title: Yoruba language

text: Apart from the lexical and grammatical use of tone, it is also used in other contexts such as whistling and drumming. Whistled Yoruba is used to communicate over long distances. As speakers talk and whistle simultaneously, the language is transformed: consonants are devoiced or turned to [h] and all vowels are changed to [u]. However, all tones are retained without any alteration. The retention of tones enables speakers to understand the meaning of the whistled language. The Yoruba talking drum ‘Dùndún’or 'iya ilu' which accompanies singing during festivals and important ceremonies also uses tone.


title: Yoruba language

text: Written Yoruba includes diacritical marks not available on conventional computer keyboards, requiring some adaptations. In particular, the use of the sub dots and tone marks are not represented, so many Yoruba documents simply omit them. Asubiaro Toluwase, in his 2014 paper, points out that the use of these diacritics can affect the retrieval of Yoruba documents by popular search engines. Therefore, their omission can have a significant impact on online research.


title: Yoruba language

text: When a word precedes another word beginning with a vowel, assimilation, or deletion ('elision') of one of the vowels often takes place. In fact, since syllables in Yoruba normally end in a vowel, and most nouns start with one, it is a very common phenomenon, and it is absent only in very slow, unnatural speech. The orthography here follows speech in that word divisions are normally not indicated in words that are contracted as a result of assimilation or elision: "ra ẹja" → "rẹja" 'buy fish'. Sometimes, however, authors may choose to use an inverted comma to indicate an elided vowel as in "ní ilé" → "n'ílé" 'in the house'.


title: Yoruba language

text: Long vowels within words usually signal that a consonant has been elided word-internally. In such cases, the tone of the elided vowel is retained: "àdìrò" → "ààrò" 'hearth'; "koríko" → "koóko" 'grass'; "òtító" → "òótó" 'truth'.


title: Yoruba language

text: The Yoruba language consists of about 500 ancient root words. Most verbal roots are monosyllabic of the phonological shape CV(N), for example: "dá" (to create), "dan" (to polish), "kpọn" (to be red). Verbal roots that don't seem to follow this pattern are mostly former compounds in which a syllable has been elided. For example: "nlá" (to be large), originally a compound of "ni" (to have) + "ilá" (greatness) and "sufe" (to whistle), originally a compound of "so" (to eject wind) + "ife" (a blowing).


title: Yoruba language

text: Nominal roots are mostly disyllabic, for example: "aba" (crib, barn), "ara" (body), "iba" (fever). Monosyllabic and even trisyllabic roots do occur but they are less common.


title: Yoruba language

text: Yoruba is a highly isolating language. Its basic constituent order is subject–verb–object, as in "ó nà Adé" 'he beat Adé'. The bare verb stem denotes a completed action, often called perfect; tense and aspect are marked by preverbal particles such as "ń" 'imperfect/present continuous', "ti" 'past'. Negation is expressed by a preverbal particle "kò". Serial verb constructions are common, as in many other languages of West Africa.


title: Yoruba language

text: Although Yoruba has no grammatical gender, it has a distinction between human and non-human nouns when it comes to interrogative particles: "ta ni" for human nouns ('who?') and "kí ni" for non-human nouns ('what?'). The associative construction (covering possessive/genitive and related notions) consists of juxtaposing nouns in the order modified-modifier as in "inú àpótí" {inside box} 'the inside of the box', "fìlà Àkàndé" 'Akande's cap' or "àpótí aṣọ" 'box for clothes'. More than two nouns can be juxtaposed: "rélùweè abẹ́ ilẹ̀" (railway underground) 'underground railway', "inú àpótí aṣọ" 'the inside of the clothes box'. In the rare case that it results in two possible readings, disambiguation is left to the context. Plural nouns are indicated by a plural word.


title: Yoruba language

text: There are two 'prepositions': "ní" 'on, at, in' and "sí" 'onto, towards'. The former indicates location and absence of movement, and the latter encodes location/direction with movement. Position and direction are expressed by the prepositions in combination with spatial relational nouns like "orí" 'top', "apá" 'side', "inú" 'inside', "etí" 'edge', "abẹ́" 'under', "ilẹ̀" 'down', etc. Many of the spatial relational terms are historically related to body-part terms.


title: Yoruba language

text: The wide adoption of imported religions and civilizations such as Islam and Christianity has had an impact both on written and spoken Yoruba. In his "Arabic-English Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Quran and Sunnah", Yoruba Muslim scholar Abu-Abdullah Adelabu argued Islam has enriched African languages by providing them with technical and cultural augmentations with Swahili and Somali in East Africa and Turanci Hausa and Wolof in West Africa being the primary beneficiaries. Adelabu, a Ph D graduate from Damascus cited—among many other common usages—the following words to be Yoruba's derivatives of Arabic vocabularies:


title: Yoruba language

text: Among commonly Arabic words used in Yoruba are names of the days such as "Atalata" () for Tuesday, "Alaruba" () for Wednesday, "Alamisi" () for Thursday, and "Jimoh" (, Jumu'ah) for Friday. By far "Ọjọ́ Jimoh" is the most favorably used. It is usually referred to as the unpleasant word for Friday, "Ẹtì", which means failure, laziness, or abandonment. Ultimately, the standard words for the days of the week are Àìkú, Ajé, Ìṣẹ́gun, Ọjọ́rú, Ọjọ́bọ, Ẹtì, Àbámẹ́ta, for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday respectively. Friday remains Eti in the Yoruba language.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Consuelo Vanderbilt-Balsan (formerly Consuelo Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; born Consuelo Vanderbilt; March 2, 1877 – December 6, 1964) was a socialite and a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. Her first marriage to the 9th Duke of Marlborough has become a well-known example of one of the advantageous, but loveless, marriages common during the Gilded Age; as such, she was known as one of the earliest ‘dollar princesses’. The Duke obtained a large dowry by the marriage, and reportedly told her just after the marriage that he married her in order to "save Blenheim Palace", his ancestral home.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Although the teenage Consuelo was opposed to the marriage arranged by her mother, she became a popular and influential Duchess. For much of their 25-year marriage, the Marlboroughs lived separately and the marriage was finally annulled. Her first marriage produced two sons, John Spencer-Churchill, the 10th duke, and Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill. She went on to marry the wealthy French aviator Jacques Balsan and continued her charitable endeavours. She lived in France before World War II, when she and Balsan returned to live in New York. When she died, she was buried near her son, Lord Ivor, not far from Blenheim Palace.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Born in New York City, Consuelo Vanderbilt was the only daughter and eldest child of William Kissam Vanderbilt, a New York railroad millionaire, and his first wife, a Southern belle and budding suffragist Alva Erskine Smith (1853–1933, who later married Oliver Belmont) from Mobile, Alabama (a daughter of Murray Forbes Smith). Her Spanish name was in honor of her godmother, Consuelo Yznaga (1853–1909), a half-Cuban, half-American socialite who created a social stir a year earlier when she married the fortune-hunting George, Viscount Mandeville, a union of Old World aristocracy and New World money that caused the groom's father, the 7th Duke of Manchester, to openly wonder if his son and heir had married a "Red Indian". Consuelo and her friends were the inspiration for Edith Wharton's unfinished novel "The Buccaneers".


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Consuelo Vanderbilt was largely dominated by her mother, who was determined that her daughter would make a great marriage like that of her famous namesake. In her autobiography, Consuelo Vanderbilt described how she was required to wear a steel rod, which ran down her spine and fastened around her waist and over her shoulders, to improve her posture. She was educated entirely at home by governesses and tutors, and learned foreign languages at an early age. Her mother was abusive and whipped her with a riding crop for minor infractions. When, as a teenager, Consuelo objected to the clothing her mother had selected for her, Alva told her that ""I" do the thinking, you do as you are told."


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Like her godmother, Consuelo Vanderbilt attracted numerous title-bearing suitors anxious to trade social position for cash. Her mother reportedly received at least five proposals for her hand. Consuelo was allowed to consider the proposal of just one of the men, Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg, but she developed an instant aversion to him. None of the others, however, was good enough for Alva Vanderbilt, herself the daughter of a cotton broker. Consuelo Vanderbilt was considered a great beauty, with a face compelling enough to cause the playwright Sir James Barrie, author of "Peter Pan", to write, "I would stand all day in the street to see Consuelo Marlborough get into her carriage." Oxford undergraduate Guy Fortescue later described how he and his friends were captivated by her ""piquante" oval face perched upon a long slender neck, her enormous dark eyes fringed with curling lashes, her dimples, and her tiny teeth when she smiled." She came to embody the "slim, tight look" that was in vogue during the Edwardian era.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Determined to secure the highest-ranking mate possible for her only daughter, a union that would emphasize the preeminence of the Vanderbilt family in New York society, Alva Vanderbilt engineered a meeting between Consuelo and the indebted, titled Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, chatelain of Blenheim Palace. The matchmaker was a minor American heiress turned major English hostess, Lady Paget, the wife of Sir Arthur Paget. Born as Mary "Minnie" Stevens, Lady Paget was the daughter of Paran Stevens, the socially ambitious widow of an American hotel entrepreneur who had successfully obtained admittance to the exclusive New York society of the fabled "Four Hundred". Lady Paget, always short of money, soon became a sort of international marital agent, introducing eligible American heiresses to British noblemen.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Consuelo Vanderbilt had no interest in the duke, being secretly engaged to an American, Winthrop Rutherfurd. Her mother cajoled, wheedled, begged, and then, ultimately, ordered her daughter to marry Marlborough. When Consuelo – a docile teenager whose only notable characteristic at the time was abject obedience to her fearsome mother – made plans to elope, she was locked in her room as Alva threatened to murder Rutherfurd. Still she refused. It was only when Alva Vanderbilt claimed that her health was being seriously and irretrievably undermined by Consuelo's stubbornness and appeared to be at death's door that the malleable girl acquiesced. Alva made an astonishing recovery from her entirely phantom illness, and when the wedding took place, Consuelo stood at the altar reportedly weeping behind her veil. The duke, for his part, gave up the woman he reportedly loved back in England and collected US$2.5 million ($ in dollars) in railroad stock as a marriage settlement. Consuelo's father built a mansion for her in London, Sunderland House in Curzon Street.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Consuelo Vanderbilt married the 9th Duke of Marlborough at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York City, on November 6, 1895. They had two sons, John Albert William Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford (who became 10th Duke of Marlborough), and Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: The new duchess was adored by the poor and less fortunate tenants on her husband's estate, whom she visited and to whom she provided assistance. She later became involved with other philanthropic projects and was particularly interested in those that affected mothers and children. She was also a social success with royalty and the aristocracy of Britain. However, given the ill-fitting match between the duke and his wife, it was only a matter of time before their marriage was in name only. The duchess eventually was smitten with her husband's cousin, the Hon. Reginald Fellowes (the liaison did not last, to the relief of Fellowes's parents), while the duke fell under the spell of Gladys Marie Deacon, an eccentric American of little money but, like Consuelo, dazzling to look at and of considerable intellect. The Marlboroughs separated in 1906, divorced in 1921, and the marriage was annulled, at the duke's request and with Consuelo's assent, on 19 August 1926.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Though largely embarked upon as a way to facilitate the Anglican duke's desire to convert to Roman Catholicism, the annulment, to the surprise of many, also was fully supported by the former duchess's mother, who testified that the Vanderbilt–Marlborough marriage had been an act of unmistakable coercion. "I forced my daughter to marry the duke", Alva Belmont told an investigator, adding: "I have always had absolute power over my daughter." In later years, Consuelo and her mother enjoyed a closer, easier relationship.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Consuelo's second marriage, on July 4, 1921, was to Lt. Col. Jacques Balsan, a record-breaking pioneer French balloon, aircraft, and hydroplane pilot who once worked with the Wright Brothers. Also a textile manufacturing heir, Balsan was a younger brother of Étienne Balsan, who was an early lover of Coco Chanel. Jacques Balsan died in 1956 at the age of 88.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: After the annulment of her marriage to the Duke of Marlborough, she still maintained ties with favorite Churchill relatives, particularly Winston Churchill. He was a frequent visitor at her château, in Saint-Georges-Motel, a small commune near Dreux about 50 miles from Paris, in the 1920s and 1930s, where he completed his last painting before the war.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Records in Florida show that in 1932 Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan built a home in Manalapan, Florida, just south of Palm Beach. It was designed as a love nest by Maurice Fatio. The dream home of 26,000 square feet is called Casa Alva, in honor of her mother. Although Consuelo sold the house in 1957, it still exists. Many believe that Churchill polished his famous Iron Curtain Speech in that house as he visited his cousin's former wife on his way to Fulton, Missouri, to deliver an address at Westminster College.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Consuelo Balsan published her insightful but not entirely candid autobiography, "The Glitter and the Gold", in 1953. It was ghostwritten by Stuart Preston, an American writer who was an art critic for "The New York Times". A reviewer in the same paper called it "an ideal epitaph of the age of elegance."


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: Consuelo Balsan died at Southampton, Long Island, New York, on 6 December 1964. She was buried alongside her younger son, Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill, in the churchyard at St Martin's Church, Bladon, Oxfordshire, England, near her former home, Blenheim Palace.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: During World War I, Consuelo Vanderbilt worked as the chair of the Economic Relief Committee for the American Women's War Relief Fund.


title: Consuelo Vanderbilt

text: During the inter-war period, she and Winaretta Singer-Polignac (the Princess de Polignac and Singer Sewing Machine heiress) worked together in the construction of a 360-bed hospital destined to provide medical care to middle class workers. The result of this effort is the Foch Hospital, located in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris, France. The hospital also includes a school of nursing and is one of the top ranked hospitals in France, especially for renal transplants. It has remained true to its origins and stayed a private not-for-profit institution that still serves the Paris community. It is managed by the Fondation médicale Franco-américaine du Mont-Valérien, commonly called Foundation Foch.


title: Air gun

text: An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles using energy from compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized. This is in contrast to a firearm, which fires projectiles using energy created by burning combustible propellants, i.e. gunpowder.


title: Air gun

text: Air guns come in both long gun (air rifle) and handgun (air pistol) forms. Both types typically propel metallic projectiles that are either diabolo-shaped pellets or spherical shots called BBs, although in recent years Minié ball-shaped cylindro-conoidal projectiles called slugs are gaining more popularity. Certain types of air guns (usually air rifles) may also launch fin-stabilized projectile such as darts (e.g., tranquilizer guns) or hollow-shaft arrows (so-called "airbows").


title: Air gun

text: The first air guns were developed as early as the 16th century, and have since been used in hunting, shooting sport and even in warfare. There are three different power sources for modern air guns, depending on the design: spring-piston, pneumatic, or bottled compressed gas (most commonly carbon dioxide).


title: Air gun

text: Air guns represent the oldest pneumatic technology. The oldest existing mechanical air gun, a bellows air gun dating back to about 1580, is in the Livrustkammaren Museum in Stockholm. This is the time most historians recognize as the beginning of the modern air gun.


title: Air gun

text: Throughout 17th to 19th century, air guns in .30 to .51 calibers were used to hunt big-game, deer and wild boar. These air rifles were charged using a pump to fill an air reservoir and gave velocities from . They were also used in warfare, the most recognized example being the Girandoni air rifle.


title: Air gun

text: At that time, they had compelling advantages over the primitive firearms of the day. For example, air guns could be discharged in wet weather and rain (unlike both matchlock and flintlock muskets), and discharged much faster than muzzle-loading guns. Moreover, they were quieter than a firearm of similar caliber, had no muzzle flash, and were smokeless. Thus, they did not disclose the shooter's position or obscure the shooter's view, unlike the black powder muskets of the 18th and 19th centuries.


title: Air gun

text: In the hands of skilled soldiers, they gave the military a distinct advantage. France, Austria and other nations had special sniper detachments using air rifles. The Austrian 1770 model was named "Windbüchse" (literally "wind rifle" in German). The gun was developed in 1768 or 1769 by the Tyrolean watchmaker, mechanic and gunsmith Bartholomäus Girandoni (1744–1799) and is sometimes referred to as the Girandoni air rifle or Girandoni air gun in literature (the name is also spelled "Girandony," "Giradoni" or "Girardoni".) The "Windbüchse" was about long and weighed , about the same size and mass as a conventional musket. The air reservoir was a removable, club-shaped, butt. The "Windbüchse" carried twenty-two .51 caliber (13 mm) lead balls in a tubular magazine. A skilled shooter could fire off one magazine in about thirty seconds. A shot from this air gun could penetrate a wooden board at a hundred paces, an effect roughly equal to that of a modern 9×19mm or .45 ACP caliber pistol.


title: Air gun

text: Circa 1820, the Japanese inventor Kunitomo Ikkansai developed various manufacturing methods for guns, and also created an air gun based on the study of Western knowledge ("rangaku") acquired from the Dutch in Dejima.


title: Air gun

text: The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804) carried a reservoir air gun. It held 22 .46 caliber round balls in a tubular magazine mounted on the side of the barrel. The butt served as the air reservoir and had a working pressure of . The rifle was said to be capable of 22 aimed shots per minute and had a rifled bore of and a groove diameter .


title: Air gun

text: One of the first commercially successful and mass-produced air guns was manufactured by the William F. Markham's Markham Air Rifle Company in Plymouth, Michigan, US. Their first model air gun was the wooden "Challenger", marketed in 1886. In response, Clarence Hamilton from the neighboring Plymouth Air Rifle Company (later renamed to Daisy Manufacturing Company in 1895) marketed their all-metal Daisy BB Gun in early 1888, which prompted Markham to respond with their "Chicago" model in 1888 followed by the "King" model in 1890. The "Chicago" model was sold by Sears, Roebuck for 73 cents in its catalog. In 1928, the name of the Markham company was changed to King Air Rifle Company after the company was purchased by Daisy in 1916 after decades of intense competition, and continued to manufacture the "King" model air rifle until 1935 before ceasing operation altogether in the 1940s.


title: Air gun

text: During the 1890s, air rifles were used in Birmingham, England for competitive target shooting. Matches were held in public houses, which sponsored shooting teams. Prizes, such as a leg of mutton for the winning team, were paid for by the losing team. The sport became so popular that in 1899, the National Smallbore Rifle Association was created. During this time, over 4,000 air rifle clubs and associations existed across Great Britain, many of them in Birmingham. During this time, the air gun was associated with poaching because it could deliver a shot without a significant muzzle report.


title: Air gun

text: Air guns are used for small game hunting, pest control, recreational shooting (commonly known as plinking) and competitive sports such as the Olympic 10 m Air Rifle and 10 m Air Pistol events. Field Target (FT) is a competitive form of metallic silhouette shooting in which the targets are animal-shaped steel targets with a "kill zone" cut-out. Hunter Field Target (HFT) is a variation, using identical equipment, but with differing rules. The distances FT and HFT competitions are shot at range between for HFT & for FT, with varying sizes of "reducers" being used to increase or decrease the size of the kill zone. In the UK, competition power limits are set at the legal maximum for an unlicensed air rifle, i.e. . Air rifle benchrest is an international shooting sport where the objective is to hit a (small) bulls eye target at shooting distance. There are two divisions ARLV and ARHV .


title: Air gun

text: The increasing affordability of higher-power pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) rifles has allowed large projectiles and further target distance for competition purposes. For instance, the Extreme Benchrest competition held annually in Green Valley, Arizona allows calibers up to at 75 yd (68.58 m) while the Big Bore Benchrest arm of the same competition at other localities engages targets at .


title: Air gun

text: The component of an airgun that provides the gas pressure needed to propel projectiles is called its "powerplant". which uses internally stored pressurized gas; and "compressed gas" (most commonly CO), which uses external sources of pressurized gas.


title: Air gun

text: A spring-piston air gun (also known as a spring gun or simply a "springer") operates by means of a spring-loaded piston pump assembly contained within a compression chamber separate from the gun barrel. Traditionally, a grease-lubricated steel coil spring is used as the powerplant main spring. Before shooting, the user needs to manually cock the gun by flexing a lever connected to the pump assembly, which pulls the pump piston rearwards and compresses the main spring until the rear of the piston engages the sear. When shooting, the trigger is pulled and disengages the sear, allowing the main spring to decompress and release its stored elastic potential energy, pushing the piston forward, thereby compressing the air in the pump cylinder. Because the pump outlet (located to the front of the pump) is directly behind the pellet seated in the barrel chamber, once the air pressure has risen enough to overcome the static friction and/or barrel restriction holding back the pellet, the pellet is propelled forward by an expanding column of pressurized air. All this takes place in a fraction of a second, during which the air undergoes adiabatic heating to several hundred degrees and then cools as the air expands. This can also cause a phenomenon referred as "dieseling", where flammable substances in the compression chamber (e.g., petroleum-based lubricant) can be ignited by the compression heat like in a diesel engine, and lead to an afterburner effect with (often unpredictable) additional thrusts. This often results in combustion smoke coming out of the muzzle and potential pressure damage to the rubber O-ring seals inside the gun. Dieseling can be made to occur "intentionally" to increase power, by coating the pellet with lubricant or petroleum jelly, although this is normally not recommended as it may result in a more severe damage to the rubber seals.


title: Air gun

text: Most spring-piston guns are single-shot breechloaders by nature, but multiple-shot repeaters with magazine feeders have been introduced in recent years by manufacturers such as Gamo, Umarex and Hatsan.


title: Air gun

text: Spring-piston guns, especially the high-powered "magnum" guns, are able to achieve muzzle velocities near or exceeding the speed of sound. The effort required for the cocking stroke is usually related to the designed power of the gun, with higher muzzle velocities requiring a stiffer spring and hence a greater cocking effort. Spring-piston guns have a practical upper limit of for .177 cal (4.5 mm) pellets, as higher velocities cause unstable pellet flight and loss of accuracy. This is due to the extreme buffeting caused when the pellet reaches and surpasses transonic speed, then slows back down and goes through sound barrier again, which is more than enough to destabilize the pellet's flight. Shortly after leaving the barrel, the supersonic pellet falls back below the speed of sound and the shock wave overtakes the pellet, causing its flight stability to be disrupted. Drag increases rapidly as pellets are pushed past the speed of sound, so it is generally better to increase pellet weight to keep velocities subsonic in high-powered guns. Sonic crack from the pellet as it moves with supersonic speed also makes the shot louder sometimes making it possible to be mistaken for firearm discharge. Many shooters have found that velocities in the range offer an ideal balance between power and pellet stability.


title: Air gun

text: Spring-piston guns, especially high-powered ("magnum") models, do still recoil as a result of the mainspring pushing the piston forward. Although the recoil is less than that of some cartridge firearms, it can make the gun difficult to shoot accurately as the spring recoil is in effect while the pellet is still within the barrel. Spring gun recoil also has a sharp forward component, caused by the piston hitting the front end of the pump chamber when the spring has fully decompressed. These rapid double-jerking movements are known to damage scopes not rated for spring gun usage. In addition, the spring often has unpredictable collateral transverse vibrations as well as torquing, both of which can cause accuracy to suffer. These vibrations can be controlled by adding features like close-fitting spring guides or by aftermarket tuning done by "air gunsmiths" who specialize in air gun modifications, a common one being the addition of viscous silicone grease to the spring, which both lubricates it and damps vibration. Some shooters hold the gun in a very loose grip (coined as the "artillery hold") that allows the gun to vibrate in a natural and consistent manner. There are also newer models with a floating receiver design that allows the action to slide over the stock autonomously, thus making the gun less hold-sensitive.


title: Air gun

text: The better quality spring guns can have very long service lives, being simple to maintain and repair. Because they deliver the same mechanical energy output on each shot, external ballistics are quite consistent. Most Olympic air gun competitions through the 1970s and into the 1980s were shot with spring-piston guns, often of the opposing-piston recoil-eliminating type. Beginning in the 1980s, guns powered by compressed/liquefied carbon dioxide began to dominate the competition. Today, the guns used at the highest levels of competition are powered by compressed air.


title: Air gun

text: Some newer generation air guns incorporate a gas spring (commonly referred to as a "gas piston", "gas ram", "gas strut" or "nitro piston") instead of a mechanical spring. The spring itself is essentially a stand-alone enclosed piston pump without outlets and with pressurized air or inert gas (such as nitrogen) held tightly sealed within the cylinder. When the gun is cocked, the gas inside the cylinder gets further compressed by the piston, stores potential energy and acts in effect as a pneumatic accumulator. Gas spring units require higher precision to manufacture since they require a low-friction sliding seal that can withstand the high pressures within when cocked. The advantages of the gas spring include the ability to keep the gun cocked and ready to fire for extended periods of time without long-term spring fatigue, no twisting torque (caused by coil spring expanding) exerted onto the gun, smoother recoil pattern and faster "lock time" (the time between pulling the trigger and the pellet being discharged), which all result in more consistent accuracy. Gas springs perform more reliably in cold climates than coil springs, because metallic coil springs need to be coated with lubricating grease which often thickens in low temperatures causing the gun to "freeze up". Gas springs also have less lateral and longitudinal vibrations than coil springs, hence are usually less "hold-sensitive", making it easier to achieve consistent shot groupings.


title: Air gun

text: Pneumatic airguns propel the projectiles by utilizing the pneumatic potential energy within compressed air, which is pressurized beforehand and stored inside the gun, and then released through valves during shooting. Single-stroke and multi-stroke pump guns utilize an on-board hand pump to pressurize air in an internal reservoir, while pre-charged pneumatic guns' reservoirs are filled from an external source using either a high-pressure stand pump or by decanting air from a larger diving cylinder.


title: Air gun

text: Pump pneumatic air guns, or pump guns, use a lever-operated onboard air pump to pressurize an internal reservoir, and then discharge the stored compressed air during shooting. Depending on the design, pump guns can be either single-stroke or multi-stroke.


title: Air gun

text: Pre-charged pneumatic air guns (PCPs) have their internal reservoir pre-filled from an external air source (such as a diving cylinder or air compressor, or by manual charging with a high-pressure stand pump), and remain pressurized until depleted after repeated shooting. During shooting, the hammer strikes the reservior's release valve, allowing a set volume of the pressurized air to be discharged into the chamber and propel the projectile. Depending on the release valve design, PCP air guns can be categorized into two types – "unregulated" and "regulated" (which has either a mechanical or electronic regulator valve). In addition to compressed air, custom PCP models using compressed pure nitrogen and even compressed helium have also been recently developed.


title: Air gun

text: Because of the need for cylinders or charging systems, PCP guns have higher initial costs but much lower operating costs when compared to CO rifles, and have superior performance over ordinary pump guns. Having no significant movement of heavy mechanical parts during the discharge cycle, PCP airgun designs produce lower recoil, and can shoot as many as 100 shots per charge depending on the tank/reservoir size. The ready supply of air has allowed the development of semi- and fully automatic air guns. PCP guns are very popular in Europe because of their accuracy and ease of use. They are widely utilized in ISSF 10 metre air pistol and rifle shooting events and the sport of Field Target shooting, and are usually fitted with telescopic sights.


title: Air gun

text: Early stand pump designs encountered problems of fatigue (both human and mechanical), temperature warping, and condensation – none of which are beneficial to accurate shooting or the airguns' longevity. Modern stand pumps have multi-stage chambers and built-in air filtration systems and have overcome many of these problems. Using scuba-quality air decanted from a diving cylinder provides consistently clean, dry, high-pressure air.


title: Air gun

text: During the typical PCP's discharge cycle, the hammer of the rifle is released by the sear to strike the bash valve. The hammer may move rearwards or forwards, unlike firearms where the hammer almost always moves forward. The valve is held closed by a spring and the pressure of the air in the reservoir. The pressure of the spring is constant, and the pressure of the air released (which is also known as the "working pressure") decreases with each successive shot. As a result, when the reservoir pressure is high, the valve opens less fully and closes faster than when the reservoir pressure is lower, resulting in a similar total volume of air flowing past the valve with each shot. This results in a degree of partial self-regulation that gives a greater consistency of velocity from shot to shot, which corresponds to the middle "plateau" phase of the gun's shot-to-shot muzzle velocity profile (also known as the "power curve" ). Well-designed PCP will display good shot-to-shot consistency over a long period, as the air reservoir is being depleted.


title: Air gun

text: Other PCP rifles and pistols are regulated, i.e. the firing valve operates within a secondary chamber separated from the main air reservoir by the regulator body. The regulator maintains the pressure within this secondary chamber at a set pressure (lower than the main reservoir's) until the main reservoir's pressure drops to the point where it can no longer do so. As a result, shot-to-shot consistency is maintained for longer than in an unregulated rifle, and the gun can also output more shots due to reduced waste of reservoir pressure.


title: Air gun

text: Compressed gas guns, also known as "CG gun's, are essentially pneumatic airguns utilizing detachable pressure reservoirs in the form of prefilled external gas cylinders (often with built-in regulator valves), and are commonly referred to as "CO gun"s due to the ubiquitous commercial use of bottled liquid carbon dioxide. However, more recent high-end models sometimes use larger compressed air/nitrogen (known as HPA or "N") cylinders, which have higher operating pressures and better thermal stability.


title: Air gun

text: CO guns, like other pneumatic guns using compressed air, offer power for repeated shots in a compact package without the need for complex pumping or filling mechanisms. The ability to store power for repeated shots also means that repeating arms are possible. There are many replica revolvers and semi-automatic pistols on the market that use CO power. Most CO guns use a disposable cylinder called a "Powerlet" cartridge, that is often purchased with of pressurized CO gas, although some, usually more expensive models, use larger refillable CO reservoirs like those typically used with paintball markers.


title: Air gun

text: CO guns are popular for training, as the guns and ammunition are inexpensive, relatively safe to use, and no specialized facilities are needed for safety. In addition, they can be purchased and owned in areas where firearms possession is either strictly controlled or banned outright. Most CO powered guns are relatively inexpensive, and there are a few precision target guns available that use CO.


title: Air gun

text: High-pressure air (HPA) system, or "N", was originally developed for paintball markers as a replacement for CO cartridges, and uses Powerlet interface-compatible diving cylinders filled with either pure nitrogen or compressed air (which is 78% nitrogen). Because nitrogen is more inert than CO, it remains in the gaseous state longer when compressed; when it expands, it cools due to the Joule-Thomson effect but at a far lower rate than liquid CO because there is no change in state from liquid to gas. This thermostability reduces the variation in output pressure associated with rapid successions of firing cycles, improving accuracy and reliability in extreme climates. However, because compressed air is stored at higher pressures (up to ) than liquid CO (stored at around ), HPA cylinders are more expensive. Cylinders smaller than may not even last as long as a standard CO cartridge when subjected to frequent uses.


title: Air gun

text: It is also possible to power an HPA-compatible gun directly from a plug-in air compressor without using a gas cylinder, though this type of setup is rare.


title: Air gun

text: First developed in the United Kingdom during the 1980s as the Saxby-Palmer Ensign, and then by Brocock as the "Brocock Air Cartridge System" (BACS) and later into the "Tandem Air Cartridge" (TAC), this variation of the pre-charged pneumatic design have no pressure reservoir built into the gun, but instead use removable and reusable metallic gas cylinders often known as "Brocock cartridges" after its British manufacturer. Each air cartridge is essentially a self-contained gas reservoir housed inside a cartridge case (usually in the size of a .38 Special), with an internal bash valve designed to release the content when the base of the cartridge is struck. Prior to shooting, each cartridge is pre-filled with sufficient compressed air for one shot (typically via a multi-stroke hand pump) and has a .177/.22 caliber pellet pre-seated to its front slot, and the entire cartridge is then inserted into a chamber in the gun barrel. When shooting, the hammer hits the rear of the air cartridge, mimicking the function of a centerfire ammunition. This allows the airgun to be constructed and operated in similar fashions to genuine firearms. It also allows for higher shot consistency because each cartridge can be easily filled to an identical air charge, essentially removing the "power curve" of conventional PCP guns and bypassing any need for regulators. It also simplifies the magazine feed design and eliminates the risk of deforming the projectiles when the action seats each pellet, as the soft lead pellet is protected from contact with the action probe by the harder cartridge casing.


title: Air gun

text: The air cartridge system, both in the rifle and revolver forms, was at the peak of its popularity throughout the 1990s. The popularity of the Brocock range was such that, by 2002, estimates put the number of air cartridge guns in circulation around 70,000-80,000. However, a small number of incidents relating to the alleged illegal conversion of (mainly) Brococks to allow them to discharge live ammunition sparked a media frenzy. In early 2002, the BBC reported that figures from the National Criminal Intelligence Service showed converted Brococks accounted for 35 per cent of all guns recovered by the police, and David McCrone, firearms adviser to the Association of Chief Police Officers and Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, told the BBC's "Newsnight" "there is evidence which would justify banning them". After the UK government implemented the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 in January 2004, it became illegal to possess such airguns without a firearm certificate in the United Kingdom. Brocock subsequently ceased production of all air cartridge systems and turned to focus primarily on PCP airguns.


title: Air gun

text: The most popular ammunition used in rifled air guns is made of lead, a heavy metal. Lead is highly poisonous (whether inhaled or swallowed), affecting almost every organ and system in the human body. For this reason, lead-free pellets are becoming increasingly popular, and are available in all major shapes and styles, just like traditional lead pellets.


title: Air gun

text: By far the most popular shape is the wasp-waisted diabolo pellet, which has two sections – a solid front portion called the "head", which contains the center of mass and is available in a variety of shapes and styles such as flat (wadcutter), round (domed), cone-shaped (pointed) and pitted (hollow point); and a hollowed, thin-walled conical rear portion called the "skirt", which expands and fully engages the bore to provide a good seal and thus allows maximal efficiency in pellet propulsion during shooting. In flight, the skirt has greater drag-to-weight ratio than the head and exerts a rearward pull behind the center of mass, similar to that of a shuttlecock. This produces a phenomenon known as "drag stabilization", which helps to counteract yawing and maintain a consistent flight path. However, the diabolo shape also means that the overall pellet will have poor ballistic coefficient and tends to lose energy quickly and be more unstable especially in the transonic region (272–408 m/s ~ 893–1340 ft/s).


title: Air gun

text: Diabolo pellets are conventionally made from lead, but are widely available in non-lead alternatives, such as tin, or a combination of materials such as steel or gold alloys with polymer tips. A variety of lead-free pellets are offered by all major pellet manufacturers, including H&N Sport, RWS, JSB, Gamo, and others. Since lead is very dense, it has a higher ballistic coefficient than lightweight alternatives such as tin, copper, or plastic. At the present time, the airgun industry does not mass-produce dense alternatives to lead with a high ballistic coefficient for long-range shooting.


title: Air gun

text: Some manufacturers also have recently introduced the more cylindro-conoidal-shaped "slug" pellets for the more powerful modern PCP air rifles. Compared to the commonly used diabolo pellets, these slug pellets resemble Minié balls and have more contact surface with the bore and hence need greater propelling force to overcome friction, but have better aerodynamics, ballistic coefficient, and longer effective ranges due to the more similar shape to firearm bullets, however they also require a fully rifled barrel for spin stabilization in flight. They are also made of lead, and precautions should be taken when handling them, or preparing animals for food, as lead fragments can be easily missed inside the meat.


title: Air gun

text: The BB shot was once the most common airgun ammunition in the US, thanks to the popularity of Daisy’s line of BB airguns. A BB is a small metallic ball in 4.5 mm/.177" diameter, typically made of steel (with a copper or zinc coating) or lead. Originally called the "round shot", the contemporary name came from the "BB"- size lead birdshot used in shotgun shells, which the first BB gun invented in 1886 was designed to shoot. Steel BBs can be acceptably accurate at short distances when fired from properly designed BB guns with smoothbore barrels. Lead #3 buckshot pellets can be used in .25" caliber airguns as if they were large BBs.


title: Air gun

text: Due to the hardness of the steel, steel BBs cannot "take" to rifled barrels, which is why they are undersized (4.4 mm ball against 4.5 mm bore) to allow them to be used in .177" rifled barrels, which when used in this configuration can in effect be considered smoothbore, but with a poorer gas-seal, and if 4.5 mm diameter BBs are used, they would jam in the bore. Therefore, steel BBs lack the spin stabilization required for long-range accuracy, and usage in any but the cheapest rifled guns is discouraged. The softer lead BBs however can be used in rifled barrels.


title: Air gun

text: Typically BBs are used for indoor practice, casual outdoor plinking, training children, or to save money, as they are significantly cheaper than pellets. Replica pistols allow people to train with a BB gun, saving a lot of money to centerfire firearm cartridges. Care should be exercised to avoid ricochet, and safety glasses are recommended. Recently, manufacturers have created frangible BBs, which break apart and do not ricochet, reducing the hazards associated with BB guns.


title: Air gun

text: Some shotgunners use sightless BB rifles to train in instinctive shooting. Similar guns were also used briefly by the United States Army in a Vietnam-era instinctive shooting program called "Quick Kill".


title: Air gun

text: In the 18th and 19th centuries, air gun darts were popular, largely because they could be reused. Although less popular now, several different types of darts are made to be used in air guns, but it is not recommended that darts be used in air guns with rifled bores or in spring-powered air guns. Air guns that shoot darts are sometimes called "dart guns", and "tranquilizer guns" if the darts used are loaded with anesthetic (tranquilizer) compounds.


title: Air gun

text: Some modern air guns are designed to discharge arrows and are called "arrow guns" or sometimes "airbows". These arrows are designed with a hollow shaft that is open in the rear where the nock would normally be. When loaded, the hollow arrow shaft is slid rearwards over a barrel whose external diameter is only fractionally smaller than the shaft's interior diameter, providing a close-enough fitting that minimizes rattling and gives a reasonable enveloping seal without causing too much friction. During shooting, the trigger releases high-pressure air from the barrel to the front portion of the hollow arrow shaft, pushing the arrow forward. Such air guns can shoot arrows at launch velocities rivalling or even exceeding high-end crossbows, while retaining consistency of precision unaffected by archer's paradox, but they are also more expensive to set up and maintain.


title: Air gun

text: The modern pentathlon has since 2009 included a laser-run event that replaced the traditional cross country run of 3,200 metres and timed air-pistol shoot. The competitors run 4 laps of 800 m combined with 4 rounds of firing. The pistols used are modified air pistols that fire an eye-safe laser beam towards a target at the same time as a discharge of air. This has made the organisation of the events easier from a safety point of view and allows competitors to travel more easily with their weapons.


title: Air gun

text: Larger caliber air rifles suitable for hunting large animals are offered by major manufacturers. These are usually PCP guns. The major calibers available are:


title: Air gun

text: While in some countries air guns are not subject to any specific regulation, in most, there are laws which differ widely. Each jurisdiction has its definition of an air gun. Regulations may vary for weapons of different bore, muzzle energy, velocity, or ammunition material. Guns designed to fire metal pellets are often more tightly controlled than airsoft weapons. There may be a minimum age for possession, and sales of both air guns and ammunition may be restricted. Some areas require permits and background checks similar to those required for propellant type firearms.


title: Air gun

text: While historical air guns have been made specifically for warfare, modern air guns can also be deadly. In medical literature, modern air guns have been noted as a cause of death. This has been the case for guns of caliber .177 and .22 that are within the legal muzzle energy of air guns in the United Kingdom.


title: Sarah Millican

text: Sarah Jane Millican ( King; born 29 May 1975) is an English comedian, writer and presenter. Millican won the comedy award for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In February 2013 she was listed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Radio 4's "Woman's Hour", and in the same year she married fellow comedian Gary Delaney. Her first book, "How to Be Champion", was published in 2017. Millican has performed on various tours, mainly across the United Kingdom, over the years.


title: Sarah Millican

text: Millican was born and brought up in South Shields, England, the daughter of Valerie Prince and Philip D. King, who was a mining electrician. She attended Mortimer Comprehensive School, later to become Mortimer Community College, and then worked as a civil servant at a job centre until the age of 29. She was married on 5 November 1997 but divorced in 2004 and moved back in with her parents for two and a half years.


title: Sarah Millican

text: Millican's debut Edinburgh Festival Fringe show "Sarah Millican's Not Nice", inspired by her divorce, won the if.comedy award for Best Newcomer in 2008. In spring 2009 she began previewing her second Edinburgh show, attracting enthusiastic reviews for her material on the battle of the sexes. Newcastle newspaper "The Journal" praised Millican's "sharp observations of gender-led behaviour". Her third show, "Chatterbox", was hosted by the Stand Comedy Club during Fringe 2010. The show was nominated for the main Edinburgh Comedy Award, losing to Russell Kane.


title: Sarah Millican

text: Millican has appeared as a panellist on "8 Out of 10 Cats", "Have I Got News for You", "Mock the Week", "You Have Been Watching", "Would I Lie to You?", "QI" and "Never Mind the Buzzcocks", and as a performer at "The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008" and on "4 Stands Up". She has also appeared a few times as a contestant on the Channel 4 crossover game show "8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown". She was featured in the Manchester edition of "Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow", which was broadcast in June 2009, made an appearance on the third episode of David Mitchell's panel show "The Bubble" in March 2010, and has been a guest on six episodes of "Frank Skinner's Opinionated".


title: Sarah Millican

text: She provided vocal work to the BBC's natural history footage for "Walk on the Wild Side", alongside fellow comics Rhod Gilbert, Jon Richardson, Isy Suttie and Gavin Webster. She appeared on "Live at the Apollo" on 11 December 2009, and headlined "Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow", recorded at the Empire Theatre, Sunderland on 15 August 2010. Millican also headlined the fourth episode of "Dave's One Night Stand".


title: Sarah Millican

text: Her radio series, "Sarah Millican's Support Group", began broadcasting on 18 February 2010 on BBC Radio 4. The format is that studio audience members are encouraged to share problems with her agony aunt character for her to offer tips "in the same way as the busybody at the end of your street who knows everything and dishes out advice whether you want to hear it or not does". Some problems are scripted, the roles being played by guest actors, while others come from real people in the audience, to allow Sarah to improvise. Audience member problems have included "My boyfriend prefers his Blackberry to me". A pair of "therapists", also played by actors, feature in each week's show and provide scripted and improvised responses to all the "problems". A second series debuted on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 2 May 2011.


title: Sarah Millican

text: She was a regular co-host of the satirical news show "7 Day Sunday" on BBC Radio 5 Live, along with comedians Chris Addison, Andy Zaltzman and one different guest each week. The first episode aired in January 2010; she and Addison left the show on 27 February 2011.


title: Sarah Millican

text: In December 2011, she voiced three "Viz" "Comedy Blaps" alongside Steve Coogan, Simon Greenall and Gavin Webster for Channel 4.


title: Sarah Millican

text: Also in 2011, Millican became a panellist on the ITV programme "The Marriage Ref" and joined the panel on ITV daytime chat show "Loose Women", leaving the series in August. She was also a guest on several other panel and chat shows. A live DVD of her "Chatterbox" tour was released in November 2011 by Channel 4. The Chatterbox DVD went on to break an all-time record in sales for a female stand-up comedian selling 172,000 copies in just over one month.


title: Sarah Millican

text: Millican's television series, "The Sarah Millican Television Programme", was first broadcast on 8 March 2012 on BBC Two. In November 2012, she released a follow-up live DVD, "Thoroughly Modern Millican". In early January 2013, she appeared for a couple of nights on "The One Show". On 15 January 2013, she began presenting a second series of "The Sarah Millican Television Programme". Millican was nominated for 2013 and 2014 BAFTA Entertainment Performance awards for her work in "The Sarah Millican Television Programme".


title: Sarah Millican

text: Millican appeared in a celebrity episode of "Deal or No Deal" broadcast on 29 April 2012, where she won £20,000 for charity. She had £100,000 in her box. Also, on the 10th anniversary of the program, she hosted while regular host Noel Edmonds played for charity. He won £26,000.


title: Sarah Millican

text: In September 2014, Millican founded "Standard Issue", an online magazine for women, which was followed up by a spinoff podcast in February 2016.


title: Sarah Millican

text: Millican also participated in BBC's Comic Relief 2015, appearing as a host during the live broadcast on Friday 13 March 2015.


title: Sarah Millican

text: In May 2015, it was announced that Millican would be made the eighth "curator" of "The Museum of Curiosity", co-presenting the eighth series of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series.


title: Sarah Millican

text: Millican's autobiography, "How to be Champion", was published in October 2017. Dates were later announced for her 2018 UK tour, Control Enthusiast, which was later extended into Oceania and Canada.


title: Sarah Millican

text: In 2019, Millican began presenting the comedy panel show "Elephant in the Room" for Radio 4. The show focuses on the panellists being asked about various life experiences and testing who is closest and farthest from the national average, and Millican has said that she wishes to defy typical panel show gender ratios on the show by having "three champion women and one smashing male".


title: Sarah Millican

text: In November 2019 Millican began a YouTube channel, uploading clips from her stand-up shows and "The Sarah Millican Television Programme" as well as interviews from other shows. As of November 2022 the channel has accumulated over 65 million views and 400,000 subscribers. In lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 Millican began uploading a series of videos entitled "How to Be Champion Storytime" in which she read a section of her autobiography every day. In 2021 she began touring the UK with her sixth stand-up show, "Bobby Dazzler".


title: Sarah Millican

text: In June 2022, Millican was confirmed as a contestant in the 14th season of Taskmaster, airing in September 2022.


title: Sarah Millican

text: After her husband left her unexpectedly in 2004, Millican found solace in attending writing workshops in local theatres, such as at Newcastle's Live Theatre and the Customs House in South Shields. Jokes about her failed marriage initially formed the majority of Millican's comedy material.


title: Sarah Millican

text: She began a relationship with fellow stand-up comic Gary Delaney in 2006. The couple moved in together and married in December 2013.


title: Sarah Millican

text: In February 2013 Millican was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by "Woman's Hour" on BBC Radio 4.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: Kate del Castillo Negrete Trillo () is a Mexican-American actress. At the age of 19, del Castillo became known for her lead role in the telenovela "Muchachitas" for Televisa in 1991. Afterwards, she continued her career in film and television in Latin America, playing the leading roles in telenovelas, including "Alguna vez tendremos alas" (1997), "La Mentira" (1998), "Ramona" (2000), and "Bajo la misma piel" (2003–04).


title: Kate del Castillo

text: In 2011, del Castillo earned worldwide recognition for playing the lead role in the Telemundo series "La Reina del Sur". In 2017, she went to star in the Netflix political drama series "Ingobernable" playing First Lady of Mexico Emilia Urquiza. Del Castillo made her Hollywood debut playing a female leading role in the 2007 drama film "Under the Same Moon" and later appeared in supporting roles in films "No Good Deed" (2014), "The 33" (2015), "El Chicano" (2019), and "Bad Boys for Life" (2020).


title: Kate del Castillo

text: Del Castillo was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She is the daughter of Kate Trillo Graham and Eric del Castillo, a legend of Mexican cinema and a soap opera actor himself. Del Castillo has two siblings: a sister, the journalist Verónica del Castillo, and a half-brother, Ponciano, from her father's side.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: Del Castillo made her acting debut in 1978 when she took part in a film called "The Last Escape". She became well known in 1991 when she starred as Leticia in "Muchachitas", a telenovela airing in several Latin American countries. The following year, she went to star in "Mágica juventud". Her other leading roles in 1990s was in "Azul" (1996), long-running "Alguna vez tendremos alas" (1997), and "La mentira". In 1995 she appeared in the music video "Fuego de Noche, Nieve de Día" by Ricky Martin.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: In early 2000s, Del Castillo played the leading roles in telenovelas "Ramona" (2000), "El derecho de nacer" (2001) and "Bajo la misma piel" (2003-2004). In 2003, she made her American television debut playing a recurring role in the PBS drama series "American Family" starring Edward James Olmos and Sônia Braga. In 2009, she had a recurring role in the Showtime dark comedy-drama "Weeds" playing Pilar Zuazo, a powerful woman in Mexican politics. In 2002 and 2003, she embarked on an international tour alongside Argentine actor Saul Lisazo with the play "Cartas de Amor" ("Love Letters"). In 2005, she starred alongside Demián Bichir in the romantic comedy film "American Visa". In 2006, Del Castillo starred in the film "Bordertown", which became her first role in Hollywood. In 2007, she went to star in the drama film "Under the Same Moon" directed by Patricia Riggen. The film grossed $23.3 million against $1.7 million budget. She also starred in a number of independent movies, include "The Black Pimpernel" (2007) and "Julia" alongside Tilda Swinton.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: In November 2007, Del Castillo was named one of the "Stars of the Year" and in 2011 one of the "25 most influential women" and "50 most beautiful" by "People en Español" magazine. In 2009, del Castillo was appointed Ambassador for the Mexican Commission on Human Rights and the following year she helped launch the Blue Heart Campaign in order to raise awareness and fight human trafficking.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: In 2011, Del Castillo starred as Teresa "La Mexicana" Mendoza in the Telemundo telenovela "La reina del sur" based on a novel of the same name by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a role that skyrocketed her fame across Latin America. With a $10 million budget it is the second most expensive telenovela ever produced by Telemundo. The series later was renewed for a second season, that premiered in 2019. del Castillo continued her collaboration with Telemundo in 2015, starring in "Duenos del Paraiso." The telenovela is inspired by the drug trade of Miami in the 1970s. She also appeared in a number of American television shows, include "", "Grimm" and "Dallas". In 2015, she had a recurring role as Rogelio de la Vega's ex-wife in the CW comedy series, "Jane the Virgin".


title: Kate del Castillo

text: On November 20, 2015 Del Castillo launched a new brand of tequila named "Honor del Castillo" in association with the Vivanco Family. She serves as the spokesperson for the brand. Del Castillo has also appeared in advertising campaigns for L'Oréal and Ford.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: In 2012, Del Castillo starred in the Mexican film "", which centers around the assassination of the Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio. The following year, she starred in the American prison drama film "K-11". In later years, Del Castillo appeared in many American movies, including playing Idris Elba's ex in the 2014 thriller "No Good Deed", Antonio Banderas' wife in the disaster-survival drama "The 33", "All About Nina" (2018), "El Chicano" (2019), and "Bad Boys for Life" (2020). In 2017, she went to star in the Netflix political thriller series, "Ingobernable" playing the fictional First Lady of Mexico, Emilia Urquiza. The second season premiered in 2018.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: In 2019, del Castillo made her off-Broadway debut in the Audible Theater production of Isaac Gomez's play "The Way She Spoke". The performance earned her Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play nominations, making her the first Mexican actress to be nominated for three theatre awards in New York.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: In 2022, del Castillo will star in the Peacock comedy-drama series, "Armas De Mujer". She also set to star and produce "A Beautiful Lie", a six-part miniseries that a modern take in Spanish on Leo Tolstoy’s "Anna Karenina".


title: Kate del Castillo

text: One of del Castillo's first known romantic relations was with Emilio Azcárraga Jean, son of media mogul Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, and now CEO of the largest mass media company in Latin America, the Televisa Group. On February 3, 2001, she married football player Luis García. The marriage was dissolved on September 1, 2004. In August 2009, del Castillo married Aarón Díaz in a Las Vegas ceremony. On July 26, 2011, it was announced that Kate and Díaz were separating. Del Castillo was briefly romantically connected with Sean Penn from 2015 to 2016, although the actor's representatives contest this. It has been frequently asserted in the media that del Castillo was romantically involved with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, allegations that the actress vehemently denies.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: On August 22, 2005, it was reported by the LAPD that del Castillo's new house in Los Angeles had been broken into by thieves, who took some jewelry from the actress. Del Castillo was in Los Angeles filming "Bordertown", a film about the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, when the burglary occurred. A frequent activist for a variety of causes, she posed in a 2012 PETA ad campaign encouraging pet owners to "fiercely protect" their dogs and cats by keeping them indoors. She became a citizen of the United States in September 2015 and resides in Los Angeles.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: During an interview with Cristina Saralegui on the "Cristina Show", del Castillo revealed that her favorite band is the English new wave band Duran Duran.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: On January 9, 2012, del Castillo publicly posted an essay on Twitter (using Twextra) discussing social issues in Mexico that included controversial statements directed towards Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the infamous head of the Sinaloa Cartel. The essay included requests to Mr. Guzmán to "deal with love, with good things" and to "[begin to] traffic in love." The most controversial portion of the essay stated: "Today I believe more in Chapo Guzmán [than in] the government that hides painful truths from me, that hides the cure for cancer, AIDS, etc., for their own benefit and wealth."


title: Kate del Castillo

text: Unbeknownst to del Castillo, Guzmán was a longtime fan who harbored romantic feelings for her. Authorities found DVDs of "La Reina del Sur" at the safe house stormed during Guzmán's initial capture. Del Castillo was contacted by Guzmán's lawyer to discuss producing a biographical film about Guzmán in 2014. As a result of the meetings, she obtained the rights to his life and was unknowingly placed under CISEN surveillance. Communication increased following Guzmán's escape from prison in July 2015. She received a cell phone and the code names "Hermosa" and "Dama" from Guzmán. She brokered an interview between American actor Sean Penn and Guzmán in October 2015, shortly before Mexican Marines recaptured him (del Castillo claims in her that she did not know Penn intended to interview the drug lord during the meeting). CISEN later released photographs of del Castillo at the meetings with Guzmán's lawyer and of the arrival of the actress and Penn to Mexico.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: Sean Penn and Del Castillo's actions remain under investigation by the Attorney General of Mexico. She was subpoenaed on January 18, 2016 and was to testify before the public prosecutor at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles. Del Castillo was originally under investigation for money laundering in relation to the planned movie about Guzmán and her tequila brand "Honor del Castillo". The investigation was suspended in 2017 as there was no evidence that proved that Guzmán ever paid del Castillo any money.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: On February 5, 2016, a Mexican judge granted del Castillo's petition for an injunction against any arrest related to the federal investigation into her ties with Joaquín Guzmán. The Mexican Attorney General issued a detain-and-interrogate order on del Castillo; however, that would only become effective if del Castillo set foot on Mexican soil. That order was issued after she did not heed a request to voluntarily appear before Mexican prosecutors.


title: Kate del Castillo

text: Kate del Castillo did not return to Mexico until December 2018 and therefore since the injunction was issued in 2016 and 2017 filming locations for "Ingobernable" were changed to San Diego to accommodate restrictions on her travel.


title: Gates McFadden

text: Cheryl Gates McFadden (born March 2, 1949) is an American actress and choreographer. She is usually credited as Cheryl McFadden when working as a choreographer and Gates McFadden for acting work. She is best known for playing Dr. Beverly Crusher in the "" television series and in the four subsequent films.


title: Gates McFadden

text: McFadden was born in Akron, Ohio. She attended Brandeis University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts ("cum laude") in the theatre arts, before moving to Paris, where she studied theatre with actor Jacques Lecoq at his school of physical theatre. McFadden is of Lithuanian descent on her mother's side.


title: Gates McFadden

text: McFadden worked at The Jim Henson Company as the director of choreography and puppet movement for "Labyrinth", "The Muppets Take Manhattan", and uncredited work on "Dreamchild". As a way of distinguishing her acting work from her choreography, she is usually credited as "Gates McFadden" as an actress and "Cheryl McFadden" as a choreographer. However, she was credited as "Cheryl McFadden" in the Troma movie "When Nature Calls" (1985) and in the season-three episode of "The Cosby Show", "Cliff's 50th Birthday". She appeared in "The Hunt for Red October" as Jack Ryan's wife Caroline.


title: Gates McFadden

text: In 1987, McFadden was cast as Dr. Beverly Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation". The Crusher character was slated to be Captain Jean-Luc Picard's love interest; another important aspect of the character was being a widow balancing motherhood and a career. Maurice Hurley, head writer and showrunner, did not like working with McFadden and, at Hurley's demand, she was let go at the end of season one. Diana Muldaur joined the production as the "Enterprise"s new chief medical officer, Dr. Katherine Pulaski, for the second season.


title: Gates McFadden

text: Series creator Gene Roddenberry admitted that the Dr. Pulaski character did not develop a chemistry with the other characters, so McFadden was approached to return as Dr. Crusher for the third season. At first, she was hesitant, but after a phone call from co-star Patrick Stewart, and numerous fan letters, McFadden was persuaded to return to the role, which she then played through the remainder of the series.


title: Gates McFadden

text: Highlights for her character included "", where she is kidnapped by terrorists; "", in which she becomes trapped in an alternate reality where her loved ones start to disappear; "", which features a romance between the doctor and an alien composed of two symbiotic organisms; "", in which she risks her career to solve the murder of a scientist; "" where Crusher takes command of the "Enterprise"; "", where she becomes the victim of a seductive "ghost"; and "Attached", where Picard and Crusher become telepathically linked as prisoners and learn their true feelings for one another.


title: Gates McFadden

text: McFadden reprised her role for all four "TNG" movies and also provided her voice for PC games "" and "Star Trek Generations". Also, McFadden directed the episode "" (her only directing credit to date) in which an infection causes the crew to de-evolve into primitive forms of life, and choreographed the dance routine in "Data's Day".


title: Gates McFadden

text: McFadden co-starred in the 1990 comedy "Taking Care of Business" starring James Belushi, and fellow "Next Generation" alumnus John de Lancie (Q). In 1992, she appeared alongside fellow cast members Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, and Colm Meaney in a production of "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour", which was performed in four cities. She also starred in the 1995 television series "Marker" with Richard Grieco and appeared in the made-for-television movie "Crowned and Dangerous" with Yasmine Bleeth in 1997. Additional television work was the role of Allison Rourke, Paul Buchman's boss, in four episodes of the sitcom "Mad About You". In the spring of 2006, McFadden appeared in a series of television commercials for Microsoft.


title: Gates McFadden

text: She has taught at several universities (American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Brandeis, Harvard, Purdue, Temple, the Stella Academy in Hamburg, and the University of Pittsburgh). As of August 2010, she was listed as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Theater at the University of Southern California. She was the Artistic Director of the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Los Angeles from January 2009 to October 2014. During her tenure, she spearheaded the building of the Atwater Village Theatre Collective, a new two-theater space in Los Angeles.


title: Gates McFadden

text: McFadden has lent her voice as narrator in several audio books. In 2010, she was the narrator of "Confessor" ("METAtropolis: Cascadia").


title: Gates McFadden

text: Prior to 2014, McFadden did not attend fan conventions, due to a stalking incident years earlier. However, after participating in New York Comic Con 2014, she became enthusiastic about such events. In 2017, McFadden was pleased that a recent documentary about the making of "Labyrinth" led her to connect with fans of her work with Jim Henson.


title: Gates McFadden

text: McFadden narrated the multi-part documentary series "The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek", which aired on the cable channel History in 2021. She was also one of the executive producers.


title: Gates McFadden

text: She has since reprised the role of Crusher on "", and is set to do so for "" in its third season airing in 2023.


title: Gates McFadden

text: McFadden's pregnancy was not written into the fourth season of "TNG"; instead, her character wore a laboratory coat over her uniform to conceal it. "Next Generation" co-star Brent Spiner is her son's godfather.


title: Hokkien

text: The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in Taiwan, and it is also widely spoken within the Chinese diaspora in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia; and by other overseas Chinese beyond Asia and all over the world. The Hokkien 'dialects' are not all mutually intelligible, but they are held together by ethnolinguistic identity. Taiwanese Hokkien is, however, mutually intelligible with the 2 to 3 million speakers in Xiamen and Singapore.


title: Hokkien

text: In Southeast Asia, Hokkien historically served as the "lingua franca" amongst overseas Chinese communities of all dialects and subgroups, and it remains today as the most spoken variety of Chinese in the region, including in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and some parts of Indochina (particularly Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia). The Betawi Malay language, spoken by some five million people in and around the Indonesian capital Jakarta, includes numerous Hokkien loanwords due to the significant influence of the Chinese Indonesian diaspora, most of whom are of Hokkien ancestry and origin.


title: Hokkien

text: Chinese speakers of the Quanzhang variety of Southern Min refer to the mainstream Southern Min language as


title: Hokkien

text: In parts of Southeast Asia and in the English-speaking communities, the term "Hokkien" () is etymologically derived from the Southern Min pronunciation for Fujian (), the province from which the language hails. In Southeast Asia and the English press, "Hokkien" is used in common parlance to refer to the Southern Min dialects of southern Fujian, and does not include reference to dialects of other Sinitic branches also present in Fujian such as the Fuzhou language (Eastern Min), Pu-Xian Min, Northern Min, Gan Chinese or Hakka. In Chinese linguistics, these languages are known by their classification under the Quanzhang division () of Min Nan, which comes from the first characters of the two main Hokkien urban centers of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.


title: Hokkien

text: The word "Hokkien" first originated from Walter Henry Medhurst when he published "the Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language, According to the Reading and Colloquial Idioms" in 1832. This is considered to be the earliest English-based Hokkien Dictionary and the first major reference work in POJ, although the romanization within was quite different from the modern system. In this dictionary, the word "Hok-këèn" was used. In 1869, POJ was further revised by John Macgowan in his published book "A Manual Of The Amoy Colloquial". In this book, "këèn" was changed to "kien" as "Hok-kien" and from then on, the word "Hokkien" began to be used more often.


title: Hokkien

text: Historically, Hokkien was also known as ""Amoy"", after the Hokkien name of Xiamen, the principal port of Southern Fujian during the Qing dynasty as one of the five ports opened to foreign trade by the Treaty of Nanking. By 1873, Rev. Carstairs Douglas would publish his dictionary named ""Chinese–English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, With the Principal Variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects."" where he would call the language as ""The Language of Amoy"" or ""The Amoy Vernacular"" and by 1883, Rev. John Macgowan would publish another dictionary named ""English and Chinese Dictionary of the Amoy Dialect"". Due to confusion with differentiating the Amoy dialect of Hokkien from Xiamen with the general language itself, many proscribe this usage though many old books and media may still be observed to be labeled with "Amoy" instead to generally refer to the language, besides the specific dialect of Hokkien from Xiamen.


title: Hokkien

text: Hokkien is spoken in the southern, seaward quarter of Fujian province, southeastern Zhejiang, and eastern Namoa Island in China; Taiwan; Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Metro Davao and other cities in the Philippines; Singapore; Brunei; Medan, Riau and other cities in Indonesia; and from Taiping to the Thai border in Malaysia, especially around Penang.


title: Hokkien

text: Hokkien originated in the southern area of Fujian province, an important center for trade and migration, and has since become one of the most common Chinese varieties overseas. The major pole of Hokkien varieties outside of Fujian is nearby Taiwan, where immigrants from Fujian arrived as workers during the 40 years of Dutch rule, fleeing the Qing dynasty during the 20 years of Ming loyalist rule, as immigrants during the 200 years of Qing dynasty rule, especially in the last 120 years after immigration restrictions were relaxed, and even as immigrants during the period of Japanese rule. The Taiwanese dialect mostly has origins with the Tung'an, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou variants, but since then, the Amoy dialect, also known as the Xiamen dialect, has become the modern prestige representative for the language in China. Both "Amoy" and "Xiamen" come from the Chinese name of the city (); the former is from Zhangzhou Hokkien, whereas the latter comes from Mandarin.


title: Hokkien

text: There are many Minnan (Hokkien) speakers among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia as well as in the United States (Hoklo Americans). Many ethnic Han Chinese emigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian, and brought the language to what is now Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) and present day Malaysia and Singapore (formerly Malaya and the British Straits Settlements). Most of the Minnan dialects of this region have incorporated some foreign loanwords. Hokkien is reportedly the native language of up to 80% of the ethnic Chinese people in the Philippines, among which is known locally as "Lán-nâng-uē" or "Lán-lâng-ōe" or "Nán-nâng-uē" ("Our people's speech"). Hokkien speakers form the largest group of overseas Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.


title: Hokkien

text: Southern Fujian is home to four principal Minnan Proper (Hokkien) dialects: Chiangchew, Chinchew, Tung'an, and Amoy, originating from the cities of Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, historical Tung'an County (同安縣, now Xiamen and Kinmen) and her own Port of Amoy, respectively.


title: Hokkien

text: The Quanzhou dialect spoken in Quanzhou was the Traditional Representative Minnan. It is the dialect that is used in () and (). The Quanzhou dialect is considered to be the most conservative Minnan dialect.


title: Hokkien

text: In the late 1800s, the Amoy dialect attracted special attention, because Amoy was one of the five ports opened to foreign trade by the Treaty of Nanking, but before that it had not attracted attention. The Amoy dialect is adopted as the Modern Representative Minnan. The Amoy dialect can not simply be interpreted as a mixture of the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou dialects, but rather it is formed on the foundation of the Tung'an dialect with further inputs from other sub-dialects. It has played an influential role in history, especially in the relations of Western nations with China, and was one of the most frequently learnt dialect of the Hokkien variety by Westerners during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century.


title: Hokkien

text: The Modern Representative form of Hokkien spoken around the city of Tainan (台南) in Taiwan heavily resembles the Tung'an dialect. All Hokkien dialects spoken throughout the whole of Taiwan are collectively known as Taiwanese Hokkien, or Holo locally, although there is a tendency to call these Taiwanese language for historical reasons. It is spoken by more Taiwanese than any Sinitic language except Mandarin, and it is known by a majority of the population; thus, from a socio-political perspective, it forms a significant pole of language usage due to the popularity of Holo-language media. Douglas (1873/1899) also noted that "Formosa" (Taiwan) has been settled mainly by emigrants from "Amo"y (Xiamen), "Chang-chew" (Zhangzhou), and "Chin-chew" (Quanzhou). Several parts of the island are usually found to be specially inhabited by descendants of such emigrants, but in Taiwan, the various forms of the dialects mentioned prior are a good deal mixed up.


title: Hokkien

text: The varieties of Hokkien in Southeast Asia originate from these dialects. Douglas (1873/1899) notes that ""Singapore and the various Straits Settlements" ", Batavia" "and other parts of the Dutch possessions" ", are crowded with emigrants, especially from the Chang-chew" "prefecture; Manila and other parts of the Philippines have great numbers from Chin-chew" ", and emigrants are largely scattered in like manner in Siam" ", Burmah" ", the Malay Peninsula" ", Cochin China" ", Saigon" ", &c. In many of these places there is also a great mixture of emigrants from Swatow" ".""


title: Hokkien

text: In modern times though, a mixed dialect descended from the Quanzhou, Amoy, and Zhangzhou dialects, leaning a little closer to the Quanzhou dialect, possibly due to being from the Tung'an dialect, is spoken by Chinese Singaporeans, Southern Malaysian Chinese, and Chinese Indonesians in Indonesia's Riau province and Riau Islands. Variants include Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien and Singaporean Hokkien in Singapore.


title: Hokkien

text: Among Malaysian Chinese of Penang, and other states in Northern Peninsular Malaysia and ethnic Chinese Indonesians in Medan, with other areas in North Sumatra, Indonesia, a distinct descendant dialect form of Zhangzhou Hokkien has developed. In Penang, it is called Penang Hokkien while across the Malacca Strait in Medan, an almost identical variant is known as Medan Hokkien.


title: Hokkien

text: As for Chinese Filipinos in the Philippines, a variant known as Philippine Hokkien, which is also mostly derived from Quanzhou Hokkien, particularly the Jinjiang and Nan'an dialects with a bit of influence from the Amoy (Xiamen) dialect, is still spoken amongst families as most also profess ancestors from the aforementioned areas.


title: Hokkien

text: There are also Hokkien speakers scattered throughout other parts of Indonesia (such as Jakarta and around the island of Java), Thailand (especially Southern Thailand on the border with Malaysia), Myanmar, other parts of Malaysia (such as Eastern (Insular) Malaysia), Brunei, Cambodia, and Southern Vietnam (such as in Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City), though there are notably more of Teochew/Swatow background among descendants of Chinese migrants in regions such as parts of Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Southern Vietnam.


title: Hokkien

text: Variants of Hokkien dialects can be traced to three sources of origin: Tong'an, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. Both Amoy Hokkien and most of Taiwanese Hokkien is heavily based on the Tong'an dialect, and to a lesser extent, on Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects, while the rest of the Hokkien dialects spoken in South East Asia are derived their respective homelands in southern Fujian.


title: Hokkien

text: During the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China, there was constant warfare occurring in the Central Plain of China. Northerners began to enter into Fujian region, causing the region to incorporate parts of northern Chinese dialects. However, the massive migration of northern Han Chinese into Fujian region mainly occurred after the Disaster of Yongjia. The Jìn court fled from the north to the south, causing large numbers of northern Han Chinese to move into Fujian region. They brought the Old Chinese spoken in the Central Plain of China from the prehistoric era to the 3rd century into Fujian.


title: Hokkien

text: In 677 (during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang), Chen Zheng, together with his son Chen Yuanguang, led a military expedition to suppress a rebellion of the She people. In 885, (during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang), the two brothers Wang Chao and Wang Shenzhi, led a military expedition force to suppress the Huang Chao rebellion. Waves of migration from the north in this era brought the language of Middle Chinese into the Fujian region.


title: Hokkien

text: The Amoy dialect is the main dialect spoken in area of Port of Xiamen, that is, southwest corner of Xiamen island in the Chinese city of Xiamen (formerly romanized and natively pronounced as "Amoy"). Historically, Port of Xiamen had always been part of Tung'an country until after 1912 of Republic of China era. Amoy dialect cannot simply be interpreted as a mixture of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou dialects, but rather it is formed on the foundation of Tung'an dialect with further inputs from other sub-dialects, namely from the adjacent Zhangzhou dialect.


title: Hokkien

text: Several playscripts survive from the late 16th century, written in a mixture of Quanzhou and Chaozhou dialects. The most important is the "Romance of the Litchi Mirror", with extant manuscripts dating from 1566 and 1581.


title: Hokkien

text: In the early 17th century, Spanish missionaries in the Philippines produced materials documenting the Hokkien varieties spoken by the Chinese trading community who had settled there in the late 16th century:


title: Hokkien

text: These texts appear to record a Zhangzhou dialect, from the old port of Yuegang (modern-day Haicheng, an old port that is now part of Longhai).


title: Hokkien

text: Chinese scholars produced rhyme dictionaries describing Hokkien varieties at the beginning of the 19th century:


title: Hokkien

text: Hokkien has one of the most diverse phoneme inventories among Chinese varieties, with more consonants than Standard Mandarin and Cantonese. Vowels are more-or-less similar to that of Mandarin. Hokkien varieties retain many pronunciations that are no longer found in other Chinese varieties. These include the retention of the initial, which is now (Pinyin 'zh') in Mandarin (e.g. 'bamboo' 竹 is "tik", but "zhú" in Mandarin), having disappeared before the 6th century in other Chinese varieties. Along with other Min languages, which are not directly descended from Middle Chinese, Hokkien is of considerable interest to historical linguists for reconstructing Old Chinese.


title: Hokkien

text: Unlike Mandarin, Hokkien retains all the final consonants corresponding to those of Middle Chinese. While Mandarin only preserves the n and ŋ finals, Southern Min also preserves the m, p, t and k finals and has developed the ʔ (glottal stop).


title: Hokkien

text: The following table illustrates some of the more commonly seen vowel shifts. Characters with the same vowel are shown in parentheses.


title: Hokkien

text: Southern Min has aspirated, unaspirated as well as voiced consonant initials. For example, the word "khui" (; "open") and "kuiⁿ" (; "close") have the same vowel but differ only by aspiration of the initial and nasality of the vowel. In addition, Southern Min has labial initial consonants such as m in "m̄-sī" (; "is not").


title: Hokkien

text: Another example is "ta-po͘-kiáⁿ" (; "boy") and "cha-bó͘-kiáⁿ" (; "girl"), which differ in the second syllable in consonant voicing and in tone.


title: Hokkien

text: According to the traditional Chinese system, Hokkien dialects have 7 or 8 distinct tones, including two entering tones which end in plosive consonants. The entering tones can be analysed as allophones, giving 5 or 6 phonemic tones. In addition, many dialects have an additional phonemic tone ("tone 9" according to the traditional reckoning), used only in special or foreign loan words. This means that Hokkien dialects have between 5 and 7 phonemic tones.


title: Hokkien

text: Tone sandhi is extensive. There are minor variations between the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou tone systems. Taiwanese tones follow the patterns of Amoy or Quanzhou, depending on the area of Taiwan.


title: Hokkien

text: The Hokkien language (Minnan) is spoken in a variety of accents and dialects across the Minnan region. The Hokkien spoken in most areas of the three counties of southern Zhangzhou have merged the coda finals -n and -ng into -ng. The initial consonant j (dz and dʑ) is not present in most dialects of Hokkien spoken in Quanzhou, having been merged into the d or l initials.


title: Hokkien

text: The -ik or -ɪk final consonant that is preserved in the native Hokkien dialects of Zhangzhou and Xiamen is also preserved in the Nan'an dialect (色, 德, 竹) but are pronounce as -iak in Quanzhou Hokkien.


title: Hokkien

text: The Amoy dialect (Xiamen) is a variant of the Tung'an dialect. Majority of Taiwanese, from Tainan, to Taichung, to Taipei, is also heavily based on Tung'an dialect while incorporating some vowels of Zhangzhou dialect, whereas Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien, including Singaporean Hokkien, is based on the Tung'an dialect, with Philippine Hokkien on the Quanzhou dialect, and Penang Hokkien on Zhangzhou dialect. There are some variations in pronunciation and vocabulary between Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects. The grammar is generally the same.


title: Hokkien

text: Additionally, extensive contact with the Japanese language has left a legacy of Japanese loanwords in Taiwanese Hokkien. On the other hand, the variants spoken in Singapore and Malaysia have a substantial number of loanwords from Malay and to a lesser extent, from English and other Chinese varieties, such as the closely related Teochew and some Cantonese. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, there are also a few Spanish and Filipino (Tagalog) loanwords, while it is also currently a norm to frequently codeswitch with English, Filipino (Tagalog), and in some cases other Philippine languages, such as Cebuano.


title: Hokkien

text: Tong'an, Xiamen, Taiwanese, Singaporean dialects as a group are more mutually intelligible, but it is less so amongst the forementioned group, Quanzhou dialect, and Zhangzhou dialect.


title: Hokkien

text: Although the Min Nan varieties of Teochew and Amoy are 84% phonetically similar including the pronunciations of un-used Chinese characters as well as same characters used for different meanings, and 34% lexically similar, Teochew has only 51% intelligibility with the Tong'an Hokkien|Tung'an dialect (Cheng 1997) whereas Mandarin and Amoy Min Nan are 62% phonetically similar and 15% lexically similar. In comparison, German and English are 60% lexically similar.


title: Hokkien

text: Hainanese, which is sometimes considered Southern Min, has almost no mutual intelligibility with any form of Hokkien.


title: Hokkien

text: Hokkien is an analytic language; in a sentence, the arrangement of words is important to its meaning. A basic sentence follows the subject–verb–object pattern (i.e. a subject is followed by a verb then by an object), though this order is often violated because Hokkien dialects are topic-prominent. Unlike synthetic languages, seldom do words indicate time, gender and plural by inflection. Instead, these concepts are expressed through adverbs, aspect markers, and grammatical particles, or are deduced from the context. Different particles are added to a sentence to further specify its status or intonation.


title: Hokkien

text: A verb itself indicates no grammatical tense. The time can be explicitly shown with time-indicating adverbs. Certain exceptions exist, however, according to the pragmatic interpretation of a verb's meaning. Additionally, an optional aspect particle can be appended to a verb to indicate the state of an action. Appending interrogative or exclamative particles to a sentence turns a statement into a question or shows the attitudes of the speaker.


title: Hokkien

text: Hokkien dialects preserve certain grammatical reflexes and patterns reminiscent of the broad stage of Archaic Chinese. This includes the serialization of verb phrases (direct linkage of verbs and verb phrases) and the infrequency of nominalization, both similar to Archaic Chinese grammar.


title: Hokkien

text: Choice of grammatical function words also varies significantly among the Hokkien dialects. For instance, "khit" (乞) (denoting the causative, passive or dative) is retained in Jinjiang (also unique to the Jinjiang dialect is "thō͘" 度) and in Jieyang, but not in Longxi and Xiamen, whose dialects use "hō͘" (互/予) instead.


title: Hokkien

text: Hokkien dialects differ in the pronunciation of some pronouns (such as the second person pronoun "lí" or "lú" or "lír"), and also differ in how to form plural pronouns (such as "-n" or "-lâng"). Personal pronouns found in the Hokkien dialects are listed below:


title: Hokkien

text: Possessive pronouns can be marked by the particle "ê" (的), in the same way as normal nouns. In some dialects, possessive pronouns can also be formed with a nasal suffix, which means that possessive pronouns and plural pronouns are homophones:


title: Hokkien

text: States and qualities are generally expressed using stative verbs that do not require the verb "to be":


title: Hokkien

text: To indicate location, the words "tī" (佇) "tiàm" (踮), "leh" (咧), which are collectively known as the locatives or sometimes coverbs in Chinese linguistics, are used to express "(to be) at":


title: Hokkien

text: Hokkien dialects have a variety of negation particles that are prefixed or affixed to the verbs they modify. There are six primary negation particles in Hokkien dialects (with some variation in how they are written in characters):


title: Hokkien

text: The majority of Hokkien vocabulary is monosyllabic. Many Hokkien words have cognates in other Chinese varieties. That said, there are also many indigenous words that are unique to Hokkien and are potentially not of Sino-Tibetan origin, while others are shared by all the Min dialects (e.g. 'congee' is 糜 "mê", "bôe", "bê", not 粥 "zhōu", as in other dialects).


title: Hokkien

text: As compared to Mandarin, Hokkien dialects prefer to use the monosyllabic form of words, without suffixes. For instance, the Mandarin noun suffix 子 (zi) is not found in Hokkien words, while another noun suffix, 仔 (á) is used in many nouns. Examples are below:


title: Hokkien

text: In other bisyllabic morphemes, the syllables are inverted, as compared to Mandarin. Examples include the following:


title: Hokkien

text: In other cases, the same word can have different meanings in Hokkien and Mandarin. Similarly, depending on the region Hokkien is spoken in, loanwords from local languages (Malay, Tagalog, Burmese, among others), as well as other Chinese dialects (such as Southern Chinese dialects like Cantonese and Teochew), are commonly integrated into the vocabulary of Hokkien dialects.


title: Hokkien

text: The existence of literary and colloquial readings is a prominent feature of some Hokkien dialects and indeed in many Sinitic varieties in the south. The bulk of literary readings (, "bûn-tha̍k"), based on pronunciations of the vernacular during the Tang dynasty, are mainly used in formal phrases and written language (e.g. philosophical concepts, given names, and some place names), while the colloquial (or vernacular) ones (, "pe̍h-tha̍k") are usually used in spoken language, vulgar phrases and surnames. Literary readings are more similar to the pronunciations of the Tang standard of Middle Chinese than their colloquial equivalents.


title: Hokkien

text: The pronounced divergence between literary and colloquial pronunciations found in Hokkien dialects is attributed to the presence of several strata in the Min lexicon. The earliest, colloquial stratum is traced to the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE); the second colloquial one comes from the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589 CE); the third stratum of pronunciations (typically literary ones) comes from the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) and is based on the prestige dialect of Chang'an (modern day Xi'an), its capital.


title: Hokkien

text: This table displays some widely used characters in Hokkien that have both literary and colloquial readings:


title: Hokkien

text: This feature extends to Chinese numerals, which have both literary and colloquial readings. Literary readings are typically used when the numerals are read out loud (e.g. phone numbers, years), while colloquial readings are used for counting items.


title: Hokkien

text: Quite a few words from the variety of Old Chinese spoken in the state of Wu, where the ancestral language of Min and Wu dialect families originated, and later words from Middle Chinese as well, have retained the original meanings in Hokkien, while many of their counterparts in Mandarin Chinese have either fallen out of daily use, have been substituted with other words (some of which are borrowed from other languages while others are new developments), or have developed newer meanings. The same may be said of Hokkien as well, since some lexical meaning evolved in step with Mandarin while others are wholly innovative developments.


title: Hokkien

text: This table shows some Hokkien dialect words from Classical Chinese, as contrasted to the written Mandarin:


title: Hokkien

text: For other words, the classical Chinese meanings of certain words, which are retained in Hokkien dialects, have evolved or deviated significantly in other Chinese dialects. The following table shows some words that are both used in both Hokkien dialects and Mandarin Chinese, while the meanings in Mandarin Chinese have been modified:


title: Hokkien

text: Some commonly used words, shared by all Min Chinese languages, came from the ancient Minyue languages. Jerry Norman suggested that these languages were Austroasiatic. Some terms are thought be cognates with words in Tai Kadai and Austronesian languages. They include the following examples, compared to the Fuzhou dialect, a Min Dong language:


title: Hokkien

text: Loanwords are not unusual among Hokkien dialects, as speakers readily adopted indigenous terms of the languages they came in contact with. As a result, there is a plethora of loanwords that are not mutually comprehensible among Hokkien dialects.


title: Hokkien

text: Taiwanese Hokkien, as a result of linguistic contact with Japanese and Formosan languages, contains many loanwords from these languages. Many words have also been formed as calques from Mandarin, and speakers will often directly use Mandarin vocabulary through codeswitching. Among these include the following examples:


title: Hokkien

text: Singaporean Hokkien, Penang Hokkien and other Malaysian Hokkien dialects tend to draw loanwords from Malay, English as well as other Chinese dialects, primarily Teochew. Examples include:


title: Hokkien

text: Philippine Hokkien, as a result of centuries-old contact with both Philippine languages and Spanish also incorporate words from these languages. Speakers today will also often directly use English and Filipino (Tagalog), or other Philippine languages like Bisaya, vocabulary through codeswitching. Examples include: