Research critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Research critique - Essay Example Likewise, the paper did not explicitly state the problem, but with clear defined focus and a well argued urgency and necessity for the study, apparently, the problem centers on the effectiveness of mutual goal setting (MGS) and supportive-educative (SE) nursing interventions in improving the mental health (MH) and quality of life (QOL) of individuals with heart failure (HF) – a very relevant study specifically for nursing, since among health workers, nurses are tasked to monitor health conditions of patients. With the study addressing a clinical problem that is experimental in nature, quantitative approach has been appropriate. The stated hypotheses: â€Å"That by (1) educating HF patients about their disease and supporting them in self-care management behaviors and (2) enhancing their sense of control through MGS, they will experience significant improvements in their MH and QOL† (Scott, Setter-Kline, & Britton, 2004, p. 249) have clearly specified the key variables an d the study population as consistently illustrated in the conceptual framework and as supported by a brief yet cohesive review of literature both in theories and related studies. Observably, the literature review, which references are good combination of old(1990-1998) and current (1999-2004) books (3-1), journals (4-7), and government materials (3-1), although brief has provided sufficient theoretical: â€Å"†¦ worry, depression, and loss of control may contribute to feelings of powerlessness among individuals receiving treatment for advance HF† (Scott, 2000, cited in Ibid, p. 249), and practical: â€Å"the use of SE nursing intervention improved self-care behaviors and decreased symptom frequency and distress, yet only limited improvements in QOL were identified† (Jaarsma et al., 2000, cited in Ibid), support to the study. However, studies cited here were not critiqued maybe due to the

Project Scope and Charter Essay Example for Free

Project Scope and Charter Essay The first phase of any project is the initiation phase. This phase commences when some type of business issue or opportunity is identified bringing about a proposal project to solve or address the issue or opportunity. The main deliverable of this phase is the project charter, which contains a broad view of what the project is about, who is involved, why the project is being conducted and how when the project will be carried out. (Hughes Lecture, 2013) Once the charter is approved the project can move into the planning phase, which is where the charter is used to identify the scope of the project. This paper will examine the relationship between project scope and charter and highlight the benefits of each. Project Charter The project charter is a short document that serves as an informal contract between the project team and the sponsor of the project. (Kloppenberg, 2012, pg 84) This document contains only enough detail to get the project approved so it can move into the planning phase. Project Management Professional, Ritchie Hughes describes the charter as a representation of the â€Å"view from 3000 meters†. The project charter is usually drawn up by the Project Manager and team, or, in instances where a Project Manager has not yet been assigned, the project sponsor will complete the charter. Hughes explains that the functions of the â€Å"why† section of the charter are to ensure: the correct individuals will be consulted (e.g. stakeholders and governance), projects that are linked or dependent on the project in question are identified, the organization has enough resources (internally or externally) to complete the project, a business case for the organization is conveyed and that all the information is provided to support the executive team. (Hughes Lecture, 2013) Approval of the charter grants authority to the project manager to go through with the project and utilize the allotted budget or resources for the project activity. As the charter approval is the â€Å"Go/No Go† decision for the project, a non-approval means termination of the project. (Hughes Lecture, 2013) Scope Approval of the project charter signifies the transition into the planning phase of the project. A critical part of the planning phase is identifying the scope of the project. Project scope is defined as â€Å"the work that must be performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.† (Kloppenberg, 2012, pg. 142) Ritchie Hughes explained that scope can also mean â€Å"the sum of products, services and results to be provided as a project.† The benefits of scope are that the work to be performed is clarified, listed and any work not to be completed (outside the project’s scope) is identified. Scope is also a useful tool in managing expectations and avoiding assumptions among stakeholders and the project team. (Hughes Lecture, 2013) Scope Creep A common issue when managing a project’s scope is dealing with scope creep. Scope creep can be defined as â€Å"the extra deliverables that can creep into a project.† (Collegiate Projects, 2013, pg. 1) These â€Å"project improvements† can be very hard to avoid but may have a major effect on the project’s budget, timing or quality. Projects that may be susceptible to scope creep should have a scope change management plan that contains: a definition of scope change for the project, a process for submitting and reviewing scope changes, documentation needed for the change process and a tool to track change requests and their resolutions. (Collegiate Projects, 2013, pg. 2,3) An understanding by both parties (project team and sponsor) of scope creep and its effects on the project, and an organized management plan will help avoid scope creep that may negatively affect the project’s success. Conclusion In the early stages of project management, two very important aspects are the project charter and scope of the project. Not all projects need a charter but understanding and managing the scope of a project will help the project team effectively complete the project in time and budget without â€Å"Gold Plating†. References Kloppenborg, T. J. (2012). Contemporary project management: organize, plan, perform (2nd ed.). Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning. (2013). Managing Scope Creep. Collegiate Project Services, 1, 1-3. Hughes, R. (Director) (2013, January 31). Project Initiation: Scope Charters. Bus 427. Lecture conducted from Tom Rippon, Victoria.

Prevention and Safeguard Measures For Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

Prevention and Safeguard Measures For Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). Abstract Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly referred to as mad cow disease, is a disease that damages the central nervous system and results to death. This disease is caused by abnormal proteins, or prions, and directly kills nervous tissues, thus is directly linked to the spinal cord and brain. The United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Food and Drug Administrations have set safeguards and firewalls to prevent BSE-contaminated beef from entering into the human food supply. Human consumption of BSE- contaminated beef results to variant Creutzfedt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which is also fatal. So far, there are no cures for BSE, or for vCJD, but only treatments to help stabilize the symptoms of the disease as the disease progresses. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, is a slowly progressive, degenerative, fatal disease that damages the central nervous system of adult cattle. It is universally accepted among the scientific community that the cause of BSE is from infectious forms of prions, which is a type of protein that is found in animals and is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). The exact cause of BSE is not known. In cattle that have BSE, these abnormal prions initially occur in the small intestines and tonsils, and are found in the brain, spinal cord, and other nervous tissues of animals in later stages of this disease (USFDA/CFSAN, 2005). These abnormal prions trigger chain reactions through all the other proteins in the brain and cause those proteins to change into the abnormal prions, thus damaging the brain and the result is death (Massachusetts Dep... ...h. July 20, 2005: www.mass.gov/dph/cdc/factsheets/madcow.htm Spengler, R. (2004, February). Mad Cow Disease. Yahoo Health. July 20, 2005: www.health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/tu6533 United States Food and Drug Administration. (2004, May). Agencies Work to Corral Mad Cow Disease. U. S. Food and Drug Administration. July 20, 2005: www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/304_cow.html United States Food and Drug Administration. (2004, July). BSE Interim Final Rule and Proposed Rule. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. July 20, 2005: www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/bsefact2.html United States Food and Drug Administration. (2005, June). Commonly Asked Questions Prevention and Safeguard Measures for BSE 7 About BSE in Products Regulated by FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). U.S. Food and Drug Administration. July 20, 2005: www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/bsefaq.html

Modes of Power for Women Essay -- Theogony Females Birth Greek Essays

Modes of Power for Women The struggle for control over birth transcends centuries and continents. Gloria Steinem, a women’s rights advocate of the 1990s describes how â€Å"the traditional design of most patriarchal buildings of worship imitates the female body† in order that â€Å"men [can] take over the yoni-power of creation by giving birth symbolically† (Steinem XV). The struggle for control over the power of procreation between the sexes existed in Ancient Greece. It is apparent in the Theogony, an account of the creation of Greek deities, composed by Hesiod sometime between the eighth and seventh centuries. The Theogony depicts how males attempted to subvert control of procreation by monitoring the womb, through force, and by undermining mother-child relationships. The Theogony also describes how women combated the subversion through willpower, deceit, and forming mother-child bonds to preserve the female power of birth, the unique power to control what is created and influenc e the actions of that creation. In the Theogony, creation starts with two powerful initial goddesses: Chaos and Gaia. These goddesses give birth to a plethora of children, all of them born â€Å"without [the goddesses] mating in sweet love† (line 132). Because they give birth through self-procreation the goddesses have absolute control over their wombs. As other deities are born self-procreation is replaced by births of dual parentage. With gods and dual parentage, subversion of the female womb begins. Absolute control of birth is replaced by the struggle between genders for control of birth. Gods gain access to the womb three ways: limiting or monitoring the offspring that the womb releases, using sexual force against women, an... ...by unabating trouble in his heart and in his mind, and there is no cure for his plight† (611-612), indicates men are unable to conquer the female womb. Through desire, deceit, and offspring mortal women and goddesses preserve autonomy over birth. Birth is an amazing ability. It is a uniquely female power. The Theogony provides a portrait of the struggle between the sexes for control of the womb. Men attempt to gain access to birth by monitoring and grasping control over what leaves the womb, through sexual force, and by destroying the powerful mother-child bonds. Nonetheless, women retain autonomy. Sheer force of will, as Hera’s birth illustrates, deceit, and strong mother-child bonds preserve female power of procreation. Through birth women influence and control the course of human (or deities) destiny. Through their wombs women gain powerful agency.

Abusing power

Abusing of power Introduction Handing too much power can gain lots of benefits to organizations' own. People would be define that power are an evil force which can only compromise and obedience. If not Justify the power for an organization, corrupt and uncooperative works could be occurred. Such a view, Prefer (1992, pop), noted that while held by many, ignore the social reality that organizations cannot function effectively because of abusing of power. This issue tells the characteristics that organizations or people who abused power would have and measures the power are good using or abused.Analysis Power is an authority use to influence others that who are independent in circumstance. It can act In any direction in an organization, clearly members at higher levels have more power. Members who abused power, means the power acted in an improper way, due to the members have power that over others in the situation. They try to use their unique ablest such as physical strength, social position, knowledge, superior mental dexterity or partner trust to uses that power to harm or exploit people who are not Influenced. Organizational politics are Informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts to sell ideas, influence an organization, increase power, or achieve other targeted objective. † (Brandon, R & Salesman, M. , 2004). Actually, organizational politics are closely related to abuse of power in theory. The writer considered that while interest are eventually inconsistent, â€Å"rational† decision making alone may not work as common. Hence, political behavior and influences tactics might occurred.Organizations may use these disapproved tactics to pursue not-sanctioned outcome, leads to abusing of power. Gangs and Murray did a survey of 428 managers that would like to response explain the ambivalence of power In organizations. This survey Improved the upper part of the Issue that organizational politics and power abusive are related. In th e concept, most author, the writer Includes, regard organizational politics as the use or exercise of power, with it define as potential force as well.The survey noted that 55% of these respondent think that politics were detrimental to efficiency, and most of the top management should try to get avoid of politics in organizations Offer Gangs and Victor V, Murray, 1980, IPPP-IPPP People would also suggest that means and ends of the organizational politics could be ambivalence because of the processes and trainees may produce an outcome they desirable or totally opposite result arises. In addition, for the related point which the issue proposed, the view from which people estimate organizational decisions generally do not Justice to the realities of the social environment. The Impeachment of Tony Blair would form a fitting end too prime minister ship which opened with the promise to be ‘purer than pure', but ended in the arrogant deception of the British people. This ancient fo rm of trial, which has lain disused but not defunct In the armory with which we defend our liberties, Is the means by which Parliament can humble a chief minister who has arrogated forms which ought to have restrained him. â€Å"(Spectator, 2004). There is no doubt that influence and power could be exercised and gained for evil purpose.Tony Blair has a number of lines of defenses to make people compromise him that reads the evidence presented by Adam Price, acted in good faith to convince them and, he bring up a right result, even if the reasons which he declared for doing it were wrong. This showed up Tony Blair abusing of his power with a sanction ends but unacceptable means. The means to any ends are merely way to complete something and the end ay not always Justify the means, though none of it would like to discredit the political activities.Political activities and power courses can be used to complete great things, but when other people use these power to against one selves t arget, it may be define as power abusive. To discuss how organizational politics would abuse power, Machiavellian (Christie & Gets, 1970), as the harder side of the politics, explain the mainly concept about how people who abused power would be in fact. It often called Mach, is a personality feature which is characterized with the use of operation to gain power.The term derives from the 16th-century writings of the Italian civil servant Niccole Machiavelli, a person who concerned that how people win others' social influence and the capacity to manipulate them Cones, Daniel N. ; Phallus, Deadly L. , 2009, pappy-273). It could be define as ‘low Mach's' and ‘high Mach's' which also separate people who are highly act as a Machiavellian or Just have a trend of it. Hover ever, both high Mach's and low Mach's are using undesirable means to achieve the ends they wanted, no matter it would expense the others.But compared with low Mach's, high Mach's individuals are more likely to exploit and manipulate others (House & Howell, 1992, IPPP-108), which causes this trait especially relevant for knowing as abusive supervisors. (Machiavellian in Organizations: Justifying the Means by the Ends, 2010) found that high Mach's are those who would be persuade others more than low Mach's but not easily persuaded, because of eventually high Mach's are self-esteem and self-confidence. What's more, they considered highly to manipulate other and succeed in reaching their goals and tend to win more.People who are high Mach tend to be unattached, cool, calculated and find means to exploit loose construction or vulnerability in people. High Mach's parade in face-to-face settings that are finite structure and rules and while emotions owns not much value to achieve their goal. As a result, high Mach's are best accord with professions that acquired their ‘do whatever it takes' attitude such as staff for sales offer higher commission. (Hitler – A Modern Machiavellian P rince, 2011) mentioned that Doll Hitler is a symbol person who related to high Mach's. He deem that people to scare or hate of him are better than adore him.This concept may reflects to unattached and cool feature of Machiavellian to abuse their power. For instance, Jews are despite by Hitler, his actions confirm Machiavellian theory because he was scared by millions of people around the whole social world but also he was the only one controlled power. Indeed, study by Dialing and colleagues (2009, pappy-257) also proved that high Mach's have interpersonal acts akin to harm other and abuse power. Hitler gone to such an extent to complete his political ends that he had the holocaust arise, killing over six million Jews in a variety of concentration camps and hungers.The fact refers to high Mach's act very much for their own self- order to achieve one's goal are presented as characteristic of Machiavellian as well. Nazi party, which set up by Hitler, act as a high Mach's behavior and matched with the theory of grouping people. According to Doll Hitler, it is exactly high Mach's would not feel guilty about the social tactics they utilized, from their characteristics, the writer considered that they are likely to use their over power such as cruelness to other and form alliances to treat people to compliance and after all, due to abusive the power.Though the ends are reasonable or not, people must be not abused their rower to gain their self-interest, all in all, it is, unfair of any of people. Summary Russell Cropland, K. &Michele Kumar (1995, pappy-837) said that â€Å"Given the power of the fair and moral social identity to prevent power erosion, it is in each member's long term best-interest to protect their identity. † From the previous detail that the writer mentioned, it may know power is a force which people use to influence others and it could be define as using good of it and, abuse of it as the topic mainly tells about.Abusing of power is related to organizational politics, measured by influence means and ends. Machiavellian, a concept by Machiavelli, typically notes people act in not-sanctioned means to achieve a ends, no matter it is good or not because high Mach's are only finding the ends for their self-interest and pointed out they are abused power. As the Russell K & Michele Camas's thoughts, power should be divided by each organization or people with following the rational rules of the world, if not, then relationship of the social system would be depreciate and it may affect that works inefficiency as well.

LEGO 2 Essay

LEGO 2 Essay LEGO 2 Essay External: Internet: The internet boom boosts the toy industry to generate massive new products to substitute traditional toys such as what LEGO was offering. For instance, the video games, online world, many other various types of technology-based fad toys were more attractive to kids rather than LEGO's old-fashioned bricks. In addition, children of the new generation had less fixed times to patiently play traditional toys since they had more options of after-school activities to choose from. Price: The price competition was heating up as most toymakers were manufacturing in Asia to reduce labor costs whereas LEGO continued to rely on high cost production in Denmark. Gradually, LEGO's products lost its price advantage in the market, consumers (parents) were shifting to lower-priced similar toys for their kids. Retailers: Retailers were an increasing power to boost sales for toymakers; however, LEGO limited their potentials and development; treated them with below average gross margin s. Internal: In order to restore LEGO's profitability, the new CFO Poul Plougmann was appointed to fix the company's financial hardships. What he had changed was dramatic; however, it did not allow LEGO to gain sufficient profits. Management system: Plougmann changed LEGO's entire management system, one astonishing point was that he moved around managers very rapidly, managers might only stay in one position for less than a year before he was replaced by someone else or transferred to another division. This strategy made leadership a mission impossible to run in a long term, a manager may have a good idea of leading his/her team, but before he/she implemented the innovative ideas into reality, he/she was replaced to another unit. This inconsistency in management system won't make LEGO's leadership a smooth support for generating profitability. Lay-offs: The "restructuring program" laid off employees, executives with the purpose to cut costs. This was a double-edged sword in that man y experienced workers and top executives might be among the people who left. LEGO-owned retail stores: The company-owned retail stores carried a mission to promote the brand name and meet customers in the right place. While incurred additional costs and human resources expenses in managing these stores. Star Wars Theme: The new Star War theme products was originally a money maker especially during the times when movies were showing, however, when there was not any new Star War films released, those theme products account for half of the sales loss. Slow Inventory turnover: The buyers and retailers were frustrated that a very slow inventory turnover of LEGO's products. LEGO had a hard time to balance supply and demand of its toys. â€Å"Growth period that wasn’t† (1993-1998) From 1993-1998, LEGO used its brand name to invest in a number of new projects, including watches, LEGO Media, theme parks, children's clothing, etc. Although those new line of business fitted what LEGO's development goals, however, LEGO failed to analyze if it really had a competitive advantage in those markets, especially when competed directly with companies like Walt Disney. The top management team was confident that LEGO's brand image was popular enough to step into these new markets, but in fact, this movement led LEGO fell into fields that it was not good at. Moreover, LEGO's expansion neglected where its traditions were. It added too much complexity to its current product lines, furthermore, LEGO's designers added more components to its previous products. This complexity of new and current products made manufacturing costs rise up. â€Å"Fix that

The Sisters summary Essays - The Sisters, Boy, Dubliners

The Sisters summary Essays - The Sisters, Boy, Dubliners The Sisters is a short story from a book called Dubliners. The book was written by James Joyce who is one of the most influential writers in Ireland. The main characters in the story are a young boy and his friend the old Priest also the two sisters who are looking after the Priest. Also the young boy's aunt and uncle and an old Cotter who is a friend of the young boy's family. It is 1895 in Dublin when a nameless boy comes down for supper. Old Cotter is telling the boy's aunt and uncle that the Priest has passed away after a third stroke. The two men discuss this friendship and they think that spending time with priest was unhealthy for the boy and he should playing with young lads of his own age. In bed later, the boy tries to understand why Old Cotter and his uncle would not want him to join with Father Flynn then he imagines about the priest trying to confess something to him. The next day, the boy visits Father Flynn's house and finds a card displayed outside announcing the man's death but he does not knock on the door. He feels less sad than he would have expected and a sense of freedom. In evening, the boy's aunt takes him to see the body of Father Flynn in an open coffin, after which the boy's aunt and the priest's two sisters converse cryptically about the deceased, implying that he was mentally unstable for some time before dying and that he may have been involved in some scandal or other.

MEG (book report) essays

MEG (book report) essays The book I read for my report was MEG. This book was about a prehistoric shark-like creature known as the Megalodon. It was known as one of the fierceiest creatures to roam the earth, it would eat anything it could come across that was meat, and it ruled the ocean realm. In the book MEG the creature came to reality because it had survived in the Marianis ocean depths near the earths geothermal vents where the heat from the vents made the water warm enough to survive. The MEG could not rise above thease depths because the extreme cold of the water kept the creature prisoner to the deep. The MEG, being pregnant as she was, she swam next to her mate in search of foods. She then could not take the fact of the hunger anymore and she attacked her mate and ate him, thus pointing out its carnivorous nature. As she ate the male, he started to rise from the depths, and as she ate him his warm blood flowing over her body kept her warm enough through the ascent to stay alive. Once she was through the extreme coldness, she was free to rule the rest of the ocean. But in the real world, the creature is extinct, some people say that it still exists, but in very small numbers (of course). The MEG itself, i have heard it been described as a train with teeth, and im sure it dosent fall short of that. ...

Avalade XXI case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Avalade XXI case study - Essay Example When developing a project management plan, it is useful to reflect on some of the risks associated with the implementation, the expected benefits, and the technological solutions offered (Wang, 2012). More specifically, a critical look at the personnel needed in terms of their skills and capacity to fulfill the objectives of the project, how will good performance by the employees be gauged, and what measures have been established to handle any problems that may arise with employee performance. Meag was an IT supplier who had limited experience in implementing large systems. According to Xu and Quaddus (2013) one of the factors that determines the successful implementation of large systems is the presence of skilled employees at different points of the implementation plan. That is, a team of skilled employees who will manage the implementation process, to the employees who will be executing the activities of the implementation plan. Meag and Casa XX1 ought to have a management team in place that would specifically monitor the implementation of the plan, they would interact with the managers of the stadium, customers, and amongst each other. This would enable CASA XX1 to detect any problems that may arise from the system at the earliest point and take remedial action. The project management implementation team must be highly skilled and have the knowledge of the whole system and its functionality. Meag and Casa XX1 should have hired a team of competent project managers who would have stemmed the problem in time. The team would specifically lias with system developers to inform them of the emerging problem and coordinated with the developers in developing a rapid response. Besides hiring a team of highly skilled and capable project managers, Meag and Casa XX1 ought to have developed a clear organizational structure that would have established a clear framework that outlines the duties of each employee and the accompanying responsibilities and the communication

Entrepreneurial Survival Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Entrepreneurial Survival - Essay Example Therefore, it is important for any company to prioritize credit management and cash flow for increased profitability and survival. There are different issues involved in managing credit in a company. A company first needs to understand well the credit and payment issues of its customers before carrying on a relationship with them. It is essential for a company to identify the high risk customers in order to adopt the most effective strategy of prioritizing collections. The nature of the credit controller of a company also influences the credit management, hence it is vital that a company utilises different credit controllers. Additionally, effective credit management involves strengthening existing customer relationships. A company could for instance renegotiate credit prices with loyal customers, among other incentives, since intuition to customer needs is an important aspect of credit management that can result in more profitability (Bullivant 2012). Having a company credit policy is critical, and this must be up to date with the present creditworthiness of specific customers of the company. Credit insurance is also important in the covering of individual accounts or the whole turnover of company (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants 2009). The strategies used in credit management impact on cash flow. Therefore, effective credit management improves cash flow. However, there are additional factors that enhance the cash flow of a company. First, improving the speed at which goods exchange hands with the buyer is important, because the faster a buyer purchases and pays for a good, the better it is for the company’s cash flow, even as inventory must move for cash to flow. Improved technology for faster payment and delivery of goods also helps to move inventory. Additionally, the use of information is key in improving cash flow. For instance, when delivering goods to customers, a company must track the

Opera Report-Carmen(Bizet) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Opera Report-Carmen(Bizet) - Essay Example The hall size was medium to large and has a capacity of holding 2,967 people plus has room for the orchestra pit and main stage. The theater had chandeliers and a set of fine arts accents making the event seem more formal. The audience followed through with the formal occasion and the atmosphere that was noted from the dresses worn included fancier and wealthy looking clothing. These combined aspects made the atmosphere serious and created a different setting for the event. The name of the liberettist was Nino Surguladze and plays the role of Carmen from the 1875 opera written by Bizette. The opera is set in Spain where Surguldaze plays a gypsy that smuggles items. The opposing voice is Richard Leech, who plays the tenor in the opera as Don Jose. There is also the part of Micaela, a soprano played by Talise Trevigne and which acts as the fiance of Don Jose. Wayne Tigges, the second tenor, plays the man in which Carmen falls in love with and which leads to her final tragedy. The perfo rmance forces that are associated with this include an orchestra. The opera program follows the main names of those who are in the opera as well as in the orchestra. The program is also inclusive of the main plot line and the concepts related to the performance. There is also a section for sponsors, donations and affiliations that are a part of the opera and which provided support for the presentation. ... However, the details of the performance and the various understandings of each of the musical pieces, despite translations being available, were difficult to follow because of the language differences and atmosphere of the theater. Before going to the performance, I didn’t read about the work or other information from an approved source. Most of the performance aspects were unfamiliar to me, such as what to expect, how the opera would be, what the setting would be and the approach which would be taken. The performance conventions which surprised me were based on my unfamiliarity with the opera and the plot of Carmen. I didn’t know that it would be in French or would have the amount of work which went into the various pieces. I also had assumed that opera was based more on the singing; however, this particular style used a large amount of acting and movement on the stage. This was refreshing; however, it was also unexpected. The musical and dramatic elements that were in the opera were based on the characteristics of being in Spain and belonging to the Gypsy race. This is heard from the beginning overture and leads throughout the various works. The first example of this is â€Å"Habanera,† in which Carmen announces her love to the village. The main element is the rhythm, which keeps a Spanish dance beat of 1, 3, 4 with a slight accent on the â€Å"and† between the 3 and 4. This is combined with the simplistic melody which follows over this and which is led by Carmen. During this point, the lighting is strong and depicts happiness with the dancing and announcement which Carmen makes. The second example of music which follows this characteristic is â€Å"Toreador Song† also known as the drinking song. When hearing the orchestra, there is a

Contemporary Culture and Its Effects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contemporary Culture and Its Effects - Essay Example Adopting contemporary culture has affected lives both in a positive as well as negative manner. It has made our lives fast and more technology oriented but if specifically seen from the view of creative industry, it has not given what it should. The following essay is based on the stance that contemporary culture has not given what it should, and this stance is supported by the evidences of different researches. This paper makes a conclusion that different researchers analyse the affect of contemporary culture on music industry. Gilbert is one of those authors who have discussed music with respect to modern culture. According to Gilbert, only a few studies emerged on the subject of music itself. There were lots of researches on relationship of youth with media but less work on the understanding of music. The dance culture and music culture have also changed. Contemporary culture has posed problems for both dance culture. The music is also no longer a source of sensory pleasure because of excessive modernization. There is more focus on production of more music without understanding the true essence. Cultural theory has an assumption that it is the consumption pattern which determines production and not the other way round. It means that the lifestyle of consumers is very important and it shapes the pattern of production. In other words, identity of a person is more important than the work lif e a person has. A person has to sell himself in society to be acceptable and starts earning.

Examining Peplaus Pattern Integrations in Long Term Care, Research Paper

Examining Peplaus Pattern Integrations in Long Term Care, Rehabilitation Nursing - Research Paper Example The interpersonal process is growing energy for personality. Interpersonal processes comprise the nurse-client affiliation, communication and the duties of the nurse. Peplau’s theory insists on the value of nurses’ capacity to comprehend own conduct to assist others to recognize professed difficulties. This paper will explore the pattern integrations in Long Term Care facilities. Peplau gives the nursing process the meaning of a purposeful logical action guiding the nursing practice in giving assistance in an organized way. She also acknowledged four chronological parts of the interpersonal relationship. The Orientation Phase Peplau names this to be the part where defining the problem is done and it begins when the client meets the nurse as an unfamiliar person. The nurse gets to describe the problem and to decide the nature of the service required. The client then seeks help, expresses wishes and asks several questions, and gets to share preconceptions and the prospect of experiences. The nurse then explains various roles to the client and identifies the problems, and then uses the accessible resources and services to help the client. The Identification Phase Peplau explains this phase to involve choosing suitable professional support. The client takes part in setting the goal and begins to get a sense of belonging and the ability to solve a problem. This reduces the sentiment of hopelessness. The Exploitation Phase Peplau explains this phase as involving usage of professional support for other ways of solving the problem. The services employed are based on client’s requirements and interests. The client begins feeling like an important part of the setting and make employs techniques of getting attention. The values of dialogue techniques have to be used to comprehend and deal with the problem effectively. The client might fluctuate if left to be independent. Nurses have to understand the diverse communication phases and aid the patient in trying all means of assistance and ensure that advancement towards the last phase is attained.

Contemporary Culture and Its Effects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contemporary Culture and Its Effects - Essay Example Adopting contemporary culture has affected lives both in a positive as well as negative manner. It has made our lives fast and more technology oriented but if specifically seen from the view of creative industry, it has not given what it should. The following essay is based on the stance that contemporary culture has not given what it should, and this stance is supported by the evidences of different researches. This paper makes a conclusion that different researchers analyse the affect of contemporary culture on music industry. Gilbert is one of those authors who have discussed music with respect to modern culture. According to Gilbert, only a few studies emerged on the subject of music itself. There were lots of researches on relationship of youth with media but less work on the understanding of music. The dance culture and music culture have also changed. Contemporary culture has posed problems for both dance culture. The music is also no longer a source of sensory pleasure because of excessive modernization. There is more focus on production of more music without understanding the true essence. Cultural theory has an assumption that it is the consumption pattern which determines production and not the other way round. It means that the lifestyle of consumers is very important and it shapes the pattern of production. In other words, identity of a person is more important than the work lif e a person has. A person has to sell himself in society to be acceptable and starts earning.

Web based Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Web based Health Care - Essay Example Sites need to sign up for the HONcode to ensure that they follow the eight principles of this code. Through this then individuals can check out for the red and blue seal of the HONcode on the websites they visit to look for information on different health conditions. One example of a site is the American Diabetes association that provides continuous care to the diabetes patients and enables other individuals to learn about the management, diagnosis and symptoms of diabetes. It also advises individuals on what to eat and what foods to avoid by giving out recipes. The main objective of this site is to cure and prevent diabetes and to improve the lives of all the individuals affected by diabetes. The eight principles of the HONcode comprise of: the authority of the data provided, information privacy and confidentiality; accurate attribution of sources; the transparency of economic sponsorship; the significance of evidently separating editorial content from advertising; complimentary data that does not replace but supports the patient-doctor relationship, and back up assertions concerning performance and benefits. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) website is one of the sites that are abiding by the eight rules of the HON code. In authoritative, when the site publishes a journal about diabetes and made available online for individuals to access it and benefit from the information, the authors of the journals and their qualifications are always indicated. Besides, the sites abides with the third code which is privacy, since if a visitor shares information online to the site, the site does not let the information known to any user of the site as it ensures the information is made private and confidential. Also, if information has been acquired from other sources, the site ensures that it has included the citations, the page of the journal from where the information was retrieved, and the date the journal was published. Through this, the site is trying to

Changes in the Workplace Essay Example for Free

Changes in the Workplace Essay I believe the work environments can be positive or negative on the psychology health and workplace. The work environment has many properties that can affect both psychological and physical well-being, which is important to understand those aspects of work environments as well as identifying psychosocial characteristics of the workplace, which can affect his or her health. The first step is to create a psychologically workplace, which takes commitment and time to develop a strategy to effect changes at the workplaces to improve the health of all employees. For example: the choices that each person makes and how the individual treats his or her bodies; not only affects the individual health but also the individual mental health, which can be carried over to the workplace causing unwanted stress. Also lack of sleep making it hard to concentrate, irritated with the employees, and unable to do his or her daily tasks that the job requires, which can make the workplace more difficult. Unhealthy diet can make the individual sick and unable to complete the job that’s needs to be done, as well as mental stress that can cause more health problems. Studies on relationships between health and psychology has become more establish in recent years because researchers have provided insight into how an individual’s psychology and health. Such as the individual personalities, personal relationships, and the individual mental and biological processes are all factor in relation to health psychology, which needs to be considered when trying to maintain or to balance his or her health, is to find the correct balance of treatment choices, such as circumstances or other alternative that may be adding to the cause of physical health issues. I believe that lifestyle choices that can affect psychology and health in the workplace can be poor diet. For example: When an individual chooses to skip breakfast in the morning can have a difficult time concentrating, or become ir ritable. The individual may also develop physical symptoms such as headache, dizziness, or nauseas. When the individual becomes irritable, this can lead to lack of communication with other employees as well as loss of production on everyone’s schedule. I also believe when making poor choices can develop problems that can affect the workplace, also leads to psychological, behavioral, and physical difficulties. To enhance health and prevent illness is to improve his or her allover health, even if the changes are  small; it can make a big difference by enhancing his or her health and to prevent illness. For example: having well-balance meals that includes breakfast and a healthy diet can provide energy, which will also lower the risk of certain disease, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and hypertension. To maintaining a healthy body, and a health weight, is to have a healthy diet and physical activity to decrease the risk for cardiovascular disease, and reducing the heart rate. However, taking care of our body is a big step toward emotional and mental health because the mind and the body are linked to each other, and when the individual improves his or her physical health, well the individual will experience greater mental and emotional well-being (Lifestyle to enhance Health and Prevent Illness).

Analysis of Brothertons Theories of Hospitality

Analysis of Brothertons Theories of Hospitality Introduction: Brotherton Brotherton investigates the issues lying at the depth of what professional scholars and experts convey; it is indirectly addressed to being good neighbours and its administration. It basically audits the definitions and points of view on these basic issues referred in the modern day accommodation, a clear perspective of what accommodation handling potrays. It tries to accomplish the objective Brotherton of their basic definitions and points of view, a large portion of which are acknowledged by experts. , Brotherton tries to convey with new definitions for Hospitality and hospitality management (Brotherton, 1999) and also motivation of both professional scholars and scientists in the next probably thousand years. Carol A. King Hospitality associations that call their clients Guests are utilizing friendliness as an term for their employees a type of relationship with those customers. The utilization of the this term is proposed to advise workers that they should treat the individuals who treat their operation even though they are visitors. In any case, workers realize what that implies. This paper studies the history of accommodation and proposes a model of friendliness for use in client benefit associations. It will contend The approach of friendliness, it has developed in the business sense, it is the expectation and arrangement of whatever is required to satisfy a visitor, and that the predecessor of business accommodation is the conduct of the subject toward his sovereign or master. Visser watched that social graces are an arrangement of enlightened taboos that work to lessen strain and shield visitor and host from each other in a circumstance loaded with potential risk. The laws of Hospitality keep hos t and visitor from assaulting each other with blades at the table or when the visitor is exposed. Entertainment originally referred to play music or dancing or enjoyment, but later became synonymous with hospitality, as it is today (A.King, 1995) Hemmington Disappointment enough to characterize or comprehend cordiality as a business marvel has made a divided scholarly condition and a schizophrenia in the business that can possibly restrain its improvement as a worldwide industry. This article recommends that, by rethinking hospitality as conduct and experience, another viewpoint rises that has energizing ramifications for the administration of hospitality organizations. A structure to portray cordiality in the hospitality business space is proposed. This structure recommends an emphasis on the host-visitor relationship, liberality, theater and execution, heaps of little amazements, and the security of outsiders; a concentration that furnishes visitors with encounters that are close to home, essential and enhance their lives This conceptual article aims to explore and extend the debate surrounding hospitality in commercial environment (HEMMINGTON, 2007) Summary:- Brotherton:- Some non hospitality associations hoping to enhance clients have attempted to refer their clients as Guests, applying accommodation model to their operations. a few challenges of conveying friendliness are expressed. Some non friendly associations hoping to enhance consumer loyalty have attempted to rethink their clients as Guests, applying an accommodation model to their operations. a few challenges to conveying accommodation are talked about. Despite the fact that the words hospital and hospitality have a similar root, hospital facilities and non-benefit associations and even a couple of business organisations have swung to a friendliness model of client administration to enhance customer loyalty. A few associations like Disney, where amusement clients are guests and each employee is a host, paying little respect to employment work. Disney has been recognized as one of the best model in America. Hospitality associations that call their clients Guests are utilizing friendliness as an term for their employees a type of relationship with those customers. The utilization of the this term is proposed to advise workers that they should treat the individuals who treat their operation even though they are visitors. In any case, workers realize what that implies. This paper studies the history of accommodation and proposes a model of friendliness for use in client benefit associations. It will contend The approach of friendliness, it has developed in the business sense, it is the expectation and arrangement of whatever is required to satisfy a visitor, and that the predecessor of business accommodation is the conduct of the subject toward his sovereign or master. Carol A. King Some non hospitality associations hoping to enhance clients have attempted to refer their clients as Guests, applying accommodation model to their operations. a few challenges of conveying friendliness are expressed. Some non friendly associations hoping to enhance consumer loyalty have attempted to rethink their clients as Guests, applying an accommodation model to their operations. a few challenges to conveying accommodation are talked about. Despite the fact that the words hospital and hospitality have a similar root, hospital facilities and non-benefit associations and even a couple of business organisations have swung to a friendliness model of client administration to enhance customer loyalty. A few associations like Disney, where amusement clients are guests and each employee is a host, paying little respect to employment work. Disney has been recognized as one of the best model in America. Hemmington:- Brotherton investigates the issues lying at the profundity of what expert researchers and specialists passes on; it is by implication of being great neighbours and its organization. It fundamentally reviews the definitions and perspectives on these essential issues in the current convenience, an unmistakable point of view of what settlement dealing with portrays. It tries to finish the target Brotherton of their essential definitions and perspectives, a substantial part of which are recognized by specialists. , Brotherton tries to pass on with new definitions for sincerity and amicable organization and furthermore inspiration of both expert researchers and researchers in the following most likely thousand years. Methodology:- The key commitment of these 3 papers is to basically investigate propels made since the presentation of hospitality as an advanced education subject, to catch contemporary considering, and to bolster the acknowledgment of the scholarly advantages for hospitality administration hypothesis and practices of an educational programs educated from a sociology based point of view. the restricted scholastic level headed discussion has been overwhelmed by the use of non specific business and administration hypothesis. Without a doubt, as the vagrants of the scholastic world, hospitality academics have maybe jumped too promptly into the universe of administrations administration, with little thought for the genuine importance and ramifications of this point of view for the idea of hospitality and the global hospitality industry. Great Quotes:- Carol A. King 1. Although the words hospital and hospitality have the same root, hospitals are often not very hospitable places. (King, 1995) Ans. The author tries to convey that hospitality is a sector where people are welcome and people would love to go, whereas hospital is the place where people would have to go reluctantly. 2. The middle Ages brought feudalism and chivalry (A.King, 1995) Ans. The author tries to convey that during 5th to 15th Century the rich nobles and knights were expected to behave politely and courteously to subordinates. 3. The use of rituals associated with hospitality serves social and psychological needs of both guest and host. (King, 1995) Ans. The author tries to convey that being hospitable became a ritual psychologically from the point of view from guest and host. 4. There were norms not only dictating the hosts behaviour toward the guest, but also the guests behaviour toward the host (King, 1995) Ans. The author tries to convey that as not only the hosts but also the guests are expected to be polite and courteous. (A.King, 1995) 5. Hospitality involves reciprocal interactions between individuals, who may be of differing social status (A.King, 1995) Ans. The author tries to convey that hosts and guests are expected to be polite and courteous, irrespective of their caste, culture and status in Society Brotherton:- It is also rarely clear where the boundaries of hospitality are drawn (Brotherton, 1999) Ans. The author tries to convey that it is not clear besides hospitality organisations where else a person can show hospitality What we need is a sound theory of hospitality based on research (Brotherton, 1999) Ans. The author tries to convey what we need to analyse hospitality to the core . hospitality management research community has been content to promulgate the supposed (Brotherton, 1999) Ans. Here the author conveys that the scholars of hospitality management are not yet clear about their thesis and knowledge. hospitality may be subdivided into private, public and institutional contexts (Brotherton, 1999) Ans. Here the authors convey that hospitality could be categorized according to private functions, wedding, ceremonies, birthdays, meeting and conferences. This purported characteristic is so historically and socially value laden (Brotherton, 1999) Ans. the features of hospitality is traditional and has lot of values Hemmington:- In the academic world, the dominant approach is one based on business and management. (HEMMINGTON, 2007) Ans. the author tries to explain that in academic world, the management and business has a strong hold. how might commercial hospitality be made more hospitable (HEMMINGTON, 2007) Ans. The author wants to know how small institutions like motels, inns can show good level of hospitality and how could it be measured. Hospitality to strangers is equated with hospitality to God (HEMMINGTON, 2007) Ans. Hospitality to strangers who could be guests came from the moral value of religion, where serving the strangers is considered serving god, as god could come as a stranger asking for help Hospitality is a process: An earnest invitation, cheerful entertainment, faithful protection (HEMMINGTON, 2007) Ans, hospitality is showing friendliness, warm reception, providing entertainment to the guests and protecting their well being. The retention of a customer perspective is essential to the effective delivery of hospitality products (HEMMINGTON, 2007) Ans. customers will come back to your hotel when hospitality products will be effectively delvered. Referencing:- Brotherton, B. (1999). Towards a definitive view of the nature of hospitality and hospitality management. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 165. HEMMINGTON, N. (2007). From Service to Experience: Understanding and Defining the Hospitality Business. Understanding and Defining the Hospitality Business, 2. King, C. A. (1995). WHAT IS HOSPITALITY. Defination of Hospitality, 210. Comments: Brotherton:- The aim of this paper has been to critically review the nature of hospitality and hospitality management to provoke both academic and practitioner colleagues alike into considering these concepts more deeply. In view of this it is to be expected that reactions may range from the view at one end of the sequence its a lot of unrelated nonsense which only serves to confuse the matter further, to that which sees this exercise as a thrilling and saving contribution. Whatever the specific nature of the reaction it is certain that there will be one, and hopefully it will contribute to the furtherance of this debate Hemmington:- Five key measurements of friendliness as a business experience are recognized; the host-visitor relationship, liberality, theatre and execution, loads of little shocks and wellbeing and security. To finish up, Hospitality organisations must concentrate on the visitor experience and stage vital encounters that empower every one of the five detects. They should act like hosts assuming liability for the experience and making loads of little shocks. They should delegate and build up their staff as entertainers and the cast in the experience. They should make a sentiment liberality, dodge niggardliness, and not permit money related and operational control strategies to command the visitor encounter. Hospitality organisations that can catch this feeling of theater and liberality will increase upper hand by giving their visitors encounters that are close to home, paramount and enhance their lives. Carol A.King The possibility of hospitality dates from ages. Travel was to a great degree unsafe, and to be without haven for the night could mean passing by presentation to the components or wild creatures, or theft and murder on account of outlaws. Numerous social orders built up an ethic of friendliness to permit a level of security of travellers; without that, there could be no travel and no exchange. In this way hospitality was not simply the arrangement of safe house and sustenance the fulfilment of physiological need, additionally some level of security mental solace in the confirmation that ones host was bound by a code of hospitality that guaranteed that a visitor in his home would not be burglarized or endure substantial mischief. In the meantime, the guests was under a commitment not to do damage to the host. Conclusion: Brotherton:- The aim of this paper has been to critically review the nature of hospitality and hospitality management to provoke both academic and practitioner colleagues alike into considering these concepts more deeply. In view of this it is to be expected that reactions may range from the view at one end of the continuum that this is a lot of unnecessary nonsense which only serves to confuse the issues further, to that which sees this exercise as a stimulating and liberating contribution at the other. The definition of hospitality offered here potentially opens up a Pandoras box of possible orientations, issues, and comparisons which hospitality researchers may have previously considered to be outside the realm of hospitality. Indeed, it raises the central question of whether hospitality research should be limited to the domain of commercial hospitality provision, If hospitality management research and practice are to progress those associated with it must reflect more deeply over both its ess ential nature and practical manifestation. Without such discourse it is unlikely that both the academic and practical aspects of the hospitality field will progress to higher levels in the next millennium. Hemmington:- this article has looked to outline a course through contemporary talk, and between the hypothetical and down to earth, to distinguish the vital and operational ramifications of friendliness in business situations. It proposes that by investigating and characterizing accommodation as experience, new points of view rise that have essential ramifications for hospitality in business settings. These suggestions take friendliness past administrations administration to a place where accommodation, a feeling of theatre and liberality are focal Carol A.King The Dutch scholar Henri Nouwen (1975) talked about the spiritual aspects of hospitality, and characterized it as the production of a free and friendly space where outsiders can enter in and get to be companions. He then describes three types of hospitality that are very unique in relation to that discussed in this paper: the hospitality of the family towards the youngster, the hospitality of the educator towards studies, and the cordiality of the counsellor or expert s toward patients. For each situation, the beneficiary or guest has a free and amicable space to develop. We could convey this idea further by making free and well disposed, accommodating spaces for workers, in which they could develop and create finish ways of life as people.

How To Write Using the APA Writing Style Essay -- APA Writing Style

The APA writing style is most commonly used to cite sources for psychology, education, and social sciences and is also the official writing style of the American Psychological Association. The General APA Organizational Guidelines are basic guidelines that explain how to write a research paper in the APA format. These guidelines ensure clear and consistent presentation of written material that differentiates from other writing styles because it concerns elements such as: Citations, punctuation, presentation of numbers, etc There are four major sections in an APA paper. They consist of the title page, abstract, main body, and references. The title page of an APA paper has recently been changed in the publication of the sixth edition of the APA Publication Manual. In the title page a writer should include the title of the paper, the writer’s name, and the school affiliation. It is suggested that the title should be no more than 12 words, and when writing ones name, not to include titles or degree info such as Dr. or Ph.D. Also the title page should include, at the top of the page, a running head that is flush left and a page number that is flush right. The abstract, one of the four major sections in an APA paper, is the section where one would summarize research that was conducted, the methods of which the thesis was tested, the findings of the research, the purpose of the research, the analysis of data, and conclusions. It should begin on a new page and already include the page header. â€Å"Abstract† should be centered on the first line of the abstract page with no bold, italics, underlining, or quotation marks. The abstract should be double-spaced and a single paragraph around 150 to 250 words. Keywords may be listed to h... ...ieved June 18, 2011, from http://psychology.vanguard.edu/faculty/douglas-degelman/apa-style/ Driscoll, D. (2010, April 21). Purdue OWL: Writing in Psychology: Experimental Report Writing . Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). Retrieved June 22, 2011, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/670/03/ Johns, J., Fox, T., & Silvia, R. (n.d.). APA Writing Style. DK Schools. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from dkschools1.org/Documents/apa%5B1%5D.pdf Mongan-Rallis, H. (2006, November 17). Guidelines for writing a literature review . University of Minnesota Duluth Welcomes You. Retrieved June 22, 2011, from http://www.duluth.umn.edu/~hrallis/guides/researching/litreview.html What is APA Style?. (n.d.). APA Style. Retrieved June 18, 2011, from http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/what-is-apa-style.aspx?apaSessionKey=9E1D0F5CFDDB1694AFB05C302651AD48

The Brother Rice High School Community :: Christianity Education Essays

The Brother Rice High School Community High School is every Junior High students dream. It is a time in a student’s life where he/she receives a large amount of freedom as well as responsibility. Mom no longer accompanies the teenagers at the movies and one can even drive himself/herself there. Academics are important also because these grades determine if you are college bound material. But, are freedom and academics the only parts of a solid High School career? I myself believe that there is more to High School then freedom and academics. High School is also a time when young adults are entering into society as individuals. They are on their way to adulthood and their education during this time should stretch further than just an academic education. I attended a private high school known as "Brother Rice High School", where I received more than just an academic experience. When some people hear the word "Private" school they think of words such as: "Stuck up," "Rich," or "Snobby," but these are not accurate po rtrayals. One must look inside the doors of the school before making such negative connotations and if you did you would realize that this is not the case. Brother Rice High School is an academic institution that teaches young men academic fundamentals as well as Christian morals and social values. The Christian Brothers of Ireland, followers of Edmund Ignatius Rice, founded the school in 1960. Edmund Rice was bom in 1762. He was educated first at home, then in a 'hedge school', and finally in Kilkenny, Ireland. Mr. Rice married, and became a prosperous merchant and a leader of Catholic activities in the City of Waterford. After the death of Edmund's wife, he had intentions of entering a monastery on the continent, but the Bishop of Waterford encouraged him to stay in Ireland and begin a school for poor boys. The new school greatly effected the youth of Waterford that Edmund soon had requests to open schools in other cities. Pope Pius VII gave papal approval to the Congregation in 1820. Edmund took the name of Brother Ignatius and in 1822 Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice was elected the first Superior General of the new congregation. Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice died on August 29, 1844, at Mount Sion, Waterford. In 1997 Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II.

Research Bank Sohar

Research Project Contents Table ContentsPage number Acknowledgement Abstract Action Plan Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1. 1Introduction 1. 2Rationale of the Study 1. 3Objectives of the Study Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2. 1 Introduction to the company 2. 2 Meaning of the topic 2. 3 Objectives and research of the topic 2. Different types of employee motivation Chapter 3 METHOD OF RESEARCH 3. 1 Design of the study 3. 2 Methods of collected data 3. 3 Types of research 3. 4 Sample size used in interview 3. 5 Limitation 3. 6 Analyzing the data Chapter 4 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS 4. 1 Findings 4. 2 Recommendations Conclusion Bibliography ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At the outset, I would like to thank my Guide who explained to me about this Research Project in a very clear manner and assisted me at every step in completing it successfully, and my thanks are especially due to ———————————–for all his cooperation, in spite of his heavy schedules of work, and ———————– the Trainer who was very helpful in providing me with accurate information to use in this Research, and I convey my thanks to all the colleagues who cooperated with me by participating in the research by way of responding to my interviews and to the questionnaires which helped to lead me to findings and conclusions. Finally I thank all the people whoever helped me and stood by me to provide all the needful assistance to my requirement. ABSTRACT The productivity of the staff depends upon many factors for the bank. Humans are complex beings which ne ed continuous motivation to work without being burdened. Therefore, the Human Resources Department should not only impart motivational triggers but also should encourage the various groups of the staff to maintain a healthy competition; these ensure a continuous boosting of the staff’s energy levels. Dedication and loyalty to the company can also be cultured by providing staff with encouraging means to develop themselves as well as the company. The staff which feels comfortable with the bank will unlikely shift to other banks. Dedicated employees willingly work for the bank. By comparing with other banks, the bank should modify its policy’s and plans so as to not only attract more customers but also attract more staff from the other banks. Motivation thus plays an important role thus in maintaining a productive staff. A dedicated staff will anticipate not only customers’ needs but also try to develop bank through innovative ideas. This research is conducted to study the motivational aspects of Bank Sohar. The findings of the study demonstrate that proper strategies and right procedures are followed in this Bank Sohar. ACTION PLAN ID Task Name Start Finish Duration 1 Introduction: †¢Discussion with the guide about the topic. †¢Determine the requirement and objective. †¢Prepare questionnaires. †¢Planning for interview and making interview. †¢Determine and justify the research methodology. 2 Literature Review: 3 Data collection: †¢Determine and justify the research methodology. †¢Collection of both primary and secondary dates by appropriate methods. †¢Selection and preparing detailed and relevant objectives. 4 Analysis of the research project: †¢Analysis and interpretation of data and carry the research into specified areas. Making reviews with the guide regarding the project. 5 Documentation: †¢Prepare the full project in one accept format. †¢Present and evaluate findings and recommendations. 6 Presentation: Chapter 1: 1. 1 Introduc tion Bank Sohar was established on 9 April 2007. Although it is a very short time since it started its operations, it has been an extraordinary time as this new bank changed the ground rules for banking in Oman. Dr Mohammed Abdul Aziz Kalmoor, the CEO of the bank declared this year that their income of operating profit showed up a 31. 3% increase in 2010 from that of 2009. The bank’s net loans and advances grew by 14% in the last year. Customer deposits have augmented by 20% in 2010. Bank Sohar has introduced friendly financial solutions for everything from the purchase of cars to higher education. Their increased network has given it an added presence and opportunity to reach out their customers. Their new branches in prime locations of the county have given the bank an edge in the market and strengthened its position in the banking sector of the economy. Bank Sohar has developed a tradition of meeting the customers from different parts of the country at informal gatherings and road shows. This has turned out to be a model for modern marketing. Bank Sohar believes that customer satisfaction is the critical measure for bank’s success. All the decision-making processes at Bank Sohar are taken up by its finance team which assists the executive management and the board in planning and provides information and critical analysis of the Bank’s performance on a continuous basis. It is committed to providing quality banking solutions to help customers achieve their financial goals. A small example is that it is the Bank Sohar which introduced for the first time the cash deposit facility through their ATMs. All other banks in Oman emulated this bank soon. By adopting a lifecycle approach to the household sector they have created value-added services such as various savings deposits options, mortgages, consumer lending, insurances and wealth management products etc. In addition, they keep their clientele of small and medium entrepreneurs well informed of the market developments that may affect their enterprises. Bank Sohar always tries to tailor its services to suit the requirements of not only individual customers but also potential customer groups like the business communities. Thus they adopt sector-specific approach to corporate banking. As the network of the bank has increased through opening of several new branches, staff strength has automatically increased to over 500 by the end of 2010. Bank’s Omanisation ratio has steadily improved to 88% year after year. These achievements are due to the efficient management of human resources at the bank. The Human Resource Management (HRM) of Bank Sohar has been strengthening the profile of the bank by implementing its strategic goals through best international practices in human resource management. The bank encourages its staff to expose to the new and rapidly changing areas of banking industry. Facilities for learning and developing professional experience are regularly arranged by the staff at different levels. In short, Bank Sohar can be described as a bank, deeply committed to delivering excellent services with convenience and integrity to their customers. In no time it is sure to achieve their vision statement: â€Å"One stop financial super mall having boutiques of products and services across various segments, each with a unique set of propositions† 1. 2 Study the rationale As an employee in the Bank Sohar, I have the personal knowledge and understanding of the bank’s organization and its activities. Bank Sohar is he fastest upcoming bank in our country. It follows its own strategy to deal with the customers directly. Everybody working in this bank like me is treated respectfully and cordially. Their treatment can be said to be the main key for the progress of our bank during this short span of five years. 1. 3 Goals of the study –The main goal of this study is to recognize the methods of motivating and encouraging the staff at Bank Sohar. –Also it is to identify what makes the Bank Sohar achieve success in all branches in general and in Ruwi Branch in particular. Chapter 2: 2. 1 Introduction to the company: At Bank Sohar, banking is made easy. All the employees in the bank are committed to making the banking experience much smooth and efficient. Bank Sohar is well-reputed for its open and communicative relationship with the customers. They know that you are the best possible source to inform them the best way to cater your needs. Here you get specialized divisions ready to serve you. Customer’s requirement and queries are met by specialized Relationship Manager of the concerned division. They also try to solve all your banking issues with a click. With their e-Channels, your bank has become portable. Accessing your bank account has been made easy as you can access through the ATMs, Internet. Customers can also have online connectivity to their account through mobile phones. They offer a wide range of treasury services to large corporate clients, small and medium enterprises and various government departments and fund managers. †¢RO clearing and settlement †¢ RO payments to Bank Sohar accounts as well as to accounts at other banks having a presence in Oman †¢ Treasury and Foreign Exchange related services †¢ Local cheque collection †¢ Prompt query handling †¢ High degree of automation and straight-through processing †¢ On-line view only access to your account 2. 2 The meaning of the topic: Employee motivation plays vital role in the development of the company in many ways. ttp://www. managementstudyguide. com/importance_of_motivation. htm 2. 3Objectives and research of the topic: Bank Sohar provides the opportunities improvement to the productive staff. It’s in general trying to recognize the achievements and to earn more profitab le results which depends on the on the quality of staff performance, that’s why it always tries to provide their employees a good environment in order to promote personal growth. Bank Sohar gives importance to the group interest which is placed above the individual level. The officials at the bank always treat their customers, suppliers and even their colleagues very fairly and objectively. Behind all of the mentioned above, the following points are the main objectives of Bank Sohar which they are always trying to keep specific principles to help in improving their performance: †¢Provide healthy and safe workplace. †¢Make sure that the work environment is preventing the disabled people work practices and don’t present the prejudices and unreasonable barriers for which they are qualified within the bank. †¢Decrease the number of contribution for employees which can be made to the organization. †¢Recruit and return the right staff at the right time to the right place to work. †¢Promote the qualified and skilled staff based on there performance very fairly, which will gain their trust of fair treatments. 2. Different types of employee motivation: 1. Thanks award letter: Bank Sohar awards their staff monthwise by choosing the employee of the month, quarter and end of the year ,so that it provides them a voucher and including a Shukran (Thank You) Award Letter. Example: Mr / Ms†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Bank Sohar, Danq Branch NSC Department ,Oman 20 February 2010 Dear,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Shukran (Thank You) for your initiative and good support. Congratulations and thank you for your hard work. We hope that your willingness and initiative serve as an example to your colleagues. We appreciate your commitment and dedication in cooperating the department in the absence of two staff who have resigned. You demonstrated that you were willing to shoulder additional responsibility and support the smooth running of the department. In token of our appreciation, this Bank Sohar awards you a Shukran Certificate, Smiley Badge and a Gift voucher. Yours Sincerely, HEAD HUMAN RESOURCE DEPT. 2. Long Term Services Award Upon the completion of 10, 20 and 30 years, staff will be given the following awards: 30 Years: Certificate signed by the Group Chairman, a gift of the employees choice (Approximately cost USD 1,000) and one month’s basic salary. 20 Years: Printed Certificate signed by the Deputy Chairman & CEO, Bank Sohar. 10 Years: Printed Certificate signed by the Area CEO. 3. Training: Overall Aim: To establish and maintain a key competitive advantage, Bank Sohar is committed to investing in human resources development through relevant ,planned and systematic training and other activities, which will contribute directly to the achievements of Banks business objectives, as well as meeting the demands of the Omanisation process. The basic training will be conducted by the Learning and Development Manager. Where necessary, regional training centre trainers at Muscat will conduct courses throughout Oman depending on the training needs. In addition, staff may be nominated to attend various training course held in Muscat and the group training at the Management Development Centre, Liverpool ,UK. External training may also be provided mainly through College of Banking and Financial Studies and other local institutes in Muscat, Salalah etc. On the job training may also be arranged, if line managers identify any such needs. Details of the training courses are available on the intranet or may be obtained from the Learning and Development Manager. 4. Career Development: †¢Employees retiring within two years from the date of drawing up or reviewing the rotation plan will be exempt from further job rotation unless it is deemed necessary to permit the rotation of others. †¢Should line managers be unable to rotate any of their staff in accordance with these guidelines he or she must justify the exceptions ensuring that the department head supports the exceptions made. In small or specialist departments such as HR,TSY, Legal, IT or for translators ,job rotation may have to be less frequent than the guideline suggested above. 5. Retirement: Staff will retire from Bank’ s employment on attaining 60 years (for male staff) and 55 years (for female staff). This is not applicable to temporary employees. Your age is the number of years elapsed since the date of your birth as stated in your identify cards, birth certificate or passport. The bank will write to you not less than one month in advance confirming the date on which you will retire. End of services benefits will be handled in accordance with the laws regulations of Public Authority for Social Insurance. 6. End of services benefits: For the Omanis Pension Scheme: Bank will pay 10% of the monthly deducted salary and contributes to the pension scheme of the retired Omani employees who will be receiving their monthly pension as per the rules and regulations of PASI. For the Expatriate employees Terminal Benefit: Bank will pay the expatriate employee a gratuity at the of half a month’s basic salary for the first five years of service, which will be granted at the time of quitting the job. 7. Occupational Health & Safety at Work: Making sure that they protect there staff health and safety at work is essential . We make the same commitment to our customers and any other visitors who come into our branches or offices. It’s the Bank’s objective is to promote a healthy working environment and a high level of safety management and fire prevention. As an employee of the bank, you have a major responsibility for maintaining health ,safety and fire precaution guidelines of the work place. These are essentially to: †¢Take reasonable care for your own health and safety and those who may be affected by your action. †¢To follow any laid down procedures and guidelines communicated to you. †¢To bring to the attention of management any defects in the building, electrical system and machinery. Chapter 3: 3. 1 Design of the study: Primary Data: This is the data acquired through the distribution of questionnaires and from the personal interviews. The personal interviews are always not possible and require more time. Therefore, Primary data is the un-analysed data obtained from research methods. Secondary Data: The data which on analysis gives perception and information to the grounds of research is called Secondary data. This data is classified into qualitative and quantitative; therefore the Secondary data is important for the formation of new grounds in the research. 3. 2 Methods of the collecting data: Primary Data: 1. Questionnaire: It is a list of questions containing all the possible parameters that the researcher wants to consider. It is the easiest and fastest way to do a research. The advantage is that only desired fields are considered and hence the data obtained is more focused. 2. Interview: In this type, the researcher communicates with the employee or customer for their opinions and thus researcher can obtain personal opinions of the fields that the researcher wants consider. But the data is not focused. 3. Observation: Observation is the method in which the researcher observes the fields without interfering with the process. The researcher deduces the data from his observation. This does not require searching for contacts. 4. Experimentation: It’s a technique used to do the investigations, which will observe the changing and find out where the influences are including the regards. Secondary Data: †¢Magazines: -Business Today Magazine (April 2011) –Times of Oman (dated 23 April 2011) †¢Internet websites: –www. banksohar. com –www. zawya. com –www. ameinfo. com – (http://www. humanresources. hrvinet. com/ questionnaire-method/) †¢Books: – Booklet of summery review of Bank Sohar’s Brand and Values in 2009 (Provided by the HR) 3. 3 Types of research: Questionnaires: In Bank Sohar, the service quality is of utmost importance. To achieve this many strategies are used. The Human Resources Department of Bank Sohar mostly uses questionnaires to collect the data from both the employees and customers. This method, as mentioned above, is easy and efficient. The data thus collected is then further analysed. Such method helps the bank to review its performance and also to know of the popularity of its various services. 1. In comparison with other banks does Bank Sohar provide you best way to get staff motivation: A. Yes B. Some times C. No D. At all 2. What do you think Bank Sohar should focus to achieve more staff motivation? A. Promotions B. Rewarding system C. Salary review D. All above 3. Is Bank Sohar providing the following selections to their employees fairly? A. Yearly bonus B. Promotions C. Increment of allowances D. Pension 4. Compared with other local banks, Bank Sohar provides good conditions to ts staff? A. Yes B. No C. No comments D. No answer 5. What makes you feel proud to work for Bank Sohar? A. Work environment B. Policies and conditions C. Team Work D. Rewards system 6. Does your current position satisfy your motivation level using the specific conditions? A. Yes B. No C. Sometimes D. No comments 7. Which of the followi ng banks would you like to apply in future? A. Current bank (Bank Sohar) B. Bank Muscat C. HSBC D. Nothing from the above. 1. Do you think that the bank is providing you a very fair performance appraisal? †¢Yes they are discussing with us before confirming Human Resources about the final performance results. They are using a very fair system where you can load what you have done during the year including the extra improvements, so it will be very clear for them to apprise each one among the bank. 2. Is Bank Sohar setting a fair targets for each staff? †¢Actually there are some people in the management departments dividing the work not in order to be covered by all staff, so in this some of the staff will feel demotivated as he will be pressurized in compare with others. 3. Does you line manager update you about your performance from time to time? †¢Yes, whenever any mistake is done he will keep me updated and insure that it won’t happen again. 4. Does Bank Soha r provide you a chance to develop your skills? †¢Actually, they are always promoting an online courses which you can go through it any time, but before the due dates. †¢They are sending their staff for external courses in the College of Banking and Finance. In addition they also provide us chances to graduate with higher diploma certificates for such specialized subjects. †¢They are rewarding their staff annually one person from one department by sending them for an attachment to one of the Europe branches, in order to learn more and gain more knowledge. 4. What are the returns which you can provide to the bank if you are satisfied with them? †¢I will do my best to increase the number of quality customers which will help in increasing the profit of the bank. Also I will be proud in front of my family and friends to work for the bank in order to keep a good view for people who are thinking to apply for the same bank specially qualified and experienced people. 3. 4 Sample size used in interview method as follows: Sl NoOrganisationDesignationName of the Employee 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Loan Department Salary & Deposit Cards Department Corporate Department Remittance Assistant Officer Manager Officer Manager Ibrahim Issa Ibrahim Al Zidjali Yusuf Suleiman Salem Al Wahibi Anas Hamad Seif Al Wahibi Juma Ra’shid Juma Al Saadri Fahma Al Mugheini Sl. noLocationCustomer/StaffName of the Employee 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Main Branch Main Branch Main Branch Qurum Branch Qurum Branch Main Branch Al Sarooj Branch Al Khuwair Branch Al Khuwair Branch Main Branch Al Khuwair Branch Al Seeb Branch Al Khuwair Branch Al Khuwair Branch MQ Branch Main Branch Al Khuwair Branch Qurum Branch Qurum Branch Main Branch MQ Branch MQ Branch MQ Branch Main Branch Al Seeb Branch Al Seeb Branch Main Branch Main Branch Main Branch Qurum Branch Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Eyas Sayid Saud Al Mashri Sara Teasdale Iman Seif Al Lamki Tariq Mohd. Al Balushi Assim Ahmed Ali Al Wahibi Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Wahibi Abdullah Ahmed Al Wahibi Abdullah Siddik Al Balushi Narjees Sa’ad Al Harthy Abdullah Mohd. Al Balushi Amina Seif Al Mussallum Majd Salem Saleem Al Wahibi Mohd. Salem Khamis Al Saithani Mohd. Salem Mohd. Al Wahibi Mohd. Mubarak Sayid Al Oufi Mohd. Mousa Yahya Al Harbi Mohd Nasser Humeid Al Badaae Masoud Salem Al Harthy Frhat Ali Al Zidjali Nadia Issam Al Balushi Dawood Ibrahim A’Salmi Ali Salem Al Shammaqi Salem Manal Al Tourqi Juma Ra’shid Juma Al Saadri Hussain Sayid Al Lawati Saad Salem Al Balushi Sayid Ra’shid Mohd Al Oufi Saifuddin Hisham Aziz Diwidaar Seif Sayid Nasser Al Wahibi Yusuf Yaqub Al Alaawi 3. 5 Limitation: No matter what method the researcher uses, there are always certain disadvantages. And moreover, in most cases the time is limited and therefore it becomes hard to manage the collection and analysis of data. Other limitations that I faced are: Some information about the bank is not accessible and is difficult to find As I chose the method of interview I got mixed up answers. As the level of knowledge and skill differ from one person to another, the responses varied greatly. In order to trace the trend in my data, I had to use large numbers of samples or interviewees. 3. 6 Analyzing the data: 1. In comparison with other banks does Bank Sohar provide you best way to get staff motivation? Conclusion : In the above chart it shows that most of the staff was satisfied with the motivational level which is been provided by Bank Sohar, as the negative answers are least chosen by the employees question (represented by C and D series in graph) are not very satisfied with motivation. 2. What do you think Bank Sohar should focus more in order to achieve staff motivation: Conclusion: Bank Sohar, staff are not happy with their salary as it wasn’t a good review for their salaries, but at least the rewarding system was playing a good part in their emotions. This can be easily understood by looking at the number who was happy with their salaries. 3. Is Bank Sohar providing the following selections to their employees fairly? Conclusion : Bank Sohar staff are not happy at all with the pension policies,where the level of satisfaction in the yearly bonuses was covering that percentage of motivation level which follows the promotion level, then it decreased again in the allowances increments. 4. Compared with other local banks, Bank Sohar provides good conditions to its staff? Conclusion: Bank Sohar staff is happy with the conditions which are provided to them as the calculation was very high in that level. Where some of them only are not satisfied at all, and at the lowest level was calculating in no nswers as most of them didn’t answer the question. 5. What makes you feel proud to work for Bank Sohar? Conclusion: The level of team work satisfaction was very high between Bank Sohar staff as one of the bank’s aim’s is to create a good environment and a strong team work, as it shown in the results that they are ha ppy with that strategy. 6. Does your current position satisfy your motivation level using the conditions? Conclusion: Bank Sohar staff are very happy with the conditions provided to them in their current passion where it was fluctuating between no answers and no comments, but in general they are happy with the conditions provided to them. 7. Which of the following banks would you like to apply in future? Conclusion: The staff are mostly satisfied and wish to continue working in the same environment in Bank Sohar. They are not satisfied to work with other banks in comparison. The highest result was calculating for Bank Sohar, so in general they are satisfied with the future chances which are provided to them. Chapter 4: 4. 1 Findings: On referring the observation depicted in the graphs, the human resources department of Bank Sohar is taking appropriate steps for maintaining the motivational levels of the employees. It closely monitors the employees and then relates their levels to their performances. The staff is happy with the policies and conditions provided to them and the staff satisfaction is in high levels. Highest levels of staff satisfaction in the bank can be achieved through continuous comparison the facilities which are provided to their staff with those of other banks, thus the bank will be able to identify the positive triggers which attract employees and consumers. The bank through this can identify its weak areas. Therefore the bank should look after other bank’s issues seriously and try to learn to not commit same mistakes and plan wisely to leap in the market. Some other measures to ensure staff motivation include: †¢The bank should do salary review from time to time. By improving the level of motivational facilities such as; increase the level of allowances, promotions, more development skills programs and rewarding system show positive levels of motivation. †¢Throughout the year, the staff is to be updated regularly about their performance. â⠂¬ ¢The bank needs to do more comparison with its competitor banks in term of motivating their staff. In general Bank is doing a very good job and they are always trying to motivate their staff and try to keep them for ever specially the experienced and skilled people. 4. 2 Recommendation : 1. Regular surveying is necessary to measure the motivational levels of the staff. This enables management to update various hindrances which cause de-motivation. 2. Personal opinion gatherings are essential to make the bonds between the management and employees which is essential for long term performance development. 3. By increasing the factors that cause the motivation, the company can instill motivation. For example vouchers limit can be enhanced. 4. By involving various levels of employees in the meetings to induce motivation into the lower levels of employees and help in overall staff development. 5. By sending the staff to other institutions for development and other educational programs, the motivation levels can be increased. Conclusion: Motivation level can be developed easily in Bank, as the management should keep in their minds that they are dealing with humans who need a special and very respective standard level. Generally management should follow a proper strategy in treating their staff by following the right procedures so as to intensify motivation and competition. Bank Sohar prioritizes the motivation of the employees as an important aspect in the whole bank’s functioning. The Human Resources Department of the bank regularly surveys and finds various ways to ensure the continuity of the motivational levels among the staff. The bank well understands that healthy competition and motivational are vital for dedicated performance. Bibliography: –www. banksohar. com –www. zawya. com –www. ameinfo. com –http://www. humanresources. hrvinet. com/questionnaire-method/ –Business Today Magazine (April 2011) –Times of Oman (dated 23 April 2011)

Romeo and Juliet Film and Text Analysis

Phonology What is phonology? Phonology is the study of the sound system of languages. It is a huge area of language theory and it is difficult to do more on a general language course than have an outline knowledge of what it includes. In an exam, you may be asked to comment on a text that you are seeing for the first time in terms of various language descriptions, of which phonology may be one. At one extreme, phonology is concerned with anatomy and physiology – the organs of speech and how we learn to use them. At another extreme, phonology shades into socio-linguistics as we consider social attitudes to features of sound such as accent and intonation. And part of the subject is concerned with finding objective standard ways of recording speech, and representing this symbolically. For some kinds of study – perhaps a language investigation into the phonological development of young children or regional variations in accent, you will need to use phonetic transcription to be credible. But this is not necessary in all kinds of study – in an exam, you may be concerned with stylistic effects of sound in advertising or literature, such as assonance, rhyme or onomatopoeia – and you do not need to use special phonetic symbols to do this. The physics and physiology of speech Man is distinguished from the other primates by having the apparatus to make the sounds of speech. Of course most of us learn to speak without ever knowing much about these organs, save in a vague and general sense – so that we know how a cold or sore throat alters our own performance. Language scientists have a very detailed understanding of how the human body produces the sounds of speech. Leaving to one side the vast subject of how we choose particular utterances and identify the sounds we need, we can think rather simply of how we use our lungs to breathe out air, produce vibrations in the larynx and then use our tongue, teeth and lips to modify the sounds. The diagram below shows some of the more important speech organs. Phonology This kind of diagram helps us to understand what we observe in others but is less useful in understanding our own speech. Scientists can now place small cameras into the mouths of experimental subjects, and observe some of the physical movements that accompany speech. But most of us move our vocal organs by reflexes or a sense of the sound we want to produce, and are not likely to benefit from watching movement in the vocal fold. The diagram is a simplified cross-section through the human head – which we could not see in reality in a living speaker, though a simulation might be instructive. But we do observe some external signs of speech sounds apart from what we hear. A few people have the ability to interpret most of a speaker’s utterances from lip-reading. But many more have a sense of when the lip-movement does or does not correspond to what we hear – we notice this when we watch a feature film with dubbed dialogue, or a TV broadcast where the sound is not synchronized with what we see. The diagram can also prove useful in conjunction with descriptions of sounds – for example indicating where the airflow is constricted to produce fricatives, whether on the palate, the alveolar ridge, the teeth or the teeth and lips together. Speech therapists have a very detailed working knowledge of the physiology of human speech, and of exercises and remedies to overcome difficulties some of us encounter in speaking, where these have physical causes. An understanding of the anatomy is also useful to various kinds of expert who train people to use their voices in special or unusual ways. These would include singing teachers and voice coaches for actors, as well as the even more specialized coaches who train actors to produce the speech sounds of hitherto unfamiliar varieties of English or other languages. At a more basic level, my French teacher at school insisted that we (his pupils) could produce certain vowel sounds only with our mouths more open than we would ever need to do while speaking English. And a literally stiff upper lip is a great help if one wishes to mimic the speech sounds of Queen Elizabeth II.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology So what happens? Mostly we use air that is moving out of our lungs (pulmonic egressive air) to speak. We may pause while breathing in, or try to use the ingressive air – but this is likely to produce quiet speech, which is unclear to our listeners. (David Crystal notes how the normally balanced respiratory cycle is altered by speech, so that we breathe out slowly, using the air for speech, and breathe in swiftly, in order to keep talking). In languages other than English, speakers may also use non-pulmonic sound, such as clicks (found in southern Africa) or glottalic sounds (found worldwide). In the larynx, the vocal folds set up vibrations in the egressive air. The vibrating air passes through further cavities which can modify the sound and finally are articulated by the passive (immobile) articulators – the hard palate, the alveolar ridge and the upper teeth – and the active (mobile) articulators. These are the pharynx, the velum (or soft palate), the jaw and lower teeth, the lips and, above all, the tongue. This is so important and so flexible an organ, that language scientists identify different regions of the tongue by name, as these are associated with particular sounds. Working outwards these are: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ the back – opposite the soft palate the centre – opposite the meeting point of hard and soft palate the front – opposite the hard palate the blade – the tapering area facing the ridge of teeth the tip – the extreme end of the tongue The first three of these (back, centre and front) are known together as the dorsum (which is Latin for backbone or spine) Phonology, phonemes and phonetics You may have known for some time that the suffix –phone is to do with sounds. Think, for instance, of telephone, microphone, gramophone and xylophone. The morpheme comes from Greek phonema, which means a sound. †¢ †¢ Telephone means â€Å"distant sound† Microphone means â€Å"small sound† (because it sends an input to an amplifier which in turn drives loudspeakers – so the original sound is small compared to the output sound) Gramophone was originally a trade name . It comes from inverting the original form, phonograph (=sound-writing) – so called because the sound caused a needle to trace a pattern on a wax cylinder. The process is reversed for playing the sound back Xylophone means â€Å"wood sound† (because the instrument is one of very few where the musical note is produced simply by making wood resonate) †¢ The fundamental unit of grammar is a morpheme. A basic unit of written language is a grapheme. And the basic unit of sound is a phoneme. However, this is technically what Professor Crystal describes as â€Å"the smallest contrastive unit† and it is highly useful to you in explaining things – but strictly speaking may not exist in real spoken language use. That is, almost anything you say is a continuum and you rarely assemble a series of discrete sounds into a connected whole. (It is possible to do this with synthesised speech, as used by Professor Stephen Hawking – but the result is so different from naturally occurring speech that we can recognize it instantly. And there is no perfect or single right way to say anything – just as well because we can never exactly reproduce a previous performance.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology However, in your comments on phonology, you will certainly want sometimes to focus on single phonemes or small sequences of phonemes. A phoneme is a sound segment of words or syllables. Quite a good way to understand how it may indicate meaning is to consider how replacing it with another phoneme will change the word – so if we replace the middle sound in bad we can make bawd, bed, bid, bird and bud. In two cases here one letter is replaced with two but in all these cases it is a single vowel sound that changes. ) The first people to write in English used an existing alphabet – the Roman alphabet, which was itself adapted from the Greek alphabet for writing in Latin. (In the Roman Empire, Latin was the official language of government and administration, and especially of the army but in the eastern parts of the empire Greek was the official language, and in Rome Greek was spoken as widely as Latin. Because these first writers of English (Latin-speaking Roman monks) had more sounds than letters, they used the same letters to represent different sounds – perhaps making the assumption that the reader would recognize the word, and supply the appropriate sounds. It would be many years before anyone would think it possible to have more consistent spelling, and this has never been a realistic option for writers of English, though spelling has changed over time. And, in any case, the sounds of Old English are not exactly the same as the sounds of modern English. As linguists have become aware of more and more languages, many with sounds never heard in English, they have tried to create a comprehensive set of symbols to correspond to features of sound – vowels, consonants, clicks and glottalic sounds and non-segmental or suprasegmental features, such as stress and tone. Among many schemes used by linguists one has perhaps more authority than most, as it is the product of the International Phonetic Association (IPA). In the table below, you will see the phonetic characters that correspond to the phonemes used in normal spoken English. To give examples is problematic, as no two speakers will produce the same sound. In the case of the vowels and a few consonants, the examples will not match the sounds produced by all speakers – they reflect the variety of accent known as Received Pronunciation or RP. Note that RP is not specific to any region, but uses more of the sounds found in the south and midlands than in the north. It is a socially prestigious accent, favoured in greater or less degree by broadcasters, civil servants, barristers and people who record speaking clock messages. It is not fixed and has changed measurably in the last 50 years. But to give one example, the sound represented by ? is not common to all UK native speakers. In many parts of London and the south-east of England the sound represented by f will be substituted. So, in an advertisement, the mother-in-law of Vinnie Jones (former soccer player for Wimbledon and Wales; now an actor) says: â€Å"I fought ‘e was a big fug† (/a? f t i? w? z ? b? g fug/). You may also wonder what has happened to the letter x. This is used in English to represent two consonant sounds, those of k and s or of k and z. In phonetic transcription these symbols will be used. Consonant and vowel each have two related but distinct meanings in English. In writing of phonology, you need to make the distinction clear. When you were younger you may have learned that b,c,d,f and so on are consonants while a,e,i,o,u are vowels – and you may have wondered about y. In this case consonants and vowels denote the letters that commonly represent the relevant sounds. Phonologists are interested in vowel and consonant sounds and the phonetic symbols that represent these (including vowel and consonant letters). It may be wise for you to use the words consonant and vowel (alone) to denote the sounds. But it is better to use an unambiguous phrase – and write or speak about consonant or vowel sounds, consonant or vowel letters and consonant or vowel symbols. In most words these sounds can be identified, but there are some cases where we move from one vowel to another to create an effect that is like neither – and these are diphthongs. We also have some triphthongs – where three vowel sounds come in succession in words such as fire, power and sure. (But this depends on the speaker – many of us alter the sounds so that we say â€Å"our† as if it were are. For convenience you may prefer the term vowel glides – and say that â€Å"fine† and â€Å"boy† contain two-vowel glides while â€Å"fire† may contain a three-vowel glide.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology IPA symbols for the sounds of English The examples show the letters in bold that correspond to the sound that they i llustrate. You will find guidance below on how to use these symbols in electronic documents. The IPA distributes audio files in analog and digital form, with specimen pronunciations of these sounds. Consonants – pip, pot p b – bat, bug t – tell, table d – dog, dig k – cat, key g – get, gum f – fish, ph phone v – van, vat ? – th thick, th thump, faith th ? – th these, th there, smooth th s – sat, sit z – zebra, zap ? – sh ship ? – treasure, leisure s s h – hop, hut t? – ch chip dge, dge d? – lodg judg dg dg m – man, mumm mmy mm n – man, pan n n ng, ng ? – sing wrong ng l – let, lips r – rub, ran w – wait, worm j – yet, yacht Short vowels ? – bit, silly i i ? – bet, hea e ead ea ? – cat, dad a a ? – dog, rotten o o ? – cut, nut u u ? – put, soo u oot oo ? – about, clever er Long vowels i? – crea eam, see een ea ee bur fir urn, ir irm ur – har far ard, ar ar – cor fau orn, au aun or u? – boo glue oob, ue oo Diphthongs a? – spice, pie i ie – wai fate ait, a ai – toy joy oy, oy oy – oa oats, note o a? – clow vow own, ow ow – bor ored, pour oured or our – dee pie eer, ie ier ee – hai bea air, ea ear ai – cur fue ure, ue uel ur  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology A phoneme is a speech sound that helps us construct meaning. That is, if we replace it with another sound (where this is possible) we get a new meaning or no meaning at all. If I replace the initial consonant (/r/) from rubble, I can get double or Hubble (astronomer for whom the space telescope is named) or meaningless forms (as regards the lexicon of standard English) like fubble and wubble. The same thing happens if I change the vowel and get rabble, rebel, Ribble (an English river) and the nonsense form robble. (I have used the conventional spelling of rebel here, but to avoid confusion should perhaps use phonetic transcription, so that replacements would always appear in the same position as the character they replace. But what happens when a phoneme is adapted to the spoken context in which it occurs, in ways that do not alter the meaning either for speaker or hearer. Rather than say these are different phonemes that share the same meaning we use the model of allophones, which are variants of a phoneme. Thus if we isolate the l sound in the initial position in â€Å"lick† and in the terminal position in â€Å"ball†, we should be able t o hear that the sound is (physically) different as is the way our speech organs produce it. Technically, in the second case, the back of the tongue is raised towards the velum or soft palate. The initial l sound is called clear l, while the terminal l sound is sometimes called a dark l. When we want to show the detail of phonetic variants or allophones we enclose the symbols in square brackets whereas in transcribing sounds from a phonological viewpoint we use slant lines. So, using the IPA transcription [l] is clear l, while [? ] is dark l. If this is not clear think: am I only describing a sound (irrespective of how this sound fits into a system, has meaning and so on)? If so, use square brackets. Am I trying to show how the sound is part of a wider system (irrespective of how exactly it sounds in a given instance)? If so, use slant brackets. So long as we need a form of transcription, we will rely on the IPA scheme. But increasingly it is possible to use digital recording and reproduction to produce reference versions of sounds. This would not, of course, prevent change in the choice of which particular sounds to use in a given context. When people wonder about harass (h? r? s) or harass (h? r? s) they usually are able to articulate either, and are concerned about which reveals them as more or less educated in the use of the â€Å"proper† form. For your information, the stress historically falls on the first syllable, to rhyme with embarrass – thus in both Pocket Oxford [UK, 1969] and Funk & Wagnalls New Practical Standard [US, 1946]. The fashion for â€Å"hu-rass† is found on both sides of the Atlantic and we should not credit it to, or blame it on, US speakers of English. ) Phonologists also refer to segments. A segment is â€Å"a discrete unit that can be identified in a stream of speech†, according to Professor Crystal. In English the segments would correspond to vowel sounds and consonant sounds, say. This is a clear metaphor if we think of fruit – the number of segments varies, but is finite in a whole fruit. So some languages have few segments and others many – from 11 in Rotokas and Mura to 141 in ! Xu. The term may be most helpful in indicating what non-segmental or supra-segmental (above the segments) features of spoken language are.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology The sounds of English Vowels English has twelve vowel sounds. In the table above they are divided into seven short and five long vowels. An alternative way of organizing them is ccording to where (in the mouth) they are produced. This method allows us to describe them as front, central and back. We can qualify them further by how high the tongue and lower jaw are when we make these vowel sounds, and by whether our lips are rounded or spread, and finally by whether they are short or long. This scheme shows the following arrangement: Front vowels â⠂¬ ¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ /i? / – cream, seen (long high front spread vowel) /? /- bit, silly (short high front spread vowel) /? / – bet, head (short mid front spread vowel); this may also be shown by the symbol /e/ /? – cat, dad (short low front spread vowel); this may also be shown by /a/ Central vowels †¢ †¢ †¢ / /- burn, firm (long mid central spread vowel); this may also be shown by the symbol / / /? / – about, clever (short mid central spread vowel); this is sometimes known as schwa, or the neutral vowel sound – it never occurs in a stressed position. /? / – cut, nut (short low front spread vowel); this vowel is quite uncommon among speakers in the Midlands and further north in Britain Back vowels †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ /u? / – boob, glue (long high back rounded vowel) /? – put, soot (short high back rounded vowel); also shown by /u/ / / – corn, faun (long mid back rounded vowel) also shown by /o? / /? /- dog, rotten (short low back rounded vowel) also shown by /o/ / / – hard, far (long low back spread vowel) We can also arrange the vowels in a table or even depict them against a cross-section of the human mouth. Here is an example of a simple table: Front High Mid Low Central Back ? i? ? ? ? ? ? u? ?  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Diphthongs Diphthongs are sounds that begin as one vowel and end as another, while gliding between them. For this reason they are sometimes described as glide vowels. How many are there? Almost every modern authority says eight – but they do not all list the same eight (check this for yourself). Simeon Potter, in Our Language (Potter, S, [1950] Chapter VI, Sounds and Spelling, London, Penguin) says there are nine – and lists those I have shown in the table above, all of which I have found in the modern reference works. The one most usually omitted is / / as in bored. Many speakers do not use this diphthong, but use the same vowel in poured as in fraud – but it is alive and well in the north of Britain. Potter notes that all English diphthongs are falling – that is the first element is stressed more than the second. Other languages have rising diphthongs, where the second element is stressed, as in Italian uomo (man) and uovo (egg). Consonants Some authorities claim one or two fewer consonants than I have shown above, regarding those with double symbols (/t? / and /d? /) as â€Å"diphthong consonants† in Potter’s phrase. The list omits one sound that is not strictly a consonant but works like one. The full IPA list of phonetic symbols includes some for non-pulmonic consonants (not made with air coming from the lungs), click and glottal sounds. In some varieties of English, especially in the south of Britain (but the sound has migrated north) we find the glottal plosive or glottal stop, shown by the symbol /? / (essentially a question mark without the dot at the tail). This sound occurs in place of /t/ for some speakers – so /bot? l/ or /botl/ (bottle) become /bo l/ or /bo? l/. We form consonants by controlling or impeding the egressive (outward) flow of air. We do this with the articulators – from the glottis, past the velum, the hard palate and alveolar ridge and the tongue, to the teeth and lips. The sound results from three things: †¢ †¢ †¢ Voicing All vowels must be voiced – they are caused by vibration in the vocal cords. But consonants may be voiced or not. Some of the consonant sounds of English come in pairs that differ in being voiced or not – in which case they are described as voiceless or unvoiced. So b is voiced and p is the unvoiced consonant in one pair, while voiced g and voiceless k form another pair. We can explain the consonant sounds by the place where the articulation principally occurs or by the kinds of articulation that occurs there. The first scheme gives us this arrangement: voicing – causing the vocal cords to vibrate where the articulation happens how the articulation happens – how the airflow is controlled  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Articulation described by region †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Glottal articulation – articulation by the glottis. We use this for one consonant in English. This is /h/ in initial position in house or hope. Velar articulation – we do this with the back of the tongue against the velum. We use it for initial hard /g/ (as in golf) and for final /? / (as in gong). Palatal articulation – we do this with the front of the tongue on the hard palate. We use it for /d? / (as in jam) and for /? / (as in sheep or sugar). Alveolar articulation – we do this with the tongue blade on the alveolar ridge. We use it for /t/ (as in teeth), /d/ (as in dodo) /z/ (as in zebra) /n/ (as in no) and /l/ (as in light). Dental articulation – we do this with the tip of the tongue on the back of the upper front teeth. We use it for /? / (as in think) and /? / (as in that). This is one form of articulation that we can observe and feel ourselves doing. †¢ †¢ Labio-dental articulation – we do this with the lower lip and upper front teeth. We use it for /v/ (as in vampire). Labial articulation – we do this with the lips for /b/ (as in boat) and /m/ (as in most). Where we use two lips (as in English) this is bilabial articulation. Articulation described by manner This scheme gives us a different arrangement into stop (or plosive) consonants, affricates, fricatives, nasal consonants, laterals and approximants. Stop consonants (because the airflow is stopped) or plosive consonants (because it is subsequently released, causing an outrush of air and a burst of sound) are: o o o †¢ †¢ Bilabial voiced /b/ (as in boat) and voiceless /p/ (as in post) Alveolar voiced /d/ (as in dad) and voiceless /t/ (as in tap) Velar voiced /g/ (as in golf) and voiceless /k/ as in (cow) Affric ates are a kind of stop consonant, where the expelled air causes friction rather than plosion. They are palatal /t? / (as in cheat) and palatal /d? / (as in jam) Fricatives come from restricting, but not completely stopping, the airflow. The air passes through a narrow space and the sound arises from the friction this produces. They come in voiced and unvoiced pairs: o o o o Labio-dental voiced /v/ (as in vole) and unvoiced /f/ (as in foal) Dental voiced /? / (as in those) and unvoiced /? / (as in thick) Alveolar voiced /z/ (as in zest) and unvoiced /s/ (as in sent) Palatal voiced /? / (as in the middle of leisure) and unvoiced /? / (as at the end of trash) †¢ Nasal consonants involve closing the articulators but lowering the uvula, which normally closes off the route to the nose, through which the air escapes. There are three nasal consonants in English: o o o Bilabial /m/ (as in mine) Alveolar /n/ (as in nine) Velar /? / (as at the end of gong).  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology †¢ †¢ Lateral consonants allow the air to escape at the sides of the tongue. In English there is only one such sound, which is alveolar /l/ (as at the start of lamp) Approximants do not impede the flow of air. They are all voiced but are counted as consonants chiefly because of how they function in syllables. They are: o o o Bilabial /w/ (as in water) Alveolar /r/ (as in road) Palatal /j/ (as in yet) Syllables When you think of individual sounds, you may think of them in terms of syllables. These are units of phonological organization and smaller than words. Alternatively, think of them as units of rhythm. Although they may contain several sounds, they combine them in ways that create the effect of unity. Thus splash is a single syllable but it combines three consonants, a vowel, and a final consonant /spl+? +? /. Some words have a single syllable – so they are monosyllables or monosyllabic. Others have more than one syllable and are polysyllables or polysyllabic. Sometimes you may see a word divided into its syllables, but this may be an artificial exercise, since in real speech the sounds are continuous. In some cases it will be impossible to tell whether a given consonant was ending one syllable of beginning another. It is possible, for example, to pronounce lamppost so that there are two /p/ sounds in succession with some interval between them. But many native English speakers will render this as /l? m-p st/ or /l? m-p sd/. Students of language may find it helpful to be able to identify individual syllables in explaining pronunciation and language change – one of the things you may need to do is explain which are the syllables that are stressed in a particular word or phrase. Suprasegmentals In written English we use punctuation to signal some things like emphasis, and the speed with which we want our readers to move at certain points. In spoken English we use sounds in ways that do not apply to individual segments but to stretches of spoken discourse from words to phrases, clauses and sentences. Such effects are described as non-segmental or suprasegmental – or, using the adjective in a plural nominal (noun) form, simply suprasegmentals. Among these effects are such things as stress, intonation, tempo and rhythm – which collectively are known as prosodic features. Other effects arise from altering the quality of the voice, making it breathy or husky and changing what is sometimes called the timbre – and these are paralinguistic features. Both of these kinds of effect may signal meaning. But they do not do so consistently from one language to another, and this an cause confusion to students learning a second language.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Prosodic features †¢ Stress or loudness – increasing volume is a simple way of giving emphasis, and this is a crude measure of stress. But it is usually combined with other things like changes in tone and tempo. We use stress to convey some kind s of meaning (semantic and pragmatic) such as urgency or anger or for such things as imperatives. Intonation – you may be familiar in a loose sense with the notion of tone of voice. We use varying levels of pitch in sequences (contours or tunes) to convey particular meanings. Falling and rising intonation in English may signal a difference between statement and question. Younger speakers of English may use rising (question) intonation without intending to make the utterance a question. Tempo – we speak more or less quickly for many different reasons and purposes. Occasionally it may be that we are adapting our speech to the time we have in which to utter it (as, for example, in a horse-racing commentary). But mostly tempo reflects some kinds of meaning or attitude – so we give a truthful answer to a question, but do so rapidly to convey our distraction or irritation. Rhythm – patterns of stress, tempo and pitch together create a rhythm. Some kinds of formal and repetitive rhythm are familiar from music, rap, poetry and even chants of soccer fans. But all speech has rhythm – it is just that in spontaneous utterances we are less likely to hear regular or repeating patterns. †¢ †¢ †¢ Paralinguistic features How many voices do we have? We are used to â€Å"putting on† silly voices for comic effects or in play. We may adapt our voices for speaking to babies, or to suggest emotion, excitement or desire. These effects are familiar in drama, where the use of a stage whisper may suggest something clandestine and conspiratorial. Nasal speech may suggest disdain, though it is easily exaggerated for comic effect (as by the late Kenneth Williams in many Carry On films). Such effects are sometimes described as timbre or voice quality. We all may use them sometimes but they are particularly common among entertainers such as actors or comedians. This is not surprising, as they practise using their voices in unusual ways, to represent different characters. The performers in the BBC’s Teletubbies TV programme use paralinguistic features to suggest the different characters of Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, La-La and Po.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Accent Everyone’s use of the sound system is unique and personal. And few of us use sounds consistently in all contexts – we adapt to different situations. We rarely adapt our sounds alone – more likely we mind our language in the popular sense, by attending to our lexical choices, grammar and phonology. ) Most human beings adjust their speech to resemble that of those around them. This is very easy to demonstrate, as when some vogue words from broadcasting surf a wave of popularity before settling down in the language more modestly or passing out of use again. This is particularly true of sounds, in the sense that some identifiable groups of people share (with some individual variation) a collection of sounds that are not found elsewhere, and these are accents. We think of accents as marking out people by geographical region and, to a less degree, by social class or education. So we might speak of a Scouse (Liverpool), Geordie (Newcastle) or Brummie (Birmingham) accent. These are quite general descriptions – within each of these cities we would differentiate further. And we should also not confuse real accent features in a given region with stereotyped and simplified versions of these which figure in (or disfigure) TV drama – Emmerdale, Brookside, Coronation Street and Albert Square are not reliable sources for anything we might want o know about their real-world originals. And the student who hoped to study the speech of people in Peckham by watching episodes of John Sullivan’s situation comedy Only Fools and Horses was deeply misguided. Thinking of social class, we might speak of a public school accent (stiff upper lip and cut glass vowels). But we do not observe occupational accents and we are unlikely to speak of a baker’s, soldier’s or accountant’s accent (whereas we might study their special uses of lexis and grammar). This is not the place to study in detail the causes of such accents or, for example, how they are changing. Language researchers may wish to record regional variant forms and their frequency. In Britain today (perhaps because of the influence of broadcasting) we can observe sound features moving from one region to another (like the glottal stop which is now common in the north of England), while also recording how other features of accent are not subject to this kind of change. Studying phonology alone will not answer such questions. But it gives you the means to identify specific phonetic features of accent and record them objectively.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (or RP) is a special accent – a regionally neutral accent that is used as a standard for broadcasting and some other kinds of public speaking. It is not fixed – you can hear earlier forms of RP in historical broadcasts, such as newsreel films from the Second World War. Queen Elizabeth II has an accent st close to the RP of her own childhood, but not very close to the RP of the 21 century. RP excites powerful feelings of admiration and repulsion. Some see it as a standard or the correct form of spoken English, while others see its use (in broadcasting, say) as an affront to the dignity of their own region. Its merit lies in its being more widely understood by a national and international audience than any regional accent. Non-native speakers often want to learn RP, rather than a regional accent of English. RP exists but no-one is compelled to use it. But if we see it as a reference point, we can decide how far we want to use the sounds of our region where these differ from the RP standard. And its critics may make a mistake in supposing all English speakers even have a regional identity – many people are geographically mobile, and do not stay for long periods in any one place. RP is also a very loose and flexible standard. It is not written in a book (though the BBC does give its broadcasters guides to pronunciation) and does not prescribe such things as whether to stress the first or second syllable in research. You will hear it on all the BBC’s national radio channels, to a greater or less degree. On Radio 3 you will perhaps hear the most conservative RP, while Radio 5 will give you a more contemporary version with more regional and class variety – but these are very broad generalizations, and refer mainly to the presenters, newsreaders, continuity announcers and so on. RP is used as a standard in some popular language reference works. For example, the Oxford Guide to the English Language (Weiner, E [1984], Pronunciation, p. 45, Book Club Associates/OUP, London) has this useful description of RP: â€Å"The aim of recommending one type of pronunciation rather than another, or of giving a word a recommended spoken form, naturally implies the existence of a standard. There are of course many varieties of English, even within the limits of the British Isles, but it is not the business of this section to describe them. The treatment here is based upon Received Pronunciation (RP), namely ‘the pronunciation of that variety of British English widely considered to be least regional, being originally that used by educated speakers in southern England. ’ This is not to suggest that other varieties are inferior; rather, RP is here taken as a neutral national standard, just as it is in its use in broadcasting or in the teaching of English as a foreign language. † Accent and social class Accent is certainly related to social class. This is a truism – because accent is one of the things that we use as an indicator of social class. For a given class, we can express this positively or negatively. As regards the highest social class, positively we can identify features of articulation – for certain sounds, upper class speakers do not open or move the lips as much as other speakers of English. Negatively, we can identify such sounds as the glottal stop as rare among, and untypical of, speakers from this social class. Alternatively we can look at vowel choices or preferences. For example, the upper classes for long used the vowel /? / in cases where /? / is standard – thus Coventry would be /k? v? ntri? /. C. S. Lewis in The Great Divorce depicts a character who pronounces God as â€Å"Gud† – â€Å" ‘Would to God’ he continued, but he was now pronouncing it Gud†¦Ã¢â‚¬  We may think of dropping or omitting consonants as a mark of the lower social classes and uneducated people. But dropping of terminal g – or rather substituting /n/ for /? / was until recently a mark of the upper class â€Å"toff†, who would enjoy, huntin’, fishin’ and shootin’. We can find a celebrated literary example in Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey. Among real life speakers in whom I have observed this tendency I would identify the late Sir Alf Ramsey. I do not know whether Alf Ramsey, who managed the England football team, was brought up to speak in this way or acquired the habit later. ) Investigating the connection can be challenging, however, since social class is an artificial construct. Assuming that you have found a way to identify yo ur subjects as belonging to some definable social group, then you can study vowel choices or frequencies. Even the most cursory attention tells us that the Queen has distinct speech sounds. But can we explain them in detail? Does she share them with other members of her family? Do other speakers share them?  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Pronunciation and prescription The English Language List is an Internet discussion forum for English language teachers. Recently a student, not a native speaker but clearly a very competent writer of English, asked where he could get help to learn to speak in a standard British accent. Many of the responses came from people who were not answering his question but trying to persuade him to stick with his current accent (which he felt would disadvantage him in his business career). Yet we are not disparaging regional accents when we try to learn the neutral and prestigious standard form. (What the discussion never really revealed was how many of the list members would identify themselves as RP speakers. ) The prescriptive tradition in English grammar was unscientific and perhaps harmful. But setting down authoritative standard forms is not always so unwise. In spelling they are useful, and the same may be true of pronunciation. Dictionaries do not compel the reader to learn and use the pronunciations they show – but they do give a representation of the pronunciation according to RP. Some show variant pronunciations as well as the principal RP form. If you are a student (or even a teacher) you may find RP an unfamiliar accent – maybe you can see that the phonetic transcription indicates a pronunciation different from the one you normally use. No one is forcing you to change your own speech sounds, in which your sense of identity may be profoundly located. But you can become aware that the local norm is not the universal standard. Now that English is an international language, its development is certainly not controlled by what happens in the UK. So British RP may cease to be a useful standard for learners of English. Increasingly, language learners favour a mid-Atlantic accent, which shares features of British RP and the speech of the eastern USA. Language acquisition Very young children do not produce the sounds they will use as adults partly because they are unable to form them (physically their speech organs have not developed fully) and partly because they may not know exactly what the sound is that they wish to produce. Children may also be less subtle in controlling the flow of egressive air, so that they will continue speaking, rather than pause briefly, while drawing more air in. Young children may have a sense of stressed syllables as more important – so they may omit unstressed elements before or after. So, for example, a child may ask for a ‘nana rather than a banana. (Alternatively, the child may know that there is some repetition of sound here, but limit it to two syllables. ) I am supposing that the non-standard form is spoken by a child, but perhaps repeated back by adults. But one often observes adults (unhelpfully) using what they suppose to be an easier form of a word. On the other hand, some children have resisted this tendency. Though they may not articulate a word in full or exactly, they can recognize it as an incomplete or mistaken form when an adult repeats it back to them. We see this in this exchange between an adult and a four year old, recorded by George Keith and John Shuttleworth: Adult: What do you want to be when you grow up? Child: A dowboy. Adult: So you want to be a dowboy, eh? Child: No! Not a dowboy, a dowboy! The child cannot articulate the /k/ initial sound but knows that what he hears from the adult is not the form of the word he is used to hearing, so protests. Since children learn by imitation of examples it may be helpful when they begin formal education to give them such examples, but not by continually rebuking them for saying things â€Å"wrongly†. Children do not learn to articulate all sounds at the same stage in their development. Teachers of children in early years (nursery and reception) classes should be able to identify the few cases where there is a disorder or problem for which some specialist intervention is appropriate.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Language change Change happens in language – and the sounds of English are not exempt. Of course, basic sounds do not change in the sense that the phonemes represented in the IPA transcription will not go away. And it is rare, but not impossible, for speakers of a given language to begin to use phonemes they did not use before. Thus, most English speakers faced with French –ogne (as in Boulogne or Dordogne) anglicise to Boloyn (/b? l n/). And Welsh double l in initial position (as in Llanfair and many other place names) they sound simply as /l/ rather than a voiceless unilateral l. What does change is the choice of which sound to use in a given context – though choice may suggest that this is voluntary whereas the change normally happens unnoticed. At a very simple level we can see, from rhymes in poetry that no longer work, that one or more words has acquired a new standard pronunciation. So John Donne writes (1571-1631) â€Å"And find/What wind/Serves to advance an honest mind†. We have retained the vowel sound in wind (verb, as in wind up) but not in wind (noun, as in north wind). We can still observe vowel change. In my own lifetime envelope was pronounced with the initial vowel /? (as if it were onvelope). This pronunciation is becoming more rare, and persists mostly among older speakers. Turquoise was once commonly sounded as in French /t kw? z/ – but now it is more or less uniformly /t k z/ or /t k s/ (perhaps by analogy with tortoise). Far more common are changes in stress patterns. So research (more or less universal in the UK when I was a child) has given way to re-search. In the case of harass the stress has shifted the other way, giving harass. We cannot sensibly say that the new form is â€Å"wrong† or â€Å"bad English† (even if we prefer the older form). But we can observe the frequency with which the new form occurs, and see if it does come to supplant the older form or whether both forms persist. Change happens within regional varieties, too – so the glottal stop has moved its way northwards from London and southwards from Glasgow (where it has been found for 150 years). This is one feature of what Paul Kerswill calls dialect levelling. Similarly use of /f/ or /v/ in place of /? / and /? / is spreading north from London. Perhaps the most well documented change occurring now is in sentence intonation. This is especially common among younger people, but not exclusively so. The change lies in a tendency to use rising (question) intonation more frequently. What is not clear, in contexts that allow either, is whether the speaker intends to ask a question or means to make a statement. We cannot be sure if the rising intonation conveys meaning, or is habitual. One common way for pronunciation to change is by elision – compressing the word to remove a syllable. Once it was common to sound the –ed ending on past tense verbs, whereas now these verbs end with a /t/ sound. We do still sound the –ed ending on adjectives, even when these are formed from the past tenses – as in naked, wicked and learned. We can contrast the learned professor with what her pupils learned in the lecture. (The first has two syllables, the second only one. ) Police is often pronounced as a monosyllable /pli? s/ (for example by the newsreader Sue Lawley). Recently I have observed several newsreaders eliding the middle syllable of terrorist, producing the form /t? r st/ or sometimes /t? r? st/. On the other hand, literacy may alter pronunciation. The n in column is silent, and in the Second World War, people would often speak of the Fifth Columnist (/k? l? m? st/). But now broadcasters speaks of those who write columns in newspapers as /k? l? mn? sts/ – thereby sounding what was silent /n/.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Phonology for exam students Phonology as an explicit subject of detailed study is not compulsory for students taking Advanced level courses in English Language. But it is one of the five â€Å"descriptions of language† commended by the AQA syllabus B (the others are: lexis, grammar, pragmatics and semantics). In some kinds of study it will be odd if it does not appear in your analysis or interpretation of data. In written exams, you may want to comment on some features of phonology in explaining example language data – these may be presented to you on the exam paper, or may be your own examples, which illustrate, say, some point about language change, language acquisition or sociolinguistics. You may wish to use diagrams, models or the IPA transcription – and if you are able to do so, this may be helpful. But if you do not feel confident about using these, you can still make useful points about phonology – you can show stress simply by underlining or highlighting the stressed syllable. And you can show many aspects of phonology by using the standard Western (Roman-English) alphabet appropriately – as in contrasting pronunciations of harass as: †¢ †¢ ha-russ (first syllable stressed, vowel is a; second syllable unstressed vowel is neutral) or huh-rass (first syllable unstressed, neutral vowel; second syllable stressed, vowel is a) Phonetic symbols and electronic documents Representing phonetic symbols in electronic documents can be a challenge, unless you have the right software. Assuming that you have a word-processing program, you need to use special fonts that will represent the IPA symbols. These are either the SIL IPA fonts (such as SILdoulosIPA) or Unicode fonts (like Lucida Sans Unicode, which I have used in this document). If you are producing work that will be printed, then you can add things by hand later, but this is messy and best avoided. There is a lot of guidance on the IPA homepage about how to cope with this problem. If you do find a way to reproduce the symbols you need, it may make sense to paste them all at the end of the document on which you are working. Then, you can copy and paste as you need to use them. If you do not do this, then you will have to use he Alt key and the numeric keypad, since the keys on the normal keyboard will only give you the symbols that resemble ordinary letters. Different ways of representing sound Conventions of language science and lexicographers If you study reference works you may find a variety of schemes for representing different aspects of phonology – there is no single universal scheme that covers everything y ou may need to do. And many dictionaries may not even use the IPA alphabet, for the very obvious reason that the reader is not familiar with this transcription and can cope without it. The text on the left comes from the Pocket Oxford Dictionary – this shows a simple phonetic representation based on the standard Western alphabet, with accents to show different vowels. Look in any dictionary you have and you may find something similar.  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Literary models In representing speech – for example in drama, poetry or prose fiction – some authors are interested not merely in the words but also in how they are spoken. One of the most familiar concerns is that of how to represent regional accents. Here is a fairly early example, from the second chapter of Wuthering Heights (1847), in which the servant Joseph refuses to admit Mr. Lockwood into the house: â€Å" ‘T’ maister’s dahn I’t’ fowld. Goa rahnd by the end ut’ laith, if yah went to spake tull him† Tennyson (1809-1892) has a similar approach in his poem, Northern Farmer, Old Style: â€Å"What atta stannin’ theer fur, and doesn’ bring me the aale? / Doctor’s a ‘toattler, lass, and ‘e’s allus i’ the owd taale†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Joseph comes from what is now West Yorkshire, while Tennyson’s farmer is supposedly from the north of Lincolnshire. Here is an earlier example, from Walter Scott’s Heart of Midlothian (1830), which shows some phonetic qualities of the lowlands Scots accent. In this passage the Laird of Dumbiedikes (from the country near Edinburgh) is on his deathbed. He advises his son about how to take his drink: â€Å"My father tauld me sae forty years sin’, but I never fand time to mind him. – Jock, ne’er drink brandy in the morning, it files the stamach sair†¦Ã¢â‚¬  George Bernard Shaw, in Pygmalion (1914), uses one phonetic character (? schwa) in his attempt to represent the accent of Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl: â€Å"There’s menners f’ yer! T? -oo banches o voylets trod into the mad†¦Will ye-oo py me f’them. † However, after a few sentences of phonetic dialogue, Shaw reverts to standard spelling, noting: â€Å"Here, with apologies, this desperate attempt to represent her dialect without a phonetic alphabet must be abandoned as u nintelligible outside London†. In Pygmalion Professor Higgins teaches Eliza to speak in an upper-class accent, so as to pass her off as a duchess. In the course of the play, therefore, her accent changes. The actress playing the part, however, may have a natural accent closer to that with which Eliza speaks at the completion of her education, so in playing the part she may doing the reverse of what Eliza undergoes, by gradually reverting to a natural manner of articulation. (Eliza’s pronunciation improves ahead of her understanding of grammar, so that at one point she says memorably: â€Å"My aunt died of influenza: so they said. But it’s my belief they done the old woman in. ) In Pygmalion Shaw does not merely represent accent (and other features of speech) but makes this crucial to an exploration of how speech relates to identity and social class. Charles Dickens is particularly interested in the sounds of speech. He observes that many speakers have difficulty with initial /v/ and /w/. Sam Weller, in The Pickwick Papers, regularly transposes these: â€Å" ‘Vell,’ said Sam at length, ‘if this don’t beat cock-fightin’ nothin’ never vill†¦That wery next house†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ â€Å" Mr. Hubble, in Great Expectations does, the same thing when he describes young people as â€Å"naterally wicious†. Joe Gargery, in the same novel, has many verbal peculiarities, of which perhaps the most striking is in his description of the Blacking Warehouse, which is less impressive than the picture Joe has seen on bills where it is â€Å"drawd too architectooralooral†. In Chapter 16 of Our Mutual Friend, Betty Higden is proud of Mr. Sloppy (an orphan she has fostered) not only because he can read, but because he is able to use different voice styles for various speakers. â€Å"You mightn’t think it, but Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the Police in different voices. † Dickens also finds a way to show tempo and rhythm. In Chapter 23 of Little Dorrit, Flora Finching speaks at length and without any pauses: â€Å"Most unkind never to have come back to see us since that day, though naturally it was not to be expected that there should be any attraction at our house and you were much more pleasantly engaged, that’s pretty certain, and is she fair or dark blue eyes or black I wonder, not that I expect that she should be anything but a perfect contrast to me in all particulars for I am a disappointment as I very well know and you are quite right to be devoted no doubt though what am I saying Arthur never mind I hardly know myself Good gracious!  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/ Phonology Background reading on phonology There are very full accounts of phonology in both of Professor David Crystal’s encyclopedias. See his Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Part IV, The Medium of Language: Speaking and Listening (pp. 123175; ISBN 0521424437) and his E ncyclopedia of the English Language, Part IV, 17, The Sound System (pp. 236-255; ISBN 0521596556). For a very clear and succinct account, look at Howard Jackson’s and Peter Stockwell’s Introduction to the Nature and Functions of Language, 2. 1, Sounds and letters (pp. 11-23; ISBN 0748725806). There is a longer and more discursive account in Shirley Russell’s Grammar, Structure and Style, Spoken English (pp. 107-168; ISBN 0198311982) You can find lots of help online. The best place to start is the International Phonetic Association’s own Web site at: http://www2. arts. gla. ac. uk/IPA/ipa. html You will find some excellent resources from the languages department of the University of Victoria in British Columbia – start at http://web. uvic. ca/ling/ipa/handbook/ For a great introduction to Scots – with some excellent guidance on phonology – try Andy Eagle’s Wir Ain Laid (Our Own Language) at http://www. scots-online. org/grammar/index. htm For help with fonts go to the IPA Unicode site at http://www. phon. ucl. ac. uk/home/wells/ipa-unicode. htm and Alan Wells’ Unicode Resources at http://www. hclrss. demon. co. uk/unicode/index. tml. You could also try the Microsoft typography site at http://www. microsoft. com/typography/default. asp Apart from materials quoted from other sources, the copyright in this guide belongs to Andrew Moore. You are free to use it for any educational purpose, including making multiple copies electronically or by printing. You may not distribute it in any form other than the original, without the express permission of the author. andrew. [email  protected] net  © Copyright: Andrew Moore, 2001 http://www. shunsley. eril. net/armoore/