A rtificial Languages

I M Phunny

Excerpt from the book Crazy Languages (2009)(page 59)

People have been attracted to the idea of creating artificial languages for centuries. Reasons for this originally included stealth and thievery; by creating another language, people could send messages that no-one else could understand if intercepted, or discuss an idea without worry of being overheard, or give commands to allies that the enemy couldn’t understand. More recently, the purpose of artificial languages has been to open communication channels with people from different countries or areas where another language is spoken without giving one language, and hence a group of people, an advantage or priority. This idea of trying to create a more level playing field may be honourable, but is it practical? The effect is that both parties have to learn a new language, instead of just one party. In this era where English seems to be the dominant language, can you imagine asking all English people to learn another language to make international business deals when most people already speak basic English?

There have been many examples of artificial languages including Volapük, Esperanto, Occidental and Interlingua. The last two were “designed primarily for scientific and technical use and stress recognisability rather than active speech” (Katzner, p.37). The most commonly talked about language, Esperanto, was created by L.L. Zamenhof in the 1880s. The name means ‘one who hopes’ and it was Zamenhof’s dream to foster harmony between people from different countries. This has been the most successful language created and many literary works have been translated into Esperanto; it can even also be used to search on Google, and is used as the language of instruction at the International Academy of Sciences San Marino.

There are somewhere up to 2 million speakers of Esperanto, but this number is uncountable as speakers live in many different countries. This is nothing compared to the billions of people who speak Chinese or English or the hundreds of millions who speak Hindi or Spanish. So, will Esperanto fail like most artificially created languages have? Due to the dramatic increase in the study and use of English since World War 2, many believe that English will become a universal language and there will be no need for an artificial language. Chinese as a universal language is another option as it is already the language spoken by the largest number of people, but English is spoken more widely. Or, possibly we will end up speaking an artificial language to communicate with aliens.

Katzner, K. The Languages of the World. (1987). London: Routledge

WEBSITE

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/index.html

NB This website is quite long – you have to scroll down. The highlighted section below is from paragraph 9 of the whole website and appears in the section called Emission Trends and Projections

Emission Trends and Projections

Estimates of future emissions and removals depend in part on assumptions about changes in underlying human activities. For example, the demand for fossil fuels such as gasoline and coal is expected to increase greatly with the predicted growth of the U.S. and global economies.

The Fourth U.S. Climate Action Report concluded, in assessing current trends, that carbon dioxide emissions increased by 20 percent from 1990-2004, while methane and nitrous oxide emissions decreased by 10 percent and 2 percent, respectively. The declines in methane emissions are due to a variety of technological, policy, and agricultural changes, such as increased capture of methane from landfills for energy, reduced emissions from natural gas systems, and declining cattle populations. At least some of the decline in nitrous oxide emissions is due to improved emissions control technologies in cars, trucks, and other mobile sources.

Factiva

Dow Jones

News

$500m for airport facelift

John Wright

101 words

6 February 2009

The Courier-Mail

2 - First Drop

23

English

Copyright 2009 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved

WORK will start late this year on a $500 million upgrade of Brisbane Airport's domestic terminal, following Federal Government approval of the project yesterday.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the expanded terminal would cater for millions of extra passengers over the coming decades.

It will include a new check-in hall, a major reconfiguration of the precinct's road network, additional gate lounges, retail space and a new central energy plant.

Brisbane Airport Corporation yesterday welcomed the announcement and said work was provisionally expected to start in November.

CML-20090206-2-023-820007

Document COUMAI0020090205e5260005p

© 2009 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved

http://global.factiva.com/aa/default.aspx?pp=Print&hc=Publication 6/02/2009

A voiding Plagiarism

Read the original text and then decide which of the versions is NOT plagiarised.

Original Text

Playing outside can prevent children becoming short-sighted

Playing outdoors dramatically cuts a child's risk of becoming short-sighted, research shows. Spending two or three hours outside each day halves the chance of developing the condition. It challenges the belief that short-sightedness is caused by computer use, TV watching or reading in dim light.

Macrae, F. 2009 ‘Playing Outside can prevent children becoming short-sighted’ Mail Online

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1107748/Playing-outside-prevent-children-short-sighted.html# Retrieved 8^th January 2009

Version 1

Recent research suggests that the chance of short-sightedness is reduced significantly by spending more time outside during childhood, which contradicts the commonly held belief that myopia is a result of high exposure to televisions and computer screens or reading in low light conditions. (Macrae, 2009)

Version 2

According to recent research, “Playing outdoors dramatically cuts a child's risk of becoming short-sighted. Spending two or three hours outside each day halves the chance of developing the condition. It challenges the belief that short-sightedness is caused by computer use, TV watching or reading in dim light.” (Macrae, 2009, p.1)

Version 3

Playing outside cuts a child’s risk of becoming short-sighted dramatically, according to research. The chance of developing myopia is halved by spending two or three hours outside each day. This contradicts the belief that short-sightedness is caused by computer use, TV watching or reading in low light. (Macrae, 2009)

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