serve the company and increase productivity. Productivity is depending on ability, motivation and work environment. A HR generalist who has organizing ability can distribute labor’s work correctly so that they can develop their talents and promote their motivation in work. Under such positive work atmosphere, more employees will be influenced and continue work earnestly. Thus, productivity will be enhanced. Therefore, organizing ability is vital for HR generalists.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Youth Initiative

As political participation by young people is plummeting, the young political neophytes should be exposed to the different benefits of our democratic system. There are many groups involved in the pivotal steps to bring politics to youth, but the bottom line is to get the word out. The democratic system is so priceless that individuals should be taught the value of their contribution. Eighteen-year olds are usually found in the many high schools in the United States. Each political party should make themselves accessible to the many budding adults via different schools. When the parties go to these schools and establish relationships there will be a collaborative effort of the schools and the parties. The political parties will become involved in different school functions and the students will relate to the causes as time goes along. Through this social, students and politicians will have a chance to spread the message of their ideology in respect to politics. Students will walk away from this event and know something they had not known before. If the ideas presented to the students sound beneficial then they will be prone to participation. More and more will realize the potential of the ideas and a natural grouping will form of youth with common beliefs. Students look more towards mentors for guidance. Media plays a large role in disseminating the message of different political factions. A very large percentage of Americans do not know all the existent presidential candidates, such as grass roots campaigner Alan Keyes. Citizens can benefit by becoming aware of all the candidates so it is the obligation of media services to present these to them. Media can support in some way to bring politics into awareness. Television and Internet use for news is increasing and these mediums can be used to target potential political participants. A good way to learn is by example and political parties, teaching institutions, and media are impo... Free Essays on Youth Initiative Free Essays on Youth Initiative As political participation by young people is plummeting, the young political neophytes should be exposed to the different benefits of our democratic system. There are many groups involved in the pivotal steps to bring politics to youth, but the bottom line is to get the word out. The democratic system is so priceless that individuals should be taught the value of their contribution. Eighteen-year olds are usually found in the many high schools in the United States. Each political party should make themselves accessible to the many budding adults via different schools. When the parties go to these schools and establish relationships there will be a collaborative effort of the schools and the parties. The political parties will become involved in different school functions and the students will relate to the causes as time goes along. Through this social, students and politicians will have a chance to spread the message of their ideology in respect to politics. Students will walk away from this event and know something they had not known before. If the ideas presented to the students sound beneficial then they will be prone to participation. More and more will realize the potential of the ideas and a natural grouping will form of youth with common beliefs. Students look more towards mentors for guidance. Media plays a large role in disseminating the message of different political factions. A very large percentage of Americans do not know all the existent presidential candidates, such as grass roots campaigner Alan Keyes. Citizens can benefit by becoming aware of all the candidates so it is the obligation of media services to present these to them. Media can support in some way to bring politics into awareness. Television and Internet use for news is increasing and these mediums can be used to target potential political participants. A good way to learn is by example and political parties, teaching institutions, and media are impo...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Identifying and Dating Old Cabinet Card Photographs

Identifying and Dating Old Cabinet Card Photographs Cabinet cards, popular in the late 1800s, are easy to recognize because they are mounted on cardstock, often with an imprint of the photographer and location just below the photo. There are similiar card-type photographs, such as the smaller  carte-de-visits  which was introduced in the 1850s, but if your old photo is about 4x6 in size then chances are it is a cabinet card. A style of photograph first  introduced in 1863 by Windsor Bridge in London, the cabinet card is a photographic print mounted on card stock. The Cabinet card got its name from its suitability for display in parlors especially in cabinets and was a popular medium for family portraits. Description:A traditional cabinet card consists of a 4 X 5 1/2 photo mounted on 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 card stock. This allows for an extra 1/2 to 1 of space at the bottom of the cabinet card where the name of the photographer or studio was typcially printed. The cabinet card is similar to the smaller carte-de-visite which was introduced in the 1850s. Time Period: First Appeared: 1863 in London; 1866 in America Peak Popularity: 1870-1895 Last Use: Cabinet cards are rarely found dating after 1906, although cabinet cards continued to be produced into the early 1920s. Dating a Cabinet Card:Details of a cabinet card, from the type of card stock to whether it had right-angled or rounded corners, can often help to determine the date of the photograph to within five years. It is important to note, however, that these dating methods arent always accurate. The photographer may have been using up old card stock, or the cabinet card may have been a re-printed copy made many years after the original photo was taken.   Card Stock 1866-1880 Square, lightweight mount1880-1890 Square, heavy weight card stock1890s Scalloped edges Card Colors 1866-1880 Thin, light weight card stock in white, off white or light cream. White and light colors were used in later years, but generally on heavier card stock.1880-1890 Different colors for face and back of mounts1882-1888 Matte-finish front, with a creamy-yellow, glossy back. Borders 1866-1880 Red or gold rules, single and double lines1884-1885 Wide gold borders1885-1892 Gold beveled edges1889-1896 Rounded corner rule of single line1890s on... Embossed borders and/or lettering Lettering 1866-1879 Photographer name and address often printed small and neatly just below the image, and/or studio name printed small on back.1880s on... Large, ornate text for photographer name and address, especially in cursive style. Studio name often takes up the entire back of the card.Late 1880s-90s Gold text on black card stock1890s on... Embossed studio name or other embossed designs Other Types of Card Mounted Photographs: Cartes-de-visite 2 1/2 X 4 1850s - 1900sBoudoir 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 1880sImperial Mount 7 X 10 1890sCigarette Card 2 3/4 X 2 3/4 1885-95, 1909-17Stereograph 3 1/2 X 7 to 5 X 7