Critical period in language development Essay Example for Free

Critical period in language development Essay The concept of a critical period is well in nature. In human beings there seems to be a critical for the first language acquisition. Research shows that any human who is not exposed to any language before puberty, becomes completely unable to the syntax of their first language later in life. From my personal experience I have learnt that any individual who learns their first language at infancy and later (at puberty) gets to move from their motherland to foreign land where no one speaks their language, no matter how long these individuals stay from home they can never forget their mother tongue. Accent may change but they will always remember their first language Here is another practical example to prove that there is a critical period in language development. I happen to be living in Africa; my bosses are Italians (man and wife) they have had to learn English and Kiswahili for easy communication with the locals. They have a five year old baby. When the baby is with her parents they always speak in their first language; when she is left behind with the nanny she is spoken to in Kiswahili all the time. The nanny knows no other language apart from her mother tongue and Kiswahili. This baby has been looked after by this same nanny since she was born. At the age of three a teacher from America was employed to teach this girl. She knew no other language but English. Now look at this closely; the baby is now very fluent in two languages; her first one Italian and her second one; Kiswahili. She is so fluent that she corrects her parents on it! She seems to be doing just fine in English for the last two years she has been taught. Interestingly her teach who is very interested in learning Kiswahili asks her enough times to translate to her in English what has been said in Kiswahili by colleagues. I would say that all depends with the stage at which the language was introduced to an individual. The stage in life. †¢ Kiswahili is a language for the East African state and some of the West African.

The White Collar Crime

The White Collar Crime In 1986, Kenneth Lay merged Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth to form Enron and then in the early 1990s he helped initiate the selling of electricity at market prices. By doing so, it later led to the US Congress to pass legislation deregulating the sale of natural gas. Consequently this made it possible for traders to sell energy at higher prices, allowing companies to significantly increase their revenue. This allowed Enron to rise to be the largest seller of natural gas in North America by 1992. In 1999 Enron opened up EnronOnline, to better manage its contracts trading business but to further encourage growth Enron pursued a diversification strategy. By the end of the 1990s, Enrons capitalization exceeded $60 Billion dollars and was viewed as the most innovative large company in America. So what happened to Enron? On December 2nd, 2001 Enron filed for bankruptcy leading to the downfall of one of the most corrupt corporations in recent U.S. history. Top executives and board members sold their stock for huge profits knowing the pending outcome of its demise would send its stock in a spiraling descent. Leaving thousands of employees and investors with massive losses the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into the top executives and board members to discover the depth of the scandal. The massive fraud that Enron executives accounted for fell into the category of White Collar Crime. To further examine the massive fraud that Enron executives committed, we will look into the anatomy behind the mind of the white collar criminal, its sociological concepts, and correlate between the research and the textbook article on Enron. When looking at the history of white collar crime one must go back to the 1940s, when Edwin H. Sutherland coined the term white collar crime. He sought to dismiss the notion that crime was the domain of the lower classes of society. He believed that it could not be explained at the individual level and it should be researched at an organizational level. He stated that flaw of character was not the cause but the situations and relationships with in an organization that created an environment that encouraged white collar crime. When analyzing this theory in a sociological prospective it falls into differential association theory; a theory that Sutherland attributes to excess of deviant associations over conventional ones. Although, his theory is still advocated and a majority of research into white collar crime followed his anti-psychological position, there is a movement within the financial and accounting fields to better understand the behavioral characteristics of the individuals. Since there is little understood between individual behavioral traits and white collar crime the FBI has started using its Behavioral Science Analysis Unit to incorporate behavioral traits of white collar criminals in developing profiles to assist investigators. To understand what constitutes a white collar crime, the US Department of Justice defines it as the illegal acts characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust that are not dependent upon the application or threat of force or violence. The socio-economic status of the offender is not incorporated into the definition or is it an important element in why someone commits a fraudulent act. The common depiction of the stereotypical white collar criminal is he or she is a first time offender, considered a good citizen, well educated, middle aged, and a trusted employee. While this depicts the ideal company executive, a more modern approach to challenging these common perceptions of white collar criminals is by taking account of personality traits such as: anti-social personality, narcissism, and psychopathy. By doing so, this illustrates that the same traits that enables criminal acts and explain why some turn towards crimes of violence, also apply to white collar criminals who manifest their aggression into a different form such as fraud. Alternatively, there is a sub-group within the white collar crime family known as fraud-detection homicide. This is the willingness to resort to violence, namely murder to prevent their fraud schemes from being detected and disclosed. When looking farther into why white collar criminals commit such deviant acts, a modern approach is to look at the personality traits associated with the offender. At first glance, the explanation behind white collar crime is greed and dishonesty but with further exploration there are three key traits among them. First, is an Anti-social personality which white collar criminals blame their victims for being ignorant or deserving of their fate, minimize the harmful consequences of the fraud, or simply display an arrogant indifferenceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ also probably believe that it is a dogà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ eatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ dog world and that everyone is out for himself or herself (DSMà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ IV Task Force, 1994). Second, is narcissism, their narcissism may not allow them to fully appreciate how their actions play themselves out because their sense of entitlement requires a need for gratification, and the use of deception to achieve fraud does not create a moral dilemma for them to r esolve(Barnard, 2008). Third, is psychopathy, Specifically, Ray (2007) found that the psychopathic traits that drive WCCs intention to commit fraud are the traits of egocentric, manipulative, exploitative, deceitful, a Machiavellian attitude where the means justify the ends regardless of it criminal nature. With these traits that are attributed to white collar criminals, it is easy to understand why they would commit these crimes. Most white collar criminals attribute their crimes to several factors but most noteworthy are: 1) to obtain money, property, or services. 2) To avoid the payment or loss of money. 3) To secure personal or business advantages. White collar criminals view fraud as both acceptable and common to overcome financial difficulties or to make a profit for the organization. When society discovers the acts of white collar criminals they are labeled out of character because it is often their first offense against the law. When lifting the curtain surrounding the mind of a white collar criminal there is a vastly different view they hold of themselves compared to the rest of society. In a recent study, white collar criminals claimed they felt justified to commit fraud to save the company, the employees jobs, and other businesses that relied on their survival. White collar criminals have the ability to rationalize fraud because of the ability to attach a moral argument to the offense by pointing out higher purposes behind the fraud. White collar criminals use a technique known as neutralization to void any internal moral objections and to justify or rationalize their activities. With the personality traits and the ability to use neutralization to their advantage, whiteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ collar criminals cause substantial social harm by undermining the economy, e xacerbating the divide between poverty and wealth, eroding trust, and depriving individuals of time and resources (Ford, 2007). When looking at white collar crime from a sociological perspective, you can see that is a perfect example of differential association theory. When comparing corporate white collar crime to this theory, corporations use specific tactics to hide its fraud which is learned while conspiring with other employees. When looking at how white collar criminals rationalize their behavior, they use this rationalization as a way to gain their general needs and desires despite the fallout when their fraud is caught. In the case of Enron criminal behavior was learned by its employees because of its loose business ethics and its organizational culture. With an understanding of key traits involved in white collar crime, its easy to see why Enron failed when you dig deeper into to the organizational culture and rituals practiced at Enron. The organizational culture of Enron, for example was the belief that its members must make the corporation prosper by maximizing its profits and expansion in certain ways. This belief was put into action often enough for it to become a ritual of the organization(291). With Enron practicing such loose business ethics, employees saw the practices of the higher executives as a normal way of business within the company, leading to the common practice of deceit within the company. With such deceit running wild thru the company, it allowed executives to set up dummy corporations to offload its debt allowing it to be seen by its shareholders and the public as largely successful. If only one person within the company was committing fraud it would have been noticed long before but when applying differential association theory to the mix, more employees learned of the techniques used to offload the debt and favored the delinquent acts in favor of the law because of their need to secure personal and business advantages. The positivist theory of differential association show how white collar crime is a deviant act committed by a person with an excess associations of deviants. Organizational deviance is not just affiliated at the top but a conglomerate of employees across the company accepting and learning how to socially accept forms of deceit, self-gain, and un-ethical practices. A self-governing organization allows a breeding ground for the corrupt if not property monitored, such as the case for Enron. By Enron practicing outside the law, it breads a culture of deceit by associating employees with criminal behavior. With such deviance the executives had to play a shell game with their debt, which had to bring more employees in to the mix by seducing them with large incentives and a culture of self-gain. By researching into the organizational level of white collar crime, there is a clear indication that the situations and relationships within Enron, created an environment that encouraged white colla r crime. With such an environment, its no wonder so many employees were caught up in the scandal because of the excess in deviant associations. Summary paragraph In 1940, Edwin H. Sutherland coined the term white collar crime. He said situations and relationships within an organization created an environment that encouraged white collar crime. He also believed that it could not be explained at the individual level and that it should be researched at the organizational level. The typical white collar criminal is middle aged, well educated, a trusted employee, and considered a good citizen. Common reasons that a person commits white collar crime are to obtain a material or personal advantage and to avoid the loss of money. The Department of Justice defines white collar crime as illegal act characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust that are not dependent upon the application or threat of force or violence. The definition encompasses both individual and organizational offenders. In the mind of a white collar criminal they view their acts as both acceptable and common to overcome financial difficulties or to make profit for thems elves or their organization. They have the ability to rationalize the fraud because they attach a moral argument to the offense by pointing to higher purposes behind the fraud. When looking in the context of sociological theory, people with regular associations in deviant behavior learn to accept it as a norm within their organization and see fraud as a normal act in their business practices. White collar crime falls in the realm of differential association theory and in the case of Enron; it has a positivist approach to its business culture. Enron was a prime example of how corporate greed and miss leading business practices created a breeding ground for white collar crime by associating its employees with deviant acts daily.

Effect of Drugs on Clinical Defence Mechanisms

Effect of Drugs on Clinical Defence Mechanisms Neither seeking pleasure nor damage motive are not enough to explain humans odd solution way for get ride of their misery life which represent addiction. In spite of the fact that misery life has inevitable side, substance addicts have problems with defining the emotions, difficulties with resist the pain. This individuals discover that substance which make them addict enable them to control and reduce permanantly their social problems and supriseful life events. So that substance implications use against explain feelings, depression, boredom, and anger. Psychodynamic approach form fundamental method for explaining substance function and meaning and the way addicts act toward cope their problems. Surely genetic, social science, family and system theories have effect on determining substance addiction one by one (Larssons et al., 2001). Khantzian (1985) stated in his self treatment hypothesis that weakness of ego, lack of self awarness, impulses and emotional defences direct individuls use substance or close to use (p. 105). Protecting personality as a ego function is a little bit complicated. It is a part of a sequence of defence and function such as signal, anxiety, evaluate truth, control, synthesis, decision. When a problem occur in this fuctions then defence mechanisms step in like denial, projection, and rationalization. In addiction process ego put forward as a focal point of pathology. Especially regression, denial, and projection emphasised (Fine Juni, 2001). Ãâ€"gel (2001) stated that lack of love and safety in psychosexual development stage lead to drug use for repress the anxiety and handle this situation when the child reach adulthood (p. 62). According to Ãâ€"gel (2001) as cited in Gà ¼lkan (1994) study on substance addiction with MMPI claim that this individuals have significant independency and negative thoughts, dense change in feelings, impulsive behavior, dissadtsfaction, discomfort and, imbalance. Also their are unable to comprehend and change the situaitons which they came up. This people also can describe as rigid, stubborn, sceptic, difficult and exremely sensitive and they strain social stimulies with defence mechanisms. The people who show their hostile feelings indirectly, use projection, have dominant umbrage thoughts, and sceptic aspects have instable thoughts , stress and anxiety intensively. They tend to exaggerate existing problems consciously and seem worse than they actually are due to taking more attention and escape from their responsibilities and taking more attention. These people use intellecttualization and rationalization but these defences became ineffective because their defences are weak (p. 72 – 73 ) .Denial is perhabs one of the best known defense mechanisms, used many times to define conditions where individuals appear unable to meet truth or accept an obvious reality. Drug users or alcoholics useally deny that they have a problem, while victims of traumatic events might deny that the incident never happened. Observation on addicts show that inadequacy object related task and difficulties on evaluating reality (Rutherford,1996). If our instinct expressed randomly we faced dangerous situations because ego defence mechanisms control and warn us. In this respect drug addictions have inadequate ego capacity for protect their selves. When desired effect received repetetive manner, person start to use less other answers and dealing with problems . As a result of approved by society this people tend to gradually increase regression. Nevertheless in the absence of other compliance mechanisms, for reducing the stressful situation ; prefered substance amount increased or they thought using another drug reduce the side effect of origanal substance (Mulder et all, 1996). Malaysia has changed its medicine programs from compulsory drug detention centers to ambulatory care programs with good care of hospitalized patients just in three months subsequently by after-treatment programs in order to cover permanence of the treatment program. The aim of this is to make ready patients to orientating to the society. Orientating is can be very difficult for addiction patients. A recovered addict uses his defense mechanisms in order to maintain his moderation. By and by, adapting styles might be incapably utilized by recuperating addicts as a part of their exertions to maintain a strategic distance from unpleasant circumstances and it happens when safeguard components are not being overall overseen. This is on the grounds that they make an agreeable circumstance since the addicts dont need to manage the unpleasant circumstances (Gorski, 1992). As their component of guards justifies the activity, their come back to medication utilization is prone to happen. Except their difficulties, their actions are logical and justifiable. Borderline and antisocial personality disorders (Presniak, Olson, MacGregor, 2010), and emotional problems: depression and anxiety (Blaya, Dornelles, Blaya, Kipper, Heldt, Isolan, Bond, Manfro, 2007) are personality disorders and ego defense mechanisms can be associated with them. In order to treat drug addiction with psychotherapy, the researches on defense mechanism have been extended. Defense mechanism have been observed in drug addicts of young adults (Grebot Dardard, 2010), substance abusers with psychotic symptoms (Aleman, 2007), and outpatient drug addicts (Redick, 2002). Gorski (1992) claimed that denial and avoidance defense style in the relapse process and the research development emphasizes the importance of studying the components of defense mechanisms. Studies above show that there is a connection between drugs and defense mechanisms. In the following list, we are going to see how defense mechanism effected by drugs; Here is the list of defense mechanisms that used by alcoholics and drug addicts: DRUGS AND DEFENCE MECHANISMS Denial The best evidence of drug using is denial of the reality. It is the clear evidence that a person drugging. Denial is the situation between, ‘I do not use drugs,’ and ‘I do use drugs but it is under my control.’ This kind of defense mechanism is the clear evidence that the defense mechanism do controlled and continued to controlling by drug. And also this process continues in spite of thinking about the disadvantages of drug addiction. The person also fears to not manage the usage of drug addiction and this kind of defense mechanism is the evidence for it. Selective Recall Interestingly, the defense mechanism takes only the good part of the experience and turns all deeds acceptable and justifiable. For example a person may say that he / she felt good and enjoyed the evening or he / she can say that everyone amazed of him / her. However, he / she do not remember the later part of the evening. In order to justify his / her deeds, a person remembers only good part of his / her experience with drugs and it is the work of defense mechanism. It is also called euphoric recall. Repression It may looks like selective recall because it also repression shameful and bad experiences during drug usage experience. Defense mechanism represses all things that are against his / her self or personality. It makes feeling that experience has not been lived. And it forces a witness of that experience to doubt about his vision and reality-knowledge. When someone questions or criticizing a drug user, he / she can use denial, selective recall and repressive defense separately or collectively. Projection In order to justify his / her drug use, a person can use this sort of defense mechanism. In order to be reasonable, person blames others or his / her environment to justify his / her deed. For example, a person may say that it is other fault and he / she should argue with himself / herself. Person may blame his parents and tell them that they have pressure on him / her and they should not gave him a birth. Or even a person can claim that other people never loved him / her. Rationalization When people do not expect the result of their actions, they mostly use this type of defense mechanism. It justifies their drug usage. For example, a person may claim that he / she deserve the celebration because he / she worked hard. Or he / she may connect his exam failure with his / her depression. And in order to justify his / her drug and alcohol usage he / she may say that everyone else was drunk and used drug, so he / she could not do anything. Regression Regression is when a person clings to childish actions in order to avoid the adult responsibility. A person in order to avoid his / her adult responsibility, takes role of a child. Person will try to take attention not to the drug usage but to his / her behavior such as screaming, crying and etc. When a person acts and defends himself / herself like this, those people who are against his / her drug usage focus not on his / her problems with drugs, but on person’s behavior. After all, they will let him do whatever he wills to do. Minimizing This defense mechanism tries to minimize the problem. For example, if a person used alcohol he may say that it was just two drinks or joints and that he knew what was going on. Or if a person sleeps deeply he may defend himself telling that he just took a nap for a while. Even if a person hits someone he may say that he did not hit another person hard. Also, he may deny that he is an addict by giving reasons such as he just uses Dope and E and not Coke and Heroin. REFERENCES Aleman, K. (2007). Object relation quality, alexithymia, and defense mechanisms of drug abusers with antisocial personality disorder. Social Behavior and Personality, 35 (10): 1335-1352. Blaya, C., Dornelles, M., Blaya, R., Kipper, L., Heldt, E., Isolan, L., Manfro, G. G., Bond, M. (2007). Brazilian-Portuguese version of defensive style questionnaire-40 for the assessment of defense mechanisms: Construct validity study. Psychotherapy Research, (3): 261-272 Fine J, Juni S: Ego atrophy in substance abuse: addiction from a socio-cultural perspective Am J Psychoanal 6 1(3):293-304,2001. Gorski, T. T. (1992). The Staying Sober Workbook: A Serious Solution for the Problem of Relapse. Independence Press: Missouri. Grebot, E., Dardard. J. (2010). Cognitive schemas, addictive beliefs, and defenses in cannabis addiction in young addiction. French Psychology, 55: 373-387. Khantzian EJ: The self medication hypothesis of addictive disorders: focus on heroin and cocain dependence. A J Psychiatry 142:1259-1264, 1985 Larsson S, Lilja J, Borg S, et al: Toward an integrative approach in the analysis of dependency problems, Subst Use Misuse 36(9-10):1323-1356, 2001. Mulder RT, Joyce PR, Sellan JD, Sullivan PF, Cloninger CR: Towards an understanding of defense style in terms of temperament and character. Acta Psychiatr Scand 93(2): 99- 104, 1996. Ãâ€"gel (2001) Ä °nsan, YaÃ…Å ¸am ve BaÄÅ ¸Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±mlÄ ±lÄ ±k TartÄ ±Ãƒâ€¦Ã… ¸malar ve Gerekà §eler. Ä °stanbul: IQ Kà ¼ltà ¼r Sanat YayÄ ±ncÄ ±lÄ ±k Cherry, K (n.d.) . In About.com Psychology. http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofperso nality/ss/defensemech_3.htm. Presniak, M. D., Olson, T. R., MacGregor, M. W. (2010). The role of defense mechanisms in borderline and antisocial personalities. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92(2): 137-145. Redick, R. (2002). The defense styles of outpatient substance abusers vs. non substance abuser. Unpublished doctoral dissertation: Chicago, Illinois. Rehab centers ca addiction treatment advice. http://rehab4addictions.com/?page_id=361 Rutherford MJ, Cacciola JS, Alterman Al, McKay JR: Assesment of object relations and reality testing in methadone patients. Am J Psychiatry,153(9):1189-94, 1996.

Comparing Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story :: comparison compare contrast essays

Romeo and Juliet versus West Side Story      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, two timeless dramas that will live forever.   Although both of these stories have many similarities, there are also many differences.   These differences include the differences in sililoquy, the fact that Maria doesn't die, the fact that we never see Tony or Maria's parents, as well as the issues of marriage, the importance of gangs and families to each story.   To understand these differences, I have read and/or watched both Romeo and Juliet, and the similar tragedy, West Side Story.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Above, I named a few of the many differences between William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Ernest Leaman's screenplay, West Side Story. One main difference is that in Romeo and Juliet the sililoquy is spoken while in West Side Story there is sililoquy, but it is in song.   While both equally express the character's feelings at the moment, it is my feeling that West Side Story's musical style brings the viewer/listener further into the play and makes the play more effective.   An example of this is when, in Act II, Scene II, of Romeo and Juliet, otherwise known as the balcony scene, Romeo expresses his thoughts in a sililoquy until Juliet shows up.   While in Romeo and Juliet all of this is spoken, in West Side Story, this is written as music shared between Maria and Tony.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another major difference between these two stories is that in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet sees Romeo dead and decides to kill herself.   While, in West Side Story, Tony (the Romeo of the play) does die - shot by Chino- Maria is not so stricken and overshelmed that she decides to kill herself.   This is very important because in Romeo and Juliet, neither Romeo or Juliet is allowed to move on with their lives.   In West Side Story, however, I'm sure Maria, although not shown in the film, moves on and gets over Tony.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   My theory on why the above is true, is that Romeo and Juliet are kept apart by family ties or blood; Juliet a Capulet and Romeo a Montague.   Blood ties are what family is all about and tend to be very strong bonds.

The Morally Obvious :: Ethics Philosophy Moral Papers

The Morally Obvious I. Obviousness. There is no way to contrive an ethical theory which does not rely in the end upon moral judgments that are subjectively "intuitive" or obvious or "just seen". No matter which of the major approaches to ethical theory one takes, an ultimate reliance upon the individual's intuitive judgment is inevitable. If one supposes that moral valuations are sui generis, irreducible, the deliverances of a moral sense or faculty, then manifestly what one "just feels" or "just sees" to be morally valuable will have to be the final court of appeal. If one supposes that moral values are a special subclass of human likings or preferences, say those things men want overall, in the long run, in the light of man's deepest needs and his sympathetic nature, etc., why then those wants and preferences must themselves be finally known by making their presence felt. The presence of a want, of a satisfaction or fulfillment, of pleasure or pain, is known intuitively and immediately. Finally, if mo ral values are perceived by the eye of reason, as a number of philosophers still urge, so that the wrongness of things is known by the mind in a way similar to its knowing 2 + 2 = 4, this too must be seen as an ultimate reliance upon the intellectually "obvious", or the intuitively known. It appears that whether in ethics or in any field of human opinion we can ask for justifications only so far. Even when a successful justification of an opinion can be given, the very success of that justification involves the "just seeing" of how the justification applies to and supports the opinion. Beyond that, we can always request a proof of the justifying premises or considerations themselves, and if we keep asking for a justification for the justification that has just been given, we will soon reach a point where all that can be said is that the thing just seems obvious, and we can only hope that others will think so too. Notoriously, of course, others often don't. I have said that moral judgments must in the end rest upon an "intuitive" judgment of some sort. The word "intuition" is too useful and too close to what I mean to avoid, but it also has technical connotations I wish to disavow. Philosophers often use "intuition" to mean a way of knowing involving no inference whatever and yielding infallible and incorrigible results.

Privatization in India Essay

Ram Mohan Visiting Faculty, Finance and Accounting Area Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India Abstract The proposed research is intended to survey the process of privatization in India and assess its impact on the Indian economy. The central issue we will address is the impact of privatization that has taken place so far on profitability and performance of PSUs. Going beyond this, we will attempt to understand what explains the impact of privatization on performance. Is it the use of market power by oligopolistic firms whose pricing power had been constrained under government ownership ? Is performance bought at the expense of labour through extensive layoffs so that what we see is essentially a transfer from workers to shareholders ? Or are we confusing the impact of privatization with the more generalised impact of deregulation in the economy, which in itself could spur efficiency ? The research output will comprise the following: 1. A survey of the literature on privatization, particularly with respect to less developed countries. 2. A review of the role of the public sector in the Indian economy, and the process of economic liberalization and privatization in India upto this point. 3. Impact of privatization on firm performance. 4. Explanation for the impact of privatization 5. Assessment of mechanisms of corporate governance in India. -2- I. Background: privatization in theory and practice A great wave of privatization has swept the world in the past two decades, embracing the industrial economies, the transition economies of East Europe and large parts of the less developed world, and it continues to roll on. It is interesting, however, that its basis in theory was somewhat shaky to start with. Moreover, a sizable enough body of empirical evidence, on which hypotheses about its impact could be tested, became available only several years down the road. So much of the initial impetus to privatization entailed a leap in faith, and, as happens all too often in the development of knowledge, attempts to explain its impact have followed on the heels of widespread existing practice.

Johnson’s Dictionary and the language of learning Essay

Codification refers to the methods and process by which a language is standardized. These specific methods include the creation and the use of style and language guides, dictionaries and the grammar textbooks. It is important to realize that codification is an ongoing process. The most important period in the codification of English, is the 18th century that was characterized with the publication of hundreds of grammar and dictionary. These included dictionaries such as â€Å"Samuel Johnson’s Monumental Dictionary,† in 1755 among other dictionaries (Johnson & Lynch, 2003). History of English Codification in Dictionary and Grammar books Codification of English language can be traced back in Britain, in the 18th century. During that time, perspective norms were stipulated by authors such as John Walker and Thomas Sheridan. On the other hand, in the United States, the codification of English was mainly initiated and undertaken by Noah Webster, on an orthographic and lexical level. Britain attributes its present lexicographical work of Samuel Johnson (Hickey, 2011). When analyzing the English’s recent history, it is important to distinguish between the actual term standard and the notion of standard. It is important to understand that the earliest reference to the term Standard English in the Oxford English dictionary dates back in the year 1836 (Hickey, 2011). Standard English in the codified sense refers to the development of the 18th-century development. There are several reasons as to why the English could have risen then, however, there were precursors to the 18th-century notion of English. Some researchers argue that the earliest codification of English began in the 16th century via the publication of grammars and dictionaries most of which are intended to teach the English language to the rural squires mainly after the Union Act of 1536 between Wales and England. The Standard English was mainly codified between the 16th and 17th centuries. Ascertaining and improving the English tongue began in 1712, Bishop Lowth’s grammar in 1762 and the Samuel Johnson first appeared in 1755. The codification process was characterized with three main influences which were paramount (Kemmer, 2009). †¢ The kings English in the form of legal and administrative language. †¢ Literary English which was in the form of acceptable language that was mainly used by great literature and for the purposes of printing and publishing. †¢ The English of education and church or commonly referred to as â€Å"Oxford English†. There was no point in which the state was involved. The Codification process also greatly affected the spoken form of the English standard language. The Received Pronunciation was mainly codified through education influence especially that of nineteenth-century public schools, followed from the 20th Century by television, radio and cinema. It is perceived that about 3 to 5 percent of the British tend to speak Received Pronunciation today (Kemmer, 2009). Commissioning of Dictionaries The growing use of written language created the need for materials that presented the need for materials that portrayed the aspect of the language, in a way that could be looked up by all the individuals that desired information about the English language. This was initially meant for the non-native speakers, however, later on the English native speakers that wanted to know about the new and developed part of the language also looked for such materials. The initial dictionaries were mainly a list of hard words. This mainly involved, the list of new â€Å"loan† words that were from the classical language and the new British colonies overseas. By the eighteenth century, dictionary writing was mainly a recognized activity and the learned men and scholars were being commissioned by various publishers to write such materials (Kemmer, 2009). Other places in Europe, language academies were being established so as to codify and also normalize all the aspects of the language. However, this trend was not adopted in the English-speaking lands and there was never a recognized academy for standardization in either United States or Britain. The publication of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary which was of the English language was a significant milestone in the development of a dictionary and other reference materials (DeMaria, 1986). The dictionary adopted more or less a descriptivist stance that is very modern and was at odds with the former prescriptive view of the earlier dictionary producers. Johnson recognized change as a normal process and refused to see change as a degeneration (Hitchings, 2005). By the time the Johnson dictionary was developed, the spelling system was already in place and recognizably the same as that of the modern English with relatively few orthographic peculiarities (Reddick & Johnson, 1990). On the other hand, political independence in the United States led to the push for distinguishing cultural factors. As a result, Noah Webster, came up with a dictionary that contained regional, American based definitions so as to distinguish it from the British English (Kemmer, 2009). Noah Webster went to the extent of creating his own dictionary which contained some American-dialect definitions. This provides the required orthographic distinction without changing significant mutual intelligibility. He mainly incorporates the use of â€Å"ize† instead of â€Å"ise† for the verbs and the elimination of suffix u in the suffix â€Å"–our† (Kemmer, 2009). The criteria for including words in the dictionary Every year, numerous English words and expressions develop and thus the major dictionaries do keep track of such words so as to determine those to add and those that are not acceptable. We are going to analyze how the Oxford dictionary carries out this initiative (Oxford University Press, 2014). The Oxford University Press has one of the largest and vast languages research program in the world (Oxford University Press, 2014). Their most important resource are the Oxford Reading Programme and the Oxford English Corpus. The Corpus mainly entails documents that have been sourced from the internet whereas the reading program refers to an electronic collection of extracts and quotations mainly drawn from a variety of popular fiction, songwriting and scientific journals (Oxford University Press, 2014). This is mainly based from the contributions of the network of readers based across the globe who are constantly on the lookout for new words and meaning and also other languages. The Oxford University Press, continually keeps track of the two programs so as to be able to track new words that come into the English language. Upon having evidence that a new term is used by various sources and not just by one individual or writer, the word therefore becomes a candidate for the inclusion into one of the Institution’s dictionaries (Oxford University Press, 2014). In the previous centuries, most dictionaries were confined to a list of words that most writers thought would be useful, even when there was no proof that individuals had used the words before. It is important to note that this does not work in the same manner in today. Personal inventions are not allowed in the modern dictionaries and only terms that have been utilized for a period of time and by a wide group of people, can be accepted into the dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2014). Distinction between Prescriptive and Descriptive Dictionary Prescriptivism refers to the enforcement and the assertion of a specific set of rules by an institution or a person. With regards to dictionaries, prescriptivism refers to the situation where the dictionary explains the language rules that should be followed and the norms and usages that should also be avoided (Barrett, 2012). Prescriptions and proscriptions are traditional and generally represent receipt of wisdom. On the other hand, descriptivism in a lexicographical context refers to the language usage and behaviors. The fact is that basically all the English language dictionaries are descriptive in nature. The main editors always refer to it as recording the language and how the words are spelled and used. Descriptive languages, thus describe the language and include words that are commonly used even those that are non-standard and often include non-standard spelling. Prescriptive dictionaries are more concerned about the standard or correct English. In other words, they prescribe the proper spelling and usage of words (Barrett, 2012). From the analysis above, it is right to state that the prescriptive dictionaries tend to promote Standard English, unlike the descriptive dictionaries which mainly describe the language. Conclusion The paper effectively analyses the codification of English, history of how English was codified in dictionaries and grammar books, reasons why the dictionaries were codified, and criteria used for including words in the dictionary and the extent to which dictionary is considered to be either descriptive or prescriptive. References   Barrett, G. (2012, September). Comparing and Arguing About Dictionaries. Retrieved from Way Word Radio: http://www.waywordradio.org/how-do-you-rank-dictionaries/ DeMaria, R. (1986). Johnson’s Dictionary and the language of learning. Oxford: Clarendon. Hickey, R. (2011). Standard English and standards of English. 1-31. Hitchings, H. (2005). Defining the world : the extraordinary story of Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Johnson, S., & Lynch, J. (2003). Samuel Johnson’s dictionary : selections from the 1755 work that defined the English language. New York: Walker & Co. Kemmer, S. (2009). The History of English. Retrieved from Rice University: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Histengl/spelling.html Oxford University Press. (2014). How do you decide whether a new word should be included in an Oxford dictionary? Retrieved from Oxford Dictionaries: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/how-do-you-decide-whether-a-new-word-should-be-included-in-an-oxford-dictionary Reddick, A. H., & Johnson, S. (1990). The making of Johnson’s dictionary, 1746-1773. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Source document