Australia in a Business Context Essay Example for Free

Australia in a Business Context Essay 1.1 Introduction In today’s world, internationalization is inevitable for companies competing in the global world, where their production, target market, business model were integrated across different frontiers (Robins 2000) and between different people in different countries (Schulte 2000) In this report, we will discuss about Fraser and Neave and the potential of a joint venture with University of Queensland, Brisbane to build student hostels within the university’s premises. The entry mode will be suggested based on supporting context and company analysis. Predicted impact of action will be considered and suggestions for further expansion of the university hostel market under the name of Fraser and Neave will also be made. 2.1 Context Analysis 2.1.1 Australia in business context Australia, being an open economy with open policies for trade and investments, she has attracted many foreign investors without the need of providing any special incentives (Euromonitor business environment: Australia 2013). Reaching a $986.7 billion of total GDP in year 2013, $618.9 billion comes from FDI alone. Due to harsh contractions in mining financial tightening by both the state and federal governments and the strong Australian dollar, the country’s economic growth will ease in the year 2013. (Euromonitor Australia Country Profile 2013) 2.1.2 Australia: Cultural Analysis Culture is a ‘powerful social construct’ (Boyacigiller, 2004) in diverse multicultural workforces, particularly vital in the sustainability and success for any international business (Doney, 1998). Through a series of empirical studies, Australia being a country of low context culture (Markus G 2011, 75) has 4 main characteristics identified of their community (Australia World View, 2001) and (Communicaid: Doing Business in Australia): 1. Linear, logical, individualistic, and action-oriented people. Australians are generally results orientated. Therefore when dealing business with Australians, statistics and figures are essential for a successful deal. Since they can be seen to have confrontational and strong opinions, business dealings with them would need to back up with research or evidence in order to convince them. 2. Community likes to avoid uncertainties As Australians are people who like to avoid uncertainties, they tend to be very straight to the point with their words with the intention of having them taken literally. To avoid any misunderstanding or future conflicts, business dealings with them would have to be very literal with all conditions on the table for discussion. Implicit messages will most probably go unnoticed. 3. Adopts a very egalitarian culture Australians avoids differentiation between individuals and are often preferred to be impartial, modest and have mutual respect for others. Therefore they prefer a more down to earth approach to business. They are also altogether more receptive to innovation, fresh ideas and encourage active discussions or debates. 4. Appreciates privacy When dealing with Australian business counterparts, it would be wise to stay within the lines and treat attempts at developing interpersonal relationships with much caution. 2.1.3 Australia: Legal Environments In relation to the construction of property, we would be looking at laws that are relevant. As a joint venture is suggested for the construction of the student hostel, we would have to consider the complications of contract law besides the obvious property law, employment and industry relations, and general tax issues. As the land that we are proposing to construct is within the University’s premises, a partnership with the university will give Fraser and Neave access to the land without any legislation to bind or cripple the project. Nevertheless, there would be a need to attain approval for development through the Integrated Development Assessment System (IDAS) under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009. An application would have to be submitted in order to get a development permit for the construction of the hotels. Required information for the approval will be as follows: * Material used * Any impacts to the surrounding environment * Completed development look (Queensland Government: Development Approvals, 2013) Further legal issues will be discussed at a later date when the university of Queensland accepts the joint venture intention. 2.1.4 Australia: Political Environments The Australian’s political environment have been consistently stable since the year 1996 to 2011 with a small drop in the year 2009 according to the political stability index (World Governance Indicators, 2011). Ranked top 50 worldwide, Australia’s political environment has made the nation an attractive location for business makers to invest in. In order to protect Australia’s AU$15 billion international education industry from competition, the government have made its commitment to quicken visa processing for international students and release a list of policies universities, international education and research (Back to board on foreign students, 2013). Although concrete releases of these policies are not known yet, we can expect better support from the government on Australia’s international education industry. This would mean the future outlook of industry sees potential for further educational development. With a faster visa processing for international students, the demand for accommodation will increase and there will be our market. 2.1.5 Market Size and Growth We first identify the primary market for student hostels as domestic and international students, those in which plans on residing away from their homes in pursuit of their academics. Based on the study by Government of Australia and assuming 20% of the Domestic Students and 80% of the International require hostel accommodation, Australia Universities will require hostels to accommodate about 450,000 students: Australia| Domestic| International| Full Time| Students enrolled| 934,110| 323,612| 884,179| Students(estimated) needing Accomodation | 20%| 80%| | Rooms Required| 186,822| 258,890| 445,712| Study done by Government of Australia (Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education) in 2012 Looking at the numbers reflected above, the demand for student accommodations is substantial, especially among international students where accommodation serves great importance as it puts their respective parents at ease of sending their Children overseas. Students commencing would also be a positive indicator for high occupancy turn over rates. Although reports have shown that Australia is one of the most expensive countries to study abroad in (Cost of studying in Australia putting off international students, it is claimed, 2013), Australia remains optimistic about the future of international education program as part of their GDP contributor. In the report by International Education Advisory Council (Australia Educating Globally), there would be an estimated increase in total number of international students by 30% in the year 2020. Market growth in this market would be projected to be escalating even if it might be time periods where the growth might temporarily slowed down (Australia focused on international student enrolment growth, 2013). 3.1 Company Analysis 3.1.1 Fraser and Neave Formed in the year 1883, Fraser and Neave have flourished into a brand that is ranked as one of the most successful and established organization in the Asia Pacific region. With a remarkable array of renowned brands that relish strong market leadership, Fraser and Neave traditionally made its reputation through the production and distribution from its own FN range and several other international brands. In the recent decades, Fraser and Neave have moved on to property development and publishing with ravishing results. Operating at S$32 billion worth of shareholders’ funds and total assets, Fraser and Neave is present over 20 countries spreading across Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA. Leveraging on its strength in brand and financial management, research and development, marketing and distribution, as well as many years of acquisition experience, its subsidiary companies across the three industries are able to receive strategic directions and key resources to ensure sustainability and success. 3.1.2 Fraser and Neave: Properties As part of the business diversification, Fraser and Neave developed the Property Industry as a new core business. Since 1990 from a single mall operator, Fraser and Neave have blossomed into a full-fledge real estate group, Frasers Centrepoint Limited (â€Å"FCL†), which achieved a total of $1,345 million dollars just in year 2012. The group’s overseas property subsidiary in Australia, Fraser Property Australia, has made outstanding success in the Australia property market with the very prosperous development of residential and commercial projects. Involved in joint venture partnership with Sekisui House Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Fraser Property Australia has established its brand and reputation as a property developer in Australia having their projects span across Perth, Western Australia and largely in Sydney. Aside from just property development, the group have also developed and runs a service apartment under their Fraser Hospitality where they own full management rights. 3.2.3 University of Queensland Ranked in the top 100 universities in the world, University of Queensland is the first university that opened in the state and the largest university in Queensland. With a total of 4 major campuses – St Lucia and Herston in Brisbane and Ipswich and Gatton in South-East Queensland, the University have invested significantly in development and construction providing students with conducive environments for studies, research and other school activities. Covering a total of 1376 hectares of land 754,500 m2 (gross floor area) of which occupied by 764 buildings holding 522 teaching rooms and 1588 laboratories. 10 of which are residential colleges that provides student accommodations and places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty. All residential colleges are located at the main St Lucia Campus. We note that there are no other student accommodations located in the other 3 campuses – Herston Ipswich and Gatton. Students studying in these campuses are encouraged to look for accommodations that are near the schools. In the University of Queensland, there are more than 46,863 students including 11,389 international students from 142 nations around the world. Of the total 46,863 students, there are presently only 2,955 rooms available within the University as follows: College with Residence| Student with Residence at the College| Cromwell College| 247| Duchess College| 200| Emmanuel College| 340| Grace College| 180| Halls of Residences| 440| International House| 238| Kings College| 298| St. John College| 263| St Leo’s College| 212| Union College| 334| Woman’s College| 203| Total Residence| 2,955| Assuming 80% of the International and 20% of the Australian Students desire accommodation within the University, the University of Queensland will require an additional of 13,000 rooms that it does not have today! Based on an average AU$4,500 per year per residence fee, we estimate a Business Potential of AU$58 million per annum if all 13,000 rooms are provided. 4.1 Entry Mode 4.1.1 International Joint Venture We proposed that the entry mode for Fraser and Neave in developing and managing Hostel Accommodation within the University be an international joint venture with University of Queensland. This entry mode is proposed mainly due to the ownership rights for the land within University. This also simplifies the challenges of property rights and taxes. This Joint Venture is formed on the basis of University of Queensland providing the land while Fraser and Neave will provide the resources to build and operate the Hostel, which is the key strength of Fraser Property Australia. Through the company analysis, it can be seen that University of Queensland has a potential shortage of 13,000 student accommodation. Therefore the construction of a student hostel in the campuses will increase the attractiveness and reliability of the school to domestic or international students. In the initial phase, the proposed hostel construction would take place in campuses in South-East Queensland (Ipswich and Gatton) as these campuses are far away from the only campus in Brisbane that provides student accommodations. Based on the current capacity of only 2,955 residences within the University, we are confident that there will be strong student occupancy rates to uphold the sustainability of the hostels. We believe that the University of Queensland would be able to attract and house more domestic and international students with the value addition of these hostels while receiving percentage of it earnings. Fraser and Neave could also benefit by entering the market of student hostels through this singular joint venture. If proven to be a success, Fraser and Neave could move into the development of student hostels in Australia and the rest of the world that offers international studies aside from residential and commercial buildings. This is a niche market that has not been developed by any multinational companies and has the potential worth looking into. As Fraser and Neave is already in a joint venture with Sekisui House Australia Holdings Pty Limited with its subsidiary Fraser Property Australia, it would be wise to approach this new joint venture as partners. This would allow Fraser and Neave to once again tap onto the expertise of its local partner and mitigate the development cost between its partners. Therefore the joint venture will be proposed to run three ways. 5.1 Scale Analysis: International Joint Venture 5.1.1 Scale of Entry Since construction and management of student hostels in a University is considered to be a new extension of Fraser and Neave’s properties development, we would propose a conservative approach in the scale of market entry. We would propose an initial accommodation for 500 students, which will generate AU $2.25 million per annum, and this can be subsequently expanded to more accommodations depending on the availability of land within the University of Queensland. Although small, it allows Fraser and Neave more time to learn about this market. As this particular market is very niche with only small players traditionally, it will take time for Fraser and Neave to study the characteristics of the market and develop the most effective and functional way to progress this into a large-scale international hostel construction business. This also limits Fraser and Neave’s exposure to the monetary and economic losses that might follow if this project is a failure. 5.1.2 Risk Levels and control Given that the hostel is only for 500 students, the risks in this project are also relatively low in relation to the small scale of entry. Nonetheless, these are the possible risks involved and how to mitigate them: Sudden project withdrawal from the University of Queensland Land owned by the school required for the hostel constructions may be needed for other University purposes. To avoid this risk, conditions for the withdrawal of the joint venture have to be carefully constructed in the contract to ensure a high penalty cost if any party were to decide to withdraw. Disapproval of property development by local authorities or state government agencies To avoid last minute disapproval, Fraser and Neave must ensure that all conditions posed by the authorities are fulfilled before filing for approval. Sudden hike of interest rates for the properties building sector Although this is a risk that cannot be mitigated substantially, a possible way to minimize it would be to make payments in full. This would however increase the financial investment for the project in a shorter time frame. A more prudent approach is to ensure fixed interest rates are negotiated prior to the start of the projects. Sudden drop in student numbers in the proposed campuses Opening the rooms for rent to students of schools nearby could mitigate this risk however; it would have to be based on agreement with University of Queensland. Students from the university will also be given priority in this case. 5.1.3 Return Levels Return of investments for the proposed project will be 17% 20% per annum for each hostel. Payback period for the hostels will be at approximately of 4 years. 5.1.4 Control Levels Control levels for this form of entry mode is lower due to the number of parties involved. As this is a three way partnership proposed, Fraser and Neave must ensure that it has all the management decision for construction and management of the hostel thereafter. The agreement with the other 2 joint venture partners is needed and should be detailed in the agreement prior to project start. 5.1.5 Integration Levels With a long-term joint venture partner (Sekisui House Australia Holdings Pty Limited), integration with the local construction environment will not pose a great threat to Fraser and Neave. Along with the past experiences of commercial and residential properties in Australia, the integration of their construction contribution in this project is expected to be positive. On the other hand, partnership with a University is a first for Fraser and Neave and they might be hindered by the new rules and regulations that are imposed by the school. This can be mitigated by understanding the limitations of the school and its school grounds before the commencement of the construction. 6.1 Conclusion There is a great potential in extending Fraser and Neave construction line towards hostels construction with the increasing demand of international education in Australia. Being an undermined market, hostels construction will give Fraser and Neave competitive advantage as one of the first multinational company to internationalize this business. A joint venture with a renowned University worldwide gives the group an exposure to other Universities if proven to be successful. The joint venture would also provide the group with reliable knowledge and information essential for bringing this business into international grounds. A possible development can also arise from this business plan with the introduction of a brand new brand extension ‘Frasers Hostels’, the management of all the Fraser and Neave hostels across the globe. Total Word Count: 2750 References: Websites Fraser and Neave. Our Business. Available: http://www.fraserandneave.com/FN_ourbusiness_properties.asp. Last accessed 17th Aug 2013. Central Intelligence Agency (2013). The World Fact Book: Australia. Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html. Last Accessed: 17th Aug 2013. Fraser and Neave. Fraser Property. Available: http://www.frasersproperty.com.au/. Last accessed 23th Aug 2013. Alvin Chua. (2011). Fraser and Neave. Available: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1792_2011-03-04.html. Last accessed 23th Aug 2013. Communicaid. (2009). Doing Business In Australia, Australian Social and Business Culture. Available: http://www.communicaid.com/access/pdf/library/culture/doing-business-in/Doing%20Business%20in%20Australia.pdf. Last accessed 20th Aug 2013. College of Marin. High-context and Low-context Culture Styles, Available at: http://www.marin.edu/buscom/index_files/Page605.htm. Last Accessed: 18th Aug 2013. http://acad.depauw.edu/ (2001). Australia World View. Available at: http://acad.depauw.edu/~mkfinney/teaching/Com227/culturalportfolios/australia/WorldView.htm. Last Accessed: 18th Aug 2013. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2012). Legal Systems. Available at: http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/legal_system.html. Last Accessed: 22th Aug 2013. Intead International Education Advantage, LLC (2013). Australia focused on international student enrolment growth. Available at: http://www.intead.com/australia-focus/. Last Accessed: 23th Aug 2013. Queensland Government Department of State Development. Infrastructure and Planning (2013). Development Applications. Available at: http://www.dsdip.qld.gov.au/development-applications/development-application-process.html. Last Accessed: 25th Aug 2013. Queensland Government Department of State Development. Infrastructure and Planning (2013). Development Assessment Process. Available at: http://www.dsdip.qld.gov.au/development-applications/development-assessment-process.html. Last Accessed: 25th Aug 2013. Worldwide Governance Indicators. Australia. Available at: http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/sc_chart.asp#. Last Accessed: 25th Aug 2013. Newspaper Article Andrew Trouson and Bernard Lane (2013). Back to board on foreign students. The Australian, 04 September, Available at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/election-2013/back-to-board- on-foreign-students/story-fn9qr68y-1226710079478. Last Accessed: 4th Sep 2013 Books / Peer reviewed journals Jan Aart Scholte (2000). Globalization: A Critical Introduction Second Edition. Great Britain: Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale. Robins Kevins (2000). ‘Encountering Globalisation’ by David Held Anthony McGrew. The Global Transformations Reader. Great Britain. TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall. pg 239 – 245. Markus G. Kittler, David Rygl and Alex Mackinnon. (2011). Beyond culture or beyond control? Reviewing the use of Halls high-/low-context concept. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management. 11 (1), pg 63-82. Doney PM, Cannon JP, and Mullen MR (1998). Understanding the influence of national culture on the development of trust. Academy of Management Review 23: 601–20. Boyacigiller NA, Kleinberg J, Phillips ME, and Sackmann SA (2004). Conceptualizing culture: elucidating the streams of research in international cross-cultural management. In: Punnett BJ, Shenkar O (eds) Handbook for International Management Research. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press 99–167. Reports Fraser and Neave (2012). FN Annual Report 2012. Fraser and Neave. Singapore. Last accessed 17th Aug 2013 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank (2013). Doing Business 2013. The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Washington Dc. Last accessed 17th Aug 2013. Euromonitor International (2013). Business Environment: Australia. Euromonitor International. Last accessed 17th August 2013. Global Market Information Database Euromonitor International (2013). Australia Country Profile. Euromonitor International. Last accessed 17th August 2013. Global Market Information Database Clayton UTZ (2012). Doing Business in Australia. Clayton UTZ. Last accessed 22nd Aug 2013 International Education Advisory Council (2013). Australia – Educating Globally. International Education Advisory Council. Australia. Last accessed 23th Aug 2013. Government of Australia Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (2012). Summary of the 2012 full year higher education student statistics. Government of Australia Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. Australia. Last accessed 23th Aug 2013.

Definition And Classification Of Humor

Definition And Classification Of Humor Humor is a common phenomenon, which plays an important role in many aspects of our daily lives. Over thousand of years humor has been extensively studied in many fields, such as psychology, physiology and philosophy, anthropology, and sociology. Until recent times, it has been studied within the scope of linguistics. The English term humor derived from the Latin word for liquid, fluid or moisture. As time went by, the word humor lost its original meaning and came to be used in its present sense. As to the definition of humor, no agreement has been reached yet. According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English, it is defined as (1) capacity to cause or feel amusement (2) a persons state of mind. In Longman Dictionary of English Language Culture, it is defined as the ability to understand and enjoy what is funny. Although the definitions are not completely the same, we still can find something in common: Firstly, there should be human participants in the act. The speaker and the hearer play an important role in the humorous utterance. Secondly, the occurrence of humor should refer to the ability of people who are capable of producing and receiving what is funny and laughable. Thirdly, in any case something must happen in a humorous act, which refers to something people have seen, heard or thought. As to the classification of humor, Pocheplsov (Pocheplsov, 1981: 25) divided humor into two kinds. One is situational humor, the other is linguistic humor or verbal humor. Situational humor is situation-oriented, such as Monkeys mimic human beings behavior, and little babies learn to walk. Both of their awkward and vivid postures are situational humor. Verbal humor refers to text-oriented humor, both written and spoken. It is realized by languages. In this paper, verbal humor will be mainly discussed. 2. Humor created by flouting the cooperative principle In the next part, the theories will be briefly introduced and how the humorous effect is achieved will be discussed in details. 2.1 A brief review of cooperative principle In the process of communication, participants must abide by some basic principles, especially cooperative principle to ensure that the conversation goes smoothly well. We know that quite often a speaker can mean a lot more than what is said and the hearer can arrive at the speakers meaning. A philosophy and logician, H. P. Grice believes that there must be some mechanism governing the production and comprehension of these utterances. He suggests there is a set of assumptions guiding the conduct of conversation. This is what he calls the Cooperative Principle (CP). He then formulates the principle and its maxims as follows: Make your conversational contribution as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the exchange in which you are engaged. To put it more specific, there are four maxims under the general principle. The maxim of quantity Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of the exchange ) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. The maxim of quality Do not say what you believe to be false. Do not say that for which you lack the adequate evidence. The maxim of relation Be relevant The maxim of manner Avoid obscurity of expression Avoid ambiguity Be belief Be orderly (Grice, 1969: 58, cited in Wen Liu, 2006: 154) Grices CP is, with no doubt, one of the most important pragmatic principles ever existed and also one of the focuses of this thesis. However, not everyone obeys these maxims in the process of communication. Although speakers sometimes may violate these maxims intentionally or unintentionally, they are still cooperative and the communication can be successful. Humor is one of the cases like this .In the pragmatic study of verbal humor, violation or flouting of the four maxims has frequently encountered. In the following parts, I will talk about how humorous effect comes out on flouting of CP maxims in details. 2.2 Humor created by flouting of the maxims 2.2.1 Humor created by flouting of the maxim of quantity On the one hand, when the information is not as informative as is required, the sense of humor can be felt. For example, 1) That is not my dog An old lady was strolling through the park when she saw Jamie with a dog. Does your dog bite? she asked. NO. said Jamie. When the lady tried to pet the dog, it almost bit her finger off. I thought you said your dog does not bite! screamed the old lady with blood dripping from her hand. That is right, answered Jamie, my dog does not bite -but that is not my dog. In this story, Jamie violates the CP in that she does not answer the ladys question without adequate information. But the lady takes it for granted that that is Jamies dog. So when she complains, Jamies smart answer causes this humorous effect. On the other hand, when the information is more informative than is required, the humorous effect can also be felt. A good case in point is the conversation between The Soprano and the Contralto. 2) S: Did you notice how my voice filled the hall last night? C: Yes, dear. In fact I noticed several people leaving to make room for it. This humor lies in the over-loaded information of the Contraltos answer. The Soprano is proud of her voice and she wants to get others affirmation. So she asks the Contralto. In fact the first part of her answer is enough. From the extra part we can deduce the implication that the Soprano sings so badly that some audience can not bear it and start to leave. The contrast between the Sopranos expectation and the results she gets produce humorous effect. It is not hard to imagine how embarrassed and lost she was at that moment. 2.2.2 Humor created by flouting of the maxim of quality We have mentioned that the quality maxim requires the utterance to be true and reliable. The following story will fully explain how the humorous effect will be achieved by flouting the quality maxim. 3) The Barbers Explanation Once a boy went into a barbers shop and he asked for a shave. The barber told him to sit down, soaped his face and then left. The boy waited and waited and at last he lost his patience. Well, he shouted, why are you leaving me here for all the time The barber replied, Im waiting for your beard to grow. In this humorous story, the little boy is probably too eager to become an adult. So he asked for a shave, but the humorous barber did not refuse him directly .Instead, he left the boy waiting there and explained when the boy lost out of his patience. Obviously the barber violate the maxim of quality for it is known to us all that it will be many years before the boy grows beard. His real purpose is that he wants to tell the boy that there is no need for him to shave. His humor exists in disagreement between his utterance and actual objective facts. The following story will produce the same effect. It is about a horse or a mistress. The following is the story. 4) A horse or a mistress A woman came up behind her husband while he was enjoying his coffee and slapped him on the back I found a piece of paper in your pant pocket with the name Marylou written on it , she said ,furiously, you had better have an explanation. Calm down, honey! the man replied, Remember last week I was at the race? That was the name of the horse I bet on The next morning his wife sneaked up and again slapped him, what was that for? he complained. Your horse called last night. In this story the husband explained that Marylou was the name of his horse. Obviously he lied and violated the maxim of quality- Say something you believe to be false. The next morning when he asked why his wife beat him. His wife deliberately violated the maxim of quality and said his horse called last night. From this we can feel the wifes anger and her humor. Another aspect about deliberately flouting the maxim of quality is saying something lacking of evidence. For instance, 5) She: how old do you think I am? He: you dont look your age. In this piece of humor, the mans answer is vivid and humorous in that in western culture age is a taboo for ladies in a conversation. You dont look your age is quite a good answer for however old the lady is, it will not embarrass her. The violation of quality maxim is actually lying. In order to achieve humorous effect, speakers often apply rhetorical devices, such as personification, irony, hyperbole. Hence the hearer infers that the speaker meant something informative instead, for example, 6) Tom has wooden ears, this sentence can be interpreted that Tom do not appreciate classical music so we should not invite him to the concert. 2.2.3 Humor created by flouting of the maxim of manner In Grices cooperative principle, the maxim of manner requires the addresser and addressee to avoid obscurity of expression and ambiguity, be brief and orderly. However in our daily life, it is easy to break one or two, thus producing some unexpected humorous effect. Firstly, humor is created by intentionally saying some obscurity of expressions. 7): Lady (standing in the middle of a busy street): officer, can you tell me how to get to the hospital? Policeman: Just stand where you are and you will find how to get to the hospital. In example 7), the policeman did not answer the ladys question directly but indirectly warned her not to stand in the middle of road. This kind of conversation will make the seemingly boring transportation a little interesting. Secondly, people achieve humorous effect by making use of ambiguity of words. The following dialogue is the oral test to American registered electorate. 8) Where is Washington? He is dead. I mean the capital of the United States. They loaned it all to Europe. Now do you promise to support the constitutor? Me? How can I? I have got a wife and six children to support. In this conversation there are many words easy to be misunderstood for they have multiple meanings. Washington not only refers to one of American cities but also can refer to the first president of United States. Capital also has two meanings, city and money. Support can be used to agree with somebody and it also mean raise somebody. The questioned skillfully make use of polysemy to produce ambiguity. Thus, he can avoid answering the questions directly. It not only vividly reflects his sense of humor but also criticizes American politics. Thirdly, another way of producing humor by violating the manner of maxim is not to be brief. There is an old story which can best illustrate this point. Example 9): There was a man who played the chess for three times continuously. Later when he was asked how it was .He winked his eyes and answered: I did not win in the first time, the second time I did not lose and the third time I wanted to draw, but he disagreed. In actual fact, the man lost three times but he did not want to admit it. So he answered in the way that violates the third rule. However, this clever answer not only save his face but also left a deep impression on people who wanted to know the answer. Last but not the least is that the speaker deliberately says something random, illogical but the hearer can sense the humor by inferring from what he says. There is an example, 10) Her files of pins extend their shining rows; puffs; powders; patches; bibles; trifles; billet-doux. From this sentence the author put pins, make-ups of women and love letters sacred bible together. It is hard not to laugh when you get the pragmatic meaning that the woman was not loyal to God and Christian briefs. 2.2.4 Humor created by flouting of the maxim of relation The relation maxim requires us to speak something relevant. But in a conversation something completely irrelevant to topic maybe underlying something deep unsaid. Sometimes ridiculous words can also achieve humors effect. Example 11): There is a bug in the bottom of my cup! howled a customer in greasy-spoon cafà ©. What does this mean? Listen, mate, growled the owner, if you want your fortune told; go to find you a gipsy. In this example the customer needs a reasonable explanation about the bug, but the owner answer totally different thing irrelevant to his question. It violates the relation principle but achieve humorous effect .another example is listed to illustrate this point. A young man pretended that his eyesight was very poor when examined, so he was not called up for army service. That evening he went to a movie only to find that the doctor who had examined him was sitting beside him. Immediately he said to the man doctor, Excuse me, maam, but doesnt this bus go to Main Street? The young mans question has nothing to do with the context. He deliberately flouts the relation maxim to make the doctor believe that he is indeed short-sighted. In this way he covered his lie but it adds into the whole story a humorous effect. 3. Humor created by flouting the speech act theory 3.1 Theoretic review of speech act theory The speech act theory is one of the important theories in pragmatics; it is initially put forward by the British linguistic philosopher John L. Austin in his lectures at Harvard University in 1955. It is a philosophical explanation of the nature of linguistic communication. It aims to answer the question What do we do when using language? According to Austin, a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. Locutionary act: the act of saying the literal meaning of the utterance. Illocutionary act: the extra meaning of the utterance produced on the basis of its literal meaning Perlocutionary act: the effect of the utterance on the hearer, depending on the specific circumstance (Liu Wen, 2006: 149). 3.2 Humor created by misunderstanding illocutionary act Example 12): Teacher: what is the shape of the earth? Jonny: it is round. Teacher: How do you know it is round? Jonny: All right, its square then. I dont want to start an argument about it. From the teachers question, How do you know it is round? We can infer the teacher didnt blame the students answer, but wanted the student to tell him the evidence or causes for his answer. However, the student thought the teacher suggested him that the answer was wrong, so he changed his answer. Example 13): Waitress, shouted the impatient diner, do I have to sit here and starve all night? No, sir, we close at nine oclock. It is obvious that the customer is dissatisfied with the restaurants slow service, and he expressed his complaint. But the cute waitress deliberately understood the complaint on the locutionary act, and she hinted the customer she wont make him stay too long for his business hour was not all-day round. In the above two examples, humor is produced by misunderstanding illocutionary act. 3.3 Humor created by understanding illocutionary act In the following example, the seeming unconnected conversation between husband and wife is very coherent on a speech-act level on the condition that both of them understand the illocutionary act. 14) a. Husband: Thats the phone. b. Wife: Im in the bathroom c. Husband: Ok. This is an exchange between husband and wife when the telephone rings. In (a) The husband is not describing something it is a thing that needs no description to his wife .In (b), the wife is not describing her action either people do not usually need to assert that they are in the bathroom. Its illocutionary act are a refusal to comply with the request and issuing a request to her husband to answer the phone instead .In (c) the man accepts his wifes refusal and accepts her request, meaning all right, I will answer it In this piece, the humor lies in getting implied meaning from the seeming unconnected conversation. They both can understand each other without saying something directly. 4. Presupposition and humor Presupposition can be defined in linguistics as any kind of background assumption against which an expression or utterance makes sense or is rational. Presuppositions refer to the conditions that must be met in order for the intended meaning of a sentence to be regarded as acceptable (Yang, 2008: 177). Presupposition can be divided into semantic presupposition and pragmatic presupposition. Semantic presupposition can be easily figured out with presupposition triggers. However, pragmatic presupposition is the presupposition of the speaker or those directly involved. It concerns not only knowledge (whether true or false), but also concerns expectations, desires, interests, claims, attitudes towards the world, fears etc. The presupposition in linguistic is affected by some factor or the context. Pragmatic presupposition is the background knowledge of the two parties of communication, and the mutual knowledge is an important factor involving the construction of context. When the mutual knowledge is negated, the presupposition of the previous utterance is cancelled. In some situations, the speaker may deliberately make use of the defeasibility of presupposition to create humorous effect. The following examples are good cases in point. Example 15): If youre going to work here, young man, said the boss, one thing you must learn is that we are very keen on cleanliness in this firm. Did you wipe your feet on the mat as you came in? Oh, yes, sir. And another thing was we are very keen on is truthfulness. There is no mat. In this story, when the boss asked the young if he wiped his feet on the mat when he came in, the presupposition is that there is a mat on the floor. For this question, not only the young man, anyone would think that there is a mat on the floor. In fact, the boss set a trap to the candidate through a false presupposition to test whether the candidate is honest. 16) How often do you cheat in your exam? if you are asked by your teacher, how will you answer ¼Ã… ¸ There is a presupposition that you do, in fact, cheat in examinations. If you simply answer the how often part of the question by saying the words like very seldom, you are behaving as if the presupposition is right, that is, you admit that you have cheated in the exams. In this way we can touch the humorous effect of English. Presupposition is a precondition of an utterance and the implicit information it contains plays a role in normal progression of conversation. Ignoring the presupposition of an utterance, making a false presupposition and contradicting the presupposition to an utterance cause the abnormal comprehension to an utterance between the speaker and the hearer. In this way the effect of humor is produced. It is interesting and important to note that while conversation participants nearly always observe the CP, they do not observe these maxims strictly. Sometimes in order to achieve humorous effect, they will deliberately flout one or two of these maxims. The so-called sense of humor is the ability to produce or appreciate humor. The violation of one or two of these maxims is one of the main reasons to create humor. So many examples have been used to illustrate that violating this maxim could produce humor. But how can we sense it? Another pragmatic principle comes up-Conversation implicature. 5. Conversational implicature and humor Grices basic idea is that in communication, speaker aims to follow the CP and its maxims, and that hearers interpret utterances with these maxims in mind. According to Grice, utterance interpretation is not a matter of decoding messages, but rather involves taking the meaning of the sentences together with contextual information, using inferences rules, and working out what the speaker means on the basis of the assumption that the utterance conforms to the maxims. The kind of meaning that is not literally contained in the utterance is called conversational implicature. Conversational implicature is the key notion to appreciate English humors. In other words, appreciating English humor is no more than getting the implied meaning from the utterance. How can we get the implied meaning and what knowledge do we need? The correct inference of the conversational implicature presupposes the hearers mastery of the following knowledge: (1) the conventional content of the utterance (2) the cooperative principle and its maxims (3) the content of the context (4) some background knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. The speaker can produce the implicature in two ways: observance and non-observance of the maxims. In actual speech communication, it is often the case that speaker do not or can not observe the CP and the maxims. For example, the sentence he is a tiger literally is false, openly against the maxim of quality, for no human is a tiger. But the hearer still assumes that the speaker is being cooperative and then infers that he is trying to say something distinct from the literal meaning. He can work out that probably the speaker means to say that he has some characteristics of a tiger. Thus humorous effect can be sensed by such kind of expression. Metaphor and irony are standard examples of the flouting of the maxim of quality. However, the least interesting case is when speaker directly observe the maxims so as to generate conversational implicature. 15) Husband :where are the car keys ¼Ã… ¸ Wife: Theyre on the table in the hall. The wife has answered clearly(manner)and truthfully(quality),and has given just the right information(quantity)and has directly addressed her husbands goal in asking the question(relation).She has said precisely what she meant, no more and no less, and has generated her conversational implicature. From the above examples we can see clearly that this pattern of conversation of inference can work only on the assumption that the interlocutors share some background knowledge mentioned above. 6. The politeness principle and English humor The cooperative principle alone cannot fully explain how people talk. It explains how conversational implicature or English humor gives rise to but it does not tell us why people do not say directly what they mean. Why, for instance, do people say Could you give me a lift? instead of Give me a lift? The reason has to do with another principle which applies to conversation in addition to the Cooperative Principle Polite Principle (PP). In most cases, the indirectness is motivated by consideration of politeness. Politeness is usually regarded by most pragmatists as a means of strategy which is used by a speaker to achieve various purposes, such as saving face, establishing and maintaining harmonious social relations in conversation. Leech (leech, 1983: 165) looks on politeness as crucial in accounting for why people are often so indirect in conveying what they mean. He thus puts forward the Politeness Principle so as to rescue the Cooperative Principle in the sense that politeness can satisfactorily explain exceptions to and apparent deviation from the CP. Following Grices presentation of the CP, leech puts forward six maxims of the polite Principle which run as follows: Maxim of tact Minimize the cost to the other Maximize the benefit to the other Maxim of generosity Minimize benefit to self Maximize cost to self Maxim of approbation Minimize dispraise of the other Maximize praise of the other Maxim of modesty Minimize praise of self Maximize dispraise of self Maxim of disagreement Minimize disagreement between self and the other Maximize agreement between self and the other Maxim of sympathy Minimize antipathy between self and the other Maximize sympathy between self and the other (Wen Liu, 2006: 254) Briefly, this principle requires speakers to minimize the expression of impolite beliefs, give credit to the other person in its positive aspect and not cause offense to the other person in its negative aspect. 6.1 Humor created by abiding the politeness principle It has been mentioned that interlocutors should observe the maxims of Cooperative Principle in order to keep the communication go smoothly. However, in some situation interlocutors would rather sacrifice the Cooperative Principle than appear impolite. Interestingly, sometimes interlocutors abide by the Politeness will also create humorous effect. The following is such a case. The story happened when Regan held the post of the American President. During his first official visit to Canada, the demonstrators against the USA interrupted his public speeches off and on. The Canadian Premier Pierre appeared quite embarrassed. Then, Regan with a smile said to Pierre, Such a demonstration happens quite often in America. I guess these people must be coming from America o purpose to your honorable country. They just want to make me feel at home. (Xie, 2004: 125) Regans humorous speech immediately made Pierre joyful. When he saw the Premier felt tough to deal with the situation, President Regan applied the generosity maxim and the sympathy maxim in due course. His humor relieved Pierre from the embarrassment and at the same time saved his own positive face. Humor aroused by abiding by the Politeness Principle. The other maxims are also very important in explaining why certain forms are more acceptable than others. The maxim of approbation will explain why a compliment like what a marvelous meal you cooked! is highly valued while what an awful meal you cooked is not socially accepted .Thus when criticism is evitable; understatement is preferred as a show of reluctance to dispraise. (Her composition was not as good as it might have been.) The maxim of modesty accounts for the benign nature of utterance like how stupid of me and the offensive nature of how clever of me. A: The book is well written. B: Yes, well written as a whole, but there are some rather boring patches, dont you think. Regulated by the maxim of agreement, people tend to exaggerate their common ground first, even when much difference is to follow. In the following example, notice how much effort speaker B puts into trying to hide the fact that he disagrees with A. A: She is small, isnt she? B: Well, shes sort of smallà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦certainly not very large à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but actuallyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I would have to say that she is large rather than small. Bs answer is better than answer directly. 6.2 Humor created by violating the politeness principle For some special communicative purposes, the interlocutors may violate the maxims of Politeness Principle. Teacher (to a boy slow at mathematics): You should be ashamed of yourself? Why at your age George Washington was a surveyor! Boy: Yes, sir, and at your age he was President of the United States. According to the maxim of Politeness Principle, we can see the teacher firstly violated the maxim to approbation .Faced with the dispraise, the boy struck back the teachers dispraise, and he also violated the maxims of approbation .However, in this example, the student saved his own face by violating the maxim of politeness principle. It is argued that when the CP and PP are in contradiction, it is generally the CP maxims that get sacrificed. When the truth cannot be told for politeness sake, a white lie may be offered. In fact the PP is so powerful that people are often encouraged to violate its maxims in order to ensure a cooperative discourse .Irony is a means to solve the conflict between the CP and PP-when the truth is too offensive to be told, an ironic utterance assumes a polite surface while delivering an unpleasant true message underneath. Conclusion Just as Chinese scholar Lin Yutang puts it, humor is part of life. As a phenomenon peculiar to human beings, it can be found everywhere. The study of humor can help us better understand humor. This paper studies the general knowledge of humor and how it is caused. Conducting a pragmatic approach to the understanding of verbal humor makes it clear why humor is humorous and how to understand and create verbal humor effectively and efficiently. Through the employing of pragmatic theories to analyze the creation of humor, it can be found that the Cooperative Principle has strong explaining force to the analysis of verbal humor. According to Grice, conversational implicatures can arise from either strictly and directly observing or deliberately and openly flouting the maxims, that is, speaker can produce implicatures in two ways: observance and non-observance of the maxims. According to Leech, the politeness principle is not just an addition to Grices CP, but a necessary complement needed for cases where the CP fails to offer a reasonable explanation. Besides, the speech act theory also plays an important role in appreciating English humor. Through the illocutionary act, extra meaning of the utterance can be produced on the basis of its literal meaning. Presupposition is also an important fact in understanding humor and not getting cheated by others. From the perspective of its function, humor can be used to activate atmosphere, get rid of conflict, attack and counter-attack, and save ones faces. In our daily life, people create humor not only for humors sake, but also for some special communicative purposes. Through the study, people can find the power and charm of humor. If more and more people can be encouraged to use humor in their daily life, the whole society will be more friendly and harmonious.

An Analysis Of If Men Could Me Essay -- essays research papers

From your perspective (male or female) how valid are the speculations offered by the author of â€Å"If Men Could Menstruate† Nothing With out a woman   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A hypothesis on a hyperbole is the best description one can render onto this piece by Gloria Steinem. The ideas present in the essay â€Å"If Men could menstruate† are so drastic and ridiculous, that it demands a second reading. These same ridiculous thoughts on this unique subject matter are generally quaint but for the greater part they evoke thought on the reality of society. Boarders, languages and oceans separate the planet physically; class distinctions, religion, color and gender separate it mentally. Man in all his glory cannot justify or gratify himself unless some other party recognizes a superior, therefor; it obviously becomes imperative for men to be seen by other as superiors. Based on this reasoning it is safe to imply that distinctions are a man made concepts that are used to promote his superiority be it in class, color and gender. Gloria Steinem uniquely presented a true and accurate stance on gender distinction based on the fact that any and almost every thing has been used to promote male superiority and female inferiority. The society today is not one that lends itself to the topic of a woman’s menstruation; quite frankly it is revered as taboo. A woman’s Menstruation (her period) is seen by males as an obstacle and is considered very dirty sexually. The menstrual cycle as perceived...

Essay --

Rohan Baishya Due 2/13/14 Block 5 Poem Commentary The Schoolboy by William Blake The Schoolboy is a poem which at first, William Blake, the author of the poem, put in his original version of Songs of Innocence but eventually moved it to the other half of his complete work, Songs of Innocence and Experience. His change of mind of the suitable position for The School Boy shows indecision by Blake regarding whether he should divide the works into two divergent sections or keep them together to resemble the crucial eminence of this particular poem. An elucidation of the poem is that Blake knew beforehand and was planning out the larger work when Songs of Innocence was first published, and that he intentionally decided to have dissimilar poems like The Schoolboy to institute at least some tension through the concurrence of them centered on other carefully planned out works. This understanding is further supported because Blake already completed plenty of the poems earlier, and these later became the Songs of Experience when the former work had been published. Therefor e, it is straightforward to envisage that Blake was experimenting, which led to a couple divergent poems added momentarily to Songs of Innocence. But beside the point, these distinctive characteristics of the background of The Schoolboy are incorporated to emphasize the poem as something worth evaluating more closely, for there is far more to it than meets the eye. Another rationale for concentrating on The Schoolboy is its subject matter. The poem is in relation to the results of official schooling on a child’s life. What happens to kids when they are brought into an atmosphere of strict, textbook style of learning? Is anything lost in exchange for the chance to learn in ... ...ful experiences in school can adversely shape the lives of kids and students. In the second half of The Schoolboy, William Blake gives a passionate call for the insightful handling of juvenile minds. In the fourth stanza, an additional element from the first stanza is used figuratively to exemplify the negative results of an authoritarian way of learning. The tenor of this allegory is an anxious kid required to go to school and disregard his or her way of thinking. The comparison is to an incarcerated bird that droops its young wings and is forced to forget its joyful urge to fly free. The similarity, which institutes the metaphor, is the incarcerating makeup of both the school and the bird’s cage; the purpose of both are to control and transform the being within at the cost of their innate, free self-expression, oppressing the delicate, youthful tunes within them.

My Last Duchess :: Robert Browning, My Last Duchess

Robert Browning is the author of "My Last Duchess" and he shows the audience how it is a dramatic monologue. In a class lecture, the professor had mentioned that the poem is set in the 15th century. During that time, it was common for a young woman to be arranged in a marriage. As the poem unfolds, the audience learns the speaker of the poem, Duke Ferrara, is talking to another male character and begins to tell the story of his previous wife. As they are standing in front of the portrait of the Duke's last wife, now dead, the Duke talks about her imperfections. The reader discovers that the ex-wife's "imperfections" were qualities such as generosity, courtesy to those who served her, and an overall respected woman. What follows are examples on the nature and personality of the Duke. Browning lets the reader to believe that the Duke has found flaws of his previous wife because she did not respect his rank and his power. More importantly, the Duke did not approve the behavior of his previous wife and will tolerate it again. As the story begins, the Duke is speaking to the other male character about the portrait of his previous wife. A painter by the name of Fra Pandolf had painted the portrait and it is said that Pandolf's hands may have wandered as well. The following lines can make the audience wonder about the relationship between Pandolf and the Duke's ex-wife. "That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf's hands / Worked busily a day, and there she stands" (lines 3-4). The Duke is now left to wonder that if his ex-wife and Pandolf may have had a relationship of some sort. In the poem, the Duke does not reveal the painting to any person. He is the only person that is allowed to reveal the portrait from the curtains that cover it. Although he does not show anyone t he portrait, the Duke had revealed the painting to the other character. "The depth and passion of its earnest glance But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst" (8-11). The audience is learning very early in the poem that the Duke questioned his relationship with the Duchess in the portrait. It is at this moment in the poem that the Duke begins to tell the reasons he did not trust his ex-wife.

What is inflammation?

This is term that is used to describe a reaction of localized tissues that is irritated, or can be cause because of an injury, infection, redness and swelling. There are several types of disease that cause severe inflammation, one disease that is very bad is Encephalitis this is an inflammation of the brain. This particular condition can happen to anyone at any age, all over the world. If encephalitis develops very rapidly, it can cause serious problems to the nervous system and the brain. If the body produces antibodies to fight the inflammation there’s a chance that they could make a mistake and attack the healthy brain tissue instead of the tissue that is inflamed. If this is not cured it could end up being life threatening. This is just one of many infections that cause by inflammation. How body reacts to inflammation are is by detecting where the exact location the inflammation is. When the body knows where it is it can send out anti bodies to eat the infection that is causing the inflammation. The symptoms of inflammation are it can be red and warm because of a large amount of blood reaching the swollen area. It can be very painful at time especially at the site of infection. There are many way to relief the pain, redness, and swelling is to put ice on it, also some inflammatory ointment can also be used to help reduce the sign of inflammation. Normally the inflammation only last till the infection has been totally healed after that there should no long be any inflammation. Sometimes during the process of the cells healing itself the cells can die of lack of nutrients known necrotic death, another way that the cells can die is from committing suicide by destroying themselves, this is known as Apoptotic death. When our body finds that there is an inflammation our body quickly reposed and kills the intruder. Then once the infection has been killed then the inflammation should go away. There are so many various things that can cause an inflammation in our body.

Final Nerrative Essay

He became difficult and refused to listen to Our mother. He would stroll the the streets all night and routinely come back home with items we suspect were stolen. My parents had always pondered upon and discussed the consequences of leaving us alone, without the guidance and support of both a mother and father. But because of our financial situation, my father needed to make the sacrifice. We all needed to sacrifice something. Subsequently, the behavior of my brother got worse over time and finally hit rock bottom one cold night. One Friday night approximately at 9 p. . , I was returning from school, about a block away from my house, I spotted a group of kids beating up a person. As I got closer, I recognized the unconscious body of my brother. Me being only 13 at the time, I launched myself with the greatest possible might at these bullies, which were in their twenties. Recall about 20 seconds of the fight, as I was getting stomped in my face, lying on the wet ground. To this day, I can still smell the dirt, water, blood, and leaves of that particular bush that grows around the rivers in that region of Mexico.The next day woke up in a hospital, and my first thought was about my brother. Was he well? Where was he? I ignored my head covered in bandages and the pain of my broken arm. Not even the fact that my dad flew from Los Angles and was there by my side. My heart began to fill with anger towards the man beside me, for failing to be there for us, and leaving his wife and children alone for months. When the nurse finally rolled my brother in on a squeaky hospital bed into the room, the whole family burst into tears the moment my brother and I embraced. Those were the tears of enormous relief that we were both alive.Up to this day, it has been the only time I have seen my dad cry. That day, all of us cried as a family in that cold blue pine smelling hospital room. During the following weeks of our recovery our father stayed in Mexico with us. About 3 weeks afte r this ordeal, we went back with the local police to the area where my brother and were attacked. The eerie feeling embraced us, as we walked down the block to that area. I will never forget the look on my father's face, as he looked at the scattered broken branches and our blood on he concrete floor, where we laid that night.For my father, the realization of his sons coming close to losing their lives finally struck him, he broke down. The police never found out what gang was responsible for the attack; though, still have a feeling that my brother knew some of them, but I never pushed the issue upon him after that. My parents discussed the option of sending my brother to a military school for kids who are on the wrong path in life, but a funny thing occurred. Once my father was with us fulfillment, my brother Joe completely changed, it was as a light bulb went off. Never again he got into trouble.For the sake of the family, my parents made a decision to move back to California. We sold our house in Mexico and within months, the whole family moved back to Los Angles. My brother continued to behave, as he confidently found his positive path. It ultimately took the presence of my father to turn him around. Frequently hear arguments in single parent households, that a father is not needed for happiness and stability in the family. In some instances that might be true, however, when it comes to our family, our father is the glue hat has kept us together to this day.