Contents introduction chapter 1 the main purpose of etymology through task based language

CHAPTER 2 THE WORDS IN STUDIED LANGUAGE AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF ASSIMILATION
2.1 Factors considered in language
In the industrialized nations the countryside has sometimes been virtually depopulated, to the point that, for example, in 1970 only 6.7 percent of the employed persons in the United States were in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, and forestry. The result has been a global acceleration of the process of urbanization, which has in turn created vast slums in many urban centres. To halt or reverse this process, agricultural-development specialists have suggested methods of increasing productivity without moving large numbers of farmworkers off the land. Among their recommendations are improvements in soil technology and changes in irrigation, seed stocks, and drainage; they counsel against further large-scale mechanization. The habit of the developed nations to apply their own practices of agriculture to situations where they might not be ultimately beneficial has been yielding to the belief that appropriate technologies must be developed for each area. Social mobility, movement of individuals, families, or groups through a system of social hierarchy or stratification. If such mobility involves a change in position, especially in occupation, but no change in social class, it is called “horizontal mobility.” An example would be a person who moves from a managerial position in one company to a similar position in another. If, however, the move involves a change in social class, it is called “vertical mobility” and involves either “upward mobility” or “downward mobility.” An industrial worker who becomes a wealthy businessman moves upward in the class system; a landed aristocrat who loses everything in a revolution moves downward in the system.
In revolution an entire class structure is altered. Yet once the society has been radically reorganized, further social mobility may be minimal. Social mobility, however, may come about through slower, more subtle changes, such as the movement of individuals or groups from a poor agrarian region to a richer urban one. Throughout history international migration has been an important factor in upward mobility. One instance may be seen in the 19th-century migration of members of the working and peasant classes from Europe to the United States. On the other hand, Western European colonial expansion, while benefiting some, served to enslave others. In modern societies, social mobility is typically measured by career and generational changes in the socioeconomic levels of occupations.
The social results of mobility, particularly of the vertical type, are difficult to measure. Some believe that large-scale mobility, both upward and downward, breaks down class structure, rendering a culture more uniform. Others argue that those who attempt to rise or maintain a higher position actually strengthen the class system, for they are likely to be concerned with enforcing class differences. Thus, some sociologists have suggested that class distinctions might be reduced not by individual mobility but by the achievement of social and economic equality for all.
One positive consequence of mobility has been a better use of individual aptitude. This has been aided by the expansion of educational opportunities in modern industrial nations. On the negative side, a high rate of vertical mobility may produce individual and societal anomie (a term coined by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim). The individual experiencing anomie feels socially isolated and anxious; in a larger, societal context, generally accepted beliefs and standards of conduct are weakened or disappear.
Many believe that the class system of Western industrial nations has changed dramatically since the provision of extensive welfare services, beginning in Germany in the 1880s. Greater social mobility has resulted from changes in the occupational structure, typified by an increase in the relative number of white-collar and professional occupations, with a decrease in the less-skilled and manual occupations. This has led to higher standards of living. Such increased mobility, it is argued, has minimized class differences, so that Western nations are moving toward a relatively classless (or predominantly middle-class) society. Yet other observers contend that a new upper class is in the process of formation, comprising production organizers and managers in both the public and the private arenas. Most recently, in postindustrial societies, inequality seems to be increasing between highly educated and poorly educated workers or between those with access to evolving technologies and those who lack such access.
Americanization, in the early 20th century, activities that were designed to prepare foreign-born residents of the United States for full participation in citizenship. It aimed not only at the achievement of naturalization but also at an understanding of and commitment to principles of American life and work.
Before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the American public generally took it for granted that the constant flow of newcomers from abroad brought strength and prosperity to the country. The metaphor of the “melting pot” had been introduced to symbolize the mystical potency of the great democracy, whereby people from every corner of the earth were fused into a harmonious and admirable blend. After the war began, however, American reactions to European hostilities produced an intense awareness of the aliens and “foreigners” in their midst. Assimilation, it was believed, must be achieved by the deliberate, and sometimes forceful, means of earlier nativist movements.
The Americanization movement that came into being was primarily a program of education propagated through schools, businesses, voluntary associations (such as the YMCA), libraries, and citizens bureaus. The teaching of foreigners became a favourite form of patriotic service for organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, particularly after the entry of the United States into the war. The movement also took hold in nascent industries that desired an immigrant workforce capable of adjusting to mass-production work standards.
In its earliest days school programs were directed toward the correction of the most obvious deficiencies. The core of the curriculum was the English language, American history, and the governmental structure of the United States, understanding of which was necessary for naturalization. Those who were interested in teaching other subjects began to capitalize on the popularity of the movement. Soon the offering included courses in millinery, cooking, social amenities, and the care of children, all presented, of course, as essential elements of American culture.
Enthusiasm for Americanization persisted throughout World War I and was prolonged into the postwar period. Gradually, however, popular interest in such measures diminished. Wartime apprehensions subsided, and new legislation severely limited the influx of immigrants. Before long, Americanization became no more than a fairly obscure but continuing effort to prepare people for naturalization by teaching them English, civics, and history, or even just English.
Meanwhile, there had developed a thorough reexamination of the concept of Americanization. The idea of the melting pot and the early belief that all foreigners should be transformed into typical Americans began to appear naive. Who is the typical American? Are American cultural habits (as defined in any particular curriculum) necessarily better than the way of life with which the foreign resident is familiar? The United States having been built by people who came from many backgrounds, is not the effort to impose conformity itself un-American? These and other questions proved hard to answer in the 1920s. So deeply did the disillusionment penetrate that within less than a decade after the Armistice, “Americanization” became a term to be shunned, not used.
Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
In place of the old idea of supplanting all foreign traits by a standard pattern there grew up the idea of cultural “pluralism.” It was argued by some that assimilation in its accepted sense was not a desirable goal but that American civilization would benefit by preserving many separate cultures side by side. Still others contended that this pluralism would gradually disappear over the years, that the American character was still in the process of formation, and that, as this character gradually emerged, it would be enriched by the blending of the admirable features of the various foreign nationalities. utopia, an ideal commonwealth whose inhabitants exist under seemingly perfect conditions. Hence utopian and utopianism are words used to denote visionary reform that tends to be impossibly idealistic.
The word first occurred in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, published in Latin as Libellus…de optimo reipublicae statu, deque nova insula Utopia (1516; “Concerning the highest state of the republic and the new island Utopia”); it was compounded by More from the Greek words for “not” (ou) and “place” (topos) and thus meant “nowhere.” During his embassy to Flanders in 1515, More wrote Book II of Utopia, describing a pagan and communist city-state in which the institutions and policies were entirely governed by reason. The order and dignity of such a state was intended to provide a notable contrast with the unreasonable polity of Christian Europe, divided by self-interest and greed for power and riches, which More then described in Book I, written in England in 1516.
The description of Utopia is put in the mouth of a mysterious traveler, Raphael Hythloday, in support of his argument that communism is the only cure against egoism in private and public life. More, in the dialogue, speaks in favour of mitigation of evil rather than cure, human nature being fallible. The reader is thus left guessing as to which parts of the brilliant jeu d’esprit are seriously intended and which are mere paradox.
2.2.Factors considered in history of word formation
Written utopias may be speculative, practical, or satirical. Utopias are far older than their name. Plato’s Republic was the model of many, from More to H.G. Wells. A utopian island occurs in the Hiera anagraphe (“Sacred Inscription”) of Euhemerus (flourished c. 300 BCE), and Plutarch (46–after 119 CE), in his life of Lycurgus, describes a utopian Sparta. The legend of Atlantis inspired many utopian myths, but explorations in the 15th century permitted more realistic settings, and More himself associated Utopia with Amerigo Vespucci. Other utopias that were similar to More’s in humanist themes were the I mondi (1552) of Antonio Francesco Doni and La città felice (1553) of Francesco Patrizi. An early practical utopia was the comprehensive La città del sole (c. 1602; “The City of the Sun”) of Tommaso Campanella. Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis (1627) was practical in its scientific program but speculative concerning philosophy and religion. Christian utopian commonwealths were described in Antangil (1616) by “I.D.M.,” Christianopolis (1619) by Johann Valentin Andreae, and Novae Solymae libri sex (1648) by Samuel Gott. Puritanism produced many literary utopias, both religious and secular, notably The Law of Freedom… (1652), in which Gerrard Winstanley advocated the principles of the Diggers. The Common-Wealth of Oceana (1656) by James Harrington argued for the distribution of land as the condition of popular independence.
In France such works as Gabriel de Foigny’s Terre australe connue (1676) preached liberty. François Fénelon’s Télémaque (1699) contained utopian episodes extolling the simple life. L’An 2440 by Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1770; Eng. trans., 1772) anticipated Revolutionary doctrines. G.A. Ellis’s New Britain (1820) and Étienne Cabet’s Voyage en Icarie (1840) were related to experimental communities in the United States that revealed the limitations of purely economic planning. Consequently, Bulwer-Lytton, in The Coming Race (1871), invented an essence that eliminated economics altogether, and William Morris demonstrated his contempt for economics in News from Nowhere (1890). Two influential utopias, however, had an economic basis: Looking Backward, 2000–1887 (1888) by Edward Bellamy and Freiland (1890; A Visit to Freeland…) by Theodor Herzka. H.G. Wells, in A Modern Utopia (1905), returned to speculation.
Meanwhile, there had developed a thorough reexamination of the concept of Americanization. The idea of the melting pot and the early belief that all foreigners should be transformed into typical Americans began to appear naive. Who is the typical American? Are American cultural habits (as defined in any particular curriculum) necessarily better than the way of life with which the foreign resident is familiar? The United States having been built by people who came from many backgrounds, is not the effort to impose conformity itself un-American? These and other questions proved hard to answer in the 1920s. So deeply did the disillusionment penetrate that within less than a decade after the Armistice, “Americanization” became a term to be shunned, not used.
In place of the old idea of supplanting all foreign traits by a standard pattern there grew up the idea of cultural “pluralism.” It was argued by some that assimilation in its accepted sense was not a desirable goal but that American civilization would benefit by preserving many separate cultures side by side. Still others contended that this pluralism would gradually disappear over the years, that the American character was still in the process of formation, and that, as this character gradually emerged, it would be enriched by the blending of the admirable features of the various foreign nationalities.
The word first occurred in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, published in Latin as Libellus…de optimo reipublicae statu, deque nova insula Utopia (1516; “Concerning the highest state of the republic and the new island Utopia”); it was compounded by More from the Greek words for “not” (ou) and “place” (topos) and thus meant “nowhere.” During his embassy to Flanders in 1515, More wrote Book II of Utopia, describing a pagan and communist city-state in which the institutions and policies were entirely governed by reason. The order and dignity of such a state was intended to provide a notable contrast with the unreasonable polity of Christian Europe, divided by self-interest and greed for power and riches, which More then described in Book I, written in England in 1516. The description of Utopia is put in the mouth of a mysterious traveler, Raphael Hythloday, in support of his argument that communism is the only cure against egoism in private and public life. More, in the dialogue, speaks in favour of mitigation of evil rather than cure, human nature being fallible. The reader is thus left guessing as to which parts of the brilliant jeu d’esprit are seriously intended and which are mere paradox.
Speculative and practical utopias
Written utopias may be speculative, practical, or satirical. Utopias are far older than their name. Plato’s Republic was the model of many, from More to H.G. Wells. A utopian island occurs in the Hiera anagraphe (“Sacred Inscription”) of Euhemerus (flourished c. 300 BCE), and Plutarch (46–after 119 CE), in his life of Lycurgus, describes a utopian Sparta. The legend of Atlantis inspired many utopian myths, but explorations in the 15th century permitted more realistic settings, and More himself associated Utopia with Amerigo Vespucci. Other utopias that were similar to More’s in humanist themes were the I mondi (1552) of Antonio Francesco Doni and La città felice (1553) of Francesco Patrizi. An early practical utopia was the comprehensive La città del sole (c. 1602; “The City of the Sun”) of Tommaso Campanella. Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis (1627) was practical in its scientific program but speculative concerning philosophy and religion. Christian utopian commonwealths were described in Antangil (1616) by “I.D.M.,” Christianopolis (1619) by Johann Valentin Andreae, and Novae Solymae libri sex (1648) by Samuel Gott. Puritanism produced many literary utopias, both religious and secular, notably The Law of Freedom… (1652), in which Gerrard Winstanley advocated the principles of the Diggers.
The Common-Wealth of Oceana (1656) by James Harrington argued for the distribution of land as the condition of popular independence.
In France such works as Gabriel de Foigny’s Terre australe connue (1676) preached liberty. François Fénelon’s Télémaque (1699) contained utopian episodes extolling the simple life. L’An 2440 by Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1770; Eng. trans., 1772) anticipated Revolutionary doctrines. G.A. Ellis’s New Britain (1820) and Étienne Cabet’s Voyage en Icarie (1840) were related to experimental communities in the United States that revealed the limitations of purely economic planning. Consequently, Bulwer-Lytton, in The Coming Race (1871), invented an essence that eliminated economics altogether, and William Morris demonstrated his contempt for economics in News from Nowhere (1890). Two influential utopias, however, had an economic basis: Looking Backward, 2000–1887 (1888) by Edward Bellamy and Freiland (1890; A Visit to Freeland…) by Theodor Herzka. H.G. Wells, in A Modern Utopia (1905), returned to speculation.
Many utopias are satires that ridicule existent conditions rather than offering practical solutions for them. In this class are Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) and Samuel Butler’s Erewhon (1872). In the 20th century, when the possibility of a planned society became too imminent, a number of bitterly anti-utopian, or dystopian, novels appeared. Among these are The Iron Heel (1907) by Jack London, My (1924; We) by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley, It Can’t Happen Here (1935) by Sinclair Lewis, and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949) by George Orwell. Later literary dystopias include Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury, Lord of the Flies (1954) by Sir William Golding, the pro-capitalist Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand, A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood, and Never Let Me Go (2005) by Kazuo Ishiguro. The Story of Utopias (1922) by Lewis Mumford is an excellent survey of the subject up to the date of its publication.
Concurrent with the literature, there have also been many attempts by religious groups and political reformers to establish utopian communities, especially in the Americas. In the two centuries between 1663 (when some Dutch Mennonites established the first such communitarian colony in what is now Lewes, Delaware) and 1858, some 138 settlements were begun in North America. The first to outlast the lifetime of its founder was the Ephrata Community established in Pennsylvania in 1732 by some German Pietists. Other German Pietist settlements were founded by George Rapp (Harmony in Pennsylvania, Harmony [or Harmonie] in Indiana, and Economy in Pennsylvania), by the Amana group (in Iowa), and by the Shakers (18 villages in eight states). Some of them pursued celibacy. Other communal religious sects still flourish; among the largest are the Hutterites, chiefly in the United States and Canada but having colonies also in Paraguay and England.
One of the first secular communities was New Harmony, founded in 1825 when the British manufacturer Robert Owen purchased Harmony, Indiana, from the Rappites. It was a cooperative rather than communist society. Although it foundered, it sponsored the first kindergarten, the first trade school, the first free library, and the first community-supported public school in the United States.
The ideas of the French social reformer Charles Fourier had a strong influence upon American reformers in the 1840s, particularly upon the leaders of Brook Farm in Massachusetts. Between 1841 and 1859, about 28 Fourierist colonies were established in the United States. The Icarians, followers of Cabet, established ill-fated communities in Illinois (Nauvoo, formerly settled by Mormons), Missouri, Iowa, and California.
A unique venture was the Oneida Community founded in Putney, Vermont, by John Humphrey Noyes in 1841 and moved to Oneida, New York, in 1848. The group practiced “complex marriage,” in which all husbands and wives were shared (see polygamy). Noyes said that Oneida was the continuation of Brook Farm without its mistakes. He was convinced that socialism was impossible without religion, and that the “extended” family system would dissolve selfishness and demonstrate the practicality of this way of life. Children remained with their mothers until they could walk but were then placed in a common nursery.
After the American Civil War the enthusiasm for secular utopian experiments waned. There were some new settlements in the 1890s, following the publication of such Utopian tracts as Laurence Gronlund’s The Coöperative Commonwealth (1884) and Bellamy’s Looking Backward, but the impulse had run its course, and these latter movements were soon gathered into the fold of political socialism. The creation of utopian religious communities continued into the 20th century, but they too were usually short-lived. The religious colonies, in almost all instances, were established and maintained by a single powerful personality who was believed by his disciples to have a singular gift of prophecy or wisdom. Most of these colonies flourished during the lifetime of the original leader and then declined slowly after his death.