Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy

Introduction The immense contribution of the Italian poets and authors has remained underestimated due to the lack of public knowledge concerning their legendary contribution towards the understanding of the Italian history, culture, virtues, and politics.1Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Dante Alighieri is one of the most renowned poets and authors who earmarked a new era in the Italian writing industry through his novelty in writing plays and books that portrayed the Italian history. Dante existed in Italy during the pre-colonial period when Italy was experiencing extreme political intolerances and extensive attrition among the racially divided communities.2 An exposure to such political circumstances impelled Dante to use his artistic knowledge to design an epic poem featuring political themes. The Divine Comedy is one of his impre ssive poems, where he transferred the ideas of political animosities into elegant poetic themes. This paper explores the political themes found in the Divine Comedy especially in the three major poems: Inferno, Purgatorio, and the Paradiso. The Political Vision of Dante in the Divine Comedy During the 14th century, the nation of Italy witnessed a comeback of a political and religious confusion.3 Italy has historically associated the national leadership with certain religious values enshrined in the Christian doctrine of the Roman churches. Since time immemorial, the political culture of the Italian nation dwelled on the interaction between the state politicians and the leaders of the Roman Catholic Churches. During the era of Dante in the 1300s, popularly known as the papacy regime, the Italian nation was experiencing serious political shambles.4 The political wrangles permeated the Empires, the Kingdoms, and the Italian States, when the French crown and the Roman Catholic political leaders disagreed on the location of the pope offices. Since the Italian nation consisted of a diverse group of individuals, the secular authority and the ecclesiastical leaders clashed in their opinions.5 Dante saw the Italian nation and its people divided into certain sociopolitical groups due to the political instabilities of his country during the era of 1303s and 1305s. The Italian nation during the era of Dante stood divided into two political categories allied to either the Guelph or the Ghibellines political frameworks. Whereas the initial political frameworks of the two political parties represented the middle class people who were advocating for democracy, the time of Dante saw political attritions that no ordinary person could describe the traits of these individuals.6Advertising Looking for research paper on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Guelph political party supported the pope and ha d a tendency of favoring Pope Boniface VIII, who acted against the will of his fellow Roman Catholic Christians. Conversely, the Ghibellines supported the political ideas of the incumbent emperors and such issues created a racial separation between the White Guelph and the Blacks in the metropolitan city of Florence. Having undergone traumatizing moments under the regime of the Blacks in the exile due to his political stand in the Italian political scene, Dante had several political issues to discuss in his poem, the Divine Comedy.7 Dante had the true experience of the political anguish that resulted from the political issues that marred the Italians. Dante thought the best way to describe the political animosities that were happening during that time was through his poem composing abilities. While in exile, Dante had an inner passion for good governance and a humorous leadership, and had always wanted to advocate for a charismatic headship that most of the Italian leaders lacked.8 Through his book, The Divine Comedy, Dante thought that the human society in the political realm is different and need to fall into certain unique categories. Through this epic poem, Dante categorized the human society in the political realm in three distinct groups, namely, the Purgatorio, Paradiso, and the Inferno.9 Dante expressed the political overtones resulting from the ungracious and malicious leaders and expressed his sentiments concerning the implications of the bad influence of these leaders over the human society. To make the poem more understandable, the three versions of the poems articulated in the Divine Comedy of Dante present the most important themes that Dante wanted to present in his poem.10 Dante mentions Purgatorio as one of the categories of the human society where the political separations were taking place. Paradiso according to Dante in his imaginative journey of the afterlife is the ideal human society, where people possess all the essential components to live a harmonious life.11Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Purgatorio is another important human society in the poem that Dante considers as a community of dwellers in the transition stage of life, but living in a confused state, lacking religious wisdom, and always struggling to shift from self-centeredness to selflessness.12 The Inferno phase of the life after death is hell where punishment to the sinners such as Judas Iscariot and Brutus is hell, especially when they deny living a holy life. Purgatorio and Political Issues and Themes Dante mentioned the word Purgatorio as one of the main elements of his poem to describe certain groups of the human society. In the Italian language, purgatorio, just as in the English language purgatory, describes the intermediate life of human beings after their physical death.13 Dante uses the word purgatorio to describe the category of people in the human society that are in the transition stage of life, but virtually lacking an organized and an effective structure to transform from their selfish lives.14 The purgatorio section of the poem of the Divine Comedy has a series of political themes and facts that Dante wanted to express in his writing. The people living in the purgatorio section of the human afterlife are those with political voracity, political maliciousness, and often use their power influence to manipulate others.15 Sociopolitical lust, greed, and selfishness are the most eminent themes that people in the Purgatorio section of the afterlife are fond of portraying. Purgatorio: Lust in the Italian Politics Dante claims that the human society in the transition phase of life that he calls Purgatorio has a political framework based on greediness, selfishness, and lust. Dante mentions Sodom and Gomorrah, which were the biblical names that reflect a human society marre d with prostitution, lust, and infidelity.16 The Italian empires, leadership kingdoms, and the States, had leaders that promulgated a social life of lust and prostitution.17 Dante reveals that the people in the purgatorio human society lack confidence to remove their selfish bodily desires, their inner motives towards sexuality, and their negative influence on others.18 The purgatorio section of the human society involves men and women living a life of prestige and prosperity that gives them powerful influence on their moral actions. Affluence and political power, influenced these prosperous women and men to have a domineering sociopolitical influence on others in the Purgatorio human society, to either follow certain life directions, or towards their immoral ways.19Advertising Looking for research paper on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the poem, Dante explained that the greatest civil sins that occur in politics and sociopolitical overtones result in suicide and heresy, with the church considering civil sins more ferocious than the underestimated religious sins.20 The people living in the Purgatorio phase of life are living in political fantasies and the minority end up suffering from the powerful influence of the political kingpins. The lifestyles of the ordinary families reveal a life of economically depressed individuals who dwell on policies and rules, purposely designed for the prosperous and not the poor.21 Dante felt that the manipulative powers of politicians ruined the social harmony and caused social disorder. The political actions of individuals seemed guided by the disarray souls of politicians who were generating political influence and wealth for their own selfish desires.22 Achilles died because of infidelity, Princes Paris and Tristan, lustily stole the wives of the Kings, leading to serious nat ional troubles. Purgatorio: Greediness in the Italian Politics Dante thought that the political frameworks that the politicians designed were literally for the benefit of the minority few in the political scene. The purgatory phase of life is where individuals have the ability to shun away from their personal malice, but have often failed to anchor to a framework that allows them to transform.23 Dante exclaims, â€Å"Because thy father and thyself have suffered, by greed of those transalpine lands detrained, the garden of the empire to be waste.†24 Political frameworks and politicians have divided individuals in the human society and made them focus on personal matters rather than the interest of the society.25 The above exclamation of Dante reveals the power of politics in dividing people to have personal interests on wealth, land, precious items, and prosperity rather than the common good of the societies. Dante connects his political illusions concerning greediness with th e actions of the biblical Judas who betrayed Jesus for silver.26 Politicians and some religious leaders fell in the category of greedy or gluttonous people who occupied the purgatory phase of life. Dante claims that the negative contribution of a church or any religion in the political realm is offensive to the religious doctrines, as some church individuals have used these state-religion relationships for their personal gains.27 The human society has remained confused since the majority of the followers of Christians consider religions honest. The responsibilities of the church leaders to lead the followers spiritually seem to shift from the consideration of community needs to individual attention towards wealth, pleasure, and power.28 The sociopolitical overtone of greediness makes a few individuals superrich, while the majority civilians languish in destitute poverty and insolvency. Selfish motivation on wealth is an evil deed that puts not only those politicians involved in trou bles, but also affects the vision of others towards having a positive national future. Politicians are greedy and can barely spur national growth.29 The Hell: Political Treachery The section of the human society in the Purgatorio phase are people with ambitions of change, but are lacking a straightforward structure to withdraw from their treacherous, violent, and fraudulent political lives. Dante expresses his intrinsic fear concerning the animosities present in the leadership of Italy where politicians are exercising manipulation over the extreme population.30 The political environment of Italians was treacherous, and the politicians were capable of using deceive and cheat tricks on the uninformed majority to have certain political gains. The political treachery that the politicians use to manipulate the uninformed majority in the sociopolitical arena makes the citizens confused and mystified against their personal decisions towards good lives.31 Dante reveals that politicians are the people destroying the harmonious living of the people in the Purgatorio phase of life as they use deceiving techniques to manipulate the populations. Leaders of the Italian nation demonstrate ill will against the nation and contribute to increase in fraud, corruption, and deception. The characters concerned with the political issues of Italy, both religious and political, practiced graft that ruined the economic stability of the Italian nation.32 Dante discusses the involvement of politicians in civil sins that include corruption, deception, and fraud that initially destabilized the status of the Italian economy. In the inferno section of the poem, Dante scoffed the corrupt leaders such as Caucus who stole herds of cattle from his own people and caused bloodshed on the Mount Aventine.33 Dante claimed that Caucus led with â€Å"hypocrisy, flattery, and dealt with magic, falsification, theft, and simony.† Dante believed that the politicians who saturated Florence and other Italian cities had a complicated character, with a complete lack of moral uprightness.34 Politicians of the era of Dante used their political influence to dispossess people of their valued native morals and planted corruption, fraud, and dishonesty in them. The Hell: Violence and Injustice in Politics The hell or the inferno section of the human society involves individuals driven by personal selfish desires and not the common good of all individuals in a human society. Dante expressed his inner anger and passion against the influence of politics and the politicians in the violence that the human society experienced.35 One of the biggest categories of sinners in the nine chambers of the structure of hell according to the arrangement of Dante is violence. The violence class of sinners in hell is the people, who caused atrocities against their neighbors, friends, themselves, and even God.36 â€Å"A death by violence, and painful wounds, are to our neighbor given; and in his substance ruin, and arson, and injurious levies.†37 The political concern about the violence that marred the Italians in the city of Florence is the unfair taxation that politicians instigated and orchestrated against the innocent Italian population due to their own selfish political desires.38 The city of Florence had violent leaders who caused anguish to the people, destroyed public property, denied others justice, and caused psychological and physical torture to the human population.39 The rulers in the city of Florence practiced laws and policies that favored their malicious plans in the government and subjected the human society to poverty, diseases, racial hatred, and alienation. Dante expresses the state of aggression by saying, â€Å"perchance indeed by violence of palsy, someone has been thus wholly turned awry.†40 People retrogressed because of the poor political plans of the politicians who ruled with malice and not charisma. Instead of developing economically, violen ce tore the Florence City apart, causing some serious economic, social, and cultural depletion.41 Dante describes the retrogression of the underprivileged in the cities by saying,† and backward it behooved them to advance, as to look forward had been taken from them.†42 Politicians acted like people who deserved hell according to Dante.43 The Hell: Political Flattery and Hypocrisy The inferno section of the poem describes the human society that comprises of politicians and malicious humans with flattery and hypocrisy behaviors. The struggle between religious powers and control over the national governance and the contribution of the leaders from the secular authority is what disturbs Dante while classifying the people in the inferno section of human society as hypocritical.44 Dante laments that the religion and the secular communities have formed a complex mixture within the Italian societies and made it difficult to understand who between them has a genuine political in tention in the empire leadership.45 The nine circles of hell that Dante describes as the place of different sinners portray the people of flattery and hypocrisy as those with false piety like the politicians. Dante indicates that politicians would use their dirty techniques on civilians to proclaim power and authority over the human society.46 The leaders of the church such as Pope Boniface VIII involved in the politics acted with hypocrisy and flattery against the innocent population of the people of the Florence city. The rulers who fought for the empire leadership acted with pretence concerning the underway corruption and wrangles concerning the Italian States. The French King Philip IV and Pope Boniface VIII deceivably convinced the citizens that they were fighting for the goodness of the clergy in France.47 However, the two individuals confronted each other because they wanted to claim power on the clergy in France.48 The church distanced itself from corruption and pointed out that the church consisted of holy leaders who were only interested in reprimanding the graft witnessed in the government.49 Nonetheless, there existed an ongoing graft in the churches and the secular authority also reprimanded, but it often went unnoticed because of the creed influence the church had over the Christian community. The Hell: Hierarchies in the Italian Empires The poem of Dante describes the political leadership where authority and power are components of leadership that twisted the Italian cities into violence and internal aggression.50 The Italian leadership expressed a form of governance that falls under the authoritarian form of leadership, where the powers and hierarchies between the individuals and the society, are important portions of decision-making.51 The era of Papacy saw the Italian nation split, because of the rigid hierarchies and powers that the church leadership and emperors practiced. The national rules and regulations depicted an authoritarian leaders hip, which seemed to favor the rich politicians and oppress the economically underprivileged.52 â€Å"She can no longer move me, by that law which, when I issued forth from there, was made.† The leaders made rules by themselves, and for themselves, to oppress the poor in the human society.53 Dante believes that such leaders deserve the hell section, because of the animosities and oppression they inflict on the innocent human society. Conclusion The work of Dante in the Divine Comedy concerning the political issues that marred the Italian empires and kingdoms during the 1300s reflects true leadership problems that have persisted in many nations since the evolution of the humankind. The Divine Comedy highlights several political themes and issues that proliferated within the Kingdoms and empires of the Italian cities. Authoritarian leadership marked by lust, greed, hypocrisy, manipulation, corruption, fraud, flattery, bloodshed, heresy and other moral mishaps, disturbed Dante i n his life. Dante feels that the true character of politicians is complex, and not easy to define from a layperson’s perspective. Politicians demonstrate their real characters, but use their political powers to rob the innocent people of justice, their rights to the good life, their rights to good health, and their rights to genuine leadership. Neither the church leadership, nor the secular leadership, has a definite space in heaven due to their actions. Bibliography Alexander, Jason. â€Å"Dante Understands of the Two Ends of Human Desire and the Relationship between Philosophy and Theology.† The Journal of Religion 91, no. 2 (2011): 158-187. Alighieri, Dante and Stanley Lombardo. Inferno. New York: Hackett Publishing, 2009. Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso. San Ontario: Bibliotech Press, 2014. Bruckman, Paul. La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy): Inferno. London: Xlibris Corporation, 2011. Crouch, Colin. â€Å"The Divine Comedy of Contemporary Citizenship.† The Political Quarterly 72, no.1 (2001): 149-154. Ferrante, Joan. The Political Vision of the â€Å"Divine Comedy† New York: Princeton University Press, 2014. Fusini, Leticia. â€Å"World Humanism(s), the Divine Comedy, Lao She’s (‘Literature of the Soul and Buddhism’), and Gao’s Soul Mountain.† Comparative Literature and Culture 15, no. 5 (2013): 2-9. Keen, Catherine and David Martin. â€Å"The Divine Comedy.† Christian Book Summaries 4, no. 21 (2008): 2-7. Landas, Sarah. â€Å"Allusions in Dante’s Inferno.† A journal of undergraduate Student Research 5, no. 9 (2002): 91-112. Longfellow, Henry. â€Å"The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.† An Electronic Classics Series Publication 1, no. 1 (2005): 7-382. Marco, Andreacchio. â€Å"Unmasking Limbo: Reading Inferno IV as Key to Dante’s Comedy.† A Journal of Political Philosophy 40, no. 2 (2013): 199. Norton, Charles. â⠂¬Å"The Divine Comedy: Hell (The Inferno).† An Electronic Classics Series Publication 1, no. 2 (2013): 7-13. Pampinella-Cropper, Margherita. Family and the Body Politic in Dante’s Divine Comedy: Classical and Medieval Metamorphoses. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin—Madison, 2002. Quinones, Ricardo. Foundation Sacrifice in Dante’s Commedia. Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 2010. Footnotes 1 Colin, Crouch, â€Å"The Divine Comedy of Contemporary Citizenship,† The Political Quarterly 72, no.1 (2001):150. 2 Colin, Crouch, (2001):150. 3 Colin, Crouch, (2001):150. 4 Paul, Bruckman, â€Å"La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy): Inferno (London: Xlibris Corporation, 2011), 71. 5 Paul, La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy): Inferno, 94. 6 Paul, La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy): Inferno, 101. 7 Paul, La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy): Inferno, 114. 8 Dante Alighieri and Stanley Lombardo, Inferno (New York: Hackett Publishing, 2009), 17. 9 Dante Alighieri and Stanley Lombardo, Inferno, 27. 10 Dante Alighieri and Stanley Lombardo, Inferno, 27. 11 Joan, Ferrante, The Political Vision of the â€Å"Divine Comedy† (New York: Princeton University Press, 2014), 6. 12 Joan, The Political Vision of the â€Å"Divine Comedy†, 6. 13 Joan, The Political Vision of the â€Å"Divine Comedy†, 4. 14 Joan, The Political Vision of the â€Å"Divine Comedy†, 5. 15 Catherine , Keen and David Martin, â€Å"The Divine Comedy,† Christian Book Summaries 4, no. 21 (2008): 5. 16 Catherine, Keen, and David Martin, (2008): 7. 17 Sarah, Landas, â€Å"Allusions in Dante’s Inferno,† A journal of undergraduate Student Research 5, no. 9 (2002): 91. 18 Sarah, Landas, (2002): 93. 19 Andreacchio, Marco, â€Å"Unmasking Limbo: Reading Inferno IV as Key to Dante’s Comedy† A Journal of Political Philosophy 40, no. 2 (2013): 199. 20 Andreacchio, Marco, (2013): 199. 21 Andreacchio, Marco, (2013): 199. 22 Charles, Norton, â€Å"The Divine Comedy: Hell (The Inferno),† An Electronic Classics Series Publication 1, no. 2 (2013): 8. 23 Charles, Norton, (2013): 11. 24 Henry, Longfellow, (2005): 150. 25 Charles, Norton, (2013): 11. 26 Margherita, Pampinella-Cropper, Family, and the Body Politic in Dante’s Divine Comedy: Classical and Medieval Metamorphoses (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin—Madison, 2002), 25. 27 Margherita, Pampinella-Cropper, Family, and the Body Politic in Dante’s Divine Comedy: Classical and Medieval Metamorphoses, 31. 28 Margherita, Pampinella-Cropper, Family, and the Body Politic in Dante’s Divine Comedy: Classical and Medieval Metamorphoses, 31. 29 Ricardo, Quinones, Foundation Sacrifice in Dante’s Commedia (Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 2010), 51. 30 Ricardo, Quinones, Foundation Sacrifice in Dante’s Commedia, 53. 31 Dante, Alighieri, The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso (San Ontario: Bibliotech Press, 2014), 35 32 Dante, Alighieri, The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, 24. 33 Dante, Alighieri, The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, 52. 34 Dante, Alighieri, The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, 130. 35 Leticia, Fusini, â€Å"World Humanism(s), the Divine Comedy, Lao She’s (‘Literature of the Soul and Buddhism’), and Gao’s Soul Mountain,† Comparative Literature and Culture 15, no. 5 (2013):3. 36 Leticia, Fusini, (2013): 5. 37 Henry, Longfellow, (2005): 74. 38 Leticia, Fusini, (2013): 5. 39 Jason, Alexander, â€Å"Dante Understands of the Two Ends of Human Desire and the Relationship between Philosophy and Theology,† The Journal of Religion 91, no. 2 (2011): 158. 40 Henry, Longfellow, (2005): 74. 41 Jason, Alexander, (2011): 160. 42 Henry, Longfellow, (2005): 74. 43 Jason, Alexander, (2011): 163. 44 Jason, Alexander, (2011): 160. 45 Jason, Alexander, (2011): 160. 46 Henry, Longfellow, â€Å"The Divine Comed y of Dante Alighieri.† An Electronic Classics Series Publication 1, no. 1 (2005): 17. 47 Ricardo, Quinones, Foundation Sacrifice in Dante’s Commedia, 53. 48 Ricardo, Quinones, Foundation Sacrifice in Dante’s Commedia, 53. 49 Ricardo, Quinones, Foundation Sacrifice in Dante’s Commedia, 53. 50 Colin, Crouch, (2001):150. 51 Charles, Norton, (2013): 11. 52 Charles, Norton, (2013): 11. 53 Charles, Norton, (2013): 11. 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How to Make a Marijuana Tincture Making a marijuana tincture is an easy way to extract THC and cannabinoids from Cannabis. A tincture is an alcohol-based solution, used to extract organics from herbs and other plants. Tinctures are useful because they isolate certain compounds better than soaking or boiling herbs in water, the alcohol acts as a natural preservative, and medicinal tinctures often take effect more quickly than other administration routes, like eating, drinking, or smoking. Marijuana Tincture Materials A typical ratio of plant matter to alcohol would be 1 gram to 1 fluid ounce (35 ml) of alcohol. Up to 6 grams of Cannabis can be used, depending on your resources and how concentrated you want the end product to be. Do not use any other type of alcohol besides ethyl alcohol or ethanol (e.g., isopropyl alcohol or methyl alcohol), as these chemicals are toxic. Cannabis sativa bud, fresh or driedHigh-proof ethanolFlavoring (optional)Small glass jar with lidBrown or blue glass dropper bottle Everclear is a popular source of ethanol because it is so high in alcohol. 151 rum also works. Be sure to use food-quality ethanol, not denatured alcohol. Denatured alcohol contains contaminants that make it unsafe to drink. Lower concentrations of alcohol will not be as effective for the extraction or preservation. Basic Steps To Prepare a Cannabis Tincture Place the marijuana in the bottle.  Pour alcohol into the bottle, making certain to cover the plant matter.Seal the bottle. Place it in a warm location, out of direct sunlight.Give the alcohol mixture at least a day, but preferably longer than a week to soak. You can shake the bottle from time to time to ensure a good extraction of  the THC and other cannabinoids.Filter the liquid through a coffee filter to remove the solids and reserve the liquid in a dark-colored glass dropper bottle. Avoid using plastic, as the liquid may leach some undesirable compounds from the plastic into the tincture over time. Flavoring may be added to improve the taste of the tincture, if desired.A typical dose would be 3-5 drops, depending on how strong you made the tincture. Start with the minimum amount and see what works best for you. Fast Marijuana Tincture Recipe While the classic tincture instructions are fine, you can prepare a tincture much more quickly if youre willing to put in slightly more preparation time. Also, this method uses less source material (although the tincture is also less potent). This recipe produces an effective tincture in as little as an hour. The disadvantage of the method is that it uses heat, which can damage some of the many cannabinoids in Cannabis if you get carried away. Dont exceed the recommended temperature. Dry about 4-5 grams of a Cannabis sativa bud.Grind the material to increase surface area (speeds extraction).Bake the marijuana is a 240 F over (set for just under 250 F) for 30 minutes. This decarboxylates the matter, improving the extraction of desirable compounds while helping to eliminate unwanted chemicals. Both heat and alcohol can convert  the THCA molecules in the plant matter into active THC.Place the marijuana in 2 ounces of alcohol. Make sure it is covered and seal the container to prevent gas exchange with air.Place the container in a cool, dark location. The longer you allow for the alcohol to extract the cannabinoids, the more potent your tincture will be. You can watch the extraction progress as the color of the liquid changes from clear to green. Once the color is stable (up to 2 or 3 hours), filter the liquid using a coffee filter or cheesecloth. Of course, you can consider the tincture done sooner, but you may lose potency.Store the tincture in a dark glass droppe r bottle. While the alcohol preserves a tincture at room temperature, its fine to refrigerate it to further reduce the chance of mold or fungal growth. How to Use a Marijuana Tincture The ideal way to use this tincture is to apply drops sublingually (under your tongue). Use a few drops and then wait to determine the effect. Cannabinoids are quickly absorbed across the mucosa of the mouth into the bloodstream for distribution to the brain and other parts of the body. If the desired effect is not achieved after the initial dose, a few more drops may be applied.

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Factors For The Rise Of English Neologisms English Language Essay

Factors For The Rise Of English Neologisms English Language Essay Languages are changing as the world is constantly changing. After the Second World War, English neologisms emerged in a remarkable way. New vocabulary came into existence due to new technologies and new discoveries such as ; computing, internet , cell phones and the like. Peoples daily activities like dancing, looking and many others, renewed their popularity giving birth to new lexicon. In deed, new words are invented rapidly and are developed quickly thanks to mass communication. They appear and fall into disuse when they have served their momentary purpose ( Bernhart 54).Only a few of them will get recorded in glossaries of neologisms of general dictionaries. The matter of neologism becomes a new hot spot of research owing to its practical and prevailing use in reality. The study of neologisms evoked a whole cluster of questions: -What are the reasons beyond the rise of new lexicon? -Why are some new words just a flash in a pan? -Why are other words successful? -What are the qualities that make a word successful? -Are Neologisms markers of changes in societies? Part 01: Literature Review 1.Definition of a Neologism The term neologism originates from Greek: neos means new, logos means word, i. e. a neologism is literally a new word. Neologism is the creation of a new lexical item as a response to changed circumstances in the external world, which achieves some currency within a speech community(qtd. in Chrystal 1992: 264) at a particular time. In linguistics, a neologism is a newly invented word or phrase. It can be an old word or phrase used with a new meaning. The word neologism is a neologism itself, it was coined in 1800. l. 2. Background of English Neologisms The collection of dictionaries that contain neologisms started in 1604.The early Neologisms dictionarieswere: Table Alphabeticall (1604, Robert Cawdrey), English Expositor (1616, John Bullokar), and The English Dictionarie (1623, Henry Cockeram).Those dictionaries had some features of neologisms dictionaries but the true study of neologisms began in the 20 century, some 200 years later. The first neologisms book is Word-Coinage, being an Inquiry Into Recent Neologisms, also a Brief Study of Literary Style, Slang, and Provincialisms by Leon Mead in 1902.It was not a real dictionaries, it contained a set of articles about new words. In 1920, there was a remarkable progress in the research of new words with the book of C.Alphonso Smith entitled New Words Self-defined.it included 420 new words with examples.He wrote some articles entitled Words and Meanings, New. . From 1937 to 1940, Dwight Bolinger ( Famous American Scholar) invented a column ,The Living Language, in the newspaper, Words.Later, it was changed into Among the New Words.In 1944, Professor I. Willis Russell became the editor of this column . World War II was a major reason of the birth of new words .In 1944, Majorie Taylor collected the new words created during the War in a word-list entitled The Language of World War II: Abbreviation, captions, Quotations, Slogans, Titles and Other Terms and Phrases.At the same time, Clarence Barnhart printed his Dictionary of U.S. Army Terms. After the World War II, science and technology development had greatly effected the society. A lot of scientific and technical words were brought into language. A lot of neologism dictionaries about words in those fields were published. Two of them are mostly welcomed: An Explaining and Pronouncing Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Words by W. E. Flood Michael West and Words of Sciences and the History Blind Them by Isaac Asimov. From 1970s on, the study of English neologism drew great attention from western scholars, many of them established special column to introduce new words in English, such as William Safire who was well known for his On Language in New York Times weekly and Anne H. Soukhanow who was the chief-editor of Word Watch. In Safires column, he provided a considerably clear explanation of new words by citing typical examples, exploring their origins and performing their current usage. The digital revolution in 1990s is the radical reshaping and restructuring of social patterns. Because of the wild spread of internet, America is speaking a whole new language, said Shawn Holley in his The New Word Revolution. Lots of neologisms that have a historical significance by reason of the influence they exerted on the language field are brought into existence. According to the statistics, more than 20 neologism dictionaries have been compiled, among which some put emphasis on the academic field and some are distinctive by their popularity. Oxford English Dictionary, Websters Third New International Dictionary and Barhart Dictionary of New English are the ones with the highest academic value. New words are numerous. Sometimes it seems as if a new word has about as much chance of developing into a permanent addition to our vocabulary. Only few of them will remain as serious candidates for the dictionary. Books especially about new words are abundant. However, only a few scholars have ventured to propose factors that make for the success of new words. One is Goran Kjellmer, whose article Potential Words in the journal Word for August 2000 also reviews previous proposals. The other is the executive secretary of American Dialect Society, Allan Metcalf who proposed the FUDGE scale. The two reached different conclusions. Along with books and periodicals, there is the Internet. In particular, it makes my extensive searches for examples of how words are actually used today possible. Here the author has searched thousands of pages indexed by Google.com countless times to find current uses of words under discussion. A jump of several decades has showed us more researches on the neologisms. Language reflects our life, and the research on the neologisms has never been stopped. By collecting new words or phrases occurring in languages, the previous researches have provided precious materials for the further exploration in this field. Therefore, a careful look at the research background of neologisms carries an essential academic significance. In china, the study of neologism began from 1980s. Most of the specific works and papers are mere introduction of theories from abroad lacking of much original study. To keep up with the latest English vocabulary is really difficult, thus a thorough and systematic analysis about English new words is of practical significance both in learning and teaching of English as a foreign language. Part 02: Factors for the Rise of English Neologisms The resaons beyond the rise of new words are numouroes, some are internal causes or linguistic (phonological, morpho-syntactic, lexical or semantic) , others are external which , we will see in this part. Mcmahon M.S (1994: 179-182) discusses causes of semantic change and describes the following: Linguistic causes Historical causes (subdivided into ideas and scientific concepts) Social causes Psychological causes (subdivided into emotive factors and taboo) Foreign influence The need for a new name 2.1. Sociolcultural Changes: 2.1.1. New ideas in Society and Culture. Changes in social outlook and manners of behavior call for new terms such as beatnik, peacenik, and hippie. Even new culinary arrangements demand new labels and in English they have some forth in the form of cheeseburger, chiliburger, mushroomburger, etc. (Anderson, 1973) Brian Foster presents us a striking example of how fast English vocabulary changes. In the year 1914, a young girl named Monica Baldwin entered a convent, remaining secluded there until 1941. When she returned to the outer world, she found herself in a totally different world: the conditions of everyday life altered by technical developments and social changes were beyond recognition. Whats more puzzling to her was the language people speaking. During a railway journey, the term luggage in advance meant nothing to her. Reading the daily newspapers made her feel idiotic in the extreme, because words like jazz, Gin, Hollywood, Cool, noshing and Isolationism were completely incomprehensible to her. Not to mention how bewildered she was at hearing friends say, Its your funeral or believe it or not. (Brian Foster, 1981) 2.1.2. Disguising Language, Misnomers Misnomers are words that replace taboo words or banned words.In order not to deceive the hearer, the taboo words are replaced to disguise their unpleaseant meaning.Examples: E. friendly fire instead of bombardment by own troops. 2.1.3.Prestige, Fashion The superiority of a group or politics leads people to use some linguistic elements (words, morphemes, morphs, sounds) from the prestigious group. Example: English, for instance, borrowed from French during the ME. period because the upper social classes were made up of French people:e.g. garment, flower, rose, face, prince, hour, question, dance, fork, royal, loyal, fine, zero are all Gallicisms. An other vivid example is English which is now the most prestigious language in many parts of the world. 2.1.4.Social, or Demographic, Reasons Here, it means the contact between different social groups. As a result of this contact, new lexical items appear. In the history of the English language, the two prominent instances of exchanges between two social groups were the one with the Vikings in the 8th to 11th centuries and the one with the French in the 11th to 15th centuries.Examples: The inherited ey is replaced by Scandinavian egg, the inherited nimen is replaced by Scandinavian taken except for theform benumb, throwen is supplemented by Scandinavian casten; early French loans are army, carpenter, catch. 2.1.5.Culture-Induced Salience of a Concept (Cultural Salience) The salience or the importance of concepts change with change of culture. Example: In the US, a lot of metaphors in general language have been taken from the field of baseball, e.g. to be off base to be completely wrong, to hit a home run to be highly successful and from the field of entrepreneurship. 2.1.6.Word-Play The category of word play includes humor, irony and puns. Although word-play often goes hand in hand with other factors (such as taboo, prestige or anthropological salience), it can also trigger lexical change on its own. Example: to take French leave to leave secretly (without paying), to cool look ( 2.2 Technological Changes New science leads to new words. Aristotle and Newton were neologists.They used new lexicon and new defintions to explain the theory of dynamics Thus, there is no new knowledge without new terms or concepts.Generally a new invention or discovery holds the name of the inventor. Sometimes some technical new words can be found in linguistics such as hypercorrection, allomorph, etc. The word software for example, that computer term was invented by John W. Tukey, a statistician at Princeton University. As long ago as 1958, he used the word in the American Mathematical Monthly. Today the software comprising the carefully planned interpretive routines, compilers, and other aspects of automotive programming are at least as important to the modern electronic calculator as its hardware of tubes, transistors, wires, tapes and the like. Tukey was already known for inventing another now- famous computer term. 2.3 Economic Changes Economic field has a great impact on language.We are in a competition age.This leads to new brand names that want to find a place in the economy market.The success of the product causes the suceesss of its name.The owner of the product has to spend too much money to make the prdut well-known.This is done via advertisemnts to convice peole tp but it and name it as it was advertised.Its name will be a new word in the society. The example of Coca-Cola Company is a good example.due to the geat success of Coke, people can ask for a coke yet they will be satisfied if they are given pepsi , i.e. the word Coke nowadays refers to a soft drink like a coke. Some technical and medical brands find their way in general vocabulary. Examples: à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Aspirin: a name for acetylsalicylic acid, trademarked by the Bayer Company of Germany at the start of the twentieth century. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Elevator and escalator: both originally trademarks of the Otis Elevator Company. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Zipper: a name given to a separable fastener by the B.F. Goodrich Company many years after it was invented. The new name helped the zipper attain popularity in the 1930s. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Loafer: for a moccasin-like shoe. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Cellophane: for a transparent wrap made of cellulose. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Granola: a trademark registered in 1886 by W K. Kellogg, now used for a natural kind of breakfast cereal. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Ping-pong: for table tennis, a trademark registered by Parker Brothers in 1901. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Xerox: for photocopier. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Kleenex: for facial tissue. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Band-Aid: for adhesive bandage. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Tupperware: for storage container. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Scotch tape: for transparent adhesive tape. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ ºÃ¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Jazzercise: for exercise to jazz music. 2.4. Political Changes. Some important political changes infulence vocabulary and give birth to new words and concepts. For instance, when Mr. Bill Clinton was elected as the president of the US. His name has been associated with many political words. His policy is Clintonian, he is carrying out the Clintionism, his economics policy is Clintonomics, and his supporters were called Clintonites, he ultimately wanted to realize his Clintonization. Another recent political event that took place on Septembet the eleventh has brought a neologism in the American society.Because of the striking coincidence that 911 is the telephone number to call for help in an emergency, that numerical designation of this event has been a success. The events of that day have resulted in a new term: ground zero, for the place of impact, the center of destruction in New York City where the World Trade Towers once stood. That phrase has succeeded because it is not really new; its an old term for the location on the ground directly under a vast atomic explosion, corresponding to air zero, the location in the air above the ground where the bomb goes off. No one knows who first said ground zero in reference to the site where the World Trade Towers were attacked and collapsed, but the term immediately caught on because of its familiarity and emotional power. Part 03: Success of English Neologisms In the previous section, we have seen the reasons of the rise of the new words and how they become part of language.In this part; we will tackle the reasons that make a word successful or the reasons that make a word part of general language dictionary. 3.1 The occurrences The frequency of the new word in a society makes it successful.If the neologisms appears in many various sources such newspapers, magazines and books, it will be included in general dictionaries and becomes a familiar word and no more neologism.This mean the the word becomes popular if it is cited in many sources 3.2 Variety among sources A neologism in its first appearance is common for only a special field .Thus, it is found in technical dictionaries .Consequently , general dictioanries exclude technical terms .But there are some exceptions and some technical words find their place in general dictionaries due to their range in many sources.Example , the phrase intellectual property was limited to some branches .Nowadays, it is widely spead thanks to the new technologies and inventions in each field . 3.3 Cruciality in a given field Sheidlower defines cruciality as the need for a word to exist (35). Lets take the example of the acronym AIDS invented in 1982.This acronym is still the given name to this killing disease.It will hold the same name even if a cure is invented for this disease because of the importance and cruciality of this sickness, its referent is a crucial matter in society (qtd. in Sheidlower 35). The word whirlpooling, though it is the only word used to describe such a behaviour, it is not included in a general dictionary because the phenomenon is rare and unusual , rare and unusual phenomenon (qtd. in Sheidlower 36). 3.4 Durability or Endurance ( Existance) Each new word appears in a specific period of time.But if it has suffiecient evidence such as frequency of occurrences, range among sources, cruciality in a given field, it may be included in a general dictionary. New Deal is a good example here.So some neologisms refer to their time period, culture, policies and the like. Conclusion If a word wants to stay alive, it has to be admitted widely in public speech and used by mass media, and/or personalities, such as politicians, authors etc. (Barnhart 56). Depending on the editor and on what kind of dictionary a coinage should enter, one factor might be more of a value than another. Of the many thousands new words created each year, about 200 new words fulfill the above-mentioned conditions and make their way into a standard dictionary. Authors, TV, radio and news reporters use these new terms on a large scale, and thus they become vogue words for a certain period of time or even forever (Barnhart 56). But then the struggle of a new word is not over yet. If it is not used anymore or lost its importance, it will be deleted in the end (Sheidlower 38). Practical considerations play their part in the march of a word into a dictionary. Chief among these is the scope of the dictionary and its physical limitations. Because general lexicography is a commercial art form, dictionaries reflect the judgment of their makers and the needs of their publishers. Consequently, no dictionary is complete. There is a considerable difference between general dictionaries and Among the New Words. The dictionaries aim is to supplement the existing English vocabulary, whereas Among the New Words aims to chronicle the development of the English language (Barnhart 59). For this reason, these criteria stated above (2.4.1 to 2.4.4) hardly apply to Among the New Words.

Teaching Essay -- Pedagogy

Thus suggesting practitioners should embrace and accept the approach enabling them to â€Å"adopt learning strategies that embed the acquisition of knowledge and skills into meaningful context† (Macleod-Brudenell and Kay, 2008, p.311). Moss and Petrie (2002) support this concept by stating â€Å"pedagogy can be used to refer to whole domain of social responsibility for children, for their well-being, learning and competence† (p.138). Pugh and Duffy (2006) suggest a pedagogue is the one who leads and educates children’s learning. This effectively impacts upon children’s learning and enables them to become confident learners. As well as encouraging children to be in control of their own interests and learning (Every child matters, 2004). Allen and Whalley (2010) adopt Whalley, Allen and Wilson’s (2008) notion that the role of the practitioner is extremely significant and address the idea that effective pedagogy is about improving outcomes for children’s learning. Therefore in order to provide an effective provision for children to learn and grow in practitioners must be able to maintain positive interactions with the children. Allen and Whalley (2009) adopt Curtis and O’Hagan’s (2009, p. 156) concept that theorists such as Bruner and Vygotsky have influenced pedagogy by placing â€Å"emphasis upon the importance of the adult in facilitating children’s learning†. This promotes children’s learning. Good practice would be for the practitioners to try to extend and build upon the child’s knowledge by scaffolding their learning through ideas and questions (Bee and Boyd, 2007). Additionally, Allen and Whalley (2010, p.7) highlight the forth theme of the EYFS as â€Å"positive relationships†. Bruce (2008) resonates with the National strategies (2009) no... ...one year. Partnership with parents provides the teachers to be able to get to understand the child’s family to gain a greater knowledge basis of the child’s needs. Curtis and O’Hagan (2009) illustrate that parents and teachers meet up throughout the school year to discuss any problems they or the children may be having. This is good practice as it ensures the practitioners are receiving all the information they can to help support the children within their care to reach their full potential. Reggio Emilia however, believes in continual assessment. This concept expects practitioners to record and review what children say and do on a regular basis. This system is viewed by parents at any point. Reggio Emilia values this system very highly and ensures parents know they are completing a reflective and extensive process that can help contribute to children’s learning.