AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
A ritual (or a rite) is a set of actions people do. In a ritual, the actions are important because every action stands for something. Each ritual of a type is done in a certain way. Danger might be involved in carrying out the ritual. When the ritual has been performed successfully, it is often followed by a celebration.
Rituals can mark a personal change. For example, a rite of passage may show that a child has reached the age of majority. All societies seem to have had them.
A religious rite is a religious ceremony. Many rituals have a religious significance and are part of the religion or traditions of a community. The rite signals that those who take part are members of the religion, or believers in the religion. The rite may signal status, qualification, prayer and commitment to the god or to the belief.
A rite need not be to a religion as understood in the present day. Fervent support of a sports team, or kissing the ring of an organised crime lord, or a military enrollment is equally a rite, because it has consequences for the behaviour of the person, and for their beliefs.
A ritual can also be linked to obsessive compulsive disorder, when a person believes that performing the ritual again and again is necessary.
Maria Theresa of Austria (13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the only female head of the Habsburg Dynasty. She was the Holy Roman Empress, queen of Hungary and Bohemia, archduchess of Austria, and many other titles.
During her rule she changed the royal palace outside Vienna (the Austrian capital) to look much like Versailles. Vienna itself became an important center for the arts, especially music. Maria Theresa added support to her absolute power by tightening her hold on the government. She also improved conditions for the peasants. She is generally known to history as the Empress Maria Theresa.
Maria Theresa was born in Vienna, Austria, on 13 May 1717. Her parents were Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Her father had made the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, a decree which allowed a female ruler despite the Salic law prohibition.
Maria Theresa married Duke Francis Stephan I of Lorraine for love. They had sixteen children who are named here:
Maria Theresa died in Vienna, Austria, on 29 November 1780.
Marie Antoinette (2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last Queen of France, as the wife of King Louis XVI, before the monarchy was abolished in the French Revolution. She was born as Maria Antonia as an Archduchess of Austria.
She married Louis in 1770, when she was 14 years old and four years before he became the king. They were not close at first, and at first it was difficult for them to have children. After seven years of marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, and later to three more children. She was the mother of Louis XVII of France, who never actually became king.
Although she was not unpopular at first, many people in France did not want the country to have an Austrian queen. France's alliance with Austria was unpopular; the two countries had been enemies until 1756, and their alliance had led to France's defeat in the Seven Years' War. It was not until during the French Revolution that she became an unpopular symbol of the old French monarchy ("Ancien Régime"). There were rumours that she spent too much money, had lovers and supported France's enemies. There was a rumour that when she learned that peasants were starving, she said "Let them eat cake," but there is no evidence she said this. Many of these rumours were started by other people at the court, where Marie Antoinette had few friends. It is not clear what caused the French Revolution, but there were far bigger causes than her spending.
She helped plan the royal family's failed escape from Paris in 1791. This caused many people to think that the royal family, especially Marie Antoinette, were plotting with foreign governments to overthrow the elected government. The royal family were arrested in 1792 and the monarchy was abolished. She was executed by guillotine in 1793, nine months after her husband was executed.
On the morning of 2 November 1755, Maria Teresa, Queen of Hungary and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, gave birth to Marie Antoinette, her fifteenth child and last daughter. The Empress quickly became well again after giving birth, and was reported to have looked happy and healthy. Marie's full name at her time of birth was Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna. But when she moved to France, she was called by the French version of her name, Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette was taken care of by Constance Weber, a wet-nurse of the royal family. When Marie Antoinette was a child, she often gave gifts to Constance Weber and her son, Joseph. According to Joseph, Marie Antoinette once said to Constance, "Good Weber, have a care for your son."
Joseph Weber added that the Archdukes and Archduchesses were allowed to make friends with "ordinary" (common) children. Except on formal celebrations, people who did not have a very high birth or title were still liked and allowed into the court. Marie Antoinette was known as "Antoine" when she was young. The Austrian court young Madame Antoine grew up in was already beginning to become much less formal. Antoine was taught by Countess Brandeis, who loved Marie Antoinette and treated her very kindly. Antoine's first recorded letter, written when she was 11 or 12, was to "dearest Brandeis" from "your faithful pupil (student) who loves you dearly, Antoine". However, though the countess taught Antoine about morality and religion, she did not educate her on many other subjects, and Antoine did not like to concentrate. Later, one of her friends said that when she talked, her words were not connected, "like a grasshopper". In fact, when Antoine was 12 she could not write or even speak French and German properly, though she spoke Italian well. She greatly loved music, though. In 1759, shortly before she became four years old, Antoine sang a French song at a party for her father, while her brothers and sisters sang Italian songs. She listened to and met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who was playing "marvellously" once, too. Mozart tried to propose to Antoinette. She would eventually be a fan of Mozart’s music. She was also famous for her beautiful dancing and the graceful way she carried her head. She had been officially taught by the famous French ballet master Jean-Georges Noverre. She was much less skilled at reading.
Still, she loved her childhood home in Vienna and later missed it very much. She once said about her mother, "I love the Empress but I'm frightened (afraid) of her, even at a distance; when I'm writing to her, I never feel completely at ease (comfortable)." She disliked her sister, the Archduchess Marie "Mimi" Christine, who her mother seemed to love most. But her relationship with her sister Maria "Charlotte" Carolina was quite different: they loved each other warmly. They were very close, and a painter later said that they "resembled (looked like) each other greatly". Charlotte was more forceful, and Antoine was usually thought to be prettier.
At the beginning of 1767 the Empress had five daughters with her. Marie Christine was already married to Prince Albert of Saxony. Elizabeth, who was very pretty, was 23, Amalia almost 21, Josepha was 16, Charlotte was 14, and Antoine was now 12. The Empress wanted Josepha, who was gentle and pretty, to marry Charles III of Spain. But then bad things started to happen. Her son Joseph's second wife died because of smallpox and was buried. After that Maria Teresa caught the smallpox and almost died.
Then Maria Teresa took her daughter Josepha, who was about to begin her bridal journey to Naples, to go to the tomb of Joseph's wife to pray. But the tomb had not been closed tightly enough. Probably because of this, Josepha suddenly caught smallpox and died. Elizabeth also caught the disease. She lived, but her beauty was gone. Antonia, who had caught smallpox when she was two years old and become healthy again, did not catch the disease.
But a bride was still needed for King Ferdinand of Naples. Maria Teresa quickly wrote a letter explaining what had happened to Charles III of Spain a month after Josepha died. "I grant of my daughters to make good the loss," she wrote. "I do currently (right now) have two who could fit, one is the Archduchess Amalia who is said to have a pretty face and whose health should other is the Archduchess Charlotte who is also very healthy and a year and seven months younger than the King of Naples." Soon, the King of Naples married Charlotte and Amalia was married to Louis XV's grandson, Don Ferdinand of Parma. Amalia was not happy with her mother's decision.
The only daughter left was now Marie Antoinette. Empress Maria Theresa decided to use Antonia to make Austria become friendly with France. After long discussions, Antonia was engaged to Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France. The duc de Choiseul from France and the Prince of Starhemberg from Austria helped arrange the wedding.
They immediately began preparing Marie Antoinette for her marriage. Her teeth were crooked, but a French dentist came to fix it. After a painful three months, Marie Antoinette had a smile that was "very beautiful and straight". Her thick "mountain of curls" were dressed by Larsenneur, a famous hairdresser who powdered and softened her hair. Marie Antoinette also had a high forehead which was thought unfashionable at that time. though she had a long, graceful neck.
Her education was also changed. In November 1768, the Abbe Jacques-Mathieu de Vermond went to Vienna to teach Antonia. She was clever, but without the knowledge a future queen should have. She was also lazy and unable to concentrate. She could not read or write properly in French or German, but a year after Vermond had arrived, she could speak it well enough. By the time she left Austria, she was speaking French easily and well, even if it had a small German accent. The Abbe also found that Marie Antoinette did not know much about French history, which they studied carefully together. In the end, Marie received a fairly good education.
Marie Antoinette was publicly executed by guillotine for treason in Paris, France, on 16 October 1793, months after the death of her husband. Her youngest son Louis-Charles, later died of tuberculosis and malnutrition during the revolution. She was buried in the Saint Denis Basilica. Her eldest daughter, Marie Therese, was the only one of their family to survive the revolution.
Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755), was commonly known as Montesquieu. He was a French political thinker who lived during the Age Of Enlightenment. He is famous for his theory of the separation of powers in government. Many constitutions all over the world use it. He helped make the terms "feudalism" and "Byzantine Empire" popular.
Before Montesquieu, the standard feudal system was called "the three estates":
Montesquieu's radical work divided French people into three classes, or groups: three classes (or trias politica, a term he coined):
These should be balanced, so that no one power would be able to overcome the other two, either singly or in combination. This was a radical idea because it eliminated the three estates structure. Montesquieu's ideas are important because they ended the feudalistic structure. They also helped inspire the constitution of many countries, including the United States.
Some of Montesquieu's ideas are still controversial. He believed that women could be leaders in government. But he thought women could not lead a family. He supported a hereditary aristocracy and primogeniture. Hereditary means that the title passes from the parents to the children.
Montesquieu describes an unusual idea in his essays "The Spirit of the Laws" and "Persian Letters". This idea is the climate theory. It says that climate, the weather of a place, influences the nature of man and his society. Montesquieu thought that some climates were better than others. He believed the mild climate of France is the best. He believed people from hot countries are "too hot-tempered". People in cold, northern countries are "icy" or "stiff." The climate in middle Europe therefore breeds the best people. (This view is possibly influenced by similar statements in "Germania" by Tacitus, one of Montesquieu's favourite authors.)
Montesquieu's philosophy that "government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another" prompted the creators of the Constitution to divide the U.S. government into three separate branches.
Aristocracy is a kind of government that puts power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class. In Ancient Greek, the word aristocracy means "the rule of the best", but it has come to be linked with rule by Nobility.
There are different kinds of aristocracy with different ways the government is set up. In history, most aristocracies are hereditary. Members of the ruling group have passed on power to their eldest surviving Child. In most cases, this was their son. Daughters were often exclude from this. Aristocracy can be combined with other kinds of government. There were small groups of people that run a country. The people were called aristocrats and often had titles such as duke, duchess, baron and baroness.
Poseidon () is the god of the sea, earthquakes, storms and horses in ancient Greek religion and myth. He was one of the Twelve Olympians. His parents were Kronos and Rhea. He was the older brother of Zeus yet not by much.
Poseidon was generally regarded as an ill-tempered being. His mood was a reflection of the state of his realm. He was thought to conjure up violent storms at sea when angered. While he was married to the goddess Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, like his brother Zeus, Poseidon had a number of affairs with other goddesses and mortal woman, siring such heroes as Theseus and Bellerophon. Lord of the waters, Poseidon was both patron and protector of both sailors and seafarers, who would pray to him for safe passage across the sea. Poseidon was often regarded as the “Father of Horses,” as they were thought to be his creations. He was additionally the chief deity and patron of the city of Corinth, whereupon the Isthmian Games were held every other four years in his honor. Otherwise known as the Earth-Shaker (), Poseidon was thought to be the cause of such disasters, striking the Earth with his trident (a three-pronged spear) whenever he was particularly enraged. The god's symbol was his trident and the bull, horse and dolphin were his sacred animals. The god Neptune is his Roman equivalent. Neptune was a more war-like figure. Some have theorized this god is in fact Owen's hair coming from the popular belief that it summoned a storm.
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a way of writing computer programs using "objects" to stand for data and methods. Computer programs that are not object-oriented are a list of instructions for the computer, telling it to do certain things in a certain way, which is called procedural programming. However, in object-oriented programming, computer programs use objects that talk to one another to change the data in those objects and to work in a way that the user wants. Because of the way object-oriented programming is designed, it helps the developer by allowing for code to be easily reused by other parts of the program or even by other people.
Most programming languages are a mix of different ways of writing computer programs. For example, Python allows for computer programs to be written both in object-oriented programming and in procedural programming. There are many programming languages that allow you to write computer programs in object-oriented programming. Some of these programming languages are: C++, Java, Ruby, Perl, Emarald, Sapphire, PHP, Python, etc.
The main idea of object-oriented programming is that everything is an object. However, the object can be of different types:
Objects is a term used to refer to instances of classes.
In the examples below, we create a class called codice_1. This class contains the attributes codice_2 (for the name of the person) and codice_3 (for the name of the friend). Each of the methods in the codice_1 class contains a list of instructions that makes use of both the codice_2 and codice_3 attributes.
This code is in Python.
class Human(object):
stephen = Human("Stephen")
joe = Human("Joe", stephen)
stephen.say_name() # Shows 'My name is Stephen'
stephen.say_goodnight() # Shows 'Good night nobody.'
joe.say_name() # Shows 'My name is Joe'
joe.say_goodnight() # Shows 'Good night Stephen'
This code is in Java.
class Human {
class Main {
Even though object-oriented programming is popular, some people think that it is bad and criticize it.
Message (computer science)
"Team handball." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2012
Oscar can refer to two things:
Twelve Olympians
The Twelve Olympians are the most important gods of Greek mythology, who lived atop Mount Olympus. Seventeen gods have been said to have been Olympians, but there were never more than twelve at the same time.
Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, and Artemis are always considered to be Olympians. Hestia, Dionysus, and Hades are the gods who have sometimes been Olympians. Thus, it is theorized that Hestia gave up her place to Dionysus because she wanted to live amongst humans however no records of this actually exist
The Olympians became the most important gods when Zeus and his brothers and sisters won a war against the Titans. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades are all brothers and sisters. All the other gods are Zeus's children and have different mothers.
Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli original name Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, (born 1445, Florence (Italy) - died May 17, 1510, Florence), one of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance. His The Birth of Venus and Primavera are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance. His most famous painting is Birth of Venus, however he does have a-lot of famous artworks: Fortitude, Madonna and Child, Adoration of the kings and many more. His auction record tops 10 million. Sandro Botticelli was unique; he was influenced by the revival of greek and roman ideas in Florence at the time, Botticelli was one of the first western artists since classical times to depict non religious subject matter
Botticelli was born in Florence in the working-class "rione" of "Ognissanti". At first he did an apprenticeship to become a goldsmith. Following the boy's wishes, his doting father sent him to Fra Filippo Lippi. Lippi was working on frescoing the Convent of the Carmine. Lippi's synthesis of the new control of three-dimensional forms, tender expressiveness in face and gesture, and decorative details inherited from the late Gothic style were the strongest influences on Botticelli. Another influence were the Pollaiuolo brothers.They were doing a series of Virtues for the Tribunale or meeting hall of the Mercanzia. This hall was a cloth-merchants' confraternity.Botticelli contributed to this the "Fortitude", dated 1470 in the Uffizi Gallery.
He was an apprentice too of Andrea del Verrocchio, where Leonardo da Vinci worked beside him, but he made his name in his local Church of Ognissanti, with a "St. Augustine" that successfully competed as a pendant with Domenico Ghirlandaio's "Jerome" on the other side "the head of the saint being expressive of profound thought and quick subtlety" (Vasari). In 1470 he opened his own independent "studio".At what age did he start art?
Lorenzo de' Medici was quick to employ his talent. Botticelli made consistent use of the circular "tondo" form and did many beautiful female nudes, according to Vasari. The "Birth of Venus" was at the Medici villa of Castello.
Sandro was intensely religious. In later life, he was one of Savonarola's followers. Botticelli burned his own paintings on pagan themes in the notorious "Bonfire of the Vanities". Earlier, Botticelli had painted an "Assumption of the Virgin" for Matteo Palmieri in a chapel at San Pietro Maggiore. In this painting, it was rumored, both the patron who dictated the iconic scheme and the painter who painted it, were guilty of heresy. People did not say what kind of heresy it was. The ideas that could be seen as heresy seem to be gnostic in character:
This is a common misunderstanding. It is based on a mistake by Vasari. The painting referred to here, now in the National Gallery in London, is by the artist Botticini. Vasari confused their similar sounding names.
The "Adoration of the Magi" for Santa Maria Novella, ca1476, contains portraits of Cosimo de' Medici ("the finest of all that are now extant for its life and vigour"), his grandson Giuliano de' Medici, and Cosimo's son Giovanni, were effusively described by Vasari:
In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV summoned him and prominent Florentine and Umbrian artists who had been summoned to fresco the walls of the Sistine Chapel. The iconological program was the supremacy of the Papacy. Sandro's contribution was moderately successful.
He returned to Florence, and "being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstension from work led to serious disorders in his living." Thus Vasari characterized the first printed Dante (1481) with Botticelli's decorations; he could not imagine that the new art of printing might occupy an artist. As for the subject, when Fra Girolamo Savonarola began to preach hellfire and damnation, the susceptible Sandro Botticelli became one of his adherents, a "piagnone" left painting as a worldly vanity, burned much of his own early work, fell into poverty as a result, and would have starved but for the tender support of his former patrons.
Hermes is the "messenger of the gods". He is the god of travellers and shepherds in Greek mythology. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and is often shown with his caduceus.
Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia. He was born on Mount Cyllene. The story of his birth was told in the Homeric Hymn, which means "Hymn to Hermes". It said that Maia was a nymph.
Hermes was very clever and on his first day invented the lyre, by using the shell of a tortoise. He carries a golden sword. One of the myths about Hermes is that he once stole his brother's oxen, and burned them as a sacrifice.
Maia is the goddess of the fields in Greek mythology. She is the oldest of the Pleiades. She is also the most beautiful and the shyest.
The Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Maia and her sisters were all born on Mount Cyllene, which is in Arcadia.
Maia was the mother of Hermes by Zeus, who is another god. She gave birth to Hermes in a cave in Arcadia. After Maia gave birth to Hermes she wrapped him in blankets and then went to sleep. When she woke up, Hermes had crawled away to Thessaly and had invented the lyre and stole some of Apollo's cattle.
Maia also looked after Arkas when Hera had turned his mother, Kallisto, into a bear.
Pleiades (mythology)
Medieval commune
Medieval townspeople in western Europe during the period of the High Middle Ages needed protection from lawless nobles and bandits. The walled city was protection from direct assault, but once a townsperson left the city walls, he or she was at the mercy of often violent and lawless nobles in the countryside. Because much of medieval Europe lacked central authority to provide protection, such as a police force (to use a modern analogy), each city had to provide its own protection for citizens both inside the city walls, and outside. In order to do this towns formed what are called communes.
Every town had its own commune and no two communes were alike, but at the heart, communes "were sworn alliegences of mutual defense". When a commune was formed, all particpitating members gathered and swore an oath together, in public, they would defend each other in time of trouble. In addition they would swear to maintain the peace within the city proper.
What did it mean for a commune member to defend another? Obviously if a commune member was attacked outside the city it was too late to call for help as it would be unlikely anyone would be around in time. Instead the commune would promise to exact revenge on the attacker, the promise of revenge being a form of defense. However, what would happen if the attacker was a noble who had a castle, too strong for the townspeople? This was often the case and certainly the town commune could not muster the forces to attack a castle. Instead they might attack the nobles family, or burn his crops, or kill his serfs, or destroy his orchards. It was eye for eye violent revenge.
The commune movement started in the 11th century in northern Italy which had the most urbanized population of Europe at the time, and in what is now Belgium which was also relatively urban at the time. It then spread in the early 12th century to France, Germany, and Spain and elsewhere. England never saw much of the commune movement because it was by comparison a pretty well run kingdom and did not need local protection forces. Although in most cases the development of communes was connected with that of the cities, there were rural communes, notably in France and England, that were formed to protect the common interests of villagers.
The Church and King both had mixed reactions to communes. On the one hand they agreed safety and protection from lawless nobles was in everyones best interest. The communes intention was to keep the peace through the threat of revenge, and the Church was sympathetic to the end result of peace. However the Church had their own ways to enforce the peace such as the Peace and Truce of God movement, for example. On the other hand, communes disrupted the order of medieval society. The methods the commune used, eye for an eye, violence begets violence, were generally not acceptable to Church or King. Normally only the noble lords are allowed to fight and the merchant townspeople were the workers, not fighters. There was a sense the communes were a threat to the medieval 3-tiered social order: Those who work, those who pray, those who fight. Communes crossed the line between working and fighting. As such communes were sometimes accepted, and other times not by the Church and King. One of the most famous cases of a commune being suppressed and the resulting defiant urban revolt occurred in the French town of Laon in 1112.
Imperialism is a policy (way of governing) in which large or powerful countries seek to extend their authority beyond their own borders. The policy of imperialism aims at the creation of an empire.
Imperialist countries take control of other countries. They may use military force to do this. However, they may also avoid using military force. They may simply establish economic and/or political control over the other country.
Imperialist policies of countries or kingdoms have goals of taking over more land to create bigger empires.
The ruler of an empire gains natural resources such as agricultural and mining products. Human resources are also gained. Conquered peoples may be forced into slavery or into low-wage work. They may also be called into military service on behalf of the empire. Trade markets are also gained. The people under an imperial government may be forced to buy products from that government or from that government's industries.
Thus, a policy of imperialism can vastly enrich the imperialist country. This benefit can extend over a long period of time.
Imperialism has been practiced throughout recorded history. However, there is one historical period that is specifically known as the Age of Imperialism. This period extends from the early 18th century to the mid-20th century.
During the Age of Imperialism, modern and industrialized countries competed for control of pre-industrial parts of the world. In pre-industrial areas, natural and human resources were widely and cheaply available. The imperialist countries that acquired the largest empires during the Age of Imperialism are The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States.
Some writers use the term "imperialism" informally. They use the term to mean any type of domination of one country over another part of the world. Domination especially happened in Asia and Africa.
Heresy is a word used by different religious groups, used to describe someone who has ideas that are different from what the religion or law teaches. Such a person is known as heretic.
In the Middle Ages it was not uncommon to accuse someone of heresy. If the accusations could be proven, the culprit would go through a ritual. Since torture could be used, the accusations were often proven. The ritual was done to save the soul of the convicted criminal. It involved being burnt while tied to a post.
Still in the 21st century Muslims who apostatize are often treated very harshly and frequently killed.
Jesus Christ himself was regarded as a heretic by the Jewish leaders at the time- see Gospel of Matthew 26:57-67
The Roman Catholic Church in early times had great trouble with heretical christological doctrines, such as Monophysitism and Arianism. The Church sees several heresies in Protestantism:
As a result of the Protestant Reformation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was created in the Roman Catholic Church which protects the Church against heresies. It is the last instance to decide what constitutes a heresy, and how to deal with it.
Cossacks
Cossacks () (from Cuman "cosac", meaning "free man") was a group of people in the southern land of Ukraine and Russia. They are famous for their sense of being free. They are also well known for their military skill, mostly the way they ride horses
The name Cossack means "free man". The term was first used in the year 1395. The most well known Cossacks are the Ukrainian Cossacks from Zaporizhzhia and the Russian Cossacks (kazaks) from Don, Terek, Kuban and Ural areas. They started after the Mongols attacked Kievan Rus. Eventually Russian Cossacks guarded land for the Russian government. Cossacks were in the Russian army in some wars throughout the 1800s and 1900s. In the Russian Civil War most fought against the Red Army but some were "Red Cossacks". In Soviet times, the Cossacks' life was subject to a lot of Bolshevik attacks and Cossack lands survived several famines. Cossack armies fought on both sides in the Second World War. In Russia today, Cossacks are ethnic descendants or are in the Cossack army and often both.
Year 41 (XLI) is a year in the 1st century. It was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Saturninus.
American Sign Language (old names: Amslan, Ameslan ) is the most popular sign language for the Deaf in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in parts of Mexico. Although the United Kingdom and the United States share English as a spoken and written language, British Sign Language (BSL) is different from American Sign Language. ASL actually comes from French Sign Language, as Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet went to England for help learning sign language to teach to his deaf neighbors. He could not find anyone willing to teach him the British Sign Language, but did find some French people who were willing to help, he convinced one of them to travel back to the United States with him to set up the first deaf school in the U.S.
ASL is also used (sometimes with other sign languages) in the Philippines, Singapore, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Kenya, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe. Like other sign languages, its grammar is different from any spoken language.
ASL includes fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is a way to show the written letter. ASL uses one hand to show the English alphabet, although there are ways to show alphabets from other languages. Names of people and places can be fingerspelled. Fingerspelling is also used for words that have no sign, or for when people are confused about what a used sign means.
Counting the number of ASL speakers is difficult because ASL users have never been counted by the American census. ASL use in the general American population has not been directly measured. The ultimate source for current estimates of the number of ASL users in the United States is a report for the National Census of the Deaf Population (NCDP) by Schein and Delk (1974). Based on a 1972 survey of the NCDP, Schein and Delk provided estimates consistent with a signing population between 250,000 and 500,000. The survey did not distinguish between ASL and other forms of signing.
Incorrect figures are sometimes cited for the population of ASL speakers in the United States based on misunderstandings of statistics. Demographics of the deaf population have been confused with those of ASL use. This accounts for cited estimations which are greater than 500,000. Such mistaken estimations can reach as high as 15,000,000.
ASL is sometimes incorrectly cited as the third- or fourth-most-spoken language in the United States. These figures misquote Schein and Delk (1974), who said ASL speakers constituted the third-largest population "requiring an interpreter in court".
Sign language
A sign language is a way of communicating by using the hands and other parts of the body. It should not be confused with body language. Sign languages are an important way for deaf people to communicate. Deaf people often use them instead of spoken languages. Spoken languages use sounds from the mouth and are understood with the ears. Sign languages use hands and are understood with the eyes. Deaf people can use sign languages more easily than spoken languages.
Deaf people sometimes learn a sign language from their family, especially if their parents are deaf. But, most deaf children have hearing parents, so they learn a sign language from other deaf people. They may meet other deaf people at school or in the streets. Hearing people may learn to sign directly from deaf people. Or, they may learn a sign language by going to signing classes or by studying a sign language workbook, which can come with an interactive DVD.
Sometimes deaf people do use a spoken language, especially when talking with hearing people. Sometimes hearing people use a sign language with each other, rather than speaking. But, deaf people tend to use sign languages, and hearing people tend to use spoken languages.
Some deaf people can also understand spoken words by looking at a speaker's lips. This is known as lip-reading. It is hard to learn, and few people do it well. Sometimes signing and lip-reading are combined, especially when deaf and hearing people are talking to each other.
Sign languages have always existed in deaf communities. In ancient texts we see authors commenting about deaf people and sign language. In the western world, the first studies dedicated to sign languages date from the 17th century. In 1620, in Spain, the priest Juan Pablo Bonnet published a text about teaching deaf people to speak, using gestures as a tool. The language of signs created by Bonet was used by Abbé Charles-Michel de l-Épée, to create a fingerspelling alphabet in the 18th century. This alphabet has changed very little since then, and is used with sign languages in many countries.
The sign alphabet created by l-Épée, however, is not the origin of French Sign Language, the sign language that has influenced many other sign languages around the world. Even before l-Épée started teaching deaf people, they already used Old French Sign Language, and could read and write in French. This was a great advance, because it proved that deaf people could be educated and didn’t needed speech to think and learn.
Sign languages are not universal. That means there is not one single sign language for all deaf people around the world. There are many different sign languages. Each deaf community can develop its own sign language. Usually there is a different sign language in each country. Linguists have identified at least 137 different sign languages.
Here are some well-known sign languages:
However, sign languages are not totally independent from each other. Sign languages can develop from the same source. For example, ASL, LSM, and LSQ all developed from Old French Sign Language. They are part of the same language family. Sign languages can be similar to each other. BSL, Auslan, and NZSL are very much alike. Linguists sometimes talk about them as if they are one language. They call it "BANZSL" (an acronym for "British Australian New Zealand Sign Language"). Sign languages can influence each other. They sometimes copy signs from other sign languages, the same way spoken languages copy loanwords.
According to the "American Heritage Dictionary", signing is "a language that uses a system of manual, facial, and other body movements as the means of communication, especially among deaf people." Sign languages have their own grammar rules: syntax, morphology, phonology and semantics. Sign languages are not simply mime. They are not gestures strung together without any rules. Sign languages are real languages.
A sign language is not a copy of a spoken language. For example, American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) are not copies of English. They are different from each other, even though they are both used in countries that speak English. Sometimes sign languages may copy a few elements from a spoken language, but usually they are very different. For example, sign languages often use different locations in space around the signer to represent people or objects that are being talked about. These locations are used like pronouns in spoken languages.
The main difference between sign languages and spoken languages is that sign languages use hand and body movements to form signs while spoken languages use sounds to form words. Really, each sign in a sign language is like a word in a spoken language. Both types of languages use grammar rules to combine words/signs into sentences. That's what makes them languages, and why both types of languages are different from mime or simple gestures.
Spoken words are made up of smaller pieces: individual sounds like "p" or "o". In the same way, signs are made up of smaller pieces: handshapes, movements and locations of the hands, facial expressions and other body movements. These pieces are used in different combinations to make the signs in the language Some signs are made with only one hand, and others are made with both hands. Some signs include movements of the mouth or other parts of the body; without those other movements, the sign is not correct. Other body movements are also important in the grammar. For example, in many sign languages, raised eyebrows indicate a question that has a "yes" or "no" answer.
The grammar rules of different sign languages are similar to each other, but they aren't the same. There is not a universal grammar for sign languages; each sign language has its own grammar. For example, sign languages use different handshapes to form signs; each sign language has its own set of handshapes.
Sometimes a sign looks like the object or action it represents, but this is not always true. For many signs, a person just has to learn the meaning, like words in a spoken language. It's not easy to guess the meaning from what the sign looks like. This is another thing that makes sign languages different from mime; in mime, the meaning of a gesture is obvious, it doesn't have to be learned. However, signs aren't totally arbitrary either. Once a person knows the meaning of a sign, the form of the sign can often help remember the meaning.
Besides normal signs, many sign languages use fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is also known as a "hand alphabet" or "dactylology". In fingerspelling, each letter in the alphabet of a spoken language has its own sign. Fingerspelling is a tool. People use it to spell names, acronyms and other words from spoken languages. Sometimes people do this when there is not a sign yet. Sometimes people use a fingerspelled word even when there is a normal sign for the same meaning. For example, when talking about a person, a signer might spell their name using fingerspelling. Or, they may use a "name-sign"—a special sign for that person.
Fingerspelling is not universal. It is different in different sign languages. Two sign languages may have a similar fingerspelling system. Or, their fingerspelling systems may be very different. Some fingerspelling systems use only one hand. ASL uses a one-handed system. Other sign languages use both hands for fingerspelling. The BANZSL languages use a two-handed system. There are different fingerspelling systems for different writing systems. Japanese is written with different letters than English. This means fingerspelling in Japanese Sign Language is different from fingerspelling in ASL or BANZSL. ASL uses a lot of fingerspelling. Most sign languages use less fingerspelling than ASL. Some sign languages don't use fingerspelling at all.
There is not any official way of writing signs. Some deaf and hearing people think there should be. Some have invented different ways of writing sign languages. Here are some of them.
Other users of sign language don’t think writing signs is something useful. Usually, deaf people just write the spoken language in their country. They don't try to write the sign language.
Deaf people have their own culture. It is similar to the culture of hearing people around them, but there are important differences. Deaf people have different experiences from hearing people. This makes their culture different.
Sign language is the most important part of deaf culture. Through a sign language deaf people can create a social and cultural identity for themselves. They can communicate naturally with each other. The shared sign language helps hold their deaf community together. Hearing people use spoken languages to do the same things.
Some children are born deaf. Others lose their hearing because of illness when they are very young. These children often learn how to sign and become a part of the deaf community and deaf culture.
However, some people who are physically deaf do not participate in deaf community and deaf culture. Some people lose their hearing later in life. These people usually continue to interact with hearing people using a spoken language. They do not learn to sign. They do not make friends with deaf people who sign. They depend on hearing aids, lip-reading, or writing notes to communicate with their hearing friends.
Some deaf children learn to speak and lip-read a spoken language. This is a difficult skill, but some children succeed. Also, some may have surgery to get a cochlear implant. A cochlear implant helps some deaf children hear better. It is not the same as normal hearing, but it can help them learn to speak. These deaf people can interact with hearing people using a spoken language.
The term "deaf culture" usually refers only to the culture of deaf people who sign.
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges is a city in the northeast of France, in Lorraine.
Now about 23,000 people live there.
Surrounded by the Vosges mountains, it is a popular resort for tourists.
The city is famous for the International Festival of Geography, which takes place every autumn.
Electronics, computer science, graphic design and communication are studied at the University Institute of Technology.
In French it is called "IUT" (Institut universitaire de technologie).
Rhodesian Ridgeback is a breed of dog.
It has a red-brown coat of fur on its body and a line of hair down its back which is different from the rest of hair on its body. They are sometimes called "The African Lion Dog", because they were used by hunters in Africa to find and confuse lions while the hunter shot the lion.
A glove is a piece of clothing that covers a hand. There are many different kinds of gloves. Gloves are made of many different fabrics and materials, and gloves are used in many ways.
People wear thick gloves, usually made of wool or fabric, to keep their hands warm in cold weather. They wear thin gloves (usually made of rubber or plastic) to keep their hands clean. People also wear thin gloves made of rubber or plastic to keep things they touch clean. Some workers wear gloves made of heavy rubber to protect their hands from chemicals. A mitten is a glove which has a separate place for the thumb, but the other four fingers are together. There are also mittens, which are very similar to gloves. Gloves and mittens are usually used to protect people from cold, and chemicals. People use latex gloves during Earth day to clean up.
There are also gloves that are worn for fashion, because they look good. These type of gloves are made from leather, fur, or different fabrics.
Gloves are worn in sports, the most common reason being for extra grip for the competitors hands. Like in golf, baseball and goalkeepers in soccer.
The word is used for certain kinds of usually knitted gloves. Some don't have separate finger pieces, and are made for children. Others have separate finger pieces without tips, so the wearer can use his fingers for delicate work, and keep his hands warm at the same time.
Sky High (2005 movie)
Sky High is a 2005 movie from Walt Disney Pictures, starring Kurt Russell.
This movie is about superheroes. Will Stronghold has two superhero parents. His dad, Steve, is The Commander, who is very strong. His mother, Josie, is Jetstream, who can fly. Will is expected to have great powers of his own, but he finds that he does not have any. He enters his school, Sky High, where the students are sorted into "hero" and "sidekick." Will is given the position of a sidekick and takes different classes than the hero track. He later tells his dad about this, who is not happy that his son will not be like him.
At school, Will also has an enemy named Warren Peace. The Commander put Warren's father away for three life terms. During a lunch, Warren gets very mad at Will and starts throwing fireballs, which is his superpower. Will dives under a bench. It is here his power comes to him; super strength, like his dad. He manages to defeat Warren and both are put in a time out room where their powers do not work. His mother is not happy, but his dad is very happy that Will has powers. Steve shows Will the hiding place where the Stronghold family does all of their activities.
Will's new powers put him up in the hero track, where he is partnered with a girl named Gwen Grayson. Will soon falls for Gwen and does not keep up with the friends he made as a sidekick. Will has an old friend named Layla, whose power is to grow plants. Will gets more popular. Gwen gets him to invite all the popular kids for a party. When Layla comes over to tell Will that she loves him, Gwen stops her and tells her that Will has new friends. Layla is upset. When Will learns about it, he breaks off the date. He was going to go to the prom with Gwen, but now decides to stay home.
His parents go to the prom instead. There was going to be a ceremony to honor the best superhero of all time. During the prom, however, it is revealed that Gwen is really a villain named Royal Pain. The Commander thought he killed her off, but when he zapped her, she simply became a baby instead. The years passed and she grew into another teenager. Royal Pain puts on her suit and uses her weapon to make everyone become babies.
Will comes on down to the school. He is very sorry for how he acted as a hero and tells his sidekick friends that he needs all of their help to beat Royal Pain. Lash and Speed, two bullies on Royal Pain's side, are knocked out. Ethan tricks Lash and stuffs his head down the toliet. Then he becomes a puddle of ooze, which causes Speed to slip. Warren, now on Will's side, throws fireballs to knock Speed down.
Magenta, whose power is to become a rat, climbs into the system and tries to disable it, otherwise the school will fall from orbit and everyone will die. Penny, a cheerleader who can make multiple copies of herself, surrounds Layla. Layla does not want to fight, but when they hit her, she uses her power to make all the plants come out and bind the cheerleaders down.