Lexical diffusion

In historical linguistics, lexical diffusion is both a phenomenon and a theory. The phenomenon is that by which a phoneme is modified in a subset of the lexicon, and spreads gradually to other lexical items. For example, in English, /uː/ has changed to /ʊ/ in good and hood but not in food; some dialects have it in hoof and/or roof but others do not; in flood and blood it happened early enough that the words were affected by the change of /ʊ/ to /ʌ/, which is now no longer productive.

The related theory, proposed by William Wang in 1969, is that all sound changes originate in a single word or a small group of words and then spread to other words with a similar phonological make-up, but may not spread to all words in which they potentially could apply. The theory of lexical diffusion stands in contrast to the Neogrammarian hypothesis that a given sound change applies simultaneously to all words in which its context is found.

Mainstream historical linguists reject Wang's hypothesis, continuing to adhere to Neogrammarian exceptionlessness. For example, Pulleyblank regards the theoretical formulation of lexical diffusion as presented by Hsieh in Wang 1977 as “so manifestly at odds with any realistic picture of how dialects are inter-related and how innovations spread spatially through a language as to make them totally untenable” (1982: 408).

Diffusion (acoustics)

Diffusion, in acoustics and architectural engineering, is the efficacy by which sound energy is spread evenly in a given environment. A perfectly diffusive sound space is one that has certain key acoustic properties which are the same anywhere in the space. A non-diffuse sound space would have considerably different reverberation time as the listener moved around the room. Virtually all spaces are non-diffuse. Spaces which are highly non-diffuse are ones where the acoustic absorption is unevenly distributed around the space, or where two different acoustic volumes are coupled. The diffusiveness of a sound field can be measured by taking reverberation time measurements at a large number of points in the room, then taking the standard deviation on these decay times . Alternately, the spatial distribution of the sound can be examined. Small sound spaces generally have very poor diffusion characteristics at low frequencies due to room modes.

Diffusors

Diffusors (or diffusers) are used to treat sound aberrations in rooms such as echoes. They are an excellent alternative or complement to sound absorption because they do not remove sound energy, but can be used to effectively reduce distinct echoes and reflections while still leaving a live sounding space. Compared to a reflective surface, which will cause most of the energy to be reflected off at an angle equal to the angle of incidence, a diffusor will cause the sound energy to be radiated in many directions, hence leading to a more diffusive acoustic space. It is also important that a diffusor spreads reflections in time as well as spatially. Diffusors can aid sound diffusion, but this is not why they are used in many cases; they are more often used to remove coloration and echoes.

Square (album)

Square is a studio album by Canadian hip hop musician Buck 65. It was released on WEA in 2002. Though it consists of four tracks, each track consists of multiple songs.

It was nominated for the 2003 Juno Awards for Alternative Album of the Year and Album Design of the Year.

Reception

Rollie Pemberton of Pitchfork Media gave Square a 7.0 out of 10 and called it "a melodic mix of folk rock sensibility, smooth early 90s style production, clever lyrical observations and a relatively enjoyable train ride into the mental station of Halifax's best-known emcee." Meanwhile, Clay Jarvis of Stylus Magazine gave the album a grade of B+, saying, "Square is built solely out of his strengths: hazy introspection, sparse snare-and-kick beats and simple, dismal instrumental refrains."

Track listing

References

External links

Square (company)

Square Co., Ltd. (株式会社スクウェア, Kabushiki-gaisha Sukuwea) was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masashi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became Square Enix. The company also used SquareSoft as a brand name to refer to their games, and the term is occasionally used to refer to the company itself. In addition, "Squaresoft, Inc" was the name of the company's American arm before the merger, after which it was renamed to "Square Enix, Inc".

History

Square was founded in Yokohama in September 1983 by Masashi Miyamoto after he graduated from Waseda, one of Japan's top universities. Back then, Square was a computer game software division of Den-Yu-Sha, a power line construction company owned by Miyamoto's father. While at the time game development was usually conducted by only one programmer, Miyamoto believed that it would be more efficient to have graphic designers, programmers and professional story writers working together on common projects. Square's first two titles were The Death Trap and its sequel Will: The Death Trap II, both designed by part-time employee Hironobu Sakaguchi and released on the NEC PC-8801.

Square (sailing)

The term to square a yard is used when sailing a square-rigged ship.

To "square a yard" is to lay the yards at right angles to the line of the keel by trimming with the braces.

Explanation

"Squaring a yard" adjusts the position of the square sails so that they are perpendicular to the keel of the ship. This is done in order to "run before the wind', i.e., sail with the wind directly behind the vessel rather than tacking.

When a square-rigger is running downwind, and the yards are positioned perpendicular to the line of the keel, both sheets that control the yard (braces) are tied off aft (i.e., straight back), leading to the figurative phrase "Both sheets aft."

"Both sheets aft, The situation of a square-rigged ship that sails before the wind, or with the wind right astern. It is said also of a half-drunken sailor rolling along with his hands in his pockets and elbows square."

Further definition

"Square ... A term peculiarly appropriated to the yards and their sails. Thus, when the yards hang at right angles with the mast they are said to be 'square by the lifts;' when perpendicular to the ship's length, they are 'square by the braces;' but when they lie in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the keel, they arc 'square by the lifts and braces.' The yards are said to be very square when they are of extraordinary length, and the same epithet is applied to their sails with respect to their breadth."

The Reporter (Vacaville)

The Vacaville Reporter is a newspaper in the town of Vacaville, California. The Rico family, who had owned the paper since 1935, sold the paper to current owner MediaNews Group in 2002.

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Reporter (disambiguation)

A reporter is a journalist.

It can also refer to:

See also