Female Genitalia Mutilation Essay -- essays papers

Female Genitalia Mutilation Picture this, a young innocent girl, between the age of eight and twelve, running around, playing, and having a good time. Then she is snatched away to a foul hut, whose floor is nothing but dirt. Once in the hut, the helpless girl is stripped of all her clothing and pinned to the dirt floor. Her tiny legs are spread and held wide apart with a tight grasp. Soon afterward, a midwife, with no education in human anatomy or medicine, enters the hut and says a prayer. While the young girl is held down in this most vulnerable position the midwife takes a handful of sand and rubs it all over the girl’s genitals (Walker 106). With no anesthetics and a jagged rock, that merely has a sharpened edge, the midwife begins to cut on the most tender area of the young girl (Rushwan). The midwife cuts away the clitoris and the tissue at the entrance of the vagina. When the midwife is finished cutting and perfecting her excision, she takes a thorn bush needle and sews from the head of the cli toris all the way down to the vaginal opening with the exception of one small place where a sliver of wood is placed. The wood is put into place so that when the scar tissue forms a minute opening is left for urine and menstrual flow to escape. After the raw edges have been sewn up a mixture of butter and herbs is placed over the wound. This is done to cease the blood that is now gushing out of this helpless young girl (Female Genital Mutilation). The above is only a brief description of a type of mutilation that millions of girls encounter every year in Africa. What is it that would cause parents to inflect such pain on their little girls? Female genitalia mutilation consists of four principal types. One type of FGM is ver... ...t) Walker, Alice, and Pratibha, Parmer. Warrior Marks. New York: Harcourt Brace &Company,1993. Works Consulted â€Å"Banjul Declaration on Violence Against Women.† Women’s International Network News 24.4 (1998): 27. (Ebsco Host) â€Å"Mali: Centre Djoliba.† Women’s International Network News 24.4 (1998): 32. (Ebsco Host) â€Å"Nigeria: Strategies and Tactics for Prevention and Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation.† Women’s International Network News 24.4 (1998): 30 – 31. (Ebsco Host) Hecht, David. â€Å"Standing Up to Ancient Custom.† Christian Science Monitor 90.131 (1998): 131. (Ebsco Host) Saran, Ama R. â€Å"Turning Up the Volume on Our Sister’s Voices.† Essence 28.12 (1998) : 172 – 173. (Ebso Host) â€Å"Symposium for Religious Leaders and Medical Personnel.† Women’s International Network News 24.4 (1998): 27. (Ebso Host)

Parties in Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby Essay -- essays research pape

Gatsby's house serves as a key symbol of aspiration, reflecting both Gatsby's success as an American self-made man and the mirage of an identity he has created to win Daisy's love. Gatsby follows his American dream as he buys the house to be across the bay from Daisy, and has parties to gain wide-spread recognition in order to impress her. In the beginning of the novel, Fitzgerald sets the scene describing how the party was prepared and when the entertainment arrived. At these parties, an extreme amount of preparation went into the food. According to the account of Nick Carraway, Jay's neighbor, the caterers rolled out numbers of tables with load upon load of every variety of food imaginable. Each table was delicately stacked with all different and exotic types of foods. Few of the guests know the host or are even invited at all. This chapter builds on the idea that there is something not only mysterious, but sinister, about Gatsby. As Nick makes his way to the party he sees "A whole pit full of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets?" Fitzgerald uses polysyndeton, the repetition of conjunctions. He chooses a technique to put emphases on how important Gatsby?s parties are to others, like Nick, who?s impressed by Gatsby?s turnouts but mostly everyone shows up to make a known appearance to put their name out in other industries of businesses. Cars are lined up "five deep in the drive" and everyone has on extravagant attire to impress one another. If there are masses of people trying to find a parking space just to get into the party, this shows that Gatsby is a well-known person and that he is very generous when it comes to public events. It also drew people's attention to come a check out what was going o... ...re stable.? This concludes that even though most women were intoxicated, it seems as if they did it on purpose to get more attention from themselves. While the married women weaving to and fro, the other women would look for their husbands to possibly find a new mate to support them through their hard times as well. Everyone at this party was corrupt and if you looked deep enough into their personal lives, you could see it was nothing but hollowness. The only thing that mattered to them was their appearance and how they can achieve their own American dream by climbing the social latter. This passage also relates to recklessness, ignorance and greed. All of these qualities represented to fake people who showed up to party jus to be seen. All in all, Fitzgerald gave a wonderful description on how Gatsby?s party scene affected him and others around him. Parties in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby Essay -- essays research pape Gatsby's house serves as a key symbol of aspiration, reflecting both Gatsby's success as an American self-made man and the mirage of an identity he has created to win Daisy's love. Gatsby follows his American dream as he buys the house to be across the bay from Daisy, and has parties to gain wide-spread recognition in order to impress her. In the beginning of the novel, Fitzgerald sets the scene describing how the party was prepared and when the entertainment arrived. At these parties, an extreme amount of preparation went into the food. According to the account of Nick Carraway, Jay's neighbor, the caterers rolled out numbers of tables with load upon load of every variety of food imaginable. Each table was delicately stacked with all different and exotic types of foods. Few of the guests know the host or are even invited at all. This chapter builds on the idea that there is something not only mysterious, but sinister, about Gatsby. As Nick makes his way to the party he sees "A whole pit full of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets?" Fitzgerald uses polysyndeton, the repetition of conjunctions. He chooses a technique to put emphases on how important Gatsby?s parties are to others, like Nick, who?s impressed by Gatsby?s turnouts but mostly everyone shows up to make a known appearance to put their name out in other industries of businesses. Cars are lined up "five deep in the drive" and everyone has on extravagant attire to impress one another. If there are masses of people trying to find a parking space just to get into the party, this shows that Gatsby is a well-known person and that he is very generous when it comes to public events. It also drew people's attention to come a check out what was going o... ...re stable.? This concludes that even though most women were intoxicated, it seems as if they did it on purpose to get more attention from themselves. While the married women weaving to and fro, the other women would look for their husbands to possibly find a new mate to support them through their hard times as well. Everyone at this party was corrupt and if you looked deep enough into their personal lives, you could see it was nothing but hollowness. The only thing that mattered to them was their appearance and how they can achieve their own American dream by climbing the social latter. This passage also relates to recklessness, ignorance and greed. All of these qualities represented to fake people who showed up to party jus to be seen. All in all, Fitzgerald gave a wonderful description on how Gatsby?s party scene affected him and others around him.

A Black Cloud :: essays research papers

A Black Cloud   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The heart is an organ of fire, filled with intense love and intense hatred. Yet it is the hatred which entwines the lives of people causing them to display acts of violence and cruelty. Hatred is displayed through forms which include: prejudices towards large groups of people, crimes of hatred being committed, and indirect hatred which involves hurting others as an act of rebellion against someone or something.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout history, the world has been afflicted by the prejudices of powerful leaders who in turn took their animosity out on large masses of people. Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany during World War II, is a prime example of this. He took his hatred out on the Jews, forcing them into concentration camps. Another group that is a target of hatred are the blacks. The Ku Klux Klan, otherwise known as the KKK, possess intense hatred for the black race. Their hatred is demonstrated by marching in white cloaks in protest and also by burning the churches and neighborhoods of blacks. Just as Hitler and the KKK express hatred, the Skinheads are yet another group which have strong prejudices. These so called Skinheads abominate most races other than their own. White hooded silhouettes, German Soldiers echoing â€Å"Hail Hitler!†, and the infamous Skinheads are harsh reminders of hatred which exists throughout the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the same way that prejudices of large groups of people are expressed, hate crimes are committed to demonstrate acts of hatred. Most recent are the burning of black churches across the South. A crime of this sort shows hatred against the black race. Sometimes leading to manslaughter, racial tensions are abundant. Furthermore, the burning of crosses or flags are offensive crimes that are committed to show a person's hatred for religion or the government. Spousal abuse, child abuse, homicide, and wars between races can only be acts of one thing: hatred. Newspapers are filled with page after page of stories revealing the immense amount of hatred that our society possesses.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although crimes are committed to show hatred directly, there are other crimes which can also show hatred but in ways that are indirect. Think back to the Oklahoma City Bombing; it is a perfect example of indirect hatred. This is true because the motive of the bombers was to attempt to take revenge on the government, but instead the bombers took the lives of innocent people who were in the building. Moreover, the Empire State Building gunman's plan was to take

Gender Differences in Discourse Essay

The ability to communicate with our fellow human beings makes us distinct from other living beings. The chapter has made it very clear that speaking is not conversation. Conversation is a collaborative effort by both the speaker and the listener. Our success much depends on how well we can interact with people around us. It much depends upon understanding certain factors called ‘social dynamics’ in conversation. In the essay â€Å"Women Talk Too Much† Janet Holmes makes it very clear that it is a wrong notion to think that women talk more than men. She says it is an assumption based on stereotypes. On the other hand, she says that it is men who talk more. There is no proof to say that men are biologically programmed to talk more than women. It is just the social conditions that promoted the wrong notion that boys are more active than girls and they talk more. She says it is entirely disagreeable. I find quite interesting to know that it is boys who interact more in the class rooms than the girls. Then, the author claims, how it can be said that women talk more than men In the second essay of the chapter, Tony Kornheiser makes a distinction in the communication style of women and that of men. He feels that women are very particular about everything and they have more to say than men have. He makes a point saying that women do not think life is as simple as men believe it to be. A conversation that turns into a lecture is definitely boring as Deborah Tannen points out in the essay â€Å"I’ll Explain It to You†. The most frustrating experience for anyone is when a conversation turns into a lecture. I feel it is not only boring to women but also equally tedious to men. There has been much literature on gender biased language and there is a gradual change in the use of language to sound neutral. Ronald Macaulay also agrees with Janet Holmes and says that many of the notions are myth and they have no validity scientifically speaking. It is rather social conditioning that has played a key role in imparting opinions that have no basis. Clive Thompson’s essay on how computer software can identify accurately whether the writer is a man or woman is quite interesting, His questions the many of the commonly held ideas about the differences between the two sexes. (407 words) Chapter6: Media Speak. What we know about the world is from media only. Our perception of the world is influenced by the media which presents it. The billions of dollars spent on TV ads clearly indicate the power that the media enjoys. Undoubtedly, the advertisements that come on television and newspapers and magazines have tremendous influence on us. Within a span of a century there is a great change in the media. Now the world is increasingly dependent on oral media where as it was mostly written word in the beginning of the last century. With the aim of reaching more number of audiences, the quality of language used in TV news and shows has become very low. Neil Postman and Steve Powers, rightly point out that the dependence on the image has made a great shift in news making. The highly quality visuals have replaced good language with low level popular language. They argue that it is not just language but also our views and opinions about the world are getting corrupted. The general saying is â€Å"a picture is worth a thousand words† but in the present days when news is re-created or re-presented, it is equally true to say that â€Å"one word is worth a thousand pictures. † There is little doubt that the language used by the media is aimed at creating sensations to attract more audience. Then, I do believe that it is not exactly what happened i. e. news. The article ‘All the World in Pictures’ is very interesting and thought provoking. It has clearly explained how the language is used in mass media. It is aptly said that ‘Advertising is the driving force of consumer economy’. The world is filled with advertisements. Wherever there are people, there are advertisements. They appeal to all our weakness creating a world of fancy with eternal youth, power, enriched beauty, immediate happiness, and fulfillment of our inner needs. I feel the use of language in creating such emotional appeals is quite amazing. Advertising plays much on the psychology of people. A small fifteen second ad can effectively tempt the people appealing to their emotions by making fantastic appeals and promises. The article â€Å"With these Words, I can Sell You Anything† is very enlightening. It has made it clear how they twist the language to send their message effectively. It is a finely engineered language that creates strong images on the minds of audience. I have found it very exciting to know the how the advertisers play on the people with their language. (419 words) Chapter7: Censorship and Free Speech Freedom of speech is fundamental to American democracy. It enables every American to freely express his ideas, opinions and beliefs. Any limits to the freedom of speech are seen as a threat to the rights of Americans. It is interesting to note that the discussion lays emphasis on the equality in enjoying one’s rights. No man or woman has the right to hurt the feelings or sentiments of others. It is by respecting others rights that we can enjoy our rights well. The censorship is against the rights given in the constitution. However, it is required in some areas. The censorship and books, biased language and hate speech and certain limits on campus speech have lead to interesting debate. The first amendment has not only given the right to express ideas freely but it also has given the right to know others’ ideas. The censorship on books has been a much debated issue with different opinions. It is beyond my understanding why some books are banned totally and some are censored. When a book raises questions that lead to controversy and debate, it will help people to know what exactly the truth is. Banning is not the solution for it. The controversy over Harry Potter books, which have attracted millions of children all over the world, seems pointless. Censorship on books is dangerous as it blocks all new creative and original ideas. Censorship on biased language and hate speech is quite useful as it raises many questions in the practical use of language. It is very difficult and almost impossible to classify what makes a hate speech and biased language. I feel it is highly impossible to make a law in the absence of any valid principles regarding what comes under biased language and hate speech. Sometimes, the words may be good but the tone in which they are delivered could be full of hatred. Censorship on free speech on the campus has some good in it, as it reduces misunderstanding among the students who come different parts of the world. The campus is a place where tolerance is mostly needed. The rules prohibiting certain speech acts is good for the minority students. But it does not guarantee that no racist speech is ever heard on the campuses. (378 words) Chapter -8 The English Language Debate The debate whether English should be made official language of the US or not, is very interesting bringing out valid arguments on both the sides. The United States, the nation of immigrants, respects cultural differences of people coming from different countries. Respecting other languages, the US has not declared English as the official language. I find it very great quality of the American people for their respect other cultures. It shows their multi cultural tolerance and national unity. The unity of American people has come more from their like mindedness in political and social values and self respect than from having one language. The discussion on what is Standard English has made it clear how different forces work on language. Robert MacNeil has explored well what makes American English and what exactly it is. The argument for Standard English has its own merits with clear focus on clarity in thinking and what we are saying. It argues for care and caution in the use of language as it is central for identifying an individual. If a person neglects his language and uses it causally, it will not help him or her in the long run. As the author has rightly put it â€Å"casualization† everything in culture has led to casual attitude to language use as well. The ‘growing informality’ of language is one of the major concerns of linguists. The scholars and grammarians who prescribe rules on how language should be used are rightly called â€Å"Prescriptivists. † Especially, John Simon, who is called the Prince of Prescriptivists, holds the view that the present day language is poor, unhealthy and hopeless. He represents those who argue for perfect use of language as it helps you to communicate clearly what you are. It is with the use of language only that a person can show his distinction. If the distinction is lost, he or she will be among many who can not say clearly what they mean. It becomes a serious challenge. I feel there should be certain principles which can not be sacrificed in the use of language. The â€Å"Descriptivists†, on the other hand, just describe how the language is used by people. They do not dictate any rules regarding how English should be used. They are permissive and tolerate the new expressions and the informality in expressions. They argue that a language is called a living language only when it is spoken. When it is spoken it is natural to have changes in the language as no two people can pronounce the same word in the same way. They are free to allow new words into English as change the law of life and of language. It shows tolerance towards people who speak the same language with some regional differences. There are many examples when the language of the Black people is accepted by the grammarians and included in the dictionaries. It helps the language to grow and reflect the present day culture. The fears about what will happen to American English seem justified, but nobody can stop the changes that take place in society. I feel the changes in English are an indication of changes in society, and language is just reflecting the same. (534 words)

Does a condiment belong in a magazine? Essay

A magazine aims to attract a certain type of reader or a reader with a certain interest. Garden and Gun Magazine is about southern culture; our food, our manners, our hospitality, our hobbies, our way of life in general. I do not recommend â€Å"The Guiltless Pleasure† for our magazine because it does not have the same purpose as the other food articles; Rick Braggs is misleading throughout the piece, and strays from the overall purpose of the article. When a reader turns to the food section of our magazine, they anticipate finding delicious recipes resembling those that southerners used to make and recipes that have been handed down through generations. Which is why â€Å"The Guiltless Pleasure† would be out of place if published in our magazine. In â€Å" The Guiltless Pleasure†, the closest thing to a recipe is instruction to add a dollop of mayonnaise to certain foods, like mashed potatoes, to make them taste better. Although Braggs does draw attention to the myth of all southerners liking mayonnaise, the article does not have enough information on how to incorporate this â€Å"southern condiment† into different foods. Braggs segregates people into two classifications, which are mayonnaise people and mustard people. He talks a great deal about mayonnaise people but talks about mustard people just as much and talks very highly of mustard people. â€Å"The Guiltless Pleasure† was misleading in my opinion because Braggs seems to talk negatively about both mayonnaise and mustard people but mentions some pretty positive things about mustard people despite his unconditional love of mayonnaise. According to Braggs, mustard people do things like wear a certain type of athletic clothing, eat well, and have overall better health than the rest of us. He compares mayonnaise people by making them seem lazy with comments like, â€Å"We like L.L. Bean catalogs, too, but only because they offer most of their clothes in XXL, and we like their running shoes, which we wear to Popeye’s, and the mailbox-if it is not too far.† He also mentions how mayonnaise people like to vacation in cities like New Orleans because of the local foods which are loaded down with calories. He makes mustard people seem genuinely happier and healthier than mayonnaise people despite the rest of his article that is trying to make mayonnaise seem like a condiment that makes everything taste tremendously better. This is misleading because if mayonnaise really is as wonderful as he makes it out to be, it wouldn’t be associated with a negative, unhealthy lifestyle. Not only should this article not be published in Garden and Gun Magazine because it is misleading, but because it strays from topic on numerous occasions. Although the stories in the article about Braggs â€Å"dictator wife†, the origins of mayonnaise, the mayonnaise isle description, and Elvis liking mayonnaise may be entertaining, they do not belong in Garden and Gun Magazine or in â€Å"The Guiltless Pleasure†. They distract from his main point, which seems to be that mayonnaise is absolutely amazing. Braggs tells stories about his wife limiting the amount of mayonnaise he uses, the type of mayonnaise he uses, but allows him to eat however much mustard he pleases. He mentions other things in his article that distract from this point too; for example the long, drawn out comparison of mustard people and mayonnaise people. If he had incorporated more information about foods mayonnaise improves or elaborated on the ones he did mention and left out the â€Å"fluff† the article would be a wonderful addition to our magazine. In order for this article to go well in Garden and Gun it would have to have more useful tips on using mayonnaise to make foods taste better and less stories that are not directly linked to the main point of mayonnaise being a wonderful condiment. As well as having more positive things about mayonnaise and the people who like it throughout the article. Despite the drawn-out comparison between mayonnaise and mustard people, the contradicting statements, and the off-topic stories I found this article very entertaining. I would recommend this article as it is for a magazine focused solely on entertainment or as a blog on the Internet.

Kiddie Land Gym Essay

Starting in March Kiddie Land would begin to promote a new a new product Super Gym Outdoor children’s Exercise center. The problem or the issue was the company has never shipped something this big, they had to come up with ideas of how to make a profit and how to reach it to the customers. Case Questions: 1. Advantages and disadvantages of purchasing a two-wheeled trailer for each store to use for delivery of the Super Gym †¢ Advantage Kiddie land could do its own deliveries saving the company some money †¢ Disadvantage Bumpers on the newest autos cannot accommodate trailer hitches. 2. Advantages and disadvantages of using local trucking companies deliver from the retail stores to the customer †¢ Advantage According to market research 85% of the customers drive less than 25 minutes to the store, so with the flat rate of $40 per shipment it would be cheaper to deliver for the company. †¢ Disadvantage Local companies that were found prefer deliveries twice a week but not daily. 3. Advantages and disadvantages of stocking Super Gym at the distribution center and having the truck make deliveries to the retail stores also make deliveries to customers †¢ Advantages Consolidator-Ship more than one delivery to the retailer or customer equals fewer trips. †¢ Disadvantages Burning too much fuel with double deliveries to distribution center then retailer stores Squeezing an 18 wheeler into a subdivision would not make any sense Knocking down a couple of mail boxes and Truck tracks in some homeowner lawns. 4. Advantages and Disadvantages of charging customers for home delivery if unable to carry †¢ Advantage Charging customers for delivery would absorb the cost of $40 for delivery per set. †¢ Disadvantage Chasing away customers With added minor insects to catch customers attention may cost the company later. 5. I would prefer using Local trucking company due to The company can avoid expensive shipping and handling expense to the customers and Avoid charging the customers for home deliveries. 6. With a purchase of our new product the Super Gym Center we will deliver to your doorstep for free 7. My Follow up on SUV would be †¢ Do they have enough room for the Super Gym? †¢ To maintain sales, how many SUVs would the company require? †¢ How many employees would be willing to part with their trucks for company business and for how much?

English Language development – “Danny and his mum”

The extracts in which I have analysed are conversations between a young child, Danny and his mother. The three stages are approximately 3 months apart from each other. Stage A at 21 months, Stage B at 24 months, and Stage C at 27 months. All children are unique in their language development and they're difficult to study. Their concentration span usually affects how they can be studied, often the child will wander off or just simply be uncooperative in any way possible. Children are usually very inconsistent and sometimes it is difficult to determine whether the child is actually learning language or whether imitative behaviour is playing a role. E.g. â€Å"Hello† â€Å"Hello.† Everybody has a limited vocabulary, this is especially obvious in young children often the evidence of a child putting a sentence together is ambiguous. E.g. â€Å"I doing like this all day† depending on the context and the tone of voice this sentence could mean He likes doing something all day (with incorrect word order) Or he's behaving like this all the time (where the problem may be a limited vocabulary) Finally, there is a time lag between understanding language and production of language, especially where children are concerned they can always take in more than they can produce in their own language. Concerning language theories it is difficult to determine at what age a child should be able to a specific skill, however below is a guideline of which acquisition skills are usually achieved and at what age. 6-8 weeks: cooing (repeating vowel sounds) 6-7 months: babbling (consonants and intonation) Reduplicated babbling (babababa) 10 months: gestures, pointing 11-12 months: variegated babbling (bigodabu) 12 months: one-word utterances â€Å"ball,† â€Å"water,† â€Å"up† 18 months: Telegraphic speech Two-word utterances in their simplest form (â€Å"baby cry,† â€Å"push truck†) 2 – 3 years Morphology Use of function words, prefixes, suffixes (ing endings prepositions, plural) Over-regularisation's, Syntax Sentences gradually become longer, more complex â€Å"Daddy ball† â€Å"Daddy throw ball† â€Å"Will you throw the ball, Daddy?† Below are some theories of Language Development Nativistic-There is an inborn language acquisition devise (LAD) that transforms the surface structure of language into an internal deep structure that the child readily understands. Cognitive-Developmental- Cognitive and language development progress together. Children are analysing content prior to extracting grammatical structures. Environmental Learning – The environment provides children with requisite learning experiences to acquire language. Parents facilitate language acquisition by providing a language acquisition support system (LASS). The preverbal period – Speech Perception – Babies are born with categorical perception of many speech contrasts, including many that do not occur in their own language. Exposure to specific contrasts of their own language facilitates discrimination ability, such that older children and adults can no longer hear many speech contrasts that young infants can discriminate. Babies prefer speech sounds to other sounds, particularly the rising and falling intonations many adults use when speaking to young children (i.e. â€Å"motherese†). The preverbal period – Early Sounds and Gestures. The first sounds are cries and guttural physiological noises. – Cooing appears at about 2 months, while reduplicated babbling begins at 6 months. Near the end of the first year, babbling becomes more speech-like in sound and intonation. Gestures serve many pragmatic functions for infants, initially taking the form of requests (e.g., gesture to be picked up) and referential communication (pointing), and later functioning as symbols to label objects, events, and attributes. At approximately 12-months children utter what is recognised by most parents to be their first words. While the first word utterance may appear sudden and discontinuous, it is in fact part of a gradual and continuous process. At approximately 18-months, children's vocabularies increase rapidly, with nouns comprising the majority of children's first words. This has been called the naming explosion. There are large individual differences in the proportion of nouns children use. Some children use a high proportion of nouns in what is termed a â€Å"referential style.† Others use more of a mix of phrases, including frozen phrases such as â€Å"What's that?† and â€Å"Lemmee see,† that characterise what has been termed an â€Å"expressive style.† This latter style emphasises pragmatic functions of language rather than labelling. Some research suggests that girls are more likely to use a referential style and some researchers believe that this may be related to differences in rearing environments for boys and girls. Doll play may involve more labelling than truck play. The nature of children's early words à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Overextensions- calling the cat a â€Å"doggie† à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Underextensions – less common than overextensions, calling a pigeon robin a bird but not calling a robin a bird. Coining – children create new words that are not part of adult language à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ First Word Combinations occur as children begin to approach 24-months of age. There is tremendous cross-language commonality in the occurrence of two-word combinations and other aspects of language unfolding. In the case of Danny at 2 years (24 months) he shows inconsistency in coherence and grammar. Danny is at the two-word stage â€Å"more statue† however he does not fully understand the use of plurals and verbs and therefore cannot produce a correct sentence. He finds it difficult to produce a long sentence due to lack of conjunctions â€Å"and† therefore he uses fillers and stutters to keep his turns going. His pronunciation is not good he is not fluent and stutters in some parts of the conversation â€Å"the big long lo long long train† which may be down to his limited lexis. However towards the end of the conversation his pronunciation develops â€Å"fast car vintage† as a direct cause of new lexis being learnt. His word order is incorrect in most sentences however, this does improve towards the end of the conversation which could be due to imitative behaviour â€Å"splash piggy† or that Danny has actually understood the language â€Å"Becca draw on there† his word order improves but areas of speech such as tenses prove difficult for Danny. At this stage Danny's mum's input is sometimes quite confusing and seems to leave Danny more confused than anything â€Å"What's he lifting up? What's the crane lifting up?† this could be because she is trying to find the correct level to come into the conversation at, however Danny is left simply confused. On many occasions her sentences are far too complex for Danny or even a more advanced 2-year-old â€Å"What do you think it's doing if it's got brushes on the car?† â€Å"What do you think he's putting the water on the road for?† His mother uses prompt â€Å"isn't it?† she attempts to involve Danny in the conversation whenever possible she also repetition and imitation to back up what he says whether it be correct or nearly â€Å"fast car vintage.† this is a successful technique because instead of trying to rush his development by correcting every small error she looks for sentences where a part of speech is correct. E.g. word order may be correc t but he fails to use tenses, instead of confusing Danny completely she picks up on the good parts of his speech. For the first time Danny uses endings â€Å"ing† and â€Å"s† and produces his first perfect sentence â€Å"look there's one† although it is basic statement it shows Danny is improving every day. He uses a double negative â€Å"no not sitting† because he is yet to develop the skill of disagreement. Danny even corrects his mother â€Å"Daddy sit there† this shows a growing confidence in the youngster and growing ability. Towards the end of the conversation he becomes more coherent, his grammar improves, his vocabulary becomes wider and he begins to develop the skill of turntaking. At 27 months Danny produces longer turns â€Å"I don't want to go to Watchett† he is more coherent and his understanding develops immensely. As regards imitation, Danny leads the conversation, which shows how he has developed in a mere three months. In parts he uses telegraphic language â€Å"I got a library book† However, he uses self correction to again show how his understanding has developed â€Å"I†¦we don't want go and see them.† Another development from 24 months is the use of conjunctions â€Å"no I don't want I want to go when I get bigger want to go on my own a a Watchett.† This example is a long turn for Danny with fairly complex features, he incorporates a new learnt ending â€Å"er† which he uses correctly and doesn't mix it up. Adults tend to use â€Å"we† instead of â€Å"I† It is evident with Danny that children do pick up on this. â€Å"We're going to be good today aren't we?† The child doesn't understand why the â€Å"we† is used and simply imitates it because it is believed to be correct. Danny uses three verbs in one sentence â€Å"I don't want to go to Watchett† which is an incredible achievement from three months previous. Danny begins to incorporate his own vocabulary into the conversation â€Å"television† he sets the agenda in the conversation, his mother however, still takes the lead but not as directly. Danny uses past and future â€Å"when get bigger† tenses towards the end of the conversation however cannot quite master perfect tense although they are not completely grammatically correct it is evident that Danny really is learning competently and steadily. His mother uses tag questions to prompt Danny â€Å"called Harry isn't he?† this is effective to a certain degree as Danny replies â€Å"Harry† whether this is due to knowledge or simply imitation is not evident. She tries to help Danny to develop his labelling skills â€Å"that dog† however, this technique isn't as successful as others are possibly because Danny is too young or maybe he simply doesn't understand what his mother is trying to do. She seems to make more sense to Danny in this particular conversation, and is no longer needed to over power Danny as leader of the conversation they are more equal, which brings out the best in Danny it is almost as though they are socialising and taking part in a proper conversation instead of Danny's mum trying to get the best out of Danny by constantly prompting and correcting her son. To conclude, the major developments made have been the endings learnt, the expansion on vocabulary without imitation, the use of tenses, longer more correct turns and understanding. Danny's progress is evident in most aspects of speech. Compared to the guidelines of how a child's speech should have improved with age Danny is slightly behind, this isn't because he is less intelligent or has a problem it is simply because no child is average, no one has the same learning speed because this is part of being an individual. Danny's mum became less in charge as Danny got older, she was no longer needed to lead the conversation and therefore both Danny and his mum were on more of an equal status, she no longer needed to correct Danny because towards the end he began to understand her. The turns of both Danny and his mum became longer as he aged this shows the major development in Danny's language acquisition that he is no longer dependent on his mother and has his own be it small vocabulary. Danny is still to learn a more vast vocabulary but this will come with age and experience, he is yet to perfect his use of tenses and sometimes telegraphic language plays a part in his turns. The majority of his language is good but not perfect, but even teenagers have difficulty in this area nobody's language is ever perfect. He has to improve fluency but this will come once he has a wider vocabulary. Overall Danny has progressed competently in all areas of speech, he is not ahead for his age but as explained we are all individuals and do not follow a trend by any means.