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Alnus Nepalensis

Alnus nepalensis

The Nepalese Alder or Utis (Alnus nepalensis) is a multipurpose tree found in the subtropical highlands of the Himalaya. It is called Utis in Nepalese and Nepalese Alder in English. Utis is a deciduous alder that reaches up to 30 m in height and 60 cm in diameter. Alnus nepalensis occurs throughout the Himalaya at 500-3000 m of elevation from Pakistan through Nepal and Bhutan to Yunnan in southwest China. The leaves are shallowly toothed, 7-16 cm long and 5-10 cm broad. The flowers are catkins, unusually for an alder produced in the autumn, with the seeds maturing the following year. Utis wood is moderately soft. Alder, Nepalese

Tree

, the tallest tree species on earth]] A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. Though there is no set definition regarding minimum size, the term generally applies to plants at least 6 m (20 ft) high at maturity and, more importantly, having secondary branches supported on a single main stem or trunk (see shrub for comparison). Compared with most other plant forms, trees are long-lived. A few species of trees grow to 100 m tall, and some can live for several thousand years. Trees are important components of the natural landscape and significant elements in landscaping, and in agriculture supplying orchard crops (such as apples). Trees also play an important role in many of the world's mythologies (see Tree (mythology)).

Classifications

Tree (mythology)]] A tree is a plant form and trees occur in many different orders and families of plants. Trees thus show a wide variety of growth form, leaf type and shape, bark characteristics, reproductive structures, etc. The earliest trees were tree ferns and horsetails, which grew in vast forests in the Carboniferous Period; tree ferns still survive, but the only surviving horsetails are not of tree form. Later, in the Triassic Period, conifers, ginkgos, cycads and other gymnosperms appeared, and subsequently flowering plants in the Cretaceous Period. Most species of trees today are flowering plants and conifers. The listing below gives examples of many well-known trees and how they are typically classified. A small group of trees growing together is called a grove or copse, and a landscape covered by a dense growth of trees is called a forest. Several biotopes are defined largely by the trees that inhabit them; examples are rainforest and taiga (see ecozones). A landscape of trees scattered or spaced across grassland (usually grazed or burned over periodically) is called a savanna.

Morphology

The basic parts of a tree are the roots, trunk(s), branches, twigs and leaves. Tree stems consist mainly of support and transport tissues (xylem and phloem). Wood consists of xylem cells, and bark is made of phloem and other tissues external to the vascular cambium. Trees may be broadly grouped into exogenous and endogenous trees according to the way in which their stem diameter increases. Exogenous trees, which comprise the great majority of modern trees (all conifers, and all broadleaf trees), grow by the addition of new wood outwards, immediately under the bark. Endogenous trees, mainly in the monocotyledons (e.g. palms), grow by addition of new material inwards. As an exogenous tree grows, it creates growth rings. In temperate climates, these are commonly visible due to changes in the rate of growth with temperature variation over an annual cycle. These rings can be counted to determine the age of the tree, and used to date cores or even wood taken from trees in the past; this practice is known as the science of dendrochronology. In some tropical regions with constant year-round climate, growth is continuous and distinct rings are not formed, so age determination is impossible. Age determination is also impossible in endogenous trees. dendrochronology, Chile]] The roots of a tree are generally embedded in earth, providing anchorage for the above-ground biomass and absorbing water and nutrients from the soil. Above ground, the trunk gives height to the leaf-bearing branches, aiding in competition with other plant species for sunlight. In many trees, the arrangement of the branches optimizes exposure of the leaves to sunlight. Not all trees have all the plant organs or parts mentioned above. For example, most palm trees are not branched, the saguaro cactus of North America has no functional leaves, tree ferns do not produce bark, etc. Based on their general shape and size, all of these are nonetheless generally regarded as trees. Indeed, sometimes size is the more important consideration. A plant form that is similar to a tree, but generally having smaller, multiple trunks and/or branches that arise near the ground, is called a shrub. However, no sharp differentiation between shrubs and trees is possible. Given their small size, bonsai plants would not technically be 'trees', but one should not confuse reference to the form of a species with the size or shape of individual specimens. A spruce seedling does not fit the definition of a tree, but all spruces are trees. Bamboos by contrast, do show most of the characteristics of trees, yet are rarely called trees.

Champion trees

The world's champion trees can be considered on several factors; height, trunk diameter or girth, total size, and age. It is significant that in each case, the top position is always held by a conifer, though a different species in each case; in most measures, the second to fourth places are also held by conifers. ;Tallest trees The heights of the tallest trees in the world have been the subject of considerable dispute and much (often wild) exaggeration. Modern verified measurement with laser rangefinders combined with tape drop measurements made by tree climbers, carried out by the [http://www.uark.edu/misc/ents/home.htm U.S. Eastern Native Tree Society] has shown that most older measuring methods and measurements are unreliable, often producing exaggerations of 5% to 15% above the real height. Historical claims of trees of 114 m, 117 m, 130 m, and even 150 m, are now largely disregarded as unreliable, fantasy or outright fraud. The following are now accepted as the top five tallest reliably measured species: # Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens: 112.83 m, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California ([http://www.conifers.org/cu/se/index.htm Gymnosperm Database]) # Coast Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii: 100.3 m, Brummit Creek, Coos County, Oregon ([http://www.conifers.org/pi/ps/menziesii2.htm Gymnosperm Database]) # Sitka Spruce Picea sitchensis: 96.7 m, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California ([http://www.conifers.org/pi/pic/sitchensis.htm Gymnosperm Database]) # Giant Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum: 93.6 m, Redwood Mountain Grove, California ([http://www.conifers.org/cu/se2/index.htm Gymnosperm Database]) # Australian Mountain-ash Eucalyptus regnans: 92.0 m, Styx Valley, Tasmania ([http://www.forestrytas.com.au/forestrytas/tasfor/tasforests_12/tasfor_12_09.pdf Forestry Tasmania] [pdf file]) ;Stoutest trees The girth (circumference) of a tree is – or at least should be – much easier to measure than the height, as it is a simple matter of stretching a tape round the trunk, and pulling it taut to find the circumference. Despite this, U.K. tree author Alan Mitchell made the following comment about measurements of yew trees in the British Isles: :"The aberrations of past measurements of yews are beyond belief. For example, the tree at Tisbury has a well-defined, clean, if irregular bole at least 1.5 m long. It has been found to have a girth which has dilated and shrunk in the following way: 11.28 m (1834 Loudon), 9.3 m (1892 Lowe), 10.67 m (1903 Elwes and Henry), 9.0 m (1924 E. Swanton), 9.45 m (1959 Mitchell) .... Earlier measurements have therefore been omitted". As a general standard, tree girth is taken at 'breast height'; this is defined differently in different situations, with most foresters measuring girth at 1.3 m above ground, while ornamental tree measurers usually measure at 1.5 m above ground; in most cases this makes little difference to the measured girth. On sloping ground, the "above ground" reference point is usually taken as the highest point on the ground touching the trunk, but some use the average between the highest and lowest points of ground. Some of the inflated old measurements may have been taken at ground level. Some past exaggerated measurements also result from measuring the complete next-to-bark measurement, pushing the tape in and out over every crevice and buttress. Modern trends are to cite the tree's diameter rather than the circumference; this is obtained by dividing the measured circumference by π; it assumes the trunk is circular in cross-section (an oval or irregular cross-section would result in a mean diameter slightly greater than the assumed circle). This is cited as dbh (diameter at breast height) in tree literature. A further problem with measuring baobabs Adansonia is that these trees store large amounts of water in the very soft wood in their trunks. This leads to marked variation in their girth over the year, swelling to a maximum at the end of the rainy season, minimum at the end of the dry season. Although baobabs have some of the highest girth measurements of any trees, no accurate measurements are currently available, but probably do not exceed 10-11 m diameter. The stoutest species in diameter, excluding baobabs, are: # Montezuma Cypress Taxodium mucronatum: 11.42 m, Árbol del Tule, Santa Maria del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico (A. F. Mitchell, International Dendrology Society Year Book 1983: 93, 1984). # Giant Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum: 8.85 m, General Grant tree, Grant Grove, California ([http://www.conifers.org/cu/se2/index.htm Gymnosperm Database]) # Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens: 7.44 m, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California ([http://www.conifers.org/cu/se/index.htm Gymnosperm Database]) ;Largest trees The largest trees in total volume are those which are both tall and of large diameter, and in particular, which hold a large diameter high up the trunk. Measurement is very complex, particularly if branch volume is to be included as well as the trunk volume, so measurements have only been made for a small number of trees, and generally only for the trunk. No attempt has ever been made to include root volume. The top four species measured so far are ([http://www.conifers.org/topics/biggest.htm Gymnosperm Database]): # Giant Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum: 1489 m³, General Sherman tree # Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens: 1045 m³, Del Norte Titan tree # Western Redcedar Thuja plicata: 500 m³, Quinault Lake Redcedar # Kauri Agathis australis: 400 m³, Tane Mahuta tree (total volume, including branches, 516.7 m³)
However, the Alerce Fitzroya cupressoides, as yet un-measured, may well slot in at third or fourth place, and Montezuma Cypress Taxodium mucronatum is also likely to be high in the list. The largest angiosperm tree is a Australian Mountain-ash, the 'El Grande' tree of about 380 m³ in Tasmania. ;Oldest trees The oldest trees are determined by growth ring counts in cores taken from the edge to the centre of the tree or from entire cross-sections. Accurate determination is only possible for trees which produce growth rings, generally those which occur in seasonal climates; trees in uniform non-seasonal tropical climates grow continuously and do not have distinct growth rings. It is also only possible for trees which are solid to the centre of the tree; many very old trees become hollow as the dead heartwood decays away. For some of these species, age estimates have been made on the basis of extrapolating current growth rates, but the results are usually little better than guesswork or wild speculation. The verified oldest measured ages are ([http://www.conifers.org/topics/oldest.htm Gymnosperm Database]): # Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Pinus longaeva: 4844 years # Alerce Fitzroya cupressoides: 3622 years # Giant Sequoia Sequoia sempervirens: 3266 years # Huon-pine Lagarostrobos franklinii: 2500 years # Rocky Mountains Bristlecone Pine Pinus aristata: 2435 years Other species suspected of reaching exceptional age include European Yew Taxus baccata (probably over 3000 years) and Western Redcedar Thuja plicata. The oldest verified age for an angiosperm tree is 2293 years for the Sri Maha Bodhi Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa) planted in 288 BC at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka; this is also the oldest human-planted tree with a known planting date.

Major tree genera

Flowering plants (Magnoliophyta; angiosperms)

Dicotyledons (Magnoliopsida; broadleaf or hardwood trees)


- Anacardiaceae (Cashew family)
  - Cashew, Anacardium occidentale
  - Mango, Mangifera indica
  - Pistachio, Pistacia vera
  - Sumac, Rhus species
  - Lacquer tree, Toxicodendron verniciflua
- Annonaceae (Custard apple family)
  - Cherimoya Annona cherimola
  - Custard apple Annona reticulata
  - Pawpaw Asimina triloba
  - Soursop Annona muricata
- Apocynaceae (Dogbane family)
  - Pachypodium Pachypodium species
- Aquifoliaceae (Holly family)
  - Holly, Ilex species
- Araliaceae (Ivy family)
  - Kalopanax, Kalopanax pictus Kalopanax tree (background) in fall]]
- Betulaceae (Birch family)
  - Alder, Alnus species
  - Birch, Betula species
  - Hornbeam, Carpinus species
  - Hazel, Corylus species
- Bignoniaceae (family)
  - Catalpa, Catalpa species
- Cactaceae (Cactus family)
  - Saguaro, Carnegiea gigantea
- Cannabaceae (Cannabis family)
  - Hackberry, Celtis species
- Cornaceae (Dogwood family)
  - Dogwood, Cornus species
- Dipterocarpaceae family
  - Garjan Dipterocarpus species
  - Sal Shorea species
- Ericaceae (Heath family)
  - Arbutus, Arbutus species
- Eucommiaceae (Eucommia family)
  - Eucommia Eucommia ulmoides
- Fabaceae (Pea family)
  - Acacia, Acacia species
  - Honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos
  - Black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia
  - Laburnum, Laburnum species
  - Pau Brasil, Brazilwood, Caesalpinia echinata
- Fagaceae (Beech family )
  - Chestnut, Castanea species
  - Beech, Fagus species
  - Southern beech, Nothofagus species
  - Tanoak, Lithocarpus densiflorus
  - Oak, Quercus species
- Fouquieriaceae (Boojum family)
  - Boojum, Fouquieria columnaris
- Hamamelidaceae (Witch-hazel family)
  - Sweetgum, Liquidambar species
  - Persian Ironwood, Parrotia persica
- Juglandaceae (Walnut family)
  - Walnut, Juglans species
  - Hickory, Carya species
  - Wingnut, Pterocarya species
- Lauraceae (Laurel family)
  - Cinnamon Cinnamomum zeylanicum
  - Bay Laurel Laurus nobilis
  - Avocado Persea americana
- Lecythidaceae (Paradise nut family)
  - Brazil Nut Bertholletia excelsa
- Lythraceae Loosestrife family
  - Crape-myrtle Lagerstroemia species
- Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)
  - Tulip tree, Liriodendron species
  - Magnolia, Magnolia species
- Malvaceae (Mallow family; including Tiliaceae and Bombacaceae) Bombacaceae
  - Baobab, Adansonia species
  - Silk-cotton tree, Bombax species
  - Bottletrees, Brachychiton species
  - Kapok, Ceiba pentandra
  - Durian, Durio zibethinus
  - Balsa, Ochroma lagopus
  - Cacao (cocoa), Theobroma cacao
  - Linden (Basswood, Lime), Tilia species
- Meliaceae (Mahogany family)
  - Neem, Azadirachta indica
  - Bead tree, Melia azedarach
  - Mahogany, Swietenia mahagoni
- Moraceae (Mulberry family)
  - Fig, Ficus species
  - Mulberry, Morus species
- Myristicaceae (Nutmeg family)
  - Nutmeg, Mysristica fragrans
- Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
  - Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus species
  - Myrtle, Myrtus species
  - Guava, Psidium guajavaGuava in flower]]
- Nyssaceae (Tupelo family; sometimes included in Cornaceae)
  - Tupelo, Nyssa species
  - Dove tree, Davidia involucrata
- Oleaceae (Olive family)
  - Olive, Olea europaea
  - Ash, Fraxinus species
- Paulowniaceae (Paulownia family)
  - Foxglove Tree, Paulownia species
- Platanaceae (Plane family)
  - Plane, Platanus species
- Rhizophoraceae (Mangrove family)
  - Red Mangrove, Rhizophora mangle
- Rosaceae (Rose family)
  - Rowans, Whitebeams, Service Trees Sorbus species
  - Hawthorn, Crataegus species
  - Pear, Pyrus species
  - Apple, Malus species
  - Almond, Prunus dulcis
  - Peach, Prunus persica
  - Plum, Prunus domestica
  - Cherry, Prunus species
- Rubiaceae (Bedstraw family)
  - Coffee, Coffea species
- Rutaceae (Rue family)
  - Citrus, Citrus species
  - Cork-tree, Phellodendron species
  - Euodia, Tetradium species
- Salicaceae (Willow family)
  - Aspen, Populus species
  - Poplar, Populus species
  - Willow, Salix species Willow
- Sapindaceae (including Aceraceae, Hippocastanaceae) (Soapberry family)
  - Maple, Acer species
  - Buckeye, Horse-chestnut, Aesculus species
  - Mexican Buckeye, Ungnadia speciosa
  - Lychee, Litchi sinensis
  - Golden rain tree, Koelreuteria paniculata
- Sapotaceae (Sapodilla family)
  - Gutta-percha, Palaquium species
  - Tambalacoque, or "dodo tree", Sideroxylon grandiflorum, previously Calvaria major
- Simaroubaceae family
  - Tree of heaven, Ailanthus species
- Theaceae (Camellia family)
  - Gordonia, Gordonia species
  - Stuartia, Stuartia species
- Thymelaeaceae (Thymelaea family)
  - Ramin, Gonystylus species
- Ulmaceae (Elm family)
  - Elm, Ulmus species
  - Zelkova, Zelkova species
- Verbenaceae family
  - Teak, Tectona species

Monocotyledons (Liliopsida)

Monocotyledon
- Agavaceae (Agave family)
  - Cabbage tree, Cordyline australis
  - Dragon tree, Dracaena draco
  - Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia
- Arecaceae (Palmae) (Palm family)
  - Areca Nut, Areca catechu
  - Coconut Cocos nucifera
  - Date Palm, Phoenix dactylifera
  - Chusan Palm, Trachycarpus fortunei
- Poaceae (grass family)
  - Bamboos Poaceae subfamily Bambusoideae
- Note that banana 'trees' are not actually trees; they are not woody nor is the stalk perennial.

Conifers (Pinophyta; softwood trees)


- Araucariaceae (Araucaria family)
  - Araucaria, Araucaria species
  - Kauri, Agathis species
- Cupressaceae (Cypress family)
  - Cypress, Cupressus species
  - Cypress, Chamaecyparis species
  - Juniper, Juniperus species
  - Alerce or Patagonian cypress, Fitzroya cupressoides
  - Sugi, Cryptomeria japonica
  - Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens
  - Giant Sequoia, Sequoiadendron giganteum
  - Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides
  - Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum
- Pinaceae (Pine family)
  - White pine, Pinus species
  - Pinyon pine, Pinus species
  - Pine, Pinus species
  - Spruce, Picea species
  - Larch, Larix species
  - Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga species
  - Fir, Abies species
  - Cedar, Cedrus species
- Podocarpaceae (Yellowwood family)
  - African Yellowwood, Afrocarpus falcatus
  - Totara, Podocarpus totara
- Sciadopityaceae
  - Kusamaki, Sciadopitys species
- Taxaceae (Yew family)
  - Yew, Taxus species

Ginkgos (Ginkgophyta)


- Ginkgoaceae (Ginkgo family)
  - Ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba

Cycads (Cycadophyta)


- Cycadaceae family
  - Ngathu cycad, Cycas angulata
- Zamiaceae family
  - Wunu cycad, Lepidozamia hopei

Ferns (Pterophyta)


- Cyatheaceae and Dicksoniaceae families
  - Tree ferns, Cyathea, Alsophila, Dicksonia (not a monophyletic group)

Life stages

The life cycles of trees, especially conifers, are divided into the following stages in forestry for survey and documentation purposes: # Seed # Seedling: the above ground part of the embryo that sprout from the seed # Sapling: After the seedling reaches 1m tall, and until it reaches 7cm in stem diameter # Pole: young trees from 7-30cm diameter # Mature tree: over 30cm diameter, reproductive years begin # Old tree: dominate old growth forest; height growth slows greatly, with majority of productivity in seed production # Overmature: dieback and decay become common # Snag: standing dead wood # Log/debris: fallen dead wood Tree diameters are measured at height of between 1.3-1.5m above the highest point on the ground at its base. The 7cm diameter definition is economically based, from the smallest saleable stem size (for paper production, etc), and the 30cm diameter is the smallest base diameter for sawlogs. Each stage may be uniquely perceptive to different pathogens and suitable for especially adapted arboreal animals.

See also


- Arboretum
  - Pinetum
- Arboriculture (the care of trees)
- Bonsai
- Christmas tree
- Dendrology (the study of trees)
  - Dendrochronology
  - Dendroclimatology
- Ecology
  - Tree-line
- Forestry
  - Deforestation
  - Plantation
  - Urban Forestry
  - Woodland management
- Fruit trees
- List of famous trees
- List of garden plants
- Plants
- Prehistoric plants
- Tree climbing
- Trees in mythology
- Trees of the world
  - Trees of Britain and Ireland
  - Trees of Canada
  - List of U.S. state trees
  - Trees of The Caribbean Basin
  - Trees of Iran
  - List of trees of New Zealand
- Wood
  - List of woods

External links


- [http://www.globaltrees.org/default.asp GLOBAL TREES .org] Campaigning to save the world's most threatened trees
- [http://www.fssca.net/romero/ Romero Memorial Tree Project] Plant a tree in El Salvador

Bibliography


- Pakenham, T. (2002). Remarkable Trees of the World. ISBN 0297843001
- Pakenham, T. (1996). Meetings with Remarkable Trees. ISBN 0297832557 Category:Plants
-
- Category:Botany Category: plant morphology ms:Pokok ja:木 simple:Tree th:ต้นไม้

Nepalese language

Nepali (Khaskura) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and some parts of India and Burma. It is the official language of Nepal. Roughly half the population of Nepal speaks Nepalese as a mother tongue, and many other Nepalese speak it as a second language. Nepali goes by various names. English speakers generally call it Nepali or Nepalese (i.e. the language of Nepal). It is also called Gorkhali or Gurkhali, "the language of the Gurkhas, "and Parbatiya, "the language of the mountains." Khaskura is the oldest term, literally speech of the Khas who were rice-growing Indo-Aryan settlers in the Karnali-Bheri basin of far western Nepal since prehistoric or early historic times. Khaskura exists in opposition to Khamkura, a group of Tibeto-Burman dialects spoken by Kham peoples in highlands separating the Kharnali-Bheri basin from the Gandaki basin in central Nepal. Then perhaps 500 years ago, Khas peoples migrated eastward, bypassing the inhospitable Kham highlands to settle in the lower valleys of the Gandaki basin suited to rice cultivation. One notable extended family settled in Gorkha, a petty principality about halfway between Pokhara and Kathmandu. Then in the late 1800s a scion named Prithvi Narayan raised an army of Gurungs, Magars and possibly other hill tribesmen and set out to conquer and consolidate dozens of petty principalities in the himalayan foothills. Since Gorkha had replaced the original Khas homeland as the center of political and military initiative, Khaskura was redubbed Gorkhali, i.e. language of the Gorkhas. Prithvi Narayan's especially notable military achievement was conquest of the urbanized Kathmandu Valley, on the eastern rim of the Gandaki basin. This region was also called Nepal at the time. Kathmandu became Prithvi Narayan's new capital, then he and his heirs extended their domain east into the Kosi basin, north to the Tibetan Plateau, south into the plains of northern India, and west of the Karnali/Bheri basin. Expansion, particularly to the north, west and south brought the growing state into conflict with British and Chinese territorial ambitions. This led to wars that trimmed it back to roughly Nepal's present borders or less, however both great powers understood the value of a buffer state and did not attempt to reduce the new country further. Since the Kathmandu Valley or Nepal had become the new center of political initiative, this word gradually came to refer to the entire realm and not just the Kathmandu Valley. And so Gorkhali, language of Gorkha, was again redubbed Nepali. Nepali is the easternmost of the Pahari languages, a group of related languages spoken across the lower elevations of the Himalaya range, from eastern Nepal through the Indian states of Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh. Nepali developed in close proximity to a number of Tibeto-Burman languages, most notably Newari, and shows Tibeto-Burman influences. Nepali is closely related to Hindi but is more conservative, borrowing fewer words from Persian and English and using more Sanskritic derivations. Today, Nepali is commonly written in the Devanagari script. Bhujimol is an older script native to Nepal. Nepali developed a small literature during the second half of the nineteenth century, which included the by (1833), Birsikka, an anonymous collection of folk-tales, and a Ramayana by Bhanubhakta. There were also several translations of Sanskrit works, and a version of the Bible. See also: Lhotshampa Examples of phrases in Nepali include:
- namaste. नमस्ते -- all-purpose Hindu greeting is often translated as "I salute the god within you". (Namaste is also used as a salutation between New Agers) Its literal Sanskrit meaning is "your homage" and in common usage simply means "hello" or "goodbye."
- mero naam Alok ho.मेरो नाम आलोक हो -- my name Alok is -- My name is Alok.
- timi sanchai chau?--How are you?
- khaanaa khaane Thaaun kahaa chha? खाना खाने ठाउँ कहाँ छ? -- food eating place where is - Where is a place to eat?
- kaaThmaandaun jaane baaTo dherai laamo chha. काठमाडौँ जाने बाटो धेरै लामो छ -- Kathmandu going road very long is --The road to Kathmandu is very long.
- nepaalmaa baneko नेपालमा बनेको -- Nepal-in made -- Made in Nepal.
- ma nepaali hoo(n) म नेपाली हूँ -- I Nepali am -- I am Nepali.
- pugyo पुग्यो —[it] arrived/sufficed — That is enough.

See also


- Languages of India
- List of national languages of India
- List of Indian languages by total speakers

External links

- [http://www.balendu.com Download Nepali Word Processor: Madhyam] developed by Balendu Sharma Dadhich Category:Indo-Aryan languages Category:Languages of Bhutan Category:Languages of India Category:Languages of Nepal ja:ネパール語 ko:네팔어 th:ภาษาเนปาลี

English language

English is a West Germanic language that is spoken in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and many other countries. English is now the third-most spoken native language worldwide (after Chinese and Hindi), with some 380 million speakers. It has lingua franca status in many parts of the world, due to the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries and that of the United States from the 20th century to the present. Through the global influence of native English speakers in cinema, airlines, broadcasting, science, and the Internet in recent decades, English is now the most widely learned second language in the world. Many students worldwide are required to learn some English, and a working knowledge of English is required in many fields and occupations.

History

English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Old Saxon language brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany. The original Old English language was subsequently influenced by two successive waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of languages in the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who colonised parts of Britain in the 8th and 9th centuries. The second wave was of the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke a variety of French. These two invasions caused English to become "creolised" to some degree (though it was never a full creole in the linguistic sense of the word); creolisation arises from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication. Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the Anglo-Friesian core of English; the later Norman occupation led to the grafting onto that Germanic core a more elaborate layer of words from the Romance branch of European languages; this new layer entered English through use in the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing" language of considerable suppleness and huge vocabulary. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, around the year 449, Vortigern, King of the British Isles, invited the "Angle kin" (Angles led by Hengest and Horsa) to help him against the Picts. In return, the Angles were granted lands in the south-east. Further aid was sought, and in response "came men of Ald Seaxum of Anglum of Iotum" (Saxons, Angles, and Jutes). The Chronicle talks of a subsequent influx of settlers who eventually established seven kingdoms, known as the heptarchy. Modern scholarship considers most of this story to be legendary and politically motivated. These Germanic invaders dominated the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants, whose languages survived largely in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland. The dialects spoken by the invaders formed what would be called Old English, which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now the Netherlands and north-west Germany. Later, it was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north-east (see Jorvik). The new and the earlier settlers spoke languages from different branches of the Germanic family; many of their lexical roots were the same or similar, although their grammars were more distant, including the prefixes, suffixes and inflections of many of their words. The Germanic language of these Old English inhabitants of Britain would be partly creolised by the contact with Norse invaders. This resulted in a stripping away of much of the grammar of Old English, including gender and case, with the notable exception of the pronouns; thus, the language became simpler and plainer. The most famous work from the Old English period is the epic poem "Beowulf", by an unknown poet. For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only a variety of French. A large number of Norman words were assimilated into Old English, with some words doubling for Old English words (for instance, ox/beef, sheep/mutton). The Norman influence reinforced the continual evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English. Among the changes was a broadening in the use of a unique aspect of English grammar, the "continuous" tenses, with the suffix "-ing". During the 15th century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel Shift, the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration, and the standardising effect of printing. Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare. The most well-known work from the Middle English period is Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Classification and related languages

The English language belongs to the western subbranch of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The closest living relative of English is Scots (Lallans), a West Germanic language spoken mostly in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland. Like English, Scots is a direct descendant of Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon. After Scots, the next closest relative is Frisian—spoken in the Netherlands and Germany. Other less closely related living languages include Dutch, Afrikaans, German, Plattdüütsch and the Scandinavian languages. Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (pronunciations are not always identical, of course), because English absorbed a tremendous amount of vocabulary from French, via the Norman language after the Norman conquest and directly from French in further centuries; as a result, a substantial share of English vocabulary is quite close to the French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings, etc.), as well as occasional differences in meaning.

Geographic distribution

Norman conquest English is the second or third most widely spoken language in the world today; a total of 600–700 million people use English regularly. About 377 million people use English as their mother tongue, and an equal number of people use it as their second or foreign language. It is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities. The current status of the English language compares with that of Latin in the past. English is the primary language in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia (Australian English), the Bahamas, Barbados (Caribbean English), Bermuda, Belize, Canada (Canadian English), the Cayman Islands, Dominica, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Guyana, Ireland (Irish English), Isle of Man, Jamaica (Jamaican English), Jersey, Montserrat, New Zealand (New Zealand English), Saint Helena, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom (various forms of British English), the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States. English is also an important minority language of South Africa (South African English), and in several other former colonies and current dependent territories of the United Kingdom and the United States, for example Guam and Mauritius. In Hong Kong, English is an official language and is widely used in business activities. It is taught from kindergarten, and is the medium of instruction for a few primary schools, many secondary schools and all universities. Substantial numbers of students acquire native-speaker level. It is so widely used and spoken that it is inadequate to say it is merely a second or foreign language, though there are still many people in Hong Kong with poor or no command of English. The majority of English native speakers (67 to 70 per cent) live in the United States. Although the U.S. federal government has no official languages, it has been given official status by 27 of the 50 state governments, most of which have declared English their sole official language. Hawaii, Louisiana, and New Mexico have also designated Hawaiian, French, and Spanish, respectively, as official languages in conjunction with English. In many other countries where English is not a major first language, it is an official language; these countries include Cameroon, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Ghana, Gambia, India, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. English is the most widely learned and used foreign language in the world, and as such, many linguists believe it is no longer the exclusive cultural emblem of "native English speakers", but rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it grows in use. Others believe that there are limits to how far English can go in suiting everyone for communication purposes. It is the language most often studied as a foreign language in Europe (32.6 per cent), followed by French, German, and Spanish. It is also the most studied in Japan, South Korea and in the Republic of China (Taiwan), where it is compulsory for most high school students. See English as an additional language.

English as a global language

See also: English on the Internet Because English is so widely spoken, it has been referred to as a "global language". While English is not the official language in many countries, it is the language most often taught as a second language around the world. It is also, by international treaty, the official language for aircraft/airport communication. Its widespread acceptance as a first or second language is the main indication of its global status. There are numerous arguments for and against English as a global language. On one hand, having a global language aids in communication and in pooling information (for example, in the scientific community). On the other hand, it excludes those who, for one reason or another, are not fluent. It can also marginalise populations whose first language is not the global language, and lead to a cultural hegemony of the populations speaking the global language as a first language. Most of these arguments hold for any candidate for a global language, though the last two counter-arguments do not hold for languages not belonging to any ethnic group (like Esperanto). A secondary concern with respect to the spread of global languages (English, Spanish, etc.) is the resulting disappearance of minority languages, often along with the cultures and religions that are primarily transmitted in those languages. English has been implicated in a number of historical and ongoing so-called "language deaths" and "linguicides" around the world, many of which have also led to the loss of cultural heritage. In the Americas, Native American nations have been most strongly affected by this phenomenon.

Dialects and regional variants

The expansiveness of the British and the Americans has spread English throughout the globe. Because of its global spread, it has bred a variety of English dialects and English-based creoles and pidgins. The major varieties of English in most cases contain several subvarieties, such as Cockney within British English, Newfoundland English within Canadian English, and African American Vernacular English ("Ebonics") within American English. English is considered a pluricentric language, with no variety being clearly considered the only standard. Some consider Scots as an English dialect. Pronunciation, grammar and lexis differ, sometimes substantially. The Scottish dialect retains many German aspects including guttural pronunciations. Because of English's wide use as a second language, English speakers can have many different accents, which may identify the speaker's native dialect or language. For more distinctive characteristics of regional accents, see Regional accents of English speakers. For more distinctive characteristics of regional dialects, see List of dialects of the English language. Many countries around the world have blended English words and phrases into their everyday speech and refer to the result by a colloquial name that implies its bilingual origins, which parallels the English language's own addiction to loan words and borrowings. Named examples of these ad-hoc constructions, distinct from pidgin and creole languages, include Engrish, Wasei-eigo, Franglais and Spanglish. (See List of dialects of the English language for a complete list.) Europanto combines many languages but has an English core.

Constructed variants of English


- Basic English is simplified for easy international use. It is used by some aircraft manufacturers and other international businesses to write manuals and communicate. Some English schools in the Far East teach it as an initial practical subset of English.
- Special English is a simplified version of English used by the Voice of America. It uses a vocabulary of 1500 words.
- English reform is an attempt to improve collectively upon the English language.
- Seaspeak and the related Airspeak and Policespeak, all based on restricted vocabularies, were designed by Edward Johnson in the 1980s to aid international co-operation and communication in specific areas.
- European English is a new variant of the English language created to become the common language in Europe.

Sounds

Vowels

Notes: It is the vowels that differ most from region to region. Where symbols appear in pairs, the first corresponds to the sounds used in North American English, the second corresponds to English spoken elsewhere. #North American English lacks this sound; words with this sound are pronounced with or . According to The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (1998), this sound is present in Standard Canadian English. #Many dialects of North American English do not have this vowel. See cot-caught merger. #The North American variation of this sound is a rhotic vowel. #Many speakers of North American English do not distinguish between these two unstressed vowels. For them, roses and Rosa's are pronounced the same, and the symbol usually used is schwa . #This sound is often transcribed with or with . #The letter U can represent either /u/ or the iotated vowel /ju/.

Consonants

This is the English Consonantal System using symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). #The velar nasal is a non-phonemic allophone of /n/ in some northerly British accents, appearing only before /g/. In all other dialects it is a separate phoneme, although it only occurs in syllable codas. #The alveolar flap is an allophone of /t/ and /d/ in unstressed syllables in North American English and increasingly in Australian English. This is the sound of "tt" or "dd" in the words latter and ladder, which are homophones in North American English. This is the same sound represented by single "r" in some varieties of Spanish. #In some dialects, such as Cockney, the interdentals /θ/ and /ð/ are usually merged with /f/ and /v/, and in others, like African American Vernacular English, /ð/ is merged with /d/. In some Irish varieties, /θ/ and /ð/ become the corresponding dental plosives, which then contrast with the usual alveolar plosives. #The sounds are labialised in some dialects. Labialisation is never contrastive in initial position and therefore is sometimes not transcribed. #The voiceless velar fricative /x/ is used only by Scottish or Welsh speakers of English for Scots/Gaelic words such as loch or by some speakers for loanwords from German and Hebrew like Bach or Chanukah /xanuka/, or in some dialects such as Scouse (Liverpool) where the affricate [kx] is used instead of /k/ in words such as docker . Most native speakers have a great deal of trouble pronouncing it correctly when learning a foreign language. Most speakers use the sounds [k] and [h] instead. #Voiceless w is found in Scottish, Irish, some upper-class British, some eastern United States, and New Zealand accents. In all other dialects it is merged with /w/.

Voicing and Aspiration

Voicing and aspiration of stop consonants in English depend on dialect and context, but a few general rules can be given:
- Voiceless plosives and affricates (//, //, //, and //) are aspirated when they are word-initial or begin a stressed syllable and are not part of a consonant cluster—compare pin [] and spin [].
  - In some dialects, aspiration extends to unstressed syllables as well.
  - In other dialects, such as Indian English, most or all voiceless stops may remain unaspirated.
- Word-initial voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects.
- Word-terminal voiceless plosives may be unreleased or accompanied by a glottal stop in some dialects (e.g. many varieties of American English)—examples: tap [], sack [].
- Word-terminal voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects (e.g. some varieties of American English)—examples: sad [], bag []. In other dialects they are fully voiced in final position, but only partially voiced in initial position.

See also

International Phonetic Alphabet for English

Intonation

Tone groups

English is an Intonation language. This means that the pitch of the voice is used syntactically, for example, to convey surprise and irony, or to change a statement into a question. In English, intonation patterns are on groups of words, which are called tone groups, tone units, intonation groups or sense groups. Tone groups are said on a single breath and, as a consequence, are of limited length, more often being on average five words long or lasting roughly two seconds. The structure of tone groups can have a crucial impact on the meaning of what is said. For example: :- :- :-

Characteristics of intonation

Each tone group can be subdivided into syllables, which can either be stressed (strong) or unstressed (weak). There is always a strong syllable, which is stressed more than the others. This is called the nuclear syllable. For example: :That | was | the | best | thing | you | could | have | done! Here, all syllables are unstressed, except the syllables/words "best" and "done", which are stressed. "Best" is stressed harder and, therefore, is the nuclear syllable. The nuclear syllable carries the main point the speaker wishes to make. For example: :John had stolen that money. (... not I) :John had stolen that money. (... you said he hadn't) :John had stolen that money. (... he wasn't given it) :John had stolen that money. (... not this money) :John had stolen that money. (... not something else) The nuclear syllable is spoken louder than all the others and has a characteristic change of pitch. The changes of pitch most commonly encountered in English are the rising pitch and the falling pitch, although the fall-rising pitch and/or the rise-falling pitch are sometimes used. For example: :When do you want to be paid? :Nów? (rising pitch. In this case, it denotes a question: can I be paid now?) :Nòw (falling pitch. In this case, it denotes a statement: I choose to be paid now)

Grammar

English grammar is based on its Germanic roots, though some scholars during the 1700s and 1800s attempted to impose Latin grammar upon it, with little success. English is just slightly inflected, much less so than most Indo-European languages. It compensates for this by placing more grammatical information in auxiliary words and word order. Unlike most other Indo-European languages, modern nominal groups (nouns) in English do not carry gender, although an archaic form of gender is technically assigned as either masculine, feminine, neuter or common. Engendered nouns are only apparent in special cases, such as "I loved that ship as if she were my own", where the noun "ship" is referred to by its feminine pronoun.

Vocabulary

Almost without exception, Germanic words (which include all the basics such as pronouns and conjunctions) are shorter and more informal. Latinate words are often regarded as more elegant or educated. However, the excessive use of Latinate words is often mistaken for either pretentiousness (as in the stereotypical policeman's talk of "apprehending the suspect") or obfuscation (as in a military document which says "neutralise" when it means "kill"). George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language gives a thorough treatment of this feature of English. An English speaker is often able to choose between Germanic and Latinate synonyms: "come" or "arrive"; "sight" or "vision"; "freedom" or "liberty"—and sometimes also between a word inherited through French and a borrowing direct from Latin of the same root word: "oversee", "survey" or "supervise". The richness of the language is that such synonyms have slightly different meanings, enabling the language to be used in a very flexible way to express fine variations or shades of thought. List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents In everyday speech the majority of words will normally be Germanic. If a speaker wishes to make a forceful point in an argument in a very blunt way, Germanic words will usually be chosen. A majority of Latinate words (or at least a majority of content words) will normally be used in more formal speech and writing, such as a courtroom or an encyclopedia article. English is noted for the vast size of its active vocabulary and its fluidity. English easily accepts technical terms into common usage and imports new words which often come into common usage. In addition, slang provides new meanings for old words. In fact this fluidity is so pronounced that a distinction often needs to be made between formal forms of English and contemporary usage. See also sociolinguistics.

Number of words in English

As the General Explanations at the beginning of the Oxford English Dictionary state: :The Vocabulary of a widely diffused and highly cultivated living language is not a fixed quantity circumscribed by definite limits.... there is absolutely no defining line in any direction: the circle of the English language has a well-defined centre but no discernible circumference. The vocabulary of English is undoubtedly vast, but assigning a specific number to its size is more a matter of definition than of calculation. Unlike other languages, there is no Academy to define officially accepted words. Neologisms are coined regularly in medicine, science and technology—some enter wide usage; others remain restricted to small circles. Foreign words used in immigrant communities often make their way into wider English usage. Archaic, dialectal, and regional words might be considered "English" or not. The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) includes over 500,000 headwords, following a rather inclusive policy: :It embraces not only the standard language of literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang (Supplement to the OED, 1933). The difficulty of defining the number of words is compounded by the emergence of new versions of English, such as Asian English.

Word origins

One of the consequences of the French influence is that the vocabulary of English is, to a certain extent, divided between those words which are Germanic (mostly Old English) and those which are "Latinate" (Latin-derived, mostly from Norman French but some borrowed directly from Latin). A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973) which estimated the origin of English words as follows:
- French, including Old French and early Anglo-French: 28.3%
- Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
- Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Dutch: 25%
- Greek: 5.32%
- No etymology given: 4.03%
- Derived from proper names: 3.28%
- All other languages contributed less than 1% James D. Nicoll made the oft-quoted observation: "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and riffle their pockets for new vocabulary." [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=1990May15.155309.8892%40watdragon.waterloo.edu&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain]

Writing system

English is written using the Latin alphabet. The spelling system or orthography of English is historical, not phonological. The spelling of words often diverges considerably from how they are spoken, and English spelling is often considered to be one of the most difficult to learn of any language that uses an alphabet. See English orthography.

Basic sound-letter correspondence

Written accents

English includes some words which can be written with accent marks. These words have mostly been imported from other languages, usually French. But it is increasingly rare for writers of English to actually use the accent marks for common words, even in very formal writing, to the point where actually writing the accent may be interpreted as a sign of pretension—though this view is counterbalanced by the view that fine typography should preserve accents, especially where it makes a distinction in pronunciation (compare façade vs. facade which would rhyme with cascade). The strongest tendency to retain the accent is in words that are atypical of English morphology and therefore still perceived as slightly foreign. For example, café has a pronounced final e, which would be silent by the normal English pronunciation rules. Some examples: ångström, appliqué, attaché, blasé, bric-à-brac, café, cliché, crème, crêpe, façade, fiancé(e), flambé, naïve, né(e), papier-mâché, passé, piñata, protégé, raison d'être, résumé, risqué, über-, vis-à-vis, voilà. For a more complete list, see List of English words with diacritics. Some words such as rôle and hôtel were first seen with accents when they were borrowed into English, but now the accent is almost never used. The words were considered very French borrowings when first used in English, even accused by some of being foreign phrases used where English alternatives would suffice, but today their French origin is largely forgotten. The accent on "élite" has disappeared from most publications today, but Time magazine still uses it. For some words such as "soupçon" however, the only spelling found in English dictionaries (the OED and others) uses the diacritic. Italics, with appropriate accents, are generally applied to foreign terms that are uncommonly used in or have not been assimilated into English: for example, adiós, coup d'état, crème brûlée, pièce de résistance, raison d'être, über (übermensch), vis-à-vis. It is also possible to use a diaeresis to indicate a syllable break, but again this is often left out or a hyphen used instead. Examples: coöperate (or co-operate), daïs, naïve, noël, reëlect (or re-elect). One publication that still uses a diaeresis to indicate a syllable break is the New Yorker magazine. Written accents are also used occasionally in poetry and scripts for dramatic performances to indicate that a certain normally unstressed syllable in a word should be stressed for dramatic effect, or to keep with the meter of the poetry. This use is frequently seen in archaic and pseudoarchaic writings with the "-ed" suffix, to indicate that the "e" should be fully pronounced, as with cursèd. In certain older texts (typically in Commonwealth English), the use of ligatures is common in words such as archæology, œsophagus, and encyclopædia. Such words have Latin or Greek origin. Nowadays, the ligatures have been generally replaced in Commonwealth English by the separated letters "ae" and "oe" ("archaeology", "oesophagus") and in American English by "e" ("archeology", "esophagus"). However, the spellings "oeconomy" and "oecology" are now generally replaced by "economy" and "ecology" in Commonwealth English, making these spellings the same as in American English.

See also


- English literature
- Formal written English - regional differences
- List of languages
- Common phrases in various languages

Dialects


- American and British English differences
- English speaking Europe
- General American
- List of dialects of the English language

Pronunciation


- General American
- International Phonetic Alphabet for English
- List of words of disputed pronunciation
- Non-native pronunciations of English
- Phonemic differentiation in English
- Received Pronunciation
- Regional accents of English speakers
- Rhotic and non-rhotic accents

Social, cultural or political


- English as a lingua franca for Europe
- English as an additional language
- English on the Internet
- Foreign language influences in English
- Languages in the United States
- Lists of English words of international origin
- Anglosphere
- Anglo-Saxon

Grammar


- English declension
- English plural
- English verb conjugation
- Initial-stress-derived noun
- Present progressive tense

Usage


- Dictionary
- Like
- List of archaic English words and their modern equivalents
- List of unusual English words
- Longest word in English
- Misspelling
- Gender-neutral language
- Singular they
- Siamese twins (English language)

External links


- [http://www.abroadlanguages.com/al/english/ Learning English abroad] and online. With dictionaries, games, penpals, etc.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/routesofenglish/index.shtml BBC - Radio 4 - Routes of English]
- [http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com Short Discriptions of the English Tenses]
- [http://www.ego4u.com/ English Grammar Online] free exercises, explanations, games and teaching materials on English as a foreign language
- [http://www.eslbase.com/ TEFL] - Teaching English as a Foreign Language - information and advice
- http://www.teach-yourself-english.com/ Easy-going learning aid
- [http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en Learning English Online] grammar, vocabulary, exercises, exams - English as a second language.
- [http://www.english.hb.pl Pako's English Page - Articles and advice on learning English]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=eng Ethnologue report for English]
- [http://www.LanguageMonitor.com LanguageMonitor] - Watchdog on contemporary English usage
- [http://www.vec.ca/english/1/english.cfm Development of English]
- [http://www.esu.org English Speaking Union]
- [http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm The World's Most Widely Spoken Languages]
- [http://www.antimoon.com/ Antimoon - How to learn English] - Advice and inspiration for learners of English.
- [http://www.zozanga.com/ Zozanga ESL - Learn Online English] How to learn English.
- [http://www.quiz-tree.com/English_Spelling_main.html Free English spelling quizzes]
- [http://inenglishofcourse.pl Conversation and Resource Point for Learners of English]
- [http://www.globalenglishsalon.com Global English Salon] - Listen to English online free.
- [http://www.loecsen.com/travel/discover_pop.php?lang=en&to_lang=2&learn-English/ Learn and listen to useful expressions in English] Each expression is presented with an audio recording and an illustration
- [http://www.whatdoesthatmean.com What Does That Mean?] A wiki based lexicon of English idioms from around the world
- [http://www1.ku-eichstaett.de/SLF/EngluVglSW/ELiX/bge.pdf Basic Global English]

Dictionaries


- [http://www.oed.com Oxford English Dictionary] The definitive record of the English language
- [http://dicts.info/dictlist1.php All free English dictionaries] Collection of many free English dictionaries.
- [http://dictionary.cambridge.org Cambridge Dictionary]
- [http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/french.html Freelang - French-English Dictionary made by Bertrand Cornu]

Further reading


- Baugh AC and Cable T. A history of the English language (5th ed), Rouledge, 2002 (ISBN 0415280990_
- Crystal, D. The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language (2nd ed), Cambridge University Press, 2003 (ISBN 0521530334)
- Halliday, MAK. An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed), London, Edward Arnold, 1994 (ISBN 0340557826)
- McArthur, T (ed). The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford University Press, 1992 (ISBN 019214183X)
- Robinson, Orrin, "Old English and Its Closest Relatives", Stanford Univ Press, 1992 (ISBN 0-8047-2221-8) English language Category:Languages of Fiji Category:Languages of Guam Category:Languages of Hong Kong Category:Languages of Singapore Category:Languages of the Philippines Category:Languages of the United Kingdom Category:Languages of the United States Category:Languages of Canada Category:Languages of New Zealand Category:Languages of India als:Englische Sprache ko:영어 ms:Bahasa Inggeris zh-min-nan:Eng-gí ja:英語 nb:Engelsk språk simple:English language th:ภาษาอังกฤษ

Alder


About 20-30 species, see text. Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants (Alnus) belonging to the birch family (Family Betulaceae). The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate zone, and in the New World also along the Andes southwards to Chile. The leaves are deciduous (evergreen or nearly so in a few species), alternate, simple, and serrated. The flowers are catkins with elongate male catkins on the same plant as shorter female catkins, often before leaves appear; they are mainly wind-pollinated, but also visited by bees to a small extent. They differ from the birches (Betula, the other genus in the family) in that the female catkins are woody and do not disintegrate at maturity, opening to release the seeds in a similar manner to many conifer cones. The best-known species is the Common or Black Alder (A. glutinosa), native to most of Europe and widely introduced elsewhere. The largest species is Red Alder (A. rubra), reaching 35 m (the tallest is 32 m) on the west coast of North America, with Black Alder and Italian Alder (A. cordata) both reaching about 30 m. By contrast, the widespread Green Alder (A. viridis) is rarely more than a 5 m shrub. The common name alder is derived from an old Germanic root. The botanic name Alnus is the original Latin name.

Classification

The genus is divided into three subgenera: Subgenus Alnus. Trees. Shoot buds stalked. Male and female catkins produced in autumn (fall) but staying closed over winter, pollinating in late winter or early spring. About 15-25 species, including:
- A. acuminata - Andean Alder. Andes Mountains, South America.
- A. cordata - Italian Alder. Italy.
- Alnus formosana -Formosan Alder
- A. glutinosa - Black Alder. Europe.
- A. incana - Grey Alder. Europe & Asia.
  - A. oblongifolia (A. incana subsp. oblongifolia) - Arizona Alder. Southwestern North America.
  - A. rugosa (A. incana subsp. rugosa) - Speckled Alder. Northeastern North America.
  - A. tenuifolia (A. incana subsp. tenuifolia) - Thinleaf Alder or Mountain Alder. Northwestern North America.
- A. japonica - Japanese Alder. Japan.
- A. jorullensis - Mexican Alder. Mexico, Guatemala.
- A. orientalis - Oriental Alder. Southern Turkey, northwest Syria, Cyprus.
- A. rhombifolia - White Alder. Interior western North America.
- A. rubra - Red Alder. West coastal North America.
- A. serrulata - Hazel alder, Tag Alder or Smooth alder. Eastern North America.
- A. subcordata - Caucasian Alder. Caucasus, Iran. Subgenus Clethropsis. Trees or shrubs. Shoot buds stalked. Male and female catkins produced in autumn (fall) and expanding and pollinating then. Three species:
- A. maritima - Seaside Alder. East coastal North America, plus disjunct population in Oklahoma.
- A. nepalensis - Nepalese Alder. Eastern Himalaya, southwest China.
- A. nitida - Himalayan Alder. Western Himalaya. Himalayan Alder] Subgenus Alnobetula. Shrubs. Shoot buds not stalked. Male and female catkins produced in late spring (after leaves appear) and expanding and pollinating then. One to four species:
- A. viridis - Green Alder. Widespread:
  - A. viridis subsp. viridis. Eurasia.
  - A. viridis subsp. maximowiczii (A. maximowiczii). Japan.
  - A. viridis subsp. crispa (A. crispa). Northern North America.
  - A. viridis subsp. sinuata (A. sinuata, Sitka Alder or Slide Alder). Western North America, far northeastern Siberia.

Uses

Sitka Alder] Alders establish symbioses with the nitrogen-fixing Actinobacteria Frankiella alni. This bacteria converts atmospheric nitrogen into soil-soluble nitrates which can be utilised by the alder, and favorably enhances the soil fertility generally. Alders benefit other plants growing near them by taking nitrogen out of the air and depositing it in the soil in usable form; fallen alder leaves make very rich compost. Alder catkins are one of the first sources of pollen for bee species, especially honeybees, which use it for spring buildup. Alder is a preferred wood for charcoal making, formerly used in the manufacture of gunpowder, or for smelting metal ores, now used primarily for cooking. The wood is also traditionally used for smoking fish and meat, though this usage has often been replaced by other woods such as oak and hickory. It is popular as a material for electric guitar bodies. Alders are sturdy and fast-growing, even in acidic and damaged sites such as burned areas and mining sites. Italian Alder is particularly useful on dry, infertile sites. Alders can be used as a producer of simple bio-mass, growing quickly in harsh environments. Alders are sometimes made into bonsai. Alder is used as a food plant by some Lepidoptera species, see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Alders. list of Lepidoptera which feed on Alders list of Lepidoptera which feed on Alders

External links


- [http://www.inmygarden.org/archives/2005/02/alder_the_nitro_1.html Alder: The nitrogen fix] from The Monday Garden
- Section Eclectic herbal information
  - [http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/alnus.html Alnus serrulata (Tag Alder)] King's American Dispensatory @ Henriette's Herbal
  - [http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/a/alder019.html Alder Tree, Common (Alnus glutinosa) ] Mrs. Grieve's "A Modern Herbal" @ Botanical.com
  - [http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/a/alder021.html Alder, Tag (Alnus serrulata)] Mrs. Grieve's "A Modern Herbal" @ Botanical.com Category:Fagales

Pakistan

:See 2005 Kashmir earthquake for the 8 October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان, islāmī jamhūriya i pākistān), or Pakistan (Urdu: پاکستان, pākistān) is a country located in South Asia that overlaps onto the Greater Middle East and Central Asia. The country borders India, Afghanistan, Iran (Persia), China and the Arabian Sea. The name of the country "Pakistan" in Urdu and Persian means Land of the Pure. With around 163 million inhabitants, it is the sixth most populous country with the second largest Muslim population. It is a member of the UN, Commonwealth of Nations, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

History

See main article for detailed information: History of Pakistan (Including pre-history, civilizations of the region, and modern events to date) Related articles: History of South Asia, History of Iran, History of India, History of Afghanistan History of Afghanistan, was center of Indus Valley Civilization, 2600 BCE – 1800 BCE]] Pakistan is the birthplace of some of the most ancient civilizations and a strategic center of historic trade routes, including the Silk Road. It exists in a region whose history has overlapped that of many empires (e.g Mughals) and also of countries including India, Afghanistan and Persia (Iran). As one of the cradles of human civilization, the Pakistani region has long been at the crossroads of history. Pakistan was the site of the Indus Valley civilization and was subsequently conquered by many groups, including Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, White Huns, and Scythians. This period saw the country advance in trade and culture to a level where the Gandhara region and the great city of Taxila (Takshashila) became a great center of learning and development.

Ancient History

Nearly all of ancient Pakistan was ruled by the Persian Achaemenid dynasty for over two hundred years beginning in 540 BCE. In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great defeated the Punjabi king Porus (Paurava) at the Hydaspes near Jhelum. After Alexander's death and brief Seleucid control, Chandragupta Maurya gained control of the territory. His grandson Ashoka is known as to have been one of the major proselytizers of Buddhism which spread in the region. After the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty was overthrown in 185 BCE, 185 BCE-171 BCE), founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom]] Demetrius of Bactria conquered Gandhara and Punjab in 184 BCE, establishing an Indo-Greek kingdom that lasted nearly two centuries, until around 10 BCE. To the south, this kingdom captured Sindh and extended to the coast of the Arabian Sea. One of the prominent Greco-Bactrian kings was Menander, who ruled from 155 to 130 BCE and is believed to have been a convert to Buddhism. His territories covered the eastern dominions of the divided Greek empire of Bactria (from the areas of the Panjshir and Kapisa, now in Afghanistan) and extended to the Pakistani province of Punjab with diffuse tributaries to the south and east, possibly even as far as Mathura in modern India. Sagala (modern Sialkot) became his capital and propered greatly under Menander's rule. The last Greek king to rule independently was probably Strato II, whose reign ended about 10 CE. Various Greek kings ruled into the beginning of the 1st century CE, as petty rulers (such as Theodamas) and as administrators, after the area was conquered by various Central Asian groups, most notably the Tocharian Kushans. The Kushan kingdom stretched from modern-day Uzbekistan to northwestern India. The kingdom was founded by King Heraios, and greatly expanded by his successor, Kujula Kadphises. Kadphises' son Vima Takto conquered territory now in India, but lost much of the western parts of the kingdom, including Gandhara, to the Parthian king Gondophares. Later invaders included the Scythians, and White Huns. While the Punjab