The Political Aspects of Ozone Depletion essays

The Political Aspects of Ozone Depletion essays Environmental Studies Group Project: The Political Effects of Ozone Depletion Unlike most environmental issues, there was widespread acceptance of scientific predictions concerning ozone depletion. Protecting the ozone layer by controlling the production of ozone-depleting substances (ODPs), has been a major environmental concern since the mid-1970's. At this time, two scientists, Molina and Rowland published a study demonstrating the ability of CFCs to catalytically breakdown ozone in the presence of high frequency UV light. This ozone, along with oxygen in the stratosphere absorbs almost all UV. The main problem is that CFCs, halons, chlorinated solvents, and methyl bromide are unstable to UV-C in the stratosphere and will photolyze to form chlorine radicals. These chlorine radicals are a major ozone-depleting substance with very high ozone depleting potential. There are many serious consequences of ozone depletion, not only on the environment but on human health as well. Like any other major environmental issue there is politics and controversy surroundin g it; that is what will be discussed in the following paragraphs. As Rowland and Molinas paper discussing CFCs as ozone depleting substances was being written, global consumption of the main ODSs were increasing rapidly, being used in applications like aerosol propellants and refrigeration coolants. While many were skeptical and wanted further evidence, the environmental protection agency (EPA) in the U.S. argued that non-essential CFCs, as in aerosols should be banned as a precautionary measure. The major chemical companies, such as Du Pont argued that scientific evidence that their products effected the ozone layer would be needed before they introduced any restrictions. The CFC industry was worth about eight billion dollars a year in the United States during the early 1970's and this fact buys a lot of lobbying and advert...

Definition and Examples of Hypercorrection in English

Definition and Examples of Hypercorrection in English Hypercorrection (pronounced HI-per-ke-REK-shun) is a  pronunciation, word form, or grammatical construction produced by mistaken analogy with standard usage out of a desire to be correct. In some cases, hypercorrection may be a sign of language change. For example, in Understanding Language Use in the Classroom (2014), Susan Behrens points out that a hypercorrection such as Whom is it? would be rejected by everyone. However, Who did you see? would be rated by many as acceptable, even correct. Examples and Observations [H]ypercorrection crucially is motivated by the relationship between different dialects or languagesor rather by the relationship between these as perceived by their speakers.In many case, speakers focus on differences in prestige. Speakers of less prestigious dialects try to imitate a more prestigious one by adaptations in their pronunciation. . . .As the result of a variety of sound changes and analogical developments, English at a certain stage had two competing forms of the so-called gerund, a form in -ing (as in going) and a form in -en (as in goen). At a later stage, Standard English leveled out the form in -ing at the expense of -en. Many nonstandard dialects generalized -en, instead. This difference has since become one of the major features distinguishing standard from nonstandard English, and the use of the form in -en is often referred to as dropping ones gs. As speakers who drop their gs try to speak the prestige dialect, they replace their -en by -ing. And again, in many cases they go too far and extend their substitution to words like taken (as in I have taking it). (Hans Henrich Hock and Brian D. Joseph, Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship. Walter de Gruyter, 1996) I heard a good one on the preacher last week. You know somebody got into his barn a while ago, and stole every blessed chicking he had to his name. (Fred Lewis Pattee, The House of the Black Ring: A Romance of the Seven Mountains, 1905) Whomever [W]e saw a t-shirt proclaiming I am for whomever beats Harvard. The whomever usage is nonstandard in this sentence since the pronoun is the subject of the predicate beats Harvard. Such overuse of supposedly correct words, pronunciation, or structure is called hypercorrection. If you dont quite know the way whom should be used, but believe that it is more prestigious than who, you might indeed overuse it. (Susan J. Behrens and Rebecca L. Sperling, Language Variation: Students and Teachers Reflect on Accents and Dialects. Language in the Real World: An Introduction to Linguistics, ed. by Susan J. Behrens and Judith A. Parker. Routledge, 2010)My friend, you are yesterday. Whomever pulled off this caper is tomorrow. (Robert Vaughn as Ross Webster in Superman III, 1983) The Use of I for Me and Whom for Who Perhaps the most common example of hypercorrectness is the use of I for me in a compound subject: between you and I. Other common hypercorrect forms include whom for who, as for like (She, as any other normal person, wanted to be well thought of), the ending -ly where it doesnt belong (Slice thinly), some verb forms (lie for lay, shall for will), and many pronunciations. (W. R. Ebbit and D. R. Ebbitt, Writers Guide. Scott, 1978)She had very little to say to Cathy and I.Whom are we inviting to the party?The phrase between you and I looks like a hypercorrection (and is confidently described as such by some) starting with latter-day harping by school teachers on such supposed errors as It is me. But between you and I is far too ancient and persistent to be any such thing. (A. Sihler, Language History: An Introduction. John Benjamins, 2000) False Plurals [T]he attempt to foist proper Greek and Latin plurals has bred pseudo-erudite horrors such as axia (more than one axiom), peni, rhinoceri, and [octopi]. It should be . . . octopuses. The -us in octopus is not the Latin noun ending that switches to -i in the plural, but the Greek pous (foot). (Steven Pinker, Words and Rules. Basic, 1999) The Grammar of Anxiety Who is to give [schoolchildren] warning signals about the whole Grammar of Anxiety, which springs from the chronic fear of being thought uneducated or banal and coins such things as more importantly, he invited Mary and I, when I was first introduced, and the end result? (Alistair Cooke, The Patient Has the Floor. Alfred A. Knopf, 1986) Virus Theory The key construct of Virus Theory [a term coined by linguist Nicolas Sobin, 1997] is the grammatical virus, which is envisaged as a surface rule that is acquired relatively late (for example during schooling). The effect of a virus is to trigger (or license) a prestige usage that core grammar would not normally be expected to produce. . . .Unlike normal grammatical rules, viruses typically make reference to specific lexical items. Consider, for example, the It was/is I construction that is sometimes found in prestige English usage. The nominative case form of the post-copular pronoun in this construction clearly diverges from the unmarked pattern, according to which post-copular position correlates with accusative case. . . . We can thus infer that the rule that allows It was/is I in prestige varieties is an addition to the basic usage. (Nigel Armstrong and Ian E. Mackenzie, Standardization, Ideology and Linguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) Labov-Hypercorrection Labov-hypercorrection [is a] secular linguistic term associated with the embedding problem in which style stratification of marker is such that (usually) the second highest status group in a speech community uses higher status variants in formal styles more frequently than the highest status group. This linguistic behaviour can be interpreted as being the result of linguistic insecurity. Labov-hypercorrection should be distinguished from hypercorrection, whch is a feature of the speech of individuals. Labov-hypercorrection is term which is due to the British linguist J.C. Wells, who suggested that it was necessary to distinguish terminologically between individual hypercorrection and group hypercorrection of the type first described by William Labov in his research in New York City. (Peter Trudgill, A Glossary of Sociolinguistics. Oxford University Press, 2003)

Origins of hominid bipedalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Origins of hominid bipedalism - Essay Example The other great apes for example chimpanzees do not have a straight gait and human straight gait is much more efficient than their bipedalism and quadrapedalism. Fossil evidence of hominid ancestor’s bipedalism is constructed to imply that it existed about 3.5 million years ago. This essays objective is therefore aimed at looking at two distinct hypotheses that attempt to provide explanations to the origins of hominid bipedalism. The first hypothesis (from empirical evidence) to propose is that bipedalism evolved because of energetic efficiency needed by the hominid for travel and that the need was key to the origin of bipedalism. To accept the hypothesis above, first the comparisons should be made at constant speeds of travel and given that bipedal hominids descended from quadrapedal hominids the comparison should be between bipedal hominids and quadrapedal hominids. Rodman and McHenry( 104) observed that male chimpanzees traveled a median speed traveled a median speed of 3.8, 4.2 and 6.4 km each day in three different seasons and took 59 minutes, 105 minutes, and 148 minutes respectively to travel those distances. On average, the male chimpanzees travelled at a speed of 2.9 kilometers per hour, a normal human being walks at an average speed of 4.5 kilometers per hour. Modern hominids through adaptive features evolved bipedalistic tendencies to suit their current environment this explanation is provided wit hout reference to any empirical observation. The result show that there was no energetic difference separating hominid quadrapedal adaptation from hominid bipedalism. It is widely accepted that bipedalism arose because the hominid ancestors moved from living less on the trees to be more comfortable on the ground this was because of hominid dietary divergence (Lewin 113). The Lovejoy hypothesis postulates that the primates underwent evolution to achieve reproductive success through reduced parental care, pregnancy and maturation period. As the