Stages of Child Language Acquisition

Stages of Child Language Acquisition A child starts to communicate with those around him/her since birth, although in the first few months this communication occurs on a non-verbal level. However, as a child develops physically, he/she gradually acquires language skills. Overall, child language acquisition begins from phonological development and proceeds to syntactic and semantic development. The aim of the present essay is to analyse three major stages of the first language acquisition (phonological, syntactic and semantic). Although linguists and other scholars have agreed in opinion that language is a process of acquisition (rather than the process of learning), they provide contradictory theories of child language acquisition (Cole Cole, 1996). Among the most famous theories are a reinforcement theory, an imitation theory, a critical-age theory and an analogy theory. Despite the fact that all these theories present a valid explanation of language acquisition, certain problems occur when they are applied to practic e. The most likely interpretation of phonological, syntactic and semantic development of a child is provided by imitation and analogy theories; hence, these theoretical concepts are employed for the analysis. According to these theories, the process of child language acquisition is aimed at adjusting to adults’ speech that has its rules and structures. As acquisition of language is a rather intricate process, a child only listens to adults’ speech in the first few months. Actually, in this period a child is involved in the process of language perception rather than the process of language production (See Table 1). However, as a child reaches the age of 6 months, he/she starts to pronounce various sounds (Fee, 1995). At first a child pronounces vowel sounds and further he/she manages to unite vowels and consonants (e.g. sa, da, ma, ba, di, ti, gu, etc.). At approximately 8 months a child constantly repeats syllables (e.g. ba-ba-ba or di-di-di) and by 12 months he/she successfully combines these syllables into a simple word (e.g. â€Å"mama†, â€Å"papa† or â€Å"baba†). It is significant that child’s pronunciation of sounds also reflects intonation and stress; according to Echols and Newport (1992), through these patterns a child makes an attempt to impart certain meaning or reveal his/her emotions . This babbling is the initial step in child’s phonological development (Macken, 1995); the true phonological skills are exposed by a child at approximately 1.4 years (though even at the age of 0.4 – 0.9 months a child already has some phonological abilities, as he manages to recognise native and non-native speech). At this time a child demonstrates comprehension of the relation between sounds and meanings; moreover, he/she starts to identify phonemic differences in adult speech. In the process of sound production a child certainly makes pronunciation mistakes that linguists regard as phonological deviations. Generally, phonological deviations are divided into two basic categories: substitution errors and syllable errors (Bankson Bernthal, 1998). Further, these categories are divided into several sub-categories, including weak syllable deletion, final consonant deletion, consonant cluster reduction, velar fronting, palatal fronting, stopping, gliding of liquids, word final devoicing, etc. Due to an immature speech apparatus, some sounds are more complex for child’s pronunciation than others; for instance, such consonant sounds as â€Å"l† and â€Å"r† are learned by a child later than sounds â€Å"p† and â€Å"m†, because the former sounds are phonetically similar, while the latter sounds are different. As a result, a child substitutes voiceless sounds with voiced sounds (e.g. â€Å"gap’ instead of â€Å"cap† or â€Å"tad† instead of â€Å"dad†); it is context sensitive voicing. The second deviation is word final devoicing; it is a process when final voiced consonants are substituted with voiceless consonants (â€Å"dad’ is pronounced as â€Å"dat†). A child may also employ final consonant deletion, pronouncing â€Å"co† instead of â€Å"cow† or â€Å"pin† instead of â€Å"pink†. Velar fronting (e.g. â€Å"tiss† instead of â€Å"kiss†) and palatal f ronting (e.g. â€Å"sake† instead of â€Å"shake†) are used by a child, because it is easier for him/her to pronounce consonants that are at the front of the mouth and teeth. Other phonological deviations include weak syllable deletion (â€Å"pape† instead of â€Å"paper†), consonant harmony (â€Å"goggy† instead of â€Å"doggy), cluster reduction (â€Å"tool† instead of â€Å"stool†), stopping (â€Å"pan† instead of â€Å"fan†) and gliding of liquids (â€Å"wat† instead of â€Å"rat). In reality, as Maye, Werker Gerken (2002) demonstrate in their research, a child perceives accurate phonemic contrasts, but he/she is unable to produce correct sounds until a proper age. Moreover, unlike adults, an infant may even distinguish foreign phonemic contrasts from native contrasts; due to this ability a child who is adopted in a foreign country may easily acquire language of his/her parents. At the age of 3-4 years most children learn to rightfully pronounce all sounds, eliminating the majority of phonological deviations. However, some children may continue to employ these deviations in their speech; specialists regard these children as individuals with certain phonological disorders that may have a detrimental effect on their reading skills (Ingram, 1989). When a child learns how to pronounce simple words, he/she proceeds to combine known words into small utterances. In this respect, a child acquires syntactic skills that are usually developed in two stages: the holophrastic stage and the two-word stage. During the holophrastic stage (between 0.9 and 1.0 years) a child forms one-word utterances with a certain intonation. In general, these utterances are composed of either verbs or nouns, while adjectives and other parts of speech are acquired by a child afterwards. In fact, it is rather difficult for adults to interpret child’s one-word sentences, as, for instance, â€Å"book† may mean that he/she wants his/her parents to read a book or that he/she sees a book or that he/she does not like this book. The situation is even more complicated when a child pronounces a phrase without intervals. According to O’Grady (1997), â€Å"many children initially treat what’s that? look at that, come here, and similar expre ssions as single units that are linked holistically to a particular situational context† (p.13). In other words, if a child hears phrases that are somehow stressed, he/she may extract them from the rest of speech and use them as a single entity, making no pauses among words. In the two-word stage (1.5-2.0 years) a child creates two-word sentences that are pronounced with single intonation and start to reflect the first semantic relations, for instance, â€Å"baby read† or â€Å"sit table† (Pinker, 1994). In general, these utterances are categorised as follows: 1) Noun Utterances: My apple, His Daddy. 2) Verb Utterances: Me play, Girl sing. 3) Questions: Mom read? Baba go? 4) Negatives: Not eat, No shirt. As the examples show, though these sentences are not grammatically right yet, they are constructed in a right order (Ingram, 1989). By the age of 2-3 years a child easily produces several thousand syntactic utterances, and the major stress in these utterances is placed on the word that provides more information (e.g. â€Å"Mummy COME† or â€Å"MUMMY come†). Initially, these sentences lack such function units as â€Å"on†, â€Å"the† or â€Å"of† and such inflections as â€Å"-s†, â€Å"-ing† or â€Å"-ed† (hence, child’s speech at this stage is usually regarded as â€Å"telegraphic speech†), but gradually a child includes negations, passives, comparatives, relative clauses and conjunctions in his/her sentences. In some cases a child may use right patterns and wrong patterns in one sentence, for instance, I reading and Mama is cooking. Such a combination reveals that a child knows certain grammar patterns, but he/sh e has not mastered them yet. However, if an adult uses these patterns incorrectly, he/she will obviously point at the mistake. As a child acquires knowledge of such a pattern as â€Å"-ed†, he/she usually turns to overregularisation, that is, a process when all verbs become regular in child’s speech (e.g. â€Å"goed† or â€Å"spended†). This overregularisation can be explained by the fact that a child acquires a language in certain patterns and, as he/she learns the pattern (e.g. â€Å"mama helped† or â€Å"baba claimed†), he/she applies this pattern to other verbs, including irregular verbs. It is certainly easier for a child to apply â€Å"-ed† to all verbs than to memorise all irregular verbs and differentiate regular verbs from irregular verbs. As the time passes, a child learns to change the wrong verb form for a right form. In addition, he/she gradually acquires knowledge of definite and indefinite articles, plural nouns, linkin g verbs and possessive cases. However, even when a child acquires knowledge of all these rules and patterns, he/she may still be unable to form complex utterances; consequently, a child may turn to the repetition of certain phrases to fill gaps in his/her speech. Finally, as a child manages to create simple sentences, he/she acquires semantic skills (approximately 3.0 years). As word acquisition intensifies, a child collides with a necessity to form semantic patterns; above all, a child uses those content categories that refer to objects, events and humans, although usage of these categories greatly depends on social, cultural and linguistic aspects. However, in all cultures a meaning that a child puts into a certain object or an utterance differs from a usual adult speech. As Harris (1990) states, young children â€Å"are able to express complex meanings, although these meanings are concerned with the current interests and needs, rather than abstract concepts or events that are distant in terms of time or space† (p.4). If a child mainly interacts with his/her peers, then he/she adjusts language to this childish realm. As a rule, a child employs either overgeneralisation or underextension when he/she creates semantic patterns. As for the first process, a child provides a word with more meanings than the word has; for example, he/she may apply the word â€Å"fox† to different animals. In the case of underextension, a child uses fewer meanings than a word has in a usual vocabulary; for example, he/she may associate a word â€Å"arm† only with a mother who touches him/her. In other instances a child fails to recognise a word. Besides, if a child can not find an appropriate word during speech, he/she may devise completely new words with new meanings. However, as a child grows and interacts with people in different situations, he/she learns more meanings of words and utterances (Beals Tabors, 1995). This especially regards interactions with adults; as adult speech is more sophisticated, a child memorises unknown patterns and then employs them in his/her speech. Hence, as a child acquires words and phrases with a profound semantic content, he/she gradually eliminates less semantically valid patterns. According to Frawley (1992), a child’s early semantic patterns reflect the following semantic categories: Agent and Action Cat run Agent and Object Girl doll Entity and Locative Baba far Attribute and Entity Wet hair Agent and Location Mother bath Action and Recipient Give birdie Possessor and Possession Papa pen But as a child shapes linguistic skills (3.5–4.0 years), he/she starts to employ more semantic categories, such as number, time, colour, substance, shape, position, etc., for instance, â€Å"Mummy and I went to a playground†, â€Å"My doll cries and I calm her† or â€Å"I give it to you†. Mastering the major concepts of grammar/meaning relations, a child manages to gradually employ complex grammar patterns: negatives: shouldn’t, needn’t, couldn’t; when-questions (as well as what and why): When do you go? tag-questions: You will go with me, will you? be + verb + -ing: Is Mummy Cooking? compound utterances: Papa is working and I am playing. if sentences: I will do if I wish. Thus, analysing child language acquisition, the essay suggests that from 6 months to 4-5 years a child gradually acquires phonological, syntactic and semantic skills. Although every child develops individually, language acquisition reflects common stages of speech perception and production. Some researchers (e.g. Pinker, 1994; O’Grady, 1997) claim that syntactic and semantic development of a child occurs simultaneously. The fact is that meanings of some verbs can not be understood by a child merely from a context; it is the knowledge of syntactic patterns that provides a child with an opportunity to rightfully uncover the meaning of these verbs. Whether this viewpoint is valid or not, it is absolutely clear that while a child has inborn abilities for language, he/she needs specific social environment to acquire it. This became especially obvious with a discovery of Amala and Kamala, the feral children who were brought up with wolves and could not speak at all. Such findings ce rtainly refute an innate hypothesis and reveal that linguistic skills of a child are formed by and within society. Table 1. Stages of Child Language Acquisition* Phonology From birth to 0.5 years – perception of adult speech; 0.6 years – pronunciation of the first sounds (vowels → consonants → vowels + consonants); 0.8 years – repetition of syllables and recognition of phonemic differences; 1.0 year – understanding of the relation between sounds and meaning; Use of phonological deviations: 1.4 years cluster reduction 2 years – weak syllable deletion initial consonant deletion final consonant deletion 2.0-3.0 years – palatal fronting velar fronting stopping gliding of liquids Syntax 0.9–1.0 years – â€Å"the holophrastic stage† – formation of one-word utterances; 1.5-2.0 years – â€Å"telegraphic speech†, formation of two-word utterances; 2.0–3.0 years – overregularisation of grammar Semantics 3.0 years – application of meaning to language patterns and grammar structures; Use of either overgeneralisation or Underextension Use of the following semantic categories: 1) Agent and Action 2) Agent and Object 3) Entity and Locative 4) Attribute and Entity 5) Agent and Location 6) Action and Recipient 7) Possessor and Possession 3.5-4.0 years – knowledge of complex grammar patterns: negatives; when-questions; tag-questions; be + verb + -ing; compound utterances; if sentences * The ages of child’s language development are approximate; the data in this table are generalised, while every child acquires phonological, syntactic and semantic skills on an individual basis. However, such a generalisation is important, as it allows specialists to reveal any deviations from the normal development of children. Bibliography Bankson, N. Bernthal, J. (1998) Analysis of assessment data. In: J. Bernthal and N. Bankson (eds.) Articulation and Phonological Disorders. Boston, Butterworth-Heinemann. pp.270-298. Beals, D. E. Tabors, P. O. (1995) Arboretum, bureaucratic and carbohydrate: Preschoolers’ exposure to rare vocabulary at home. First Language, 15, 57-76. Cole, M. Cole, S. (1996) The Development of Children. New York, W. H. Freeman Company. Echols, C. Newport, E. (1992) The role of stress and position in determining first words. Language Acquisition, 2, 189-220. Fee, J. (1995) Segments and syllables in early language acquisition. In: J. Archibald (ed.) Phonological Acquisition and Phonological Theory. Hillsdale, Lawrence Erlbaum. pp.43-61. Frawley, W. (1992) Linguistic Semantics. Hillsdale, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Harris, J. (1990) Early Language Development: Implications for Clinical and Educational Practice. London, Routledge. Ingram, D. (1989) First Language Acquisition: Method, Description, and Explanation. New York, Cambridge University Press. Macken, M. (1995) Phonological acquisition. In: J. A. Goldsmith (ed.) The Handbook of Phonological Theory. Cambridge, Blackwell. pp.671-696. Maye, J., Werker, J. F. Gerken, L. (2002) Infant sensitivity to distributional information can affect phonetic discrimination. Cognition, 82 (3), 101-111. O’Grady, W. (1997) Syntactic Development. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Pinker, S. (1994) How could a child use verb syntax to learn verb semantics? Lingua, 92, 377-410. AN ANALYSIS OF SEMANTIC ROLES 2007 Until the 70s years of the 20th century semantics was completely excluded from any studies of grammar (Lyons, 1995; Bach, 2002). But recently, linguists and researchers have recognised a great variety of semantic roles (or theta roles) that provide valid information as to grammar/meaning relations (Cutrer, 1993). According to Payne (1997), a semantic role is a specific role that is classified in accordance with its meaning and is performed by a participant with regard to the principal verb of an utterance. In other words, semantic roles provide an opportunity to identify either similarities or dissimilarities of verb’s meanings in sentences. Actually, some semantic roles are regarded as principal, while others are thought to be less crucial for a linguistic analysis. But, as Langacker (1991) points out, â€Å"there is no unique or exclusive set of role conceptions. Those cited as archetypal are analogous to the highest peak in a mountain range: they coexist with others that m ay be significant despite their lesser salience† (p.237). The major semantic roles include Agent, Patient, Instrument, Theme, Cause, Experience, Goal, Benefective (or Beneficiary), Source, Location, Temporal and Path (Jackendoff, 1990; Dowty, 1991). According to Van Valin (1999), semantic relations may be also divided into two groups: the first group includes the usual semantic roles, such as Agent, Patient, Theme, etc., while the second group includes merely two semantic roles – Actor and Undergoer. The roles of the second group are usually referred to as semantic macroroles. Although this categorisation is not universally accepted, nevertheless, it is employed by researchers for a profound investigation of grammar/meaning relations. In the present analysis the classification of Jackendoff (1990) and Dowty (1991) is used. Let’s start from the following examples: Teddy killed the deer with a hunting rifle. A hunting riffle killed a deer. A deer was killed. In the first sentence Teddy performs a semantic role of an Agent, while in grammatical relations Teddy is a Subject. For all that, Teddy is associated with a hunting rifle by means of a grammar/meaning relation of a â€Å"kill† event. In the second sentence a semantic role of a Hunting Riffle is an Instrument, but in grammatical relations it is a Subject. Finally, in the third sentence a Deer appears in a semantic role of a Patient, while in grammatical relations it is again a Subject. Actually, if two participants are involved in an action of a sentence, a grammar/meaning relation is considered to be asymmetric. For instance, in the sentence Jimmy touched Marry two participants are involved in the action, but they perform various roles. Jimmy is a person who starts the action, thus, he is an Agent, while Marry is a person who is influenced by Jimmy’s action and she is a Patient. In this context, an Agent performs a conscious segment of a particular action and a Patient unconsciously responds to this action. As the above example demonstrates, an Agent should necessarily be alive, as it starts an action; however, this attribute is not ascribed to a Patient that is influenced by an action either in a direct or indirect way. There are some English sentences, where only an Agent is presented, such as Steven took a two-week holiday. Although this sentence differs from the previous utterance, both examples belong to a â€Å"do† category. But there are other categories of events, and sometimes it is really difficult to identify the right category (Frawley, 1992). The fact is that English sentences may reflect many similar features, but, despite these similarities, they may reveal various events and different semantic roles. For instance, in the sentence Peter heard a noise, Peter is a participant, but unlike prior examples, Peter does not appear as an Agent, because he is not an initiator of the action, he is an Experiencer. Therefore, such sentences may be attributed to an â€Å"experi ence† category. However, sentences that belong to this category may pose certain problems, as they may demonstrate different peculiarities of events, changing semantic roles in utterances. For example, in the sentence Ann looked at Ted, Ann is an Agent of the action, though she is also an Experiencer (similar to Peter from the previous example). Ann consciously pays heed to something, while Peter is unconscious of his action. Both sentences look similar, but peculiarities of events and semantic roles are different in these utterances. The second complexity that may occur in the process of analysis refers to the second participant of the discussed sentence. While in sentences with a â€Å"do† category the second participant is a Patient, because it is influenced by the Agent’s act, in sentences with an â€Å"experience† category the second participant (e.g. Ted) is not a Patient, as it is not influenced by the Agent’s act. As the above sentence shows , Ted is necessary for better understanding of the event; hence, he may be considered as a Theme of an action. But some utterances in this category have neither an Agent nor a Patient, though at the first sight it is easy to make a mistake. For example, in the sentence Danny loves Mag there are no agents or patients, as Danny does not perform any action and Mag is not explicitly or implicitly influenced by this action (probably she does not even know of Danny’s feelings). In this utterance Danny is an Experiencer, while Mag is a Theme. Unlike semantic roles, grammar roles can be identified more easily; in the discussed sentence Danny is a subject and Mag is an object. In fact, one grammar constituent may have a number of semantic roles; for example, a subject may involve an Experiencer, an Agent, a Patient, while an object may include a Theme, a Patient, an Instrument, etc. Thus, semantic roles provide more accurate and profound information as to the meaning of an utterance than grammar roles; however, both grammar roles and semantic roles are crucial for linguistics. In addition to the mentioned categories, there is also a â€Å"happen† category that is rather facile. For instance, the sentence My car is broken has one participant that is explicitly influenced by an action; that is why this participant (My car) is a Patient (there is no Agent in this utterance). Unlike a â€Å"happen† category, a so called â€Å"information transfer† category may pose certain difficulties for those who analyse semantic roles. In the sentence Jerome informed Timmy of a conference there are two participants – Jerome and Timmy. But while Jerome is an Agent of the occurred event, Timmy is not a Patient, as one may consider, taking into account the previous examples. In this utterance Timmy is a Recipient, and a Patient is absent in this sentence – neither Timmy nor information can be regarded as a Patient, because information is not directly or indirectly influenced by Timmy or by the transfer. In this regard, information in the discussed utterance is a Theme of the event. Overall, in all mentioned examples nouns and adjectives refer or point at a particular event; however, there are also sentences, where these parts of speech pay heed to a specific state instead of an event. Such utterances relate to a â€Å"be† category. For instance, in the sentence Viola is healthy again, Viola is a Participant that also appears as a Theme. In this utterance the state of Viola is determined by the adjective â€Å"healthy†, but not by a verb (as in the prior examples). Therefore, â€Å"healthy† fulfils a predicative role, unlike verbs in preceding sentences that fulfil an attributive role. Sentences in this category may also reflect temporal relations, like in the following utterance: Garry is in front of Nick. In this sentence there are two participants that certainly appear in temporal relations; undoubtedly, if the sentence is changed for Nick is behind Garry, the relations between Nick and Garry will not be altered. In this respect, both participants perform the role of a Theme in the sentence. In view of all observed examples, it is obvious that participants may fulfil either a central role or a marginal role in the action; that is, a division is made between the principal and secondary participants. For instance, in the sentence Nelly embraced Steve before the guests, Nelly is the principal participant, an Agent, while Steve is the secondary participant, an Instrument with the help of which Nelly fulfils the action. Even if an Agent is absent, as in the sentence A stone broke the fence, there is a supposed Agent and an Instrument. Moreover, if two participants are mentioned in a sentence, the secondary participant may perform a role of a Beneficiary, as in the following example: Mommy did homework for Sally. In this utterance Sally is a Beneficiary, as another person (his Mommy) does homework for him. Therefore, the analysed sentences demonstrate that each semantic role may reflect different properties, and identification of these properties may be rather problematic in t he process of analysis, resulting in frequent confusions. Table 2 below epitomises the observed semantic roles, their major functions and possible problems. Table 2. Major semantic roles Semantic role Function Possible confusions / problems Agent The principal participant (always animate) that starts an action An Experiencer may be wrongly regarded as an Agent But: An Agent consciously fulfils an action, while An Experiencer is not consciously involved in the action’s fulfilment Patient The principal participant (either inanimate or animate) that is influenced by an event In certain cases a Patient may perform a role of an Agent This occurs in instances that signify moves; that is, when a participant simultaneously performs an action and is influenced by it Instrument The secondary participant with the help of which an Agent fulfils an action If there are both an Agent and a Causer in a sentence, it may be difficult to rightfully identify instruments of an Agent and a Causer The instrument for a Causer is an Agent An Agent possesses other instruments Theme The principal participant that does not induce an event and is not influenced by it In the case of temporal relations there are usually two themes, instead of one Experiencer The principal participant (always animate) that does not explicitly fulfil an action; instead, it undergoes a certain state (or an event) As an Experiencer is influenced by a state (or an event), it may be confused with a Patient or even with an Agent (when an action coincides with experience) Beneficiary The secondary participant (always animate) that make gains from a certain event A Beneficiary should not be confused with a Patient that is the principal participant Recipient The objective (always animate) of an event that is connected with a transfer A recipient may perform a role of an Agent in such a sentence as â€Å"Father took a strange envelop from Jack† As is shown in Table 2, there are no definite borders among semantic roles; actually, every role may perform different functions in a sentence (Parsons, 1990), and the lack of an integrated structure complicates the analysis. The occurred intricacies can be explained by the fact that any semantic category is based on concepts of subjectivity rather than concepts of objectivity (Knott Sanders, 1998). For example, the word bookcase consists of certain letters and sounds, so it can not be attributed merely to an object. As words and meanings are acquired from a particular social, cultural and linguistic realm (Peregrin, 2003), the relations among all parts of speech are casual, but not natural. Therefore, semantic categories differ not only among members of various societies, but also among people of the same society. For instance, in two utterances Julia prepared bath for Jill and Julia prepared Jill a bath there are certain semantic roles that may be interpreted either as similar or as different. In the first utterance Julia is an Agent and Jill is a Recipient, while in the second utterance

History Us Essay

The Dawes Act, also known as the â€Å"General Allotment Act of 1887,† was – in theory – meant to protect the â€Å"property rights† of indigenous peoples during an anticipated â€Å"land rush† when â€Å"Unassigned Lands† in present-day Oklahoma were opened for settlement. Its sponsor, Senator Henry Dawes (R-Massachusetts), was a believer in the power of land ownership to â€Å"civilize† Native peoples, defining the term as the wearing of â€Å"civilized† (i. e. , manufactured and/or Euro-American type) clothing, the practice of agriculture, residing in homes made of wood and/or brick, the use of horse-drawn vehicles, formal schooling for children, consumption of alcohol and the ownership of property (Oates, 2000). While Dawes’ intentions may have been sincere, the nature of the Act and its results demonstrate that, unlike his detractor, Senator Henry Moore (R-Colorado) – who had actually lived in the West and had a better comprehension of Western land issues – Dawes had little understanding of indigenous culture and traditions. In fact, the U. S. government had spent the better part of a century in attempts to â€Å"register† native peoples and individuals. The Dawes Act was an attempt to â€Å"bribe† Indians with promises of land allotments prior to the land rush, partly in compensation for treatment of the previous 100 years. Not surprisingly, many Indians were not particularly trusting. Wars against, and subsequent relocation of the Nez Perce, Sioux, Yakama and other western tribes were not far in the past; even the painful forced relocation of the Cherokee and other Southeastern peoples a half-century before was within living memory of some. Fearing reprisals, many Indians who had refused to submit relocations in the past would not sign the Dawes Rolls. Either (Oates, 2000). Another provision of the Dawes Act required Indians to give up their given names and take on a more English-sounding name; therefore, someone whose name might translate as â€Å"Running Bear† would wind up having to register as â€Å"Richard Bill,† for example. This made it all too easy for government agents to slip in the names of friends and family members, resulting in the transfer of Indian lands to political cronies (Oates, 2000). The Dawes Act appears to contain an interesting conflict; whereas Section Six refers to Land Patents – which according to the law, grants the landholder unconditional rights to said property in perpetuity, Section Ten asserts Congress’ right of â€Å"Eminent Domain,† allowing the government to confiscate the land for any public use â€Å"upon making just compensation† (USC, 1887), creating a large loophole that was taken advantage of often in the ensuing four decades. The record is clear; nearly half of the treaty land passed into the possession of non-native settlers, and the Meriam Report of 1928 clearly showed how government agents had used provisions of the Dawes Act illegally to deprive indigenous peoples of their property – people who had very little concept of land ownership in the Euro-American sense on the first place. Most Native societies were built on communal living within the context of an extended clan-kinship grouping, which more often was matrilineal. This is significant, because of gender roles; traditionally, males were the hunters, while females gathered or – among the few Native peoples that practiced agriculture at all – engaged in the cultivation of food plants. The imposition of Industrial-Age and hyper-patriarchal Victorian values in which the man was the head of a small nuclear family dependent upon a capitalist system led to the disintegration and ultimate destruction of their traditional kinship support system (Norton, 2003). Ultimately, this was yet another â€Å"divide and conquer† strategy that allowed more Indian lands to pass into the control of Euro-American settlers. II. Reconstruction was an attempt on the part of the U. S. federal government to gradually bring the states of the former Confederacy back into the union and resolve social issues of the conflict. The initial phase of Reconstruction began in 1863 under Abraham Lincoln and his successor, Andrew Johnson. Lincoln’s intentions were to restore the Southern states as quickly and with as little rancor as possible; his moderate program mandated that as soon as 10% of a former Confederate state’s electorate signed a loyalty oath, that state could then form a government body and send representatives to Washington D. C. During the mid-term elections of 1866 however, Congress fell under the control of hard-liners of Johnson’s own party. These â€Å"Radical Republicans† – most likely out of vindictiveness toward ex-Confederates rather than any genuine concern for African-Americans – attempted to enforce â€Å"instant equality† onto Southern society. This â€Å"Radical† phase of Reconstruction lasted from 1866 to 1873, and emphasized civil rights and universal suffrage for freed blacks, many of whom were appointed to offices for which many were not necessarily qualified. Numerous well-meaning Northerners moved to the South as well with the intentions of educating blacks and providing relief for blacks and whites displaced by the war; however, they were accompanied by a large number of fortune seekers, who became known as â€Å"Carpetbaggers. † Along with free blacks and native white southern Republicans known as â€Å"Scalawags,† the Carpetbaggers formed a Republican coalition that managed to gain control of every southern state except for Virginia (Norton, 2003). The third phase of Reconstruction started when conservative Democratic coalitions of white supremacists – known as â€Å"Redeemers† – began taking back state legislatures, a process that was complete by 1877. (The former Confederacy would not elect another Republican president for 103 years). It would appear – at least from the perspective of a Southern landowner or former landowner – that such a backlash was inevitable. Many southern slaveholders operated under a sincere belief (misguided as it was) that their Negroes were better off under the â€Å"care† of their masters. When slaves went â€Å"on strike,† and even deserted plantations, surrendering themselves to oncoming Union troops, there were genuine feelings of betrayal. Meanwhile, Northerners often had little love for blacks; for example, an 1863 law that allowed rich whites to buy their way out of the draft led to perceptions among working-class whites that they were being expected to die for the benefit of blacks; this resulted in major riots in New York and Detroit in which many blacks were attacked and killed (Zinn, 2003). Once the white supremacists were back in control, they wasted little time in excluding Afro-Americans from mainstream society, banning them from restaurants, schools, and other establishments as well as suppressing the vote in a number of ways. When challenged in 1883 under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court interpreted it in a way that made it useless as a guarantor of civil rights, essentially nullifying the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The majority ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment applied to states only, and not private citizens; therefore, discrimination by private individuals was completely within the law. In a dissenting opinion, Justice John Harlan – himself a former slave owner – wrote that discrimination was a â€Å"badge of slavery,† and therefore illegal under the Thirteenth Amendment banning the â€Å"peculiar institution,† as well as Article 4, Section 2 of the Fourteenth: â€Å"†¦the citizens [one born in the U. S. ] of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States† (Zinn, 2003). Nonetheless, the court then – as now – was swinging toward interpretations that favored Big Business and corporate capitalism, which has never had any use for equality of any kind. This eventually paved the way for Plessy v. Fergusson and the subsequent decades of â€Å"Jim Crow† apartheid in the south. III. On the eve of the First World War, class struggle between the workers and corporate capitalism was intensifying. On one side were socialist movements whose members clearly saw what the war was about: the struggle between capitalist power-brokers, through their bought-and-paid-for national governments, over land, colonies, resources, power and wealth – none of which in the working class, who nonetheless wound up fighting an dying in the trenches for these concepts, had any stake whatsoever. On the other side – then as now – were the corporate capitalists, who had a great deal at stake over the outcome of the war. American corporations had substantial investments in British companies and vice-versa; meanwhile, Britain was draining its treasury as well as its people for a war that historians today has never been shown to bring â€Å"any gain for humanity that would be worth one human life† (Zinn, 2003). The German announcement in April of 1917 that they would sink any ship carrying supplies to their enemies (i. e. , Britain) has long been cited as a reason that Wilson eventually sought a declaration of war from Congress. However, German-Americans had for some time been sending aid to the ancestral homeland, while the British had been interfering with the rights of U. S. citizens on the high seas during the same period. Because of economic reality however, Wilson had to find other reasons to enter the war on the side of the Allies (Zinn, 2003). According to historian Richard Hofstader, there were a number of economic reasons that shaped Wilson’s policy on the war; a recession that had begun in 1914 had begun to ease starting the following year because of orders by the Allies that totaled over $2 billion by 1917. By the time the war had begun, foreign investment in the U. S. totaled $3 ? billion. Foreign markets were considered vital to the U. S. economy. Since the outbreak of hostilities, Britain was buying not only durable goods and war materiel from U. S. companies, but since the lift on a ban on private bank loans to the Allies, were taking out many interest-bearing loans as well. The result is that the U. S. economy became closely tied to British victory. African-American author and activist W. E. B. DuBois clearly saw that the wealth of the U. S. and Europe was built on the backs of people in the lands which they had colonized – chiefly Africa and Asia, control over which were at the heart of the conflict. War, he said was a â€Å"safety valve† for the tensions of class conflict. Warfare created an â€Å"artificial community of interest† between the corporatist/investor class and that of the workers (Zinn, 2003). This was not lost on the workers of the nation. Only 73,000 men volunteered in during the first six weeks following the declaration, and there was little indication of public support. Socialist anti-war rallies throughout the country were attended by thousands of working people protesting the war and corporate profiteering. A conservative newspaper in Akron, Ohio admitted that the nation â€Å"had never embarked upon a more unpopular war† (Zinn, 2003). The federal government – at the behest of the corporate interests who then (as now) had the legislature in its back pocket – had little choice but institute legal and punitive measures which included both military conscription and the Espionage Act – a law of dubious constitutionality passed for the purpose of silencing dissent (Oates, 2000). While ostensibly the law was to protect the nation from spies, a clause provided for a penalty of up to twenty years imprisonment for anyone found guilty of causing â€Å"insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny or refusal of duty,† although another clause stated that â€Å"nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or restrict†¦any discussion, comment, or criticism of the acts or policies of the Government. † Nonetheless, Socialist leader Charles Schenk was arrested in September 1917 for the distribution of leaflets arguing that conscription was a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment. Another Socialist, Eugene V. Debs, was arrested the following June for making a public speech against the war. Eventually, nine hundred people were incarcerated under the Espionage Act and dissenters buried under an intense propaganda campaign by the government and their corporate lapdogs in the media. IV. â€Å"Prohibition† – the perhaps well-intentioned, but misguided attempt to outlaw the consumption of alcohol and spirituous liquors – dates back to the beginning of the republic. During colonial times, moderate alcohol consumption was tolerated, but over-indulgence was not. Alcohol was a â€Å"gift of God,† while drunkenness was seen as an abuse of that gift, but alcohol itself was not seen as a problem – only the behaviors associated with its excessive consumption. By the time of the revolution however, this had changed significantly. The shift from an agrarian to an urban society brought with it the usual consequences of poverty and unemployment, which in turn resulted in crime. With a strongly Puritan-influenced mindset, most devout Americans were unable to make the connection between poverty and crime, so alcohol became the scapegoat. The complete prohibition of alcoholic beverages was promulgated by religious Protestant groups on the grounds that it was the cause of crime and domestic violence. Prohibition movements met with limited success in the years running up to the Civil War. After a twenty-year hiatus, the concept was revived by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition Party, which gained significant political power in the forty-year period on either side of 1900. Prohibition laws were enacted locally throughout the nation, even to the point of becoming state law in Kansas. A number of southern states as well as individual counties within those states, with their streak of religious conservatism and intolerance, followed suit (Norton, 2003). (This patchwork of laws had some rather odd results that persist to the present day; for example, Jack Daniels Whiskey is still manufactured in Lynchburg, Tennessee, but local ordinance makes it illegal to sell or purchase it there. )

Across the Universe †All you need is love Essay

â€Å"Across the Universe† is a musical film based on 34 compositions by the legendary rock’n’roll quartet – the Beatles. The movie is called after the same name song of the band, â€Å"Across the Universe†, which was released in 1969 and later as one of tracks of a charity album â€Å"No One is Going to Change Our World† at the label â€Å"Apple†. The plot has nothing to do with the Beatles’ members life. However the pictured in the movie events represent many characteristics of their era being set in the 60’s and revolve around the songs which match up a lot of great scenes. All main characters bear the names derived from its original lyrics: dwarfed in life Lucy (â€Å"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds†), ambitious Jude (â€Å"Hey Jude†), an amateur singer Sadie (â€Å"Sexy Sadie†), a good-for-nothing Max (â€Å"Maxwell’s Silver Hammer†), Prudence (â€Å"Dear Prudence†) etc. The first 45 minutes is hyper and let us meet the characters. It doesn’t really rely on plot, like most musicals, it relies more on character development. Jude moves to the USA in purpose to find his father. On arrival he accidentally meets Max who becomes his friend in a short time. Together the boys go to New York where they are joined by Max’s sister Lucy (she has just lost her boyfriend killed on the battlefield). They quickly find out that the dream of living independently and enjoying their lives as an adults has its own difficulties. The second act is different: Vietnam War, psychedelic trips caused by taking LSD, free love flavoured with rock’n’roll – that is the very scenery of the romantic and at the same time tragic storyline. In the third act we actually get to see the characters solve their problems, it deals a lot more with our feelings towards music and war. Across the Universe† is actually much different from most musicals. Where most musicals rely on either joy, emotion, or war, it relies on all three. There are some moments where you actually feel like you want to get up and dance. The music here is absolutely amazing. No seriously. It’s amazing. The cast members (and read how I say cast members and not vocalists) sang all of these songs and did such a great job that if I even had a choice, I would actually had to say that some of their versions of songs were better than the actual Beatles. Speaking about the strongest moments I would distinguish one perfect example of telling a story through the song that has profound significance to me and too intense for words – the scene where Jude paints a tore and nailed to the canvas bleeding strawberry during â€Å"Strawberry Fields Forever† being sang. The berry as a symbol of love, streams of blood as a symbol of war and death, flashing faces of the characters in the background and paint-made blood all over the screen – it’s all in red, the color of lust and destruction. While watching the movie I felt different emotions: laughter, happiness, excitement but also sadness, fear and anger. What I’ve got from â€Å"Across the Universe† is more than a film, it is an experience in itself. It could be any kind of experience — a fun and very different experience, or a deeply emotional and sensual experience. For me, it was more of the second. When â€Å"Hey Jude† played near end of the movie I had run out of tears. It felt like I knew all the characters forever but when the two hours and ten minutes were over I was dying to see more. I am actually planning on seeing this again and again.

Bering Strait - Geographic Overview

The Bering Land Bridge, also known as the Bering Strait, was a land bridge connecting present-day eastern Siberia and the United States state of Alaska during Earths historic ice ages. For reference, Beringia is another name used to describe the Bering Land Bridge and it was coined in the mid-20th century by Eric Hulten, a Swedish botanist, who was studying plants in Alaska and northeastern Siberia. At the time of his study, he began using the word Beringia as a geographic description of the area. Beringia was about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) north to south at its widest point and was present at different times during the Pleistocene Epochs ice ages from 2.5 million to 12,000 years before the present (BP). It is significant to the study of geography because it is believed that humans migrated from the Asian continent to North America via the Bering Land Bridge during the last glaciation about 13,000-10,000 years BP. Much of what we know about the Bering Land Bridge today aside from its physical presence comes from biogeographical data showing connections between species on the Asian and North American continents. For example, there is evidence that saber tooth cats, woolly mammoths, various ungulates, and plants were on both continents around the last ice age and there would have been little way for them to appear on both without the presence of a land bridge. In addition, modern technology has been able to use this biogeographical evidence, as well as modeling of climate, sea levels, and mapping of the sea floor between present-day Siberia and Alaska to visually depict the Bering Land Bridge. Formation and Climate During the ice ages of the Pleistocene Epoch, global sea levels fell significantly in many areas around the world as the Earths water and precipitation became frozen in large continental ice sheets and glaciers. As these ice sheets and glaciers grew, global sea levels fell and in several places across the planet different land bridges became exposed. The Bering Land Bridge between eastern Siberia and Alaska was one of these. The Bering Land Bridge is believed to have existed through numerous ice ages -- from earlier ones around 35,000 years ago to more recent ice ages around 22,000-7,000 years ago. Most recently, it is believed that the strait between Siberia and Alaska became dry land about 15,500 years before the present, but by 6,000 years before the present, the strait was again closed due to a warming climate and rising sea levels. During the latter period, the coastlines of eastern Siberia and Alaska developed roughly the same shapes they have today. During the time of the Bering Land Bridge, it should be noted that the area between Siberia and Alaska was not glaciated like the surrounding continents because snowfall was very light in the region. This is because the wind blowing into the area from the Pacific Ocean lost its moisture before reaching Beringia when it was forced to rise over the Alaska Range in central Alaska. However, because of its very high latitude, the region would have had a similar cold and harsh climate as is in northwestern Alaska and eastern Siberia today. Flora and Fauna Because the Bering Land Bridge was not glaciated and precipitation was light, grasslands were most common on the Bering Land Bridge itself and for hundreds of miles into the Asian and North American continents. It is believed that there were very few trees and all vegetation consisted of grasses and low-lying plants and shrubs. Today, the region surrounding what remains of Beringia in northwestern Alaska and eastern Siberia still features grasslands with very few trees. The fauna of the Bering Land Bridge consisted mainly of large and small ungulates adapted to grassland environments. In addition, fossils indicate that species such as saber-toothed cats, woolly mammoths, and other large and small mammals were present on the Bering Land Bridge as well. It is also believed that when the Bering Land Bridge began to flood with rising sea levels during the end of the last ice age, these animals moved south into what is today the main North American continent. Human Evolution One of the most important things about the Bering Land Bridge is that it enabled humans to cross the Bering Sea and enter North America during the last ice age about 12,000 years ago. It is believed that these early settlers were following migrating mammals across the Bering Land Bridge and for a time may have settled on the bridge itself. As the Bering Land Bridge began to flood once again with the end of the ice age, however, humans and the animals they were following moved south along coastal North America. To learn more about the Bering Land Bridge and its status as a national preserve park today, visit the National Park Services website. References National Park Service. (2010, February 1). Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved from: https://www.nps.gov/bela/index.htm Wikipedia. (2010, March 24). Beringia - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beringia