French Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

French Language - Essay Example Although Standard French has in fact undergone centuries of human intervention and language planning, popular opinion, however, contends that Standard French should consist solely of the rulings by the Acadmie franaise in France, or in standardization from terminological work by the Office qubcois de la langue franaise in Quebec. There is further perceived or actual linguistic hegemony in favor of France by virtue of tradition, former imperialism, and a demographic majority. Such notions hinge on linguistic prestige rather than on a linguistic norm. Also, despite the existence of many regional varieties of French in the Francophone world, Standard French is normally chosen as a model for learners of French as a foreign or second language. The standard pronunciation of Metropolitan French is, out of concerns for comprehension or social stigma, sometimes favored over other standard national pronunciations when teaching French to non-native speakers in Francophone nations other than Fra nce. Though the French complain about the incursion of English into their language, they don't fight it nearly as much as French-speaking Canadians do. Whereas stop signs in France say stop, their Qubcois counterparts say arrt. Le week-end in France is known as la fin de semaine in Qubec. And of course, the word chosen to replace "email" in France was the Qubcois term courriel. Thus Canadians feel that their French is actually better than that spoken in France and should be the standard. Therefore, French-Canadians have started a petition to have their French become the standard by which all other variations are measured. Jean Charest, Premier of Qubec, had this to say: Au Qubec, on parle franais. Notre langue n'est pas un petit dialecte franco-canadien et elle n'est pas remplie de franglais comme le franais hexagonal. Nous insistons dsormais que notre franais, c'est la norme. (In Qubec, we speak French. Our language is not some "French-Canadian" dialect, and it's not full of franglais like the French in France. We insist that from now on our French is the standard.) (french.about.com/od/francophonie/a/4_1_05a.htm - 24k - Cached) French (Franais) is a Romance language spoken in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada (principally Quebec), northern New England (especially the state of Vermont), the state of Louisiana and in many other countries and regions formerly or currently governed by France. It is an official language of more than 25 countries. French is spoken as a mother language by 72,000,000 people and as a second language by some other 52,000,000. It is one of the five official languages of the United Nations. Origin and History French dialects developped from the Vulgar Latin which was brought to Northern Gaul with the Roman conquest in the 1st century B.C. (see Rome). The history of French language is divided into 6 main periods:

Freedom of expression should be guaranteed. Discuss Essay - 1

Freedom of expression should be guaranteed. Discuss - Essay Example OECD and African Development Bank (2012) point that freedom of expression includes the right for one to freely hold opinions without there being any interference as well as the innate right for individuals to be able to seek impart and receive ideas and information via the use of various media irrespective of the possible frontiers. Guaranteeing freedom of expression basically means that individuals are assured of this inalienable right without failure; in this regard freedom of expression should be guaranteed as it is essentially an inseparable element of democracy and the modern day free press. Freedom of expression generally aids society in exercising control over various state authorities as well as in maintenance of a system whereby the society is essentially self controlled as is dictated by the demands of democracy. Self controlled societies are responsible for making their own decisions and it is only possible for these societies to be able to do this if they are well informed and has in place and system that encourages open exchange of opinions via the various mass media. This essay will critically underscore some of the various reasons as to why freedom of expression in mass media should be guaranteed in relation to its importance in mass media. Guaranteed freedom of expression is an important contributor to the democratic belief that the government should necessarily be restrained by a system of various balances and checks. These checks and balances are designed to restrain it from corruption, tyranny and ineptitude (Human Rights Watch 2011). By utilizing the freedom of expression that is available to it, the press can be able to promote democracy by facilitating a free flow of information and providing important information to the public, which can in turn help the public in making crucial decisions affecting the state as it has the right to protest

Ansewring qustions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ansewring qustions - Essay Example There are things that we know from our birth and they do not need to be proved anyhow. These things are priori like 2+2 = 4, they do not need any evidences and explanation why it is so. The views of empiricists are quite opposite; they think that only experience can give way to knowledge. All the suppositions, which are considered by rationalists to be priori, empiricists considered as â€Å"trifling† if they were not proved by experience (Blackburn). As for me I can’t state that I agree with any of these theories, both of them are useful. Philosophy is a science, in which we can’t find right or wrong opinions. However, I must say that the views of empiricists are closer to my own views. The fact is that I do not believe in things I did not see with my own eyes. Thus, in my opinion, the experience is very important and every supposition must have its own evidence to become a statement. We can state something only if it was already proved and we have the proofs. 2. Kant: Why, for Kant, is the rationalist argument insufficient to explain knowledge? What does it mean to know something is â€Å"a priori†? How exactly does the connection between our reason and sensory impressions work? Be sure to include some substantive text based information including the role of synthetic a priori propositions? According to the great philosopher Immanuel Kant, it is useless to support something without the evidences received from experience. Every statement should be proved with the help of experience. The theories based on such approach like rationalist theories can’t be helpful anyhow. Thus, further work was needed to be done in this direction. These views were reflected by the great philosopher in his work called the Critique of Pure Reason. According to Kant, the word â€Å"sensibility† and the word â€Å"sense† are closely connected in meaning. That is why,

Critically appraises the concept of the public sphere in the context Coursework

Critically appraises the concept of the public sphere in the context of contemporary digital media - Coursework Example The intent also acts as a public sphere where people bring together their opinion. The opinion generated from the public sphere can be channelized to the ruling government to act appropriate in regard to the need of the society. The societies consider the public sphere to be channel that they can use to voice their problems (Hauser 2005). In the modern world and in a more democratic society, public sphere has been of great resource to the ruling government. Ideas and dialogue from their subject are posed in the You Tube and therefore they can easily read them. In most circumstance it is the source of production and circulation of the discussions that are critical to the state. The circulation process doe not only reach the state but the society as a whole (Rutherford 2004). In this respect the voice of the poor is herd and given the equal chances in the development project in the community. Dialogue, act of speeches, debate and discussion can be held together even though people are in different locations. The convergence of the information in one source makes retrieval for the future references in the societies (Goodnight 2007). While the digital society appreciates the modern public sphere in the internet, it has become the major sources of propaganda and rumor mongering. The internet does not include the public opinion in totality. Only the a few people who are accessible to new technology enjoy while the rest does not. The poor’s voices cannot be herd while the rich continue to dominate creating the inequality the major challenge of modern democracy (Habermas 2009). Facts may be posed in the internet whose sources cannot be identified properly. In such cases it becomes arena of rumor and propaganda that cannot be relies upon. This is the major challenge that seems to hinder the well functioning of the public sphere in the modern society. Even though the use of technology is still advancing to mature, most of the