title: Award of damages to part-subsistence villagers in Papua New Guinea

authors: Tennent, Douglas

abstract: One of the great challenges to Courts in civil claims is to award damages in an appropriate manner which as far as possible places the plaintiff in the position that he or she would be in but for the injury. The awarding of appropriate damages to a person leading a part-subsistence village lifestyle presents the Courts with a special challenge.
This article considers the attempts that the Courts in Papua New Guinea have made to award appropriate damages to people living this lifestyle. The article attempts to bring together the common principles that emerge through the cases. It also outlines some of the important issues that still need to be addressed by the Courts to ensure that the actual needs of plaintiffs living in a village lifestyle are addressed.

text: Award of damages to part-subsistence villagers in Papua New Guinea One of the great challenges to Courts in civil claims is to award damages in an appropriate manner which as far as possible places the plaintiff in the position that he or she would be in but for the injury. The awarding of appropriate damages to a person leading a part-subsistence village lifestyle presents the Courts with a special challenge.
This article considers the attempts that the Courts in Papua New Guinea have made to award appropriate damages to people living this lifestyle. The article attempts to bring together the common principles that emerge through the cases. It also outlines some of the important issues that still need to be addressed by the Courts to ensure that the actual needs of plaintiffs living in a village lifestyle are addressed.

year: 2002-01-01

title: Book review: A greener faith

authors: Gunn, Alastair S.

subjects: environmental crisis

abstract: Yes, yet another book advocating a spiritual solution to what the author calls the “environmental crisis”. Actually, we do not have an environmental crisis. A crisis is a short-lived situation that is quickly resolved – the patient dies or recovers, the battle is won or lost, the coup succeeds or fails. What we have is a steady and alarming descent in environmental quality, akin to a chronic and deteriorating medical condition. This is important because such a situation cannot be resolved quickly. The acutely ill patient either lives or dies, with precious little action on his or her own part required. The chronically ill patient can survive (if at all) only by making many permanent lifestyle changes.

text: Book review: A greener faith Yes, yet another book advocating a spiritual solution to what the author calls the “environmental crisis”. Actually, we do not have an environmental crisis. A crisis is a short-lived situation that is quickly resolved – the patient dies or recovers, the battle is won or lost, the coup succeeds or fails. What we have is a steady and alarming descent in environmental quality, akin to a chronic and deteriorating medical condition. This is important because such a situation cannot be resolved quickly. The acutely ill patient either lives or dies, with precious little action on his or her own part required. The chronically ill patient can survive (if at all) only by making many permanent lifestyle changes.

year: 2009

title: Beyond structuralism: Exploring a semantic based approach for describing the Māori language in grammar books and textbooks for pedagogical purposes

authors: Taiapa, Michael William

subjects: Māori

abstract: Since the 1950s, the advancements and developments in English language studies has had a profound impact on its description that has made it less syntactically driven and more communicatively oriented. This has the potential to influence language description moving it from a purely structurally focused orientation to a more semantically focused one that could influence pedagogic outcomes in more meaningful and useful ways. Nevertheless, in the case of the Māori language, its description has largely focused on structure linguistics that was prevalent in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There has been very little focus on a semantic description and this, in turn, is reflected in grammar books and textbooks on te reo. This thesis set out to explore a semantic approach to describe te reo and to rethink how this type of description may be realized and included in the design of grammar books and textbooks for the teaching and learning of te reo in the broader field of second language pedagogy and acquisition. The thesis also includes a practical component in which a small sample of Māori language teachers were interviewed to determine how linguistic and/ or semantic approaches to describe te reo may have or have impacted on their own beliefs, attitudes, and teaching practices (See, Chapter 7). Thus, it is argued here that research-based studies, advancements, and developments in language descriptions over the past five decades (See, for example, Council of Europe, 1949; Fillmore, 1967; Longacre, 1968; & Crombie, 1985b) should play central roles in the design of a semantic based description of the Māori language from which a linguistic based description can significantly benefit.

text: Beyond structuralism: Exploring a semantic based approach for describing the Māori language in grammar books and textbooks for pedagogical purposes Since the 1950s, the advancements and developments in English language studies has had a profound impact on its description that has made it less syntactically driven and more communicatively oriented. This has the potential to influence language description moving it from a purely structurally focused orientation to a more semantically focused one that could influence pedagogic outcomes in more meaningful and useful ways. Nevertheless, in the case of the Māori language, its description has largely focused on structure linguistics that was prevalent in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There has been very little focus on a semantic description and this, in turn, is reflected in grammar books and textbooks on te reo. This thesis set out to explore a semantic approach to describe te reo and to rethink how this type of description may be realized and included in the design of grammar books and textbooks for the teaching and learning of te reo in the broader field of second language pedagogy and acquisition. The thesis also includes a practical component in which a small sample of Māori language teachers were interviewed to determine how linguistic and/ or semantic approaches to describe te reo may have or have impacted on their own beliefs, attitudes, and teaching practices (See, Chapter 7). Thus, it is argued here that research-based studies, advancements, and developments in language descriptions over the past five decades (See, for example, Council of Europe, 1949; Fillmore, 1967; Longacre, 1968; & Crombie, 1985b) should play central roles in the design of a semantic based description of the Māori language from which a linguistic based description can significantly benefit.

year: 2023