Properties of Language, According to Linguistics Essay Example for Free

Properties of Language, According to Linguistics Essay Language, we use it everyday, but what exactly defines â€Å"language? † Are there generalizations to be made of all languages? Does everyone learn language same way? What are the rules of language? â€Å"What is Language? † by Neil Smith and Deirdre Wilson answers these questions and more by highlighting the three major theories of modern linguistics. The first modern linguistic theory claims that language is govern by grammar and that grammar is a set of rules with two functions: identifying possible sentences in a given language and dictate the pronunciation meaning of a sentence in a given language. The first function provides fluent speakers the ability to understand every conceivable sentence in their language even if they never heard it before sentences. This creative quality to produce infinitely many sentences is unique to language. The second function provides fluent speakers of different dialects to communicate with each other using the grammar rules of their shared language. The two functions of the first modern linguistic theory provides effective communication between two parties and acknowledgment of it is vital in first understanding language. In part with the first modern linguistic theory’s definition of grammar is that each person’s linguistic grammar is entirely unique to him or herself, because everyone learns grammar differently due different external factors. Everyone absorbs different linguistic speech patterns from their external environment during infancy and adds it to his or her own unique grammar customs, habits or conventions. These differences are even more prominent in patients of aphasia, a language disability that breaks up certain parts of their grammar creating difficult to understand or entirely incoherent sentences. People with aphasia create their own linguistic systems, sometimes being completely incompatible with the common linguistic systems of their receivers, causing misunderstandings. Generally, the only two instances of completely unique linguistic systems are when infants first learn language and patients with aphasia. The study of these two instances are vital in understanding the degree of uniqueness a linguistic grammar systems. The second modern linguistic theory claims that grammar is psychologically real and unconsciously known. However, the idea that grammar is unconscious knowledge is a controversial one. The opposition argues that sentence understanding is formed from using analogous sentences the listener has already heard and understood. It is not unconscious knowledge, they claim, but conscious identification of previously understood sentences. However, that does not explain the creativity of forming entirely new sentences or understanding the meaning of a never heard before sentence. For example, Noam Chomsky’s famous line, â€Å"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously† understandably sounds English and follows the grammatical rules of English, but makes no semantic sense. The opposition’s claim should be understood as â€Å"previously experienced analogous rules are used to understand language. † This would be classified under grammar rules. This explains how students first learn a language by identifying patterns through multiple experiences with the same kind of sentences. L inguists, however, research existing patterns from recognizing sentence patterns that are psychologically valid, i. e. significant generalizations and sentence patterns that arose by accident or by coincidence, i.  e. accidental generalizations. Significant generalizations are formed from existing rules, such as using â€Å"mister† for a man and â€Å"miss† for a woman. Accidental generalizations are any rules that are not the currently valid linguistic rules and are formed from chance events from using rules during early development of the language or change from outside influences. A child might make an accidental generalization of â€Å"mister† and call a woman â€Å"mister,† which would be very inappropriate and incorrect. Through intensive research, linguists are able to identify which generalizations are accidental or incorrect and create generalizations that are correct. The third modern linguistic theory by Noam Chomsky claims that people learn certain language forms instinctively. Chomsky discovered this parallel from the fact that all languages are very similar to each other. A few universalities shared by all languages discovered by linguistics are that all languages have vowels, consonants, nouns, verbs, affirmative sentences, negative sentences and interrogative sentences. A study done by Russell Tomlin in 1986, London, is that 45% of all languages share the â€Å"subject-verb-object† sentence structure and 42% share the â€Å"subject-verb-object† sentence structure. Very few languages, for whatever reason, have the verb or object first, which would indicate that the formation of language favors the subject first and that most languages are predisposed to having a subject first in a sentence. Language, whether we completely comprehend its inner workings or not, is constantly a prevailing aspect of our daily lives. We use language unconsciously, and yet because of this aspect, it is very difficult to fully classify rules of language. Thankfully, we can analyze various instances of unique grammar formation to further clarify our generalizations of languages and through these generalizations, find universalities of all languages. What is language, you ask? Language is a beautiful study of unique linguistics systems, interplaying with each other to create powerful communication.

College Admissions Essay: Learning from Helen Keller :: College Admissions Essays

Learning from Helen Keller "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -Helen Keller Helen Keller was one of the most successful people in the world. She helped in so many ways to change many people's lives. She was a very humble person despite her successes. I want to tell you about a story I read which touched me and shows what a special person Helen Keller was. In the summer of 1950, a woman in Italy was asked by a neighbor to pick up two women at a nearby hotel. The reason why her friend, Margot Besozzi, couldn't pick them up is because her jeep was getting repaired and that was the only car they could take to get up the very steep hill to her house. The women of course said that she would be delighted to pick them up. She asked Margot, " whom should I ask for at the hotel?" and Margot replied, "Miss Helen Keller." She could not believe that she was going to pick up Helen Keller at the hotel. She was so excited that she started to dream about when she was a little girl and her father had given her the story of Helen Keller written by Annie Sullivan. When she arrived at the hotel, she got out of her car to greet Helen Keller and Polly Thomson. She took Helen's hand and placed her in the car with Mrs. Thomson. Then it came to her mind that they were going to be taking a very dangerous ride when they were to go up to the house. There were no sides to the car, so when she took very sharp turns, she was afraid that Helen might fall out of the car. So she warned them about the sharp and steep turns. When they got to this part of the journey, Helen started to sing, "This is fun!" and then she cried out, "Lovely!" When they reached the house, she helped the two women out of the car to greet Margot. She was invited to have lunch with Margot, Mrs. Thomson and Helen. They drove to the restaurant and went to sit down at their table. When Helen sat down, she felt around her area so she knew where her fork, spoon, knife, and plate were, and sat patiently. After they finished lunch, they were sitting around taking about Italy, and Helen was talking about where she wanted to visit.

Financial Accounting Standards Board Essay

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are two of the most important bodies of the Accounting/Finance field today. Though both boards work together to develop and enforce financial reporting standards for publicly held organizations, the FASB concentrates on the accounting standards in the United States while the IASB sets its focus on global standards. The rules and standards that are set for individual certified public accountants that practice in the United States are also set by the FASB. By introducing the IASB and FASB into the MSA program, students are able to gain more insight into what businesses are required to report and the progress that the accounting field continues to make. The FASB was established in 1973 after the AICPA had adopted recommendation which were made by the Wheat Committee. The Wheat Committee had recommended that the Accounting Principles Board (APB) be eliminated and that FASB be created. The elimination of the APB and the creation of the FASB meant that the FASB was the board that issued accounting standards. FASB’s structure is as follows: A board of trustees nominated by organizations whose members have special knowledge and interest in financial reporting is selected. The organizations originally chosen to select the trustees were the American Accounting Association; the AICPA; the Financial Executives Institute; the National Association of Accountants (The Naa’s name was later changed to Institute of Management Accountants in 1991), and the Financial Analysts Federation (Schroeder etal, 2011). The FASB’s mission is to create and improve financial accounting standards for the assistance and education of the public. The IASB was established in 2001, after succeeding the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) which was established in 1973. The International Accounting Standards are created by the IASB and are called International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS’s). The main responsibility of the IASB is to create and issue IFRS’s, exposure drafts, and approve interpretations which are developed by the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC). These IFRS’s are the equivalent to FASB’s Statements of Financial Accounting Standards. The primary difference between the two sets of standards is, one set of standards are established in the United States and another set of standards are established in another country. The FASB and IASB are currently working to create a uniform set of International Accounting Standards (IAC’s). The two boards started working together to create this uniform set of standards in 2003. The goal of this project is to achieve â€Å"compatibility of identifying common, high-quality solutions† (Schroeder etal, 2011). The reason for the convergence of the two boards is to have a specific set of accounting standards that all countries must follow. The guidelines for the convergence of the two boards are as follows: * Convergence of accounting standards can best be achieved through the development of high-quality, common standards theme * Trying to eliminate differences between two standards that are in need of significant improvement is not the best use of the FASB’s and the IASB’s resources – instead, a new common standard should be developed that improves the financial information reported to investors * Serving the needs of investors means that the boards should seek to converge by replacing weaker standards with stronger standards (Schroeder etal, 2011) The primary standards that are to be converged are six of FASB’s Statements of Financial Concepts (SFAC’s): SFAC No. 1. â€Å"Objectives of Financial Reporting by Business Enterprises† SFAC No. 2. â€Å"Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information† SFAC No. 5. â€Å"Recognition and Measurement in Financial Statements of Business Enterprises† SFAC No. 6. â€Å"Elements of Financial Statements† SFAC No. 7. â€Å"Using Cash Flow Information and Present Value in Accounting Measurements† (Schreoder etal, 2011) Seven of IASB’s Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements are also part of the conversion: 1.  The objective of financial statements 2. Qualitative characteristics of financial statements 3. The elements of financial statements 4. Recognition of the elements of financial statements 5. Measurement of the elements of financial statements 6. Concepts of capital and capital maintenance (Schroeder etal, 2011) The standards mentioned above are the standards that appear to have the most commonality which would seem that there would be fewer obstacles. However; a prevalent variance is the amount of detail which is contained within the two frameworks. While the convergence of the two boards will be difficult, recognizing the commonalities between the frameworks is the first step in making sure the convergence goes through smoothly. Not only is it important to merge the two different sets of standards, but it is also important that the two boards work together to build onto the current set and establish additional standards that organizations are required to follow. The Master of Science in Accountancy (MSA) program prepares students for a professional life within the accounting vocation by introducing students to the standards set by the FASB and the IASB. â€Å"The (MSA) provides the breadth of knowledge for the professional accountant. Students master the theory and principles that frame a wide range of problems and issues encountered in the accounting profession† (University of Phoenix, 2011). The students are able to go in depth with the boards and discover how the entire accounting system works. By introducing the functionality of the FASB and the IASB, the students are able to understand the importance of following GAAP. By understanding GAAP and knowing the relationship between those principles and the IASB and FASB, the students will have the knowledge to perform the job and understand why the IASB and FASB set the standards that they do. The IASB and FASB are two very influential boards within the accounting field. The standards that these two boards have established and enforced have paved the way toward a single set of standards between all countries. Having a single set of standards will allow investors to view financial reports for all organizations around the world and know that the information is being reported using the same set of standards. It is important to the future success of any organization that its current and future employees are up to date on all of the rules and regulations that are part of the accounting career. The MSA program allows students the opportunity to gain the knowledge of any current and future rules that the boards have established.

Business Plan Concepts - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1977 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Executive summary The executive summary, or statement of purpose, succinctly encapsulates the businesss reason for writing the business plan. It tells the reader what the business want and why, right up front. The summary or statement should be no more than half a page in length and should touch on the following key elements: Financial requirements state how much capital is needed for start-up or expansion, how it will be used and what collateral is available. Business concept describes the business, its product, the market it serves and the business competitive advantage. Major achievements points out anything noteworthy, such as patents, prototypes, important contracts regarding product development, or results from test marketing that have been conducted. Financial features include financial highlights, such as sales and profits. Current business position furnishes relevant information about the company, its legal form of operation, when it was founded, the principal owners and key personnel. Mission statement A mission statement is a key tool that can be as important as the business plan. It captures, in a few succinct sentences, the essence of the businesss goals and the philosophies underlying them. Equally important, the mission statement signals what the business is all about to the customers, employees, suppliers and the community. The mission statement reflects every facet of the business: the range and nature of the products the business offer, pricing, quality, service, marketplace position, growth potential, use of technology, and relationships with the customers, employees, suppliers, competitors and the community. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Business Plan Concepts" essay for you Create order Company background The company background, which follows the executive summary, more details history of the company. This will vary, depending on how the business is developing. History of a start-up is clearly different than an existing company. Here are a few points that you should be sure to include in this section: The origin of the idea for the business The progress so far Issues the business has faced so far Short-term development plan Overall, this section of the business plan should provide an investor is interested a better idea of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹who you are and how this business idea came about. Again, keep it brief and avoid personal information not relevant Product description Description of business may be a few paragraphs to a few pages in length, depending on the complexity of the plan. If the plan is not too complicated, keep short business description, industry described in a paragraph, in a product, and the business and its success factors in two or three paragraphs better. When describing business products or services, ensuring readers now have a clear idea about what was said about business. Explain how people use the product or service and talk about what makes a product or service different from others available on the market. Be specific about what the business placed outside the competition. Then explain how the business will achieve a competitive advantage and why the business will be profitable. Describe the factors that businesses think that will make it successful. If the business plan will be used as a financial proposal, explain why additional equity or debt will make your business more profitable. Other information to solve he re is a description of the experience of other key people in the business. Anyone reading the business plan will want to know what vendor or business experts talked about the business and their reaction to the idea of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹the business. They may even require businesses to clarify the choice of business location or reason for selling this particular product. Marketing plan A thorough market analysis will help businesses identify potential customers and help enterprises establish pricing, distribution and promotional strategies that will allow the company to be successful with competitors’ competition, both in the short and long term. Start analyzing your market by identifying market in terms of size, demographics, structure, growth prospects, trends and sales potential. Next, determine how often the products or services will be purchased by the target market. Then seek out potential buyers annually. Then find out what percentage of this amount annually, or enterprises with or can achieve. Market share will be a benchmark for how your business is doing in light of market forecasts to plan. Businesses will also have to describe your positioning strategy. How companies differentiate a product or service from that of all competitors and then identify niche markets to fill is called positioning. Positioning help establish the product or servi ce in the eyes of the identity of the buyer. A positioning statement for a business plan is not a long or complicated, but it should be pointed out who the target market is. How business prices of products or services may be an important marketing decisions possible. It is also one of the most difficult to do for most small business owners, because there is no formula immediately. Many methods are available to build value for the business, but this is one of the most popular. Cost-plus pricing is used mainly by manufacturers to ensure that all costs, both fixed and variable are covered and the percentage achieving the desired profit. Price needs to be used by the company sells products through a variety of sources with different prices based on demand. Competitive prices used by the company are entering a market where a price has been established and it is difficult to distinguish the two drugs. Mark-up prices are used mainly retailers and is calculated by adding the desired profit of enterprises with the cost of the product. Businesses will also have to determine distribution, which covers the entire process of moving products from the factory to the end user. Be sure to analyze the distribution of opponents before deciding whether to use the same type or an alternative channel can give you a strategic advantage. Finally, your promotion strategy should include all the ways you communicate with your market to make them aware of the products or services you. To succeed, your promotion strategies need to address advertising, packaging, public relations, sales promotion and personal selling. Competitor analysis The purpose of competitive analysis is to determine: The strengths and weaknesses of competitors in the market. Strategy will give you a distinct advantage. Barriers can be developed to prevent competitors entering the market. Any weakness can be exploited in the product development cycle. The first step in a competitor analysis is to identify both direct competitors and indirect businesses, both now and in the future. Once the group now has competitors, start analyzing marketing strategies and identify vulnerable areas by examining the strengths and weaknesses. This will help businesses identify distinct competitive advantage. Anyone reading the business plan must be very clear on who the target market is, what the segment is exactly how the business will stand apart from all competitors, and reasonable why the business will succeed in doing that. SWOT analysis S.W.O.T analysis is a method can help the business to evaluate the internal as strength, weakness and the external like opportunity, threat. Strength is the advantages can help the business to achieve the goals; weakness is the disadvantages can obstruct a development and improvement of the business; opportunity is the factors may be able to help the development of the business and exploit to its advantages; threat is the factors external may be make a challenge for the business’s activities. S.W.O.T analysis helps a business to concentrate on those areas that present the greatest opportunities and those competencies in which it is strongest. That business look into ways to diminish its weaknesses, develop strategies to defeat threats. Operations The operation and management components of a business plan are designed to describe how the business functions on a continuous basis. Planning and logistics activities of prominent organizations, such as the responsibilities of the management team, assigned tasks for each department in the company, and capital requirements and costs related to the operation of the business. Financial planning After identifying the products, markets and operations, the next area to turn attention to the three financial statements are the backbone of the business plan: income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet items. The income statement is a report on a simple and straight forward about the cash generating capabilities of the business. It is a transcript of the financial performance of the business reflects when sales are made and when expenses are incurred. It draws information from various financial models developed earlier as revenue, expenses, capital, and cost of goods. By combining these factors, business results shows just how much your company makes or loses during the year by subtracting cost of goods and expenses from revenue to arrive at an outcome together, which is a profit or loss. In addition to the earnings report, including analysis of the results noted. Analysis should be very short, emphasizing the main points of the income statement. Cash flow stat ement is one of the most important information tools for businesses, because it shows how much money the business will need to meet obligations, when it will be required and where but it will come from. As a result, the profits will loss at the end of each month and year. Cash flow statement brings both profit and loss transfer to the next month also shows the cumulative amount. Running a loss on the cash flow statement is a big red flag that there is not enough cash to meet the costs-something that requires attention and immediate action. Cash flow statement should be prepared on a monthly basis in the first year, quarterly for the second year, and every year for the third year. As with the income statement, this will now need to analyze the cash flow statement in a short summary of the business plan. With the analysis is not only long and should include the highlights. The final financial report is a balance sheet. Unlike the previous financial statements, balance sheets are generated every year for a business plan and are, more or less, a summary of all the information prior fiscal divided into three domains Location: assets, liabilities and equity. Balance sheets are used to calculate the value of the assets of a business, individual by measuring assets against liabilities. If the business plan is an existing business, balance sheets from the last reporting period of the business should be included. If the business plan is a new business, trying to project the assets and liabilities of this business will end up planning process to determine which business owners can now accumulate in business. Received funding for a new business, the business will need to include personal financial statements or balance sheets. In the business plan, creating need to analyze the balance sheet as well as the need for business to make the income statement and cash flow. Analysis of the balance sheet should be cut short and include key points. Timeline Timeline of a project or plan is a clearly time defined in a project or a program has been set up according to a predetermined plan. Timeline will be determined depending on the nature and objectives of the plan which aims to plan, if the timeline is inaccurate or not done is set the time over, which can lead to deviations in the results to be achieved or create other consequences. Timeline will be set when the business plan was given; although this is short or long term of time, it will be determined by predicting the working process of how to achieve the goal. When implementing the plan need to pay attention to the timeline and ensure the implementation process must be completed before the timeline. Purpose of timeline for the implementation is to try to urge the plan must be carried out and completed in accordance with the target set. Thus, there are benefits from the plan will be achieved as desired.