Free Essays on Semantics

, expressions, and sentences. Scholars of semantics try to answer such questions as â€Å"What is the meaning of (the word) X?† They do this by studying what signs are, as well as how signs possess significance that is, how they are intended by speakers, how they assign (make reference to things and ideas), and how they are interpreted by hearers. The goal of semantics is to match the meanings of signs what they stand for with the process of assigning those meanings.(Cann) Semantics is studied from philosophical and linguistic (descriptive and theoretical) approaches, plus an approach known as general semantics. Philosophers look at the behavior that goes with the process of meaning. Linguists study the elements or features of meaning as they are related in a linguistic system. General semanticists concentrate on meaning as influencing what people think and do. These semantic approaches also have broader application. Anthropologists, through descriptive semantics, study what people categorize as culturally important. Psychologists draw on theoretical semantic studies that attempt to describe the mental process of understanding and to identify how people acquire meaning (as well as sound and structure) in language. Animal behaviorists research how and what other species communicate. (Goddard) Semantics has many meanings to those who studied or are interested in this field. According to Richmond H. Thomason, semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic expressions. The language can be a natural language, such as English or Navajo, or an artificial language, like a computer programming language.(373) Meaning in natural languages is mainly studied by linguists. In fact, semantics is one of the main branches of contemporary linguistics. Theoretical computer scientists and logicians think about artificial languages. In some areas of computer science, these d... Free Essays on Semantics Free Essays on Semantics Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic signs that is, words, expressions, and sentences. Scholars of semantics try to answer such questions as â€Å"What is the meaning of (the word) X?† They do this by studying what signs are, as well as how signs possess significance that is, how they are intended by speakers, how they assign (make reference to things and ideas), and how they are interpreted by hearers. The goal of semantics is to match the meanings of signs what they stand for with the process of assigning those meanings.(Cann) Semantics is studied from philosophical and linguistic (descriptive and theoretical) approaches, plus an approach known as general semantics. Philosophers look at the behavior that goes with the process of meaning. Linguists study the elements or features of meaning as they are related in a linguistic system. General semanticists concentrate on meaning as influencing what people think and do. These semantic approaches also have broader application. Anthropologists, through descriptive semantics, study what people categorize as culturally important. Psychologists draw on theoretical semantic studies that attempt to describe the mental process of understanding and to identify how people acquire meaning (as well as sound and structure) in language. Animal behaviorists research how and what other species communicate. (Goddard) Semantics has many meanings to those who studied or are interested in this field. According to Richmond H. Thomason, semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic expressions. The language can be a natural language, such as English or Navajo, or an artificial language, like a computer programming language.(373) Meaning in natural languages is mainly studied by linguists. In fact, semantics is one of the main branches of contemporary linguistics. Theoretical computer scientists and logicians think about artificial languages. In some areas of computer science, these d...

China Admits New Tainted-Milk Case is Older Essay

China Admits New Tainted-Milk Case is Older - Essay Example New York Times continues to point out that enquiry into the Shanghai Panda Dairy Company started about two months before Chinese regulators arrested the culprits. According to New York Times reporter David Barboza, doctoring of milk came to attention of news and China regulators back in February the year 2009. According to Shen Weiping, one of officers at Fengxian District prosecution officer, the apprehension of executives from Panda Dairy occurred in the April in the year 2009 (Barboza, 2010: 1). This story continues to reveal that Mr. Shen took a lot of time to alert the public about contaminated milk from Shanghai Panda Dairy. Mr. Shen did not inform the public about the closure of the dairy factory in question. This created unwanted tension in the public arena. Actions of this prosecution officer contravened China’s safety law, which it enacted in June 2009. The law demanded that food producers should notify businesspeople and consumers of grave food safety troubles. To a ggravate the conflict between Shanghai Panda Dairy, consumers, and the public, the government of China maintained silence on the matter. It did not report on whether the contaminated milk at stake had caused sickness to any citizen (Barboza, 2010: 1). ... The actions of media houses to reach the dairy hit a dead rock. The factory did not answer any phone call that emanated from outside source. To aggravate this grave issue, the General Administration for Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine did not reply to the appeals of media for an interrogation. This prompted legal experts to declare the delay to report the contamination of milk to the public and consumers a troublesome case (Barboza, 2010: 1). Wang Xixin, who is a professor of constitutional law at Peking University, claimed national and local quality supervision bureaus contravened China’s law for failing to report Shanghai Panda’s case to the public. According to the professor, the government of China concealed important information thereby putting the health of Chinese at stake. David, writer with New York Times, reveals that executives at Shanghai Panda convened a meeting in December 2008, after the public demanded a recall of melamine-tainted milk powd er (Barboza, 2010:1). According to this story, the executives come to a decision to re-sell the tainted milk. The management disregarded public outcry and did not mind the health issue of Chinese. Mr. Shen disclosed that Panda Dairy blended contaminated elements with other safe products and resold it. Media in China was instrumental to bring stories of outraged parents who claimed that their children suffered from melamine-related disorders. This prompted government of China to stage a countrywide crackdown on melamine-contaminated milk. According to New York Times, China inspection agencies found that 22 huge dairy companies processed milk that contained high levels of melamine (Barboza, 2010: 1). The stories of the sale of unhygienic milk in China

A critical commentary on 'The Village Schoolmaster' by O. Goldsmith Essay

A critical commentary on 'The Village Schoolmaster' by O. Goldsmith - Essay Example While poetry, like literature, can be used for a variety of purposes, poetry such as that created by Oliver Goldsmith in his poem â€Å"The Village Schoolmaster† concentrates on illustrating a specific emotion. This is made explicitly apparent when one takes the work within its original context as a portion of a much longer work entitled â€Å"The Deserted Village.† According to an article posted by the University of Buckingham (â€Å"The Village Schoolteacher†, 2007), this longer work painted a picture of what is believed to be an amalgamation of a variety of small villages Goldsmith remembered, presenting a single image of a deserted town left behind as the result of privatization and loss of their lands. This longer work illustrates the importance of the fence mentioned in the first line of â€Å"The Village Schoolmaster† as newly privatized land was ‘enclosed’ in the name of progress: â€Å"what Goldsmith thought was going on is clear fro m what he says elsewhere in the poem: ‘Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide’ (307)† (â€Å"The Village Schoolmaster†, 2007). Regardless of whether one is familiar with the longer work from which this poem is taken, Goldsmith’s poem â€Å"The Village Schoolmaster† evokes the same sense of sad nostalgia for something lost forever within itself through Goldsmith’s mastery of imagery, meter, rhyme, lexicon and implied meaning. Goldsmith employs imagery within the very first lines of his poem to help set up the scene he wishes to invoke: â€Å"Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way / With Blossom’d furze unprofitably gay† (1-2). The fence is further ahead, indicating a division between the land upon which the speaker is standing and the land upon which the deserted village still stands. That it is deserted is indicated by the overwhelming blossoming furze which is unprofitable because no one is left to enjoy it. However, it continues to

White People and American Citizen Essay Example for Free

White People and American Citizen Essay The short story â€Å" How it Feels to be Colored Me† was written in year 1928 by Zora Neale Hurston who grew up in Eatonville, Florida. Zora grew up in an predominantly all black town. She had begun to realize the differences between blacks and whites at the beginning of her teens. Zora only had contact with the white people who passed through her town. These people who passed through Eatonville, Florida usually were going to Orlando or coming from Orlando, Florida. I believe the main reason why the story was written was to focus on the differences between black and white people. The short story â€Å" How it Feels to be Colored Me† was written in year 1928 by Zora Neale Hurston who grew up in Eatonville, Florida. Zora grew up in an predominantly all black town. She had begun to realize the differences between blacks and whites at the beginning of her teens. Zora only had contact with the white people who passed through her town. These people who passed through Eatonville, Florida usually were going to Orlando or coming from Orlando, Florida. I believe the main reason why the story was written was to focus on the differences between black and white people. When Zora Hurston states â€Å" I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My country, right or wrong. † I believe she’s describing her feelings of being an American citizen and being colored. She does not have separate feelings of either. Zora seems to accept her identity for being colored and an American citizen. I think Zora is trying to achieve dignity/pride in America as an American. Zora doesn’t want to harp on the past Nor does she want the actions of others to affect her. Zora believes that she is an American citizen whether she’s black or white and everyone has the same rights. How It Feels to Be Colored Me Analysis by Terissa7.    N. p. , n. d. Web. 15 June 2014. . â€Å"How it Feels to Be Colored† The short story â€Å" How it Feels to be Colored Me† was written in year 1928 by Zora Neale Hurston who grew up in Eatonville, Florida. Zora grew up in an predominantly all black town. She had begun to realize the differences between blacks and whites at the beginning of her teens. Zora only had contact with the white people who passed through her town. These people who passed through Eatonville, Florida usually were going to Orlando or coming from Orlando, Florida. I believe the main reason why the story was written was to focus on the differences between black and white people. When Zora Hurston states â€Å" I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My country, right or wrong. † I believe she’s describing her feelings of being an American citizen and being colored. She does not have separate feelings of either. Zora seems to accept her identity for being colored and an American citizen. I think Zora is trying to achieve dignity/pride in America as an American. Zora doesn’t want to harp on the past Nor does she want the actions of others to affect her. Zora believes that she is an American citizen whether she’s black or white and everyone has the same rights. How It Feels to Be Colored Me Analysis by Terissa7.

Pollution :: essays research papers

Pollution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People have long used the sea as a dump for our wastes. Most of the pollution dumped into the ocean comes from human activities on land. Marine pollution is defined as the introduction into the ocean by humans of substance or energy that changes the quality of the water or affects the physical, chemical, or biological environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are different types of pollution. One of them is natural pollutants. An example would be a volcanic eruption which can produce immense quantities of carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur compounds, and oxides of nitrogen. Excess amounts of these substances produced by human activity may cause global warming and acid rain. No one is sure to what extent we have contaminated the ocean. By the time the first oceanographers began widespread testing, the Industrial Revolution was well underway and changes had already occurred. Traces of synthetic compounds have now found their way into every oceanic corner. Pollutants cause damage by interfering directly or indirectly with the biochemical processes of an organism. Some pollution-induced changes may be instantly lethal; other changes may weaken an organism over weeks or months, alter the dynamics of the population of which it is a part, or gradually unbalance the entire community. Oil is a natural part of the marine environment. Oil seeps have been leaking large quantities of oil into the ocean for millions of years. The amount of oil entering the ocean has increased greatly in recent years, however, because of our growing dependence on marine transportation for petroleum products, offshore drilling, near shore refining, and street runoff carrying waste oil from automobiles. Oil reaches the ocean in runoff from streets or as waste oil poured down drains, into dirt, in trash destined for a landfill. Every year more than 908 million liters of used motor oil finds its way into the ocean. Motor oil that has been used is more toxic than crude oil or new oil because it has developed carcinogenic and metallic components from the heat and pressure within internal combustion engines. Spills of crude oil are generally larger in volume and more frequent than spills of refined oil. Most components of crude oil do not dissolve easily in water, but those that do can harm the delicate juvenile forms of marine organisms even in minute concentrations. The remaining insoluble components from sticky layers on the surface that prevent free diffusion of gases, clog adult organisms feeding structures, kill larvae, and decrease the sunlight available for photosynthesis.

School Uniforms Debate

The utilization of school uniforms is a subject of sizzling debate among parents and school authorities since long. Some dispute the advantages of school uniforms, while others consider that the shortcomings are far more abundant. In our contemporary world, children have become much more conscious of their clothes and appearance. This basically echoes our contemporary ideals and the concentration of adults in garments. Kids can, nonetheless, without some of the reasonable influences that come with age and understanding, become much more fanatical with clothes and latest fashion trends.Children who come to school in old-fashioned attire can be mocked at, become a laughing stock or even tormented. The expense of those clothing and clashes connected with them leads many schools and parents to review the school uniform. Parents' Stance Few countries, on the other hand, are starting to overturn the decline in uniform usage. While schools in other countries are starting to pioneer uniforms for the first time. This is very contradictory topic, as elder students normally condemn the concept of uniform.Some parents also see an obligatory uniform as pushy and a violation of their fundamental liberty. Students' Stance Many students believe they lose their individuality when it is mandatory for everyone to wear the same clothing to schools. Others think a school uniform brings equality amongst students. Many teachers and school authorities consider a school uniform or a uniform dress code as a way to inculcate a sense of regulation in the classes as well as an environment of education and learning. So, what is your stance regarding the uniform debate?Here are some pros and cons to help get you started! Reasons in Favor of Wearing School Uniforms It takes away the feeling of envy between peers. It helps decrease obedience trouble. A uniform assists the students achieve academically better. Students focus more on their education rather than on deciding what to wear. Besides eliminating distraction, uniforms force students to take school atmosphere more critically. Kids tend to be misapprehended and mocked by peers due to the type of garments they might wear. Consequently, uniforms decrease social clashes and violence in the schools.One of the most insightful advantages of having schools uniforms is that they are extremely cost effectual and alleviate the parents from the trouble of purchasing trendy and costly garments frequently. Reasons Against Wearing School Uniforms It subtracts students' liberty to take decisions. It doesn't let students feel distinctive and unique. School uniforms hinder the need for the self expression of a kid. Sociologists claim that it may cause unsuitable ways of expression by kids, such as offensive usage of makeup and jewelry.Uniforms take away children's identity. The pressure on a uniform dress code in school counters the spirit of unity in diversity and its merriment. It is even believed to confine socialization, an imp erative feature of human nature. In contrast to civil dress, school uniforms prove to be ineffectual and futile once the kid is out of school. Another bad consequence of school uniform is that it denies the children the ease, which one feels on wearing different kinds of garments, as per personal preference.This uneasiness might unfavorably reflect upon the academic performance of the kid. Do uniforms breach liberty of expression prospects? We believe that this dispute is quite frail. Students are liberated to dress as they and their parents decide during extracurricular hours. They also need to understand that dress codes and uniforms are an authenticity of a place of work in the grown-up world including in professional offices, delivery services, and retail and food stores, administration offices and so on.Since many years parents, teachers, school authorities, and students have squabbled over the pros, cons, and advantages of school uniform policies. A socially connected pro is t hat it places everyone on a rank ground in connection to socioeconomic grade. When kids get their preference of school clothing based on how much wealth their parents make, it causes self-esteem concerns. If all kids have to wear the identical outfit in school then it's not as evident as to whose family can have enough money to afford Mango and who can only pay for cheap stuff from Wal-Mart.

An Overview of Postmodernism Essay - 2180 Words

The political climate at the beginning of the 1940’s and the changes taking place all around the world drastically influenced the face of contemporary society. The invasion of Poland by Germany on 1st of September 1939 was the first stone thrown in the face of freedom of expression and liberty out of the many that followed for the next decades. The dawn of the Second World War was one of the premises that forced many European artists, pioneers par excellence in their field, through their French or German inherited status, to immigrate across the ocean. Due to the exile, the art centre also moved overseas, from Paris to New York, offering a new opportunity for American art to be the initiator in what was generally accepted as the new†¦show more content†¦This description is trying to clearly position postmodernism in a specific time frame and outline its main characteristics. However, when consulting the Macmillan Dictionary (2010) the description offered is significa ntly less conclusive: â€Å"ideas, attitudes, or styles of art, literature, or thinking that have developed after modernism, often as a reaction against † The main accent is set on the chronological aspect of postmodernism and its logical and historical flow offering the reader not enough information to identify a clear period or any particular feature. Only by comparing the two definitions, a very small part of the available explanations on the subject, and at the same time reading them together one can identify one of the main components of the movement: diversity in all its aspects. The difference in these definitions is not just a simple coincidence and should be taken as a figure of speech for the description of the entire period. During this time critics and writers, artists and architects etc. have tried to find a proper explanation for the changes they were being part of, concretised in what became known as Postmodernism. During the 1960s ‘attacks’ started appearing against the elitism shown by modernism. One of the first voices pointing at modernism’s faults was the poet Karl Shapiro , who in 1959 in an article for The Times BookShow MoreRelatedThe Apologetics Application Paper Instructions1329 Words   |  6 Pagesspace below, provide the information indicated. 1. Worldview Selection Of the 3 choices listed in the Apologetics Application Paper Instructions, which worldview will you write about in this paper? 1. Worldview selected: Postmodernism 2. Summary of Significant Beliefs of the Worldview In Chapter 4 of Groothuis’s Christian Apologetics, he describes the Christian worldview using several major categories of belief. 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Notion of social construction is defined in diverse disciplines and instead of generating a description there are a number of thoughts. â€Å"It is sometimes called a movement, at other times a position, a theory, a theoretical orientation, an approach; psychologists remain unsure of its status (Stam