User:John Stephenson/Contributions

John Stephenson

• My recent Citizendium edits - look here to see what I've been working on (or just see if I know what I'm talking about). I am mostly responsible for the original information on many of the Linguistics Workgroup pages, and have also been trying to get linguists and departments to link to Linguistics.
• My user subpages.

Articles I've created

Linguistics

Syllable: Unit of organisation in phonology that divides speech sounds or sign language movements into groups to which phonological rules may apply. [e]  Mora: Unit of phonology which organises sequences of segments such as [h] and [o] into larger units (e.g. ほ ho in Japanese) which are subject to phonological rules, such as influencing which syllable in a word is stressed (as in English), or how long a syllable is relative to others (as in Japanese). [e]  Word (language): A unit of language, often regarded as 'minimally distinctive' and used to build larger structures such as phrases; languages vary in how distinctive word units are and how much they may be modified. [e]  Vowel: Speech sound with relatively unhindered airflow; different vowels are articulated mainly through tongue movements at the palatal and velar regions of the mouth, and are usually voiced (i.e. involve vocal fold movement). [e]  Consonant: Unit of language, defined in phonetics as a speech sound that involves full or partial 'closure' of the mouth, and in phonology as a segment that cannot occupy the nucleus or 'peak' of a syllable. [e]  Voicing (linguistics): Either the physical production of vibration by the vocal folds as part of articulation, or the potential phonological distinction this allows, i.e. the distinct difference between units such as [b] and [p] in many languages. [e]  The Sound Pattern of English: A landmark work on the rules of English phonology by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, which importantly rejected the phoneme as a true phonological unit; subsequently built upon by other analyses that recognised the syllable and other units of prosodic organisation. [e]  Language acquisition: The study of how language comes to users of first and second languages. [e]  Second language acquisition: Process by which people learn a second language in addition to their native language(s), where the language to be learned is often referred to as the 'target language'. [e]  Language attrition: The loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language by individuals. [e]  Semantics (linguistics): The subfield of the study of language which focuses on meaning. [e]  Dialect: Regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists. [e]  Language planning: In sociolinguistics, the name for any political attempt to change the status of a language in some way or develop new ways of using it, e.g. a government devising laws to promote a language, or scholars producing an official dictionary; the former is status planning (changing the political recognition of a language), the latter corpus planning (changing the way a language is used). [e]  Multilingualism: The state of knowing two or more languages, either in individuals or whole speech communities. [e]  Official language: one given political recognition in a region, usually a state, and typically used in politics and law. [e]  Lingua franca: Any language used for widespread communication between groups who do not share a native language or where native speakers are typically in the minority; name from 'Lingua Franca', a pidgin once used around the Mediterranean. [e]  Critical period: Limited time in which an event can occur, usually resulting in some kind of transformation. [e]  Critical period hypothesis: Hypothesis which claims that there is an ideal 'window' of time to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment, after which this is no longer possible. [e]  Monitor theory: Hypotheses developed by the linguist Stephen Krashen to explain and predict the process of second language acquisition. [e]  Comprehension approach: several methodologies of language learning that emphasise understanding of language rather than speaking. [e]  British Association for Applied Linguistics: academic society for professional applied linguists, language teachers and other interested parties, based in the United Kingdom. [e]  LESLLA: (LESLLA) forum for research into the development of second language acquisition skills by adult immigrants with little or no formal education. [e]  Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: (b. 1946) American primatologist most famous for her work with two bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, investigating their apparent use of language via lexigrams and computer-based keyboards. [e] sourced from Wikipedia, but much originally mine  Contact language: any language which is created through contact between two or more existing languages; may occur when people who share no native language need to communicate, or when a language of one group becomes used for wider communication. [e]  Creole (language): Native language, such as Haitian Creole, which under most definitions originated as a pidgin (a rudimentary language without native speakers, created by at least two groups of speakers as a contact language. i.e. to allow immediate communication) but became as complex as any other language through being acquired by children as a first language. [e]  Historical linguistics: The study of how languages change over time, and linguistic patterns within that change. [e]  Comparative linguistics: (also known as comparative philology) A branch of historical linguistics that uses a number of methods of comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. [e]  Writing system: A set of signs used to represent a language, such as an alphabet, or a set of rules used to write a language, such as conventions of spelling and punctuation. [e]  Orthography: Art or study of correct spelling and grammar according to established usage. [e]  Romansh language: Romance language spoken in the Graubünden canton of eastern Switzerland; one of the official languages of the country, with about 35,000 speakers. [e] Grammar: Please do not use this term in your topic list, because there is no single article for it. Please substitute a more precise term. See Grammar (disambiguation) for a list of available, more precise, topics. Please add a new usage if needed.  Sign language: A system of language in which expressions are conveyed using body movements rather than the human voice. [e]  Ainu language: Endangered language of the Ainu people, spoken in parts of northern Japan and the Russian Far East. [e]  Japanese language: (日本語 Nihongo), Japonic language spoken mostly in Japan; Japonic family's linguistic relationship to other tongues yet to be established, though Japanese may be related to Korean; written in a combination of Chinese-derived characters (漢字 kanji) and native hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (カタカナ) scripts; about 125,000,000 native speakers worldwide. [e]  Mandarin language: (traditional Chinese 官話, simplified 官话; pinyin Guānhuà) Sino-Tibetan language, the standard form of which constitutes 'Standard Chinese'; world's largest language by speakers, with approximately 900,000,000 users. [e]  Chinese characters: (simplified Chinese 汉字; traditional Chinese: 漢字) are symbols used to write varieties of Chinese and - in modified form - other languages; world's oldest writing system in continuous use. [e]  Welsh language: A Brythonic Celtic language spoken mainly in Wales and Patagonia, Argentina. [e]  Jamaican Creole: Several varieties of a full language spoken in Jamaica that developed from a pidgin and remained in some contact with English, created as a conseqence of enslaved speakers of many African languages requiring a means to communicate; also known as Patois. [e]  Hawaiian Creole: Creole language (created through children acquiring a pidgin as their first language and thereby making it complex) popularly known as Hawaiian 'Pidgin', with vocabulary largely from English; spoken in the U.S. state of Hawaii, it replaced an earlier pidgin based on the Hawaiian language. [e]  Pidgin Hawaiian: Extinct pidgin language spoken in Hawaii, which drew most of its vocabulary from Hawaiian; spoken mainly by immigrants to Hawaii, and died out in the early twentieth century. [e]  Noun class: System which categorises and marks the nouns of a language according to their meaning, form or pronunciation; commonly known as 'grammatical gender', but many languages have several noun classes. [e]  Romance languages: Branch of the Indo-European language family, originally spoken in southern, eastern and western Europe and descended from Vulgar Latin, the language of the Ancient Romans; includes modern Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian. [e]  Written language: The communication and representation of a language by means of a writing system. [e]  Claude Lévi-Strauss: French anthropologist who developed structural anthropology as a method of understanding human society and culture. [e]  Nativism (psychology): theory that certain traits of a species emerge from a mind that is already prepared for its environment, e.g. the language ability is not learned but 'acquired' due to innate processes. [e] Linguistics template

English  English language: A West Germanic language widely spoken in the United Kingdom, its territories and dependencies, Commonwealth countries and former colonial outposts of the British Empire; has developed the status of a global language. [e]  British English: Any of the spoken and written variants of the English language originating in the United Kingdom; widely used around the world, especially in current and former countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. [e]  American English: Any of the spoken and written variants of the English language originating in the United States of America; widely used around the world. [e]  Canadian English: Add brief definition or description Varieties of English: Add brief definition or description New material  Creolistics: Add brief definition or description  Martha Young-Scholten: Add brief definition or description  Fossilization (language acquisition): Add brief definition or description  Cranberry word: Add brief definition or description  Languages of the United States of America: Add brief definition or description language acquisition template

Politics

Parliament of the United Kingdom: Add brief definition or description  Privy Council (UK)‎: Add brief definition or description  General election (UK): Add brief definition or description  Next United Kingdom general election: Add brief definition or description  2010 United Kingdom general election: Add brief definition or description  2005 United Kingdom general election: Add brief definition or description  2001 United Kingdom general election: Add brief definition or description  1997 United Kingdom general election: Add brief definition or description House of Commons state of the parties template House of Commons state of the parties (small) template House of Commons state of the parties (table rows) template  Government of the United Kingdom: Add brief definition or description  Speaker of the House of Commons (UK): Add brief definition or description  Member of Parliament (UK): Add brief definition or description  Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Add brief definition or description  Foreign Secretary: Add brief definition or description  Members' Lobby: Add brief definition or description  George Osborne: Add brief definition or description  Ed Miliband: Add brief definition or description  David Miliband: Add brief definition or description  Tony Blair: Add brief definition or description  Gordon Brown: Add brief definition or description  Alistair Darling: Add brief definition or description

Official Opposition (UK): Add brief definition or description  Leader of the Opposition (UK): Add brief definition or description  Labour Party (UK): Add brief definition or description  Devolution: Add brief definition or description  Scottish National Party: Add brief definition or description  Plaid Cymru: Add brief definition or description  Social Democratic and Labour Party: Add brief definition or description  Independent Community and Health Concern: Add brief definition or description  Respect Party: Add brief definition or description  Independent (politician): Add brief definition or description  David Cameron: Add brief definition or description  William Hague: Add brief definition or description  Capital (city): Add brief definition or description  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Add brief definition or description  Sarah Palin: Add brief definition or description Politics of Pakistan: Add brief definition or description  Gaza Strip: Add brief definition or description 2008-2009 Gaza conflict: Add brief definition or description  Obama administration: Add brief definition or description  Politics of Japan: Add brief definition or description  Democratic Party of Japan‎: Add brief definition or description  Naoto Kan: Add brief definition or description  Yukio Hatoyama: Add brief definition or description  Kunio Hatoyama: Add brief definition or description  Passport: Add brief definition or description New material  Pseudostate: Add brief definition or description Association of Electoral Administrators: Add brief definition or description  Republic of China (1912-1949): Add brief definition or description

Culture

Japan  Kanji: Add brief definition or description Shingo: Add brief definition or description  Himeji Castle: Add brief definition or description  Koshi-byo (Nagasaki): Add brief definition or description  Koshi-byo: Add brief definition or description  Whaling: Add brief definition or description  Whale meat: Add brief definition or description  Sushi: Add brief definition or description  Hiroshima (city): Add brief definition or description  Nagasaki (city): Add brief definition or description  Ju-on: Add brief definition or description  Arudou Debito: Add brief definition or description  C.W. Nicol: Add brief definition or description  2009 Japanese cash handout: Add brief definition or description  Japanese dolls: Add brief definition or description  Bullet train (Japan): Add brief definition or description Japan template I have also started articles on Japan's islands, regions and prefectures, e.g. Honshu, Kansai and Mie. There are some maps I've uploaded.

UK Scarborough Castle: Add brief definition or description Great Siege of Scarborough Castle: Add brief definition or description  Grand Hotel (Scarborough): Add brief definition or description  Bombardment of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool: Add brief definition or description  English Civil War: Add brief definition or description  Yorkshire: Add brief definition or description  Bonfire Night: Add brief definition or description  Chips (food): Add brief definition or description  Cardiff: Add brief definition or description  Wales: Add brief definition or description  Glasgow: Add brief definition or description  Durham University: Add brief definition or description  The League of Gentlemen (television series): Add brief definition or description  The League of Gentlemen (writers and performers): Add brief definition or description  Police box: Add brief definition or description UK template Places  Africa: Add brief definition or description  Namibia: Add brief definition or description  Caribbean: Add brief definition or description  Hispaniola: Add brief definition or description  Haiti: Add brief definition or description  Germany: Add brief definition or description  Taiwan: Add brief definition or description  Tibet: Add brief definition or description  Paris: Add brief definition or description Boston: Add brief definition or description  Côte d'Ivoire: Add brief definition or description Other  Heart (symbol): Add brief definition or description  History of Haiti: Add brief definition or description  Proto-Indo-Europeans: Add brief definition or description  Politeness: Add brief definition or description

Science

Earth: Add brief definition or description  Mountain: Add brief definition or description  Enceladus: Add brief definition or description  Pluto (dwarf planet): Add brief definition or description  Penguin: Add brief definition or description  Giant Panda: Add brief definition or description  Chris Higgins: Add brief definition or description  Richard Dawkins: Add brief definition or description  Tooth: Add brief definition or description  Electronics: Add brief definition or description

New material  Volcanically active worlds: Add brief definition or description Reaction of penguins to aircraft: Add brief definition or description Penguins in the northern hemisphere: Add brief definition or description  Farming with raw sewage: Add brief definition or description

Other

Red Dwarf (science fiction series): Add brief definition or description  Blade Runner: Add brief definition or description Macbeth: Add brief definition or description Penguins in popular culture: Add brief definition or description  Academic degree: Add brief definition or description  Doctor Who: Add brief definition or description Doctor Who (1960s-1990s): Add brief definition or description Doctor Who (2000s-): Add brief definition or description  Dalek: Add brief definition or description  William Hartnell: Add brief definition or description  Patrick Troughton: Add brief definition or description  Jon Pertwee: Add brief definition or description  Tom Baker: Add brief definition or description  Peter Davison: Add brief definition or description  Colin Baker: Add brief definition or description Sylvester McCoy: Add brief definition or description  Paul McGann: Add brief definition or description

Christopher Eccleston: Add brief definition or description  David Tennant: Add brief definition or description  Matt Smith: Add brief definition or description  Castle: Add brief definition or description  Lonely Planet: Add brief definition or description  Ceuta and Melilla: Add brief definition or description  Michael Hayes: Add brief definition or description  Facebook: Add brief definition or description  Dr. No (film): Add brief definition or description  Michelle Yeoh: Add brief definition or description  Chow Yun-Fat: Add brief definition or description  Gong Li: Add brief definition or description  Danny Boyle: Add brief definition or description  Trainspotting (film): Add brief definition or description  Sunshine (2007 film): Add brief definition or description  Desert Island Discs: Add brief definition or description  Mensa International: Add brief definition or description  Windows XP: Add brief definition or description  Windows Vista: Add brief definition or description  Windows 7: Add brief definition or description  2012 Summer Olympics: Add brief definition or description  2016 Summer Olympics: Add brief definition or description  Chocolate: Add brief definition or description  Train (transport): Add brief definition or description Truth in Numbers: Add brief definition or description

Imported from Wikipedia

Japanese English: Add brief definition or description renamed from the Wikipedia original  England: Add brief definition or description  Scarborough, North Yorkshire: Add brief definition or description  York: Add brief definition or description Naples: Add brief definition or description  Craig Charles: Add brief definition or description  Norman Lovett: Add brief definition or description  Danny John-Jules: Add brief definition or description  Red dwarf (star): Add brief definition or description

Culture of Japan: Add brief definition or description  Stephen Krashen: Add brief definition or description  Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh: Add brief definition or description  Cargo cult: Add brief definition or description  Colonialism: Add brief definition or description  Reading (process): Add brief definition or description  Prime Minister of the United Kingdom: Add brief definition or description  Douglas Adams: Add brief definition or description  Terry Nation: Add brief definition or description

Articles started by others

Articles which I intend to make a significant contribution to include linguistics, language, monitor theory, applied linguistics, phonology, phonetics, vocal cords, Elizabeth II, House of Commons, Japan, Japanese language and Singapore English. I rewrote the German language page, but don't intend to go back to it much. I also restarted the abortion article, and wrote most of the early versions of spoken language. I expanded dinosaurs. As for Japanese popular culture, I started that using bits written by other people and myself elsewhere.