Malay Speech Corpus

Malay Speech Corpus CHAPTER 3 MALAY SPEECH CORPUS 3.1 Introduction The knowledge related to the structure of the rules and grammar for any language must be understood in depth prior to the development of any Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems. This chapter is intended to discuss the related issues concerning the Malay language and its speech sounds.   The Malay corpus and the test collections used for this study are also presented in the following sections. 3.2Malay Speech Sounds and Language Rules Malay is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who are native to the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, Singapore and parts of Sumatra and also known locally as Bahasa Melayu. It is the official language of Malaysia and is an agglutinative language, meaning that the meaning of the word can be changed by adding the necessary prefixes or suffixes that will be explained through out of this section. The smallest unit in any language is known as phoneme.   The substitution of this unit for another might make a distinction of meaning (Nong et al. 2001).   Integrating the phonemes produces the syllable and words.   Generally, phoneme classification for Malay language is divided into three major groups that consist of Vowels (V), Consonants (C) and other miscellaneous (Manaf Hamid 1996).   This structure is relatively same with the English language as shown in Figure 3.1 (Karim 1996). The vowel class comprises of six vowels that is: /a/, //, /i/, /o/, /u/ and /e/.   The vowel sound is produced when the air exit from the lunges and mouth without ant noise. The second category, which is consonant class, can be further divided into seven different categories that is the stops or plosive group, affricates, nasals, glides, liquids, fricatives and the semivowel.   The sounds from consonants are produced by air from lungs and consist of noise.   The noise is generated in mouth and nose, for instance, phoneme /p/and /b/.   Figure 3.2 describe the consonant utterances classification for the Malay language. The last category, miscellaneous category, consists of the diphthong and vowel functions.   Vowel function is a combination of two different vowel (ia, io and iu) and most often used in words absorbed directly from its English equivalent such as radio and audio, and in some original Malay words such as nyiur (coconut), hias (decorate) (Hussain, 1997). 3.2.1Malay morphology Malay morphology is defined as study of word structures in Malay language (Lutfi Abas, 1971). A morpheme is the term used in the morphology. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a language. In another words, morpheme is a combination of phonemes into a meaningful unit. A Malay word can be comprised of one or more morphemes. When we talk about Malay morphology, we cannot avoid from discussing the process of word formation in Malay language. It is a language of derivative which allows the addition of affixes to the base/root or primary word to form new words. The language itself is different from the English. In English language, the process involves the changes in the phonemes according to their groups. The processes of word formation in Malay language are in the forms of primary words, derivative words, compound words and reduplicative words. 3.2.1.1Primary word Primary or root words are either nouns or verbs, which is does not take any affixes or reduplication. A primary word can be comprised of one or more syllables. A syllable consists of a vowel (V) or a vowel with a consonant (C) or a vowel with several consonants. The vowel can be presented at the front or back of the consonants. In Malay language, primary word with one syllable accounts for about 500 only (Nik Safiah Karim et al. 1995). Some of the primary words are taken from other languages such as English and Arabic. The structures of the syllable are shown in Table 3.1. Primary words with two syllables are the majority in the Malay language. The structures of the words are shown in Table 3.2 with example of words that illustrated as in Figure 3.3. Primary words with three and more syllables exist in a few numbers. Most of them are taken from other languages as shown in Table 3.3. Table 3.1:   Structure of words with one syllable Syllable Structure Example of word CV Ya (yes) VC Am (common) CVC Sen (cent) CCVC Stor (store) CVCC Bank (bank) CCCV Skru (screw) CCCVC Skrip (script) Table 3.2:   Structure of words with two syllables Syllable Structure Example of word V + CV Ibu (mother) V + VC Air (water) V + CVC Ikan (fish) VC + CV Erti (meaning) VC + CVC Empat (four) CV + V Doa (pray) CV + VC Diam (silent) CV + CV Guru (teacher) CV + CVC Telur (egg) CVC + CV Lampu (lamp) CVC + CVC Jemput (invite) E R + T I V C + C V J E M + P U T C V C + C V C C Consonant V Vowel Table 3.3:   Structure of words with three syllables or more Syllable Structure Example of word CV + V + CV Siapa (who) CV + V + CVC Siasat (investigate) V + CV + V Usia (age) CV + CV + V Semua (all) CV + CV + VC Haluan (direction) CVC + CV + VC Berlian (diamond) V + CV + CV Utara (north) VC + CV + CV Isteri (wife) CV + CV + CV Budaya (culture) CVC + CVC + CV Sempurna (perfect) CVC + CV + CVC Matlamat (aim) CV + CV + VC + CV Keluarga (family) CV + CVC + CV + CV Peristiwa (event) CV + CV + V + CVC Mesyuarat (meeting) CV + CV + CV + CVC Munasabah (reasonable) V + CV + CVC + CV + CV Universiti (University) 3.2.1.2Derivative word Derivative words are the words that are formed by adding affixes to the primary words. The affixes can exist at the initial (Prefixes), within (Infixes) or final (Suffixes) of the words. They can also exist at the initial and final of the words at the same time. These kinds of affixes are called confixes. Examples of derivative words are â€Å"berjalan† (walking), â€Å"mempunyai† (having), â€Å"pakaian† (clothes) and so on. 3.2.1.3 Compound word Compound words are the words that are combined from two individual primary words, which carry certain meanings. There are quite lots of compound words in Malay language. Examples of compound words are â€Å"alat tulis† (stationery), â€Å"jalan raya† (road), â€Å"kapal terbang† (aeroplane), â€Å"Profesor Madya† (associate professor), â€Å"hak milik† (ownership), â€Å"pita suara† (vocal folds) and so on. Some of the Malay idioms are from the compound words such as â€Å"kaki ayam† (bare feet), â€Å"buah hati† (gift), â€Å"berat tangan† (lazy), â€Å"terima kasih† (thank you) and so on. 3.2.1.4 Reduplicative word Reduplicative words, as its name suggests, are the words that are reduplicated from the primary words. There are three forms of reduplication in Malay language: full, partial and rhythmic. Examples of reduplicative words are â€Å"mata-mata† (policeman), â€Å"sama-sama† (welcomed) and so on. 3.3Malay Speech Corpus Design Malay speech design basically involves the proper selection of speech target sounds for speech recognition.   The Malay phonemes can be analyzed according to the descriptive analysis and distinctive feature analysis.   Generally, the descriptive analysis is preferred over the distinctive feature analysis because it is easier to be implemented. To develop a baseline system for spoken Malay utterances or word model, we need database for isolated spoken Malay words.   However, very little of the literature and reference material in Malay is available in raw electronic form to support research and development work. These materials are sometimes not suitable for the real life speech recognition system due to their setting environments and most of these materials are recorded the planned or read text.Since no spoken Malay database exists, we develop the Malay corpus based on Hansard documents from Parliament of Malaysia. The hansard documents consists of Dewan Rakyat(DR)Parliamentary debates session for the year 2008.   It contains spontaneous and formally speeches and it is the daily records of the words spoken by 222 elected members of DR. The hansard documents comprises of 51 huge raw video and audio files (.avi form) of daily recorded parliamentary session and 42 text files (.pdf form). Each part of parliamentary session contains six to eight hours spoken speeches that surrounded with medium noise condition or environment (less than 30 dB), speakers interruption (Malay, Chinese and Indian) and different speaking styles (low, medium and high intonation or shouting).   The reason of chosen this kind of data is due to their spontaneous and natural way of speaking in a formal or standard Malay speech during the debates session. The analysis has been done to the whole recorded session from mid-term until the end 2008 of hansard documents. Out of 42 text documents and 51 video files, only 22 text documents and 22 video files were being selected due to their perfect matched in terms of the contents of video and audio source files. The remaining of the text documents and video files have not been chosen due to the missing of some text documents that could not be downloaded, some video files having corrupted during recording session and some of the recorded video having missed sounds.   This study focused and concerned to the video that have audio sounds since it will be used to develop the Malay corpus and to evaluate the performance of isolated spoken Malay speech recognition system. The quantitative information analysis, about the videos and text documents being selected is given in Table 3.4. Table 3.4: Quantitative information of Hansard documents selected. No. Video Text Documents No. of Topic No. of Speakers Total Words 1. DR28052008 (MEI) 11 129 40,283 2. DR29052008 (MEI) 15 114 39,612 3. DR24062008 (JUNE) 13 154 49,212 4. DR25062008 (JUNE) 10 118 38,053 5. DR30062008 (JUNE) 10 175 58,013 6. DR02072008 (JULY) 14 187 67,906 7. DR03072008 (JULY) 12 120 48,411 8. DR07072008 (JULY) 16 210 72,890 9. DR10072008 (JULY) 13 132 42,350 10. DR28082008 (AUGUST) 10 123 40,780 11. DR03112008 (NOVEMBER) 17 232 78,750 12. DR04112008 (NOVEMBER) 11 136 43,440 13. DR10112008 (NOVEMBER) 10 105 39,560 14. DR20112008 (NOVEMBER) 16 109 42,795 15. DR26112008 (NOVEMBER) 10 186 38,880 16. DR27112008 (NOVEMBER) 10 147 41,450 17. DR01122008 (DECEMBER) 7 118 38,430 18. DR02122008 (DECEMBER) 9 176 56,815 19. DR03122008 (DECEMBER) 12 152 48,616 20. DR04122008 (DECEMBER) 11 192 56,780 21. DR10122008 (DECEMBER) 6 130 38,677 22. DR11122008 (DECEMBER) 10 143 52,369 TOTAL The process of documents analysis shows that the majority of the Malay words are comprised of primary word with two syllables and mono (one) syllables. Among the Malay words, the syllables structure of VC, CV and CVC are the most common.   These structures are preferred because they are easy to be pronounced exactly as its written and their number is quite substantial in the hansard documents. In order to get a good distribution of consonants and vowels for the dataset from the hansard documents, the most frequently primary (root or base) words spoken by speakers during Parliamentary debates are used. As mentioned previously, most of the root words are the primary words that are either in nouns or verbs without adding any derivations (affixes and suffixes) or reduplication to the root words. Thus, from the text documents analysis, we determined 100 primaries words that mostly spoken by the committee members during the debates that consist of 10 primary words of one syllable, four p rimary words from three or more syllables structures and 86 primary words that form two syllables structures as depicted in Table 3.5. The details quantitative analysis of each words distribution is represented in Appendix A. Each primary word has maximum number of 50 repetitions that uttered by same or different speakers. Thus, there are a total of 5000 isolated spoken Malay words used for this research. The challenging task is to capturing and segmenting the exact words being uttered accordingly to the audio sounds in the video files. The process of creating isolated spoken Malay corpus is illustrated as in Figure 3.4 and briefly explained in the following sections. Table 3.2: Selection of 100 isolated spoken Malay words as the speech target sounds. No. Words Structures No. Words Structures 1 ADA V + CV 51 LAGI CV + CV 2 AHLI VC + CV 52 LAIN CV + VC 3 AKAN V + CVC 53 LAMA CV + CV 4 AKTA VC + CV 54 LANGKAH CVCC + CVC 5 ARAH V + CVC 55 LEBIH CV + CVC 6 ATAS V + CVC 56 MAKLUM CVC + CVC 7 ATAU V + CVV 57 MANA CV + CV 8 BAGI CV + CV 58 MASA CV + CV 9 BAIK CV + VC 59 MASIH CV + CVC 10 BAKAL CV + CVC 60 MESTI CVC + CV 11 BANK CVCC 61 MUNGKIN CVCC + CVC 12 BARU CV + CV 62 NANTI CVC + CV 13 BEKAS CV + CVC 63 OLEH V + CVC 14 BERI CV + CV 64 ORANG V + CVCC 15 BINCANG CVC + CVCC 65 PADA CV + CV 16 BOLEH CV + CVC 66 PIHAK CV + CVC 17 BUAT CV + VC 67 PRINSIP CCVC + CVC 18 BUKAN CV + CVC 68 PULA CV + CV 19 DALAM CV + CVC 69 PUN CVC 20 DAN CVC 70 RAMAI CV + CVV 21 DASAR CV + CVC 71 RIBU CV + CV 22 DATANG CV + CVCC 72 RUJUK CV + CVC 23 DENGAN CV + CCVC 73 SAH CVC 24 DIA CVV 74 SAMA CV + CV 25 EKONOMI V + CV + CV + CV 75 SANGAT CV + CCVC 26 ESOK V + CVC 76 SAYA CV + CV 27 HADIR CV + CVC 77 SEBAB CV + CVC 28 HAK CVC 78 SEBUT CV + CVC 29 HAL CVC 79 SEDANG CV + CVCC 30 HARI CV + CV 80 SEDIA CV + CVV 31 HENDAK CVC + CVC 81 SUDAH CV + CVC 32 IAITU VV + V + CV 82 SUSAH CV + CVC 33 IALAH VV + CVC 83 TADI CV + CV 34 INGAT VC + CVC 84 TAHU CV + CV 35 INGIN VC + CVC 85 TAHUN CV + CVC 36 INI V + CV 86 TIDAK CV + CVC 37 ISU V + CV 87 TANYA CV + CCV 38 ITU V + CV 88 TELAH CV + CVC 39 IZIN V + CVC 89 TENTANG CVC + CVCC 40 JADI CV + CV 90 TERIMA CV + CV + CV 41 JANGAN CV + CCVC 91 TIDAK CV + CVC 42 JAWAB CV + CVC 92 TIPU CV + CV 43 JUGA CV + CV 93 TUAN CV + VC 44 JUTA CV + CV 94

Summary Of Guns Germs And Steel History Essay

Summary Of Guns Germs And Steel History Essay The Author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Jared Diamond,  attempts  to  give  an explanation to a question posed by a friend of his from New Guinea. Yali wonders why the whites have been so  successful  compared  to  the rest of the world and why they  have so much cargo. We must remember that  intelligence  is not how much you know but what you are capable of learning. Obviously, other nations are just not exposed to quality education or other  advantageous  resources. White people, who were privileged with such, have been able to  conquer  others because of this reason. The real question is why do some people have advantages over others? and Jared Diamond will answer that question. The  novel  starts off with an  explanation  that our closest living relatives are the gorilla, the common chimpanzee, and the pygmy chimpanzee. Since these animals  are confined  to the continent of Africa and there is a considerable amount of fossil evidence concluding the evolution of  mankind  in that area, Africa is widely accepted as  mankinds birthplace. About 1 or 2 million years after humans originated one of our ancestors had  finally  traveled beyond Africa; Homo  erectus  fossils  had been found  in the Southeast Asian island of Java. About half a million years ago from the present, Homo  erectus  had evolved into Homo  sapiens  with their rounder, larger skulls. At that point in history, boat-building and surviving in  harsh  climates were  unthinkable  and  therefore  made it impossible  for Homo  sapiens  to inhabit the Americas and Australia.   After that, groups of Homo  sapiens  diverged into  separate  groups and eventually evolved into Neanderthals, whom surprisingly had larger brains then we do today.  Subsequently, the Great Leap Forward is where we saw the most  improvement  and  promising  development in human kind with the Cro-Magnons. Humans were then able to travel by boat to Australia and New Guinea, which caused a  major  complication in the environment: a mass extinction of many mammals. Soon enough, the Americas  were colonized, the last Ice Age ended, and we find ourselves here today. A natural example of why one group of people can conquer another could be shown with the situation between the Maoris and the Morioris. The Maoris were able to surmount the Morioris with their greater combat capabilities. Despite their common ancestors, the two groups diverged into different paths of development. The Morioris crops could not survive the climate in which they moved into, so they reverted back to hunter-gatherers. With everybody hunting and gathering food for themselves, they couldnt establish a government or militia; they simply did not have the extra resources. The Maoris, on the other hand, were able to accomplish all of the above. When the two groups met, the Maoris were inevitably victorious albeit they were outnumbered 2:1. With these basic principles in mind, we see that this can be applied to larger conquests. Francisco Pizzaro and his men were able to take down the Inca Empire, for example. As they mounted their horses, and equipped themselves with their far more durable armor, Pizzaro and company set off on a rampage- thrashing their steel weapons about whilst spreading disease. Mr. Diamonds chapter entitled Farmer Power discusses how the ability to domesticate animals and harvest crops increases a population. With stable food production, the population can grow and a government can be set up. The opportunities for development keep adding onto one another. Soon enough, we have specialized workers who can improve tools and weapons which will lead that society to supremacy. The probable origin of agriculture was the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia in 8500 BC. Then we also have major agricultural sites such as New Guinea by 7000 BC, Sub Saharan Africa in 5000 BC, Mesoamerica in 3500 BC, The Andes and Amazonia in 3500 BC, Tropical West Africa in 3000 BC, And the Eastern US in 2500 BC. The Agricultural cores success then spread to nearby civilizations and constituted todays global economy. With successful population growth among nations, hunting subjects decrease in quantity, resulting in the gradual need to convert hunter-gatherers into farmers. With people who can take care of producing food for the rest of the population, this made the act of creating a hierarchy of occupations possible. Also, this resulted in everyone being slightly less nourished than before on account of the thinner distribution of provisions. As agricultural business became more popular, so did the need for plant domestication. For example, wild almonds are actually poisonous so we must harvest the edible mutants and keep growing that specific mutation. We first domesticated seeds due to their ease of growth and storage. Then, we advanced to fruits and nuts. Out of the two-thousand wild plants only two-hundred have been domesticated, wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, soybean, potato, manioc, sweet potato, sugar cane, sugar beet, and banana make up eighty percent of the worlds food cargo. Now, were going to need the help of animals to aid our development. Large animals that were used for military, transportation, and load carrying were all domesticated around 2500 BC. Only fourteen animals have been domesticated. These include the sheep, goat, cow, pig, horse, Arabian camel, Bactrian camel, llama and alpaca, donkey, reindeer, water buffalo, yak, Bali cattle, and Mithun/Gaur. Domesticated animals needed to have traits such as being an omnivore or herbivore, they need to be able to grow rapidly, they need to breed well in captivity, they must have an appropriate temperament, they must accept penning, and they should be able to accept a subordinate role. If all criteria are met, humans are able to domesticate them and use said animals for our own needs. Domesticated Animals have actually adapted to our utilization of them; better milk production and faster wool growth, for example. With the help of enslaved animals, humans are able to progress to higher means of living w ith ease. Even so, animals have also caused harm to humans. Many infectious diseases have derived from livestock. For example, the flu is said to have originated from pigs a ducks, tuberculosis from cattle, and AIDS from monkeys, to name a few. With farmers being around these animals so often, some may develop immunities to such ailments. Also, farmers with similar exposure to these animals had only interacted amongst each other, so there werent any major tribulations. Although, when interactions with foreign farmers occurred, the spread of foreign diseases were sometimes detrimental. In due course, humans were in need of a written form of language for records and eventually communication. The earliest forms of writing are said to have shown up in Southwest Asia, Mesoamerica, and China. The idea of writing diffused from these cores into their peripheries. The alphabet was the idea of the Egyptians, and was copied and altered to fit the needs of other societies. Eventually, the writing process matured and several nations had their own complex written form of communication. Usually, there were only a choice few who actually needed to use written language. Scribes, for example, needed to keep records while hunter-gatherers had no use for it. In regard to the original inquiry posed by Yali, the author explains that New Guinea wasnt a very popular choice to conquer due to its diseases and the low rates of successful livestock and crops. Australia, New Guineas neighbor, had been a lot more welcoming. Yet, Australia also became victim to foreign settlers along with the benefits and drawbacks. The answer to Yalis question is very simple. The first reason would be the availability and ease of crop and animal domestication. The second would be the ease of idea diffusion. Clearly, a small isolated island cant pass on ideas as easy as a country with booming trade markets could. Finally, the favorable environment of an area will attract a larger population in which a stable state may be founded upon.

Essay --

Are you interested in the people who inhabited America before the Europeans came? Well if you are then this is where you can learn about the Oneida Indian tribe. They are a group of Indians that lived in what is now central New York, Oneida and Madison counties. Now Oneida’s first appearing was sometime in the 1400’s, also Oneida means standing rock. They are also one of the 5 founding Iroquois Confederacy and played a huge American Revolution. Now as you can see the Oneida’s are a very interesting culture, now here is some more about them. Now a huge part of the Oneida’s history involves the Revolutionary War, sure they are still around but they have remained pretty neutral since the war. One of the major battle’s that they participated in was the Battle of Oriskany. The Battle of Oriskany was part of the Saratoga Campaign which was a plan for the British to take over the Hudson River. The leader of this campaign was Gen. John Burgoyne and he lead 8,000 men. But at the end, the campaign was a fail which lead to an American and Oneida win and a British loss. Now that is when the...

The Effects of Technology on the Right of Freedom of Speech

The Effects of Technology on the Right of Freedom of Speech Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democratic political and social institutions. It is responsible for the free flow of ideas and information to anyone who wishes to listen. Freedom of speech supports freethinking and sharing of thoughts, but along with these good characteristics there are also harmful ones. With the positive aspects such as art, journalism, and the pursuit of truth come negatives aspects such as pornography, gambling, and hate and shock sites. To continue with free speech people, must accept these negative aspects such as The Blackplague shock site, "The Blackplague", http://www.blackplague.org/. The contents of this site are repulsive, disturbing, and offensive to the majority of the population. There are countless pictures, texts, and videos of sex, death, and the most evil human behavior imaginable. No matter what is included in the site though, it is still a reflection of society and paints a picture of reality because of the people who maintain and contribut e to the site. The creators of this site use digital methods to spread their message and raise some questions about free speech and the Internet as a whole. Should the Internet be regulated and more government control take place or should the Internet not be regulated and allow disturbing material such as "The Blackplague" to be accessible to everyone including little children? These are major social questions that are being raised with major implications for the future attached to the answers. Technology has changed the issue of freedom of speech because it has changed the amount of access and overall information people have available to them today. Technology, such as the Internet, ha... ...iterate culture’s root metaphor, for the human mind"(pg. 11). Print-thinking’s boundaries cannot control digital thinking as print technologies regulations cannot control digital information. Hate and shock sites must be left uncensored because they defend a principle. They are one of the ugliest parts of that principle but they are still a very important and vocal part of it. Total freedom of speech is inevitable, as digital thinking will not tolerate boundaries because they are contradictory to its very nature of constant dynamic change. Works Cited Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. 1991 Gilster, Paul. Digital Literacy. Wiley Computer Publishing Landow, George P. Hypertext 2.0 Lanham, Richard A. The Electronic Word. University of Chicago Press. 1989 "The Blackplague". 12-2-98. http://www.blackplague.org/

Saint Fancis Of Assisi :: essays research papers

Saint Fancis of Assisi Saint Francis was born in 1182, in Assisi Italy. His real name is Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, but his father wanted him to be called Francis. He received very little education as a child, even though his father was a rich merchant. His father, Pietro di Bernardone, was a wealthy merchant, and his mother's name was Pica. Francis always dreamed about riding through the town as a hero. His father wanted Francis to learn about being a silk merchant, but Francis wasn't interested. Later, the city he lived in, Assissi, got into a battle with a neighboring city of Perugia, and Francis fought in the battle. He bought fancy horses, swords, and clothes to impress others. He was captured and put in jail for 1 year, and during this time he came down with a severe illness. After he was released from prison he decided to change his life. Francis visited many places, but lived in Assisi Italy. He had also lived in Mt. Subasio in 1208. There, during mass, he heard a voice saying to him three times to go out into the world and to posses nothing and do good everywhere. He then went to the Holy Land, but on his way his ship was wrecked so he had to return back to Assisi. Then he went to Egypt were he wanted to convert the Sultan but had no success. He again tried to go to the Holy Land and this time succeeded. He lived there until 1220. During this time 5 other Franciscan brothers were martyred. Francis too was willing to die for his faith, but was spared. He returned to Assisi. St. Francis had many accomplishments in his life. He began his religious life after he survived his illness. He lived as a Hermit, and attracted followers. After that, he visited hospitals and gave clothes to the ill. Sometimes he gave the homeless money and food. One time when he was walking back from prison, an old beggar came up to him. The beggar asked Francis for a cloak. Francis thought for a while, he knew he had another cloak at home, but then he wondered if the old man was trying to trick him. Francis decided to give the man his cloak and they traded cloaks. Francis said to the man that mine is warmer than the one you have and I am not cold at all Another act of kindness was when Francis was going to be a knight. His father got the best craftsman in Assisi to make him an outfit, such as armor, a cape, and weapons.

Negotiation Strategy Analysis Essay

Negotiation strategies are used to make negotiations successful. Depending on the type of situation, the negotiations may differ in tactics. This essay will examine two articles different in strategies that use integrative tactics. One article will have a distributive strategy (win-lose), and the other article will have an integrative strategy (win-win). The tactics used in the articles will be related to a work setting involving prospective buyers and apartment companies to create a negotiation in a win-win outcome. Article I – Hostage Takeover Negotiation  This article is about the strategy and tactics used in a hostage takeover. Several tactics have been used in hostage takeovers throughout the years. The strategic strategies are about who holds the power. Some strategies show the hostage taker that the negotiator or the police have the power by taking items away from the hostage taker. Some items that can be taken away are the power to the building and the hostage taker’s ability to negotiate. This type of negotiation can create aggression in the hostage taker. This aggression can lead to an unsuccessful negotiation. In the following example, a different type of strategy is used in a hostage situation. According to Justin Borowsky (2011), a strategy that helps to build the relationship between the negotiator and the hostage taker can bring a favorable outcome. Instead of aggravating the hostage taker, a negotiator can gain the trust and support of the hostage taker. This type of negotiation is a distributive strategy (win-lose) using integrative tactics. The tactics used to gain this relationship is to build rapport by affirmation of the hostage taker’s power. This rapport and affirmation helps the hostage taker to believe he is in control. As the rapport is built, the hostage taker starts to look on the negotiator as his friend. The hostage taker starts to trust the negotiator and listens to alternatives and starts to plan for a good outcome. The negotiator displays a we-are-in-this-together scenario to the hostage taker. This scenario helps to form conversational flexibility creating the officer to obtain a role that has him working collaboratively with the hostage taker. As the officer builds the relationship with the hostage taker, the hostage taker starts to listen and works collectively with the officer to find alternatives to hurting the hostages and obtaining what he or she needs. The officer also is uncovering the needs of the hostage taker to assist in making a smooth transaction. These strategies and tactics have led to a positive outcome for the hostage and a successful negotiation with the hostage taker. The outcome is more of a distributing negotiation as the negotiator wins and the hostage taker loses. Article II – Disabled Individuals and Home Builders This article consists of the negotiation between house builders and the disabled buyers. In this negotiation, the builder has to understand the interests and the needs of the disabled buyer to have a successful outcome to the negotiations. The disabled population consists of 8. 5 million people. Builders are starting to realize that the disabled persons are also customers. The previous thought pattern on the disabled was that the state takes care of them. This is not true. Disabled individuals lead lives in the same manner as nondisabled persons. A disabled person has the ability and the need for home ownership. The disabled population has had tough negotiations with building houses to meet the needs of his or her disability. The builders will allow an individual to make changes to the initial house plan to suit his or her needs. However, many disabled buyers have a difficult time with builders who do not understand the needs of the disabled. The negotiation process is oftentimes a long process to fully uncover the buyer’s needs. This type of negotiation is an integrative bargaining strategy. An integrative bargaining strategy allows both parties to gain a beneficial outcome (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006). With changes to the house design to fulfill the needs of the disability, a disabled person can appreciate the dream of owning a home. The changes that disable persons need in a house, most builders think are extras. The builders are willing to make the changes; however, the changes made do cost the disabled person extra money (Burns, 2004). Compare and Contract Strategies The two articles addressed in this essay are very different negotiation. However, both of the negotiations have the same tactics in relationship building to have a successful outcome. In the hostage takeover, the negotiator built a relationship on trust and we-can-do-this-together attitude. In the disabled house building, the disabled person built a relationship with the builder to gain the trust and respect needed to accomplish the goal. Another tactic used was interest based bargaining. In both articles the parties addressed the interest of the other party. This interest-based bargaining assisted in the success of the negotiations. The difference between these two articles in the negotiation was the distributive outcome versus the integrative outcome. In the hostage takeover article, the negotiator was gaining the relationship and trust of the hostage taker to gain ground to take the hostage taker out of commission before he killed or hurt a hostage. This trust and relationship building was essential but was also not a true picture of the negotiator. The negotiator had no intentions of continuing the relationship after the success of obtaining the hostage. The builder and the disabled person’s relationship was a true friendship. This relationship could continue throughout the years. Current Work Setting The above two articles relate to the negotiations of a buyer obtaining residential housing through relationship building. Both articles express the tactic of listening skills, relationship building, trust, and uncovering the needs of the other party. When a prospective renter is shopping for a place to live, his or her needs are the most important. However, the needs of the rental company are also important. By entering into an integrative negotiation, both parties can have a successful outcome. For example, a prospect may be looking for a two-bedroom apartment that has a washer and drying already in the unit. The prospect may also be looking to stay under $650 in rent. The apartment company may have apartments that have washer and dryer hookups but not washer and dryers in the unit. The apartment company can elect to listen to the need of the prospect and rent the washer and dryer for the unit. The apartment company can also offer the prospect an apartment that will be within the prospect’s budget. This type of negotiation will continue to build the rapport between the prospect and the apartment company during the prospect’s residency. Conclusion Some distributive negotiations can use the tactics of the integrative strategy in negotiations as shown in the hostage takeover. Good listening skills, uncovering needs of the other party, and gaining trust will lead to a successful negotiation. No matter which type of negotiation is to occur, preparation by uncovering the needs and wants of the other party will help a negotiator gain leverage and success in the negotiation.

Gothic Subculture †Sinister or Harmless? Essay

â€Å"What are the worst dangers that threaten our children today? Satanism? Drugs? Homosexuality? A culture of violence? Heat exhaustion? What if there was a danger that included all of these? That danger is here, and its name is GOTH. † 1 Those words, taken from the website hosted by Parents American Religious Organizations Defending Youth which main purpose is to inform and warn parents against dangers related to Gothic subculture, best summarize the confusion around the phenomenon of being ‘Goth’. Is gothdom a sinister cult posing danger to the society or a harmless movement, one among many? The commonly negative reputation of the Gothic subculture, especially among parents and teachers, has its roots in stereotypes. ‘Stereotype’ is defined in the Webster’s New World Dictionary as â€Å"a fixed or conventional notion or conception, as of a person, group, idea, etc. , held by a number of people, and allowing for no individuality, critical judgment, etc. † Stereotypes are usually imposed on the group of people they are applied to by others who are not within the group but are instead critical of them, very often due to lack of understanding or fear. Thus stereotypes are simplified cutouts representing general ideas rather than real living human beings, depriving them of their exceptional individual features. Such attitude easily leads to intolerance, resentment and loss of communication between general society and the subculture, hiding the real truths of alive people behind the stereotypical fiction. Among many stereotypes related to Goths, one of the most common ones is obsession with death. The commonly held view is that they are antisocial outcasts attempting suicide or desiring to kill someone else. In reality, Goths’ fascination with everything related to death is not as superficial as it appears at first sight. Their â€Å"viewpoint on death is one of acceptance of the fate that awaits us all rather than ‘whistling past the graveyard’, denying death and hoping it will just go away. Goths accept death as a natural part of life, part of the natural balance of things. This does not mean, however, that Goths invite death by attempting suicide or homicide – instead they accept and respect death for what it is, and move on. â€Å"2 Although the notion of suicide is fascinating among them, it is not accepted as a solution to their own existential problems, but as an admitted failure to their emotions of despair, loss and loneliness. In this aspect it is the self-awareness and an attempt to overcome the fear of death, an attempt to pursue a critical analysis of their own proximity to death; a different attitude towards this problem, contrary to the one shown in tabloids and TV programmes, where the idea of dying is either ignored or deprived of its dignity. As Birgit Richard points out: â€Å"The Gothics are one of the most conspicuous subcultures because they work against the suppression of ageing with their deathly pale faces in a time when sun-studio tanned complexions are the epitome of health. They become the terror of a deathless producing and consuming culture which marginalizes the process of dying and bodily decay to be able to proclaim the ideal of perpetual youth. Putting death at the centre of their style and their lives becomes a provocation by a subcultural group of adolescents which cannot be forgiven by society. Youth has to look fresh and ‘tasty’; it is not supposed to walk around ‘dead’. In a society with an ever increasing average life expectancy, dealing with death is suitable only when a certain age has been reached. † Another stereotype commonly associated with Goths is that their culture is anti-Christian with its Satanic motifs, black clothing, occult jewellery and devilish music of Marilyn Manson. They are accused of the worship of Satan, dangerous rituals and blood-drinking. Being attracted to the idea of self-mutilation, they are proud of their scars and occult symbols carved with razor blades all over their bodies. The Gothic movement is considered dark and self-destructive, glorifying everything that is morbid, and degrading everything that is good. The truth hiding behind this stereotype is different. Although the rooms of the â€Å"blacks’ are designed in a special manner, e. g. containing small altars with accessories like grave-ribbons, crucifixes, grave lamps, candles and skulls, their purpose is not to serve as a place for black masses but to â€Å"reconstruct the dark atmosphere of the cemetery, its proximity to death, or serve as a cave that shelters from a threatening outside world. â€Å"3 The colour black which dominates the style of clothing does not stand for their attraction to Satan but expresses a sense of despair, ascetic isolation and is the symbolization of inevitable death. The same meaning is vital for hair dyed black, specific make-up with black eye-shadow, lipstick and nail polish, and a chalky white face. Since Goths are attracted to everything related to death, their favourite motifs in jewellery are skulls, skeletons and bones, which serve as memento more rather than provocative items. Other popular accessories, such as crucifixes, stars of David, ankh, the pentagram and the cross turned upside down, do not serve as symbols of Satanism but as distinguishing feature from the institutionalized church or a protective talisman against evil eye. â€Å"Symbolism rejected by as irrational by other parts of society enables them to express dissatisfaction with the institutionalized church and the completely rationalized modern civilization. â€Å"Also their favourite venue, cemetery, has a completely different function than the stereotypical one, considered as a place for morbid Satanic rituals, since it serves as a symbol of mortality, silence, isolation and mourning. To the majority of society Goths are plain deviants and worshippers of Marilyn Manson and other ‘dangerous’ music which inspired the tragic Columbine shootings 5. â€Å"The titles of the songs alone are enough to show just what kind of music this is: Gloomy Sunday, The Order of Death, Draining Faces, Laughing Pain, Haunted, Movement of Fear. These are dangerous songs, performed by dangerous bands. One band for example is called Type O Negative – a blood type, and clearly a reference to Vampirism. â€Å"6 While it may be true that many Goths enjoy Marilyn Manson’s music, almost all of them agree that he is not Goth as â€Å"the controversial shock-rock star with the satanic leanings and violence-tinged music has never been a part of their [Goths’] community, artistically or philosophically. â€Å"7 Besides, Manson probably borrowed from the media portrayal of the Gothic movement which predates his stardom by at least a decade, as its origin is usually placed in 1979. In conclusion, it must be said that evaluating the whole subculture by means of stereotypes may be more sinister than the community’s rules themselves as it shows no respect for the individual, leads to intolerance and finally creates a deep chasm between the general society and the Gothic community. It should not be forgotten that Goths have to cope with the same pressures that non-Goths encounter: social anxieties, family problems, every day failures and stresses. The only thing that differs is their way of dealing with those problems; a darker one and more introspective version of ‘normal’. Tolerance and understanding is what Goths long for, as is stated by one representative of the subculture: â€Å"One way or another, those of us in the Gothic community demand to exist with as many rights and as much respect as is given to any ‘normal’ human being. Our population are millions worldwide, and we laugh, cry, and live just like anyone else. We are your doctors, your counselors, your grocers, your teachers, your students, your librarians, your favourite authors, your fathers, your daughters, and your friends. We may choose to revel in the shadows, but we smile with those who would rather live in the light of day. Being Goth is not a ‘phase’, it is not dangerous, and it is not going anywhere. Everyone deserves a chance to simply be. This is all we ask: let us be. † BIBLIOGRAPHY Covelo, Benjamin. The Goth Music Death Machine. 28 May 2004:  http://redmusic.com