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 userplan.
• My user subpages

Articles I've created

Linguistics

Syllable [r]: Unit of organisation in phonology that divides speech sounds or sign language movements into groups to which phonological rules may apply. [e] Voicing (linguistics) [r]: 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 [r]: 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 [r]: The study of how language comes to users of first and second languages. [e] Semantics (linguistics) [r]: The subfield of the study of language which focuses on meaning. [e] Dialect [r]: 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 [r]: 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 [r]: The state of knowing two or more languages, either in individuals or whole speech communities. [e] Lingua franca [r]: 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] Comprehension approach [r]: several methodologies of language learning that emphasise understanding of language rather than speaking. [e] British Association for Applied Linguistics [r]: academic society for professional applied linguists, language teachers and other interested parties, based in the United Kingdom. [e] LESLLA [r]: (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 [r]: (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 [r]: 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) [r]: 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 [r]: The study of how languages change over time, and linguistic patterns within that change. [e] Comparative linguistics [r]: (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 [r]: 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 [r]: Art or study of correct spelling and grammar according to established usage. [e] Romansh language [r]: 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 [r]: 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 [r]: A system of language in which expressions are conveyed using body movements rather than the human voice. [e] Mandarin language [r]: (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] Welsh language [r]: A Brythonic Celtic language spoken mainly in Wales and Patagonia, Argentina. [e] Jamaican Creole [r]: 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 [r]: 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 [r]: 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 [r]: 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 [r]: 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 [r]: The communication and representation of a language by means of a writing system. [e] Claude Lévi-Strauss [r]: French anthropologist who developed structural anthropology as a method of understanding human society and culture. [e] Linguistics template

English English language [r]: 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 [r]: Add brief definition or description American English [r]: Add brief definition or description Canadian English [r]: Add brief definition or description Varieties of English [r]: Add brief definition or description New material Creolistics [r]: Add brief definition or description Martha Young-Scholten [r]: Add brief definition or description Fossilization (language acquisition) [r]: Add brief definition or description Cranberry word [r]: Add brief definition or description Languages of the United States of America [r]: Add brief definition or description language acquisition template

Politics

Parliament of the United Kingdom [r]: Add brief definition or description Government of the United Kingdom [r]: Add brief definition or description Speaker of the House of Commons [r]: Add brief definition or description Member of Parliament (UK) [r]: Add brief definition or description Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [r]: Add brief definition or description Members' Lobby [r]: Add brief definition or description Tony Blair [r]: Add brief definition or description Gordon Brown [r]: Add brief definition or description Alistair Darling [r]: Add brief definition or description David Miliband [r]: Add brief definition or description Leader of the Opposition (UK) [r]: Add brief definition or description Labour Party (UK) [r]: Add brief definition or description David Cameron [r]: Add brief definition or description William Hague [r]: Add brief definition or description

Capital [r]: Add brief definition or description Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [r]: Add brief definition or description Sarah Palin [r]: Add brief definition or description Politics of Pakistan [r]: Add brief definition or description Gaza Strip [r]: Add brief definition or description Obama administration [r]: Add brief definition or description New material Pseudostate [r]: Add brief definition or description Association of Electoral Administrators [r]: Add brief definition or description Republic of China (1912-1949) [r]: Add brief definition or description

Culture

Japan Kanji [r]: Add brief definition or description Himeji Castle [r]: Add brief definition or description Koshi-byo (Nagasaki) [r]: Add brief definition or description Koshi-byo [r]: Add brief definition or description Whaling [r]: Add brief definition or description Whale meat [r]: Add brief definition or description Sushi [r]: Add brief definition or description Nagasaki [r]: Add brief definition or description Ju-on [r]: Add brief definition or description Arudou Debito [r]: 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 [r]: Add brief definition or description Grand Hotel (Scarborough) [r]: Add brief definition or description Bombardment of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool [r]: Add brief definition or description Yorkshire [r]: Add brief definition or description Bonfire Night [r]: Add brief definition or description Chips (food) [r]: Add brief definition or description Cardiff [r]: Add brief definition or description Wales [r]: Add brief definition or description Glasgow [r]: Add brief definition or description UK template Places Africa [r]: Add brief definition or description Germany [r]: Add brief definition or description Taiwan [r]: Add brief definition or description Paris [r]: Add brief definition or description Boston [r]: Add brief definition or description

Science

Earth [r]: Add brief definition or description Mountain [r]: Add brief definition or description Enceladus [r]: Add brief definition or description Pluto [r]: Add brief definition or description Penguin [r]: Add brief definition or description Giant Panda [r]: Add brief definition or description Chris Higgins [r]: Add brief definition or description Richard Dawkins [r]: Add brief definition or description

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

Other

Red Dwarf (science fiction series) [r]: Add brief definition or description Blade Runner [r]: Add brief definition or description Penguins in popular culture [r]: Add brief definition or description Degree (academic) [r]: Add brief definition or description William Hartnell [r]: Add brief definition or description Patrick Troughton [r]: Add brief definition or description Jon Pertwee [r]: Add brief definition or description Tom Baker [r]: Add brief definition or description Peter Davison [r]: Add brief definition or description Colin Baker [r]: Add brief definition or description Sylvester McCoy [r]: Add brief definition or description Paul McGann [r]: Add brief definition or description

Christopher Eccleston [r]: Add brief definition or description David Tennant [r]: Add brief definition or description Matt Smith [r]: Add brief definition or description Castle [r]: Add brief definition or description Lonely Planet [r]: Add brief definition or description Ceuta and Melilla [r]: Add brief definition or description Michael Hayes [r]: Add brief definition or description Facebook [r]: Add brief definition or description Dr. No (film) [r]: Add brief definition or description Michelle Yeoh [r]: Add brief definition or description Chow Yun-Fat [r]: Add brief definition or description Gong Li [r]: Add brief definition or description Sunshine (2007 film) [r]: Add brief definition or description

Imported from Wikipedia

Japanese English [r]: Add brief definition or description renamed from the Wikipedia original England [r]: Add brief definition or description Scarborough, North Yorkshire [r]: Add brief definition or description York [r]: Add brief definition or description Naples [r]: Add brief definition or description Craig Charles [r]: Add brief definition or description Norman Lovett [r]: Add brief definition or description Danny John-Jules [r]: Add brief definition or description

Red dwarf (star) [r]: Add brief definition or description Culture of Japan [r]: Add brief definition or description Stephen Krashen [r]: Add brief definition or description Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh [r]: Add brief definition or description Cargo cult [r]: Add brief definition or description Reading [r]: Add brief definition or description Prime Minister of the United Kingdom [r]: Add brief definition or description Douglas Adams [r]: Add brief definition or description

Articles started by others

Articles which I intend to make a significant contribution to include Linguistics, Language, Second language acquisition, Monitor Theory, the Critical Period Hypothesis, 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. As for Japanese popular culture, I started that using bits written by other people and myself elsewhere.