A play that demonstrates the emptiness of the American dream Death of a Salesman Essay Example for Free

A play that demonstrates the emptiness of the American dream Death of a Salesman Essay A play that demonstrates the emptiness of the American dream. How far do you agree with this assessment of Death of a Salesman? It is evident from the first view of death of a salesman that there are definite, negative realities in the American dream. From writing this play, Miller has strongly illustrated that the American dream produces an image that human worth and values can be measured in financial terms. During 1940s America, capitalism and consumerism was at its strongest with the American dream acting as a predator to the unsuspicious, determined and success-hungry businessmen of America. Although some of these men prospered in creating a successful business and earned a lot of money, others failed and felt that their own small achievements were empty and insignificant. In the play, Willy (like other American salesmen) has focused his life and attention on achieving the American dream and being a successful role model to his sons. Willy, however, does not accomplish success and instead falls victim to capitalism. His main belief is that popularity leads to personal and business triumph, and materialistic items prove that he is well liked and loved by his friends and family. Even though Willy cannot afford expansive gifts, the American dream is based on materialising love and values and Willy does this when he buys Biff and Happy a punch bag branded with Gene Tunneys signature. Although at first this gift seems appreciated, rather than flatter and excite, materialism and brand names haunted Willy with debt and insecurity, yet he felt obliged to provide for his sons and determined to succeed in the American dream. Willy is a failure and his suicide attempts displayed an unproductive, exhausted man. He feels that what he does attain are empty achievements and his bad points and reasons for failure were obvious; such as instilling false values into his sons. It can be interpreted that, because Willy was ineffective, when he did achieve something, it was insignificant and empty; although some critics may feel that his lack of success may mean he put more pride in his minor accomplishments such as DIY around the house. This is shown when Willy is trying to impress his neighbour Charley by saying Did you see the ceiling I put in the living-room? Willy and Linda had only one payment left on their twenty five year mortgage before the house is their own, and Linda feels quite content and happy about this. But Willy is still unhappy, questioning the reason for owning the house in the first place: What point?. Owning the house is an empty accomplishment for Willy, even though it took so long to achieve. Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and theres nobody left to live in it. this alone demonstrates the emptiness of consumerism and the American dream. It is also illustrated that the American dream is an empty achievement when, at the beginning of the play, Happy and Biff are discussing their employment and future. At this point, Happy indicates that his managers success is empty, with him building a house that he cant enjoy once its finished. Happy states that he is generally achieving everything that he wanted, yet they are not important to him; they are empty accomplishments. He even questions the reason why he is working just as Willy questioned the point of the house, because all he is achieving from working is pointless and empty success. It could be argued that Miller is trying to pursue the idea that it is the process of success that is more important than success itself. This strongly questions American values, as many people follow the American dream which holds the belief that material items are more important and that they represent personal and business victory. However, Happy is successful personally to compensate for his empty achievements as a clerk. He seduces the fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½es of his managers because he has an over-developed sense of competition Happy takes what he wants even though he apparently hates himself for it, indicating the use of the bad morals taught to the boys by Willy. This again could be construed as an purposeless success in the process of achieving the American dream. Another point of perspective is that the women, like materialistic items and commercialism, may produce status in the American social system, but they also produce stress and not necessarily happiness. Willy is in constant competition with his neighbour Charley, continuously aiming to be bigger than Uncle Charley and promising his sons this success. This point suggests that materialism and the American dream are more important than general well-being and human worth, and some critics feel that through this neighbourly competition, Miller is questioning the values of America as a whole. Willys mind and psychology also breakdown because of his obsession with the American dream, and his dreams become illusions. Eventually, Willy is fighting with illusions and reality and believes all he is worth is his insurance money, stressing the idea that the American dream is empty and human values can be measured economically. The irony of Linda declaring were free at the end of the play is both ironic and tragic as although she is now free of debt, the empty American dream the illuded both Willy and herself is still holding her and others ensnared. On the other hand, in contrast to Willy, Charley is successful and has a fulfilling career and achieved the American dream. Willy is very envious of Charley, so much so that his pride, jealousy and stubbornness prevents him from accepting a job off Charley, even when he is unemployed: I just cant work for you, Charley. Similarly, Howard, although cruel to Willy and fires him, is very successful. He has a happy, idealistic family life. He is able to afford materialistic goods, can provide for his family, is not overridden by debt and is generally fulfilled by his success and the American dream. Howard is very proud and boastful to have achieved the American dream and this is shown when he boasts his tape recorder to Willy, who is obviously resentful. Howards other material possessions appear to be unimportant compared to the tape recorder and are no longer required, showing Howard to be a rather wasteful person. This again implies that, in difference to Willy, Howard is extremely successful and is relishing in consumerism, finding the American dream very rewarding. However, another point of view could be that Howard, like Willy, finds the American dream empty as he is not enjoying what he has achieved, and is just replacing everything with a more modern or expensive model. In dissimilarity to Willy, Charley is a genuine, kind and caring neighbour, and is not at all in competition with Willy. Therefore, Charley values human worth and this suggests that American values are not concentrated mainly on accomplishment. Charley has not let the American dream influence his ideas of human worth and values, and he does not think that human life can be measured financially. He actually seems genuinely worried at Willys hints towards suicide and says to him nobodys worth nothing dead. Charley is realistic compared to Willy, who is idealistic and living in his own fantasy. Through his success, Charley sees Willys faults and reasons for his failure and tries to make Willy acknowledge this by constantly asking Willy, when are you going to grow up?. Charley recognises Willys fantasies are wrong and he tries to help him. This shows that the American dream has not diminished Charleys character as it has Willys and Charleys success mean she can help Willy financially. This can be interpreted as Charley using his satisfying achievements to help Willy. For Charley, his dream has become a reality not an illusion. Charley may have also become victim to capitalism but, in comparison to Willy, he is thriving off it whereas it is destroying Willy. He is content with his success and feels fulfilled by his achievements, suggesting that the play does not entirely demonstrate the emptiness of the American dream but the fulfilments also. Miller himself argues that the play is not entirely based on the faults of the American dream although it does question American values very powerfully. He strengthens his argument because, although Willy is defeated by the American dream, Charley is entirely successful without creating personal flaws from his dreams of success. Bernard, his son, is also a genuine (as well as successful) person; a complete difference from Willys sons. As a result, Death of a salesman almost perfectly depicts aspects of the American dream today. Our twenty first century ideals, dreams and illusions echo, even more so perhaps, the prosperous America of fifty years ago. It can be related to by people of our culture today as well as those from the 1940s, making the powerful reminders of the illusion focused on in Death of a Salesman completely relevant to our world. It is from this that I have come to the conclusion that, although Death of a Salesman subtly contains stories of success due to the American dream, this play is a textbook illustration of the emptiness of the American dream and consumerism; where failure and disappointment eats away at happiness and confidence, but success is, similarly, an empty accomplishment.

Shadows In Architecture

Shadows In Architecture As we all know that light is essential for various activities and shadows are intrinsically connected with light. Light is inseparable from the notion of form and space and so is shadow from light. Throughout the world architects have strived to marvel the use of natural light, but seldom do they consider the shadowed areas caused due to that light. The ambience of a space is affected by the quality of light and shadows. Treatment of light and shadows has been a typical feature of traditional Japanese architecture which understands and lays importance to the design of areas in shade from a source of light. Ar Juhani Pallasmaa on shadows: The imagination and daydreaming are stimulated by dim light and shadow. In order to think clearly, the sharpness of vision has to be suppressed, for thoughts travel with an absent-minded and unfocussed gaze. Homogeneous bright light paralyses the imagination in the same way that homogenisation of space weakens the experience of being, and wipes away the sense of place. (Pallasmaa, 2005). Architect Peter Zumthor listed the following as one his favourite ideas: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to plan the building as a pure mass of shadow then, afterwards, to put in light as if you were hollowing out the darkness, as if the light were a new mass seeping in. (Zumthor, 2006). The area of study of this dissertation will be based on the idea that if the lighted parts of an object are too light, the form of it is difficult to perceive, and if the parts in shadow are too dark no form will be seen. When light falls on a relief perpendicular to its surface, there will be a minimum of shadows. The intricacies will hardly be visible. Similarly perception of texture also depends on minute differences in relief. The dynamic nature of the shadows cast by sunlight gives an immense potential to effectively design and create shades and shadows. Ordinary day-to-day phenomenon like openings along a long corridor create patches of light and shadow and breaks the monotony of the long walk. Elements of buildings such as sunshades, jaalis, screens, louvres, etc cast shadows which have shapes. The phenomenology of shadows is an important aspect of spaces. Hence, it is more than evident that light and shadows are an essential part of a space.If the architect has an understanding of the relationship of the object with its shadow, he will be better able to control it to compose the shadows and hence the feel of the space. Research Question: How do shadows affect spatial design? Need Identification Every experience of architecture is multi-sensory; qualities of space are measured by the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue simultaneously. A development towards the dominance of the sense of vision has been observed and analyzed by a number of philosophers in recent years. Vision, as we all know, is a consequence of light. Hence, in a very direct way, light is essential for perception of architecture. This study will focus on a rather unspoken, yet ever-present, product of light, i.e. shadows. Elements of architecture undergo innumerable transformations during the course of the day and from season to season. In 1849 John Rushkin stated that among the first habits that a young architect should learn, is that of thinking in shadowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (Rushkin, 1880). The shadow gives shape and life to the object in light. Casting of shadow reveals the relationships between objects. Just as Chiaroscuro in paintings and sculptures creates vitality, the play of light and shadow brings life to buildings. (Sullivan, 1947). Objectives To study, in brief, the role of shadows in spatial design throughout the history of architecture in a chronological way. To study the role of shadows in the design of contemporary spaces, taking up examples and case-studies To study how people react to the above mentioned cases. (designers intent vs. achieved). Lastly, attempt to formulate/arrive at generalities to assist the incorporation of shadow-design in the basic design of spaces and buildings Scope The study will analyze the role of self-shadows and cast-shadows (formed under natural light) in spatial design. Understand and analyze the effects of the two different types of shadows (with a visual boundary and without a visual boundary) Study changes in the use of light and shadow throughout the history of architecture. The study will include: Visual perception of the spaces Basic understanding of tones, intensity etc The study will NOT include: Climato-logical impact of the natural light Technical aspects of light, including definitions and quantifiable items like Lux, Lumens, Illuminance, etc. Limitations Shade/shadow is seen as absence or relative deficiency of light. Hence, a direct quantification is not possible. The study has been limited to use of natural light in buildings to streamline the topic of study due to time and text limitations. Secondary case-studies will rely on the imagery and data available in the media and/or books. Direct interview of people using the mentioned spaces (outstation or otherwise) is not possible hence the study will rely on the literature available. Methodology Literature Survey Case-study Primary Prominent examples of such spaces in or around Delhi which have successfully incorporated shadow as an element in the design Secondary Prominent examples of such spaces which have successfully incorporated shadow as an element in the design, with sufficient data available for analysis. Analysis Analysis of the data collected after the Literature Survey and Case-studies. Formulation of ideas Arrive at generalities after a detailed analysis of the collected data to assist the designing of shadows for spaces and buildings. This will help in sensitizing the reader to consider shadows as an important element in spatial design, and hence a whole new approach to designing. The formulations will tentatively be with respect to: scale; forms blocks and massing; geometry; material colour and texture; pertaining to particular elements of buildings (like sunshades, louvers, screens etc) Definitions: (http://oxforddictionaries.com/) shadow: (noun) a dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface. shade: (noun) comparative darkness caused by shelter from direct sunlight. darkness: (noun) the partial or total absence of light. chiaroscuro: ( http://www.britannica.com) the interplay of light and shadow on or as if on a surface ( from Italian: chiaro, light; scuro, dark) technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects. phenomenology: It is a philosophical design current in contemporary architecture and a specific field of academic research, based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties. Works Cited Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The eyes of the skin : architecture and the senses. Chichester: John Wiley Sons Ltd. Plummer, H. (2009). The Architecture of Natural Light. London: Thames Hudson Ltd. Rasmussen, S. E. (1962). Experiencing Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Rushkin, J. (1880). The Seven Lamps of Architecture. New York: Drover Publications, Inc. Sullivan, L. (1947). Ornament in Architecture, Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings. New York: Witten Art Books. Tanizaki, J. (1977). In praise of shadows. New Haven, Conn.: Leetes Island Books. Zumthor, P. (2006). Atmospheres : architectural environments, surrounding objects. Basel, Boston: Birkhà ¤user. Bibliography Murray, D. (1990). Architecture and shadow. New York: Rizzoli. Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The eyes of the skin : architecture and the senses. Chichester: John Wiley Sons Ltd. Plummer, H. (2009). The Architecture of Natural Light. London: Thames Hudson Ltd. Rasmussen, S. E. (1962). Experiencing Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Rushkin, J. (1880). The Seven Lamps of Architecture. New York: Drover Publications, Inc. Sullivan, L. (1947). Ornament in Architecture, Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings. New York: Witten Art Books. Tanizaki, J. (1977). In praise of shadows. New Haven, Conn.: Leetes Island Books. Zumthor, P. (2006). Atmospheres : architectural environments, surrounding objects. Basel, Boston: Birkhà ¤user. Chapter Outline: Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introduction Light and Shadow: The inseparable Shadows and spatial design Research Question Need Identification Scope Limitations Methodology References Chapter 2: Architecture Precedents Shadows in Architecture through time Works of contemporary architects Chapter 3: Understanding shadows 3.1 Shadows Self-shadows and cast-shadows Shadows having a visual boundary versus without a visual boundary (shades); obscuring etc Dominance of shadow versus dominance of light Effect of shadows in spatial design Form Elements: Jaalis, relief, pergola etc Materials and texture Dynamism through light and shadow Chapter 4: Case-studies Primary: Spiritual/meditation center India Habitat Center Secondary: Church of Light by Tadao Ando The Pantheon, Rome Chapter 5: Conclusion Analysis and conclusion List of Plates

Comparing Power and Freedom in Invisible Man and Notes From Underground

Comparing Power and Freedom in Invisible Man and Notes From Underground      Ã‚  Ã‚   The quest for power is an endless one for humanity.   Countless tales of greed, strife, and triumph stem from this common ambition.   Similarly, men universally seek freedom, a privilege entitling an individual to make independent decisions and express personal opinion.   Exploration of the connection between these two abstract concepts remains a topic of interest, especially in the works of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground.   Two distinct definitions of "power" exist: one deals with societally defined power, generally represented by wealth, leadership, and authority over the lives of others.   The other defines a power within oneself, in which an individual gains a true picture of his human condition and relationship to society.   In Invisible Man, the protagonist enters a Negro college, only to be expelled to New York.   He then begins a career with the Brotherhood, a group to promote civil rights and support bl acks. The narrator of Notes From Underground outlines a series of autobiographical recalled events that comprise the background for his philosophy concerning the human condition and freedom.   Both Invisible Man and Underground Man, in their direct conflicts with power inequality, illustrate the universal human conflict in the pursuit of power.   In each protagonist, heightened awareness of their human condition onsets a retreat underground to compile notes on the nature of power and freedom.   Both conclude that freedom arises as a result of self-awareness and of ability to both recognize and accept a powerlessness of self amidst oppressive societal power.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Invisible Man's first major encounter ... ...on.html Bakhtin, Mikhail. Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics. Ed. and trans. Caryl Emerson. Introd. by Wayne C. Booth. Theory and History of Literature. Minneapolis: U. of Minnesota Pr., 1984. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Notes from Underground: A New Translation, Backgrounds and Sources, Responses, Criticism. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 1989. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage Books, 1952. Fabre, Michel. "In Ralph Ellison's Precious Words." Unpublished Manuscript. 1996. Accessed 30 November 2001. http://www.igc.org/dissent/archive/ Ellison/early.html Howe, Irving. "Review of: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man" Pub. The Nation. 10 May 1952. 30 November 1999. http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/howe-on-ellison.html. O'Meally, Robert, ed. New Essays on Invisible Man. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

anthrax Essay -- essays research papers

Could someone use anthrax for a larger attack on American cities? Unfortunately, yes-and they could also use any of a series of other germs, some more lethal than anthrax. But it’s not easy to get anthrax, and it’s not easy to deploy. The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo tried to spread anthrax from its Tokyo office building in 1993 and failed dismally. Experts disagree on how dangerous it would be if someone sprinkled anthrax in, say, an office ventilation system or a subway car, but any larger attack would be hard to pull off. Which countries make anthrax? Government officials say America no longer has a bioweapons program, although the military continues to use anthrax for defensive purposes such as vaccine development. More than a dozen other countries may have programs that could make anthrax, including big powers (Russia, China, India), distinctly unfriendly countries (Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, Cuba), and American allies (Israel, Egypt, South Africa, South Korea). More than 40 germ banks in the United States and around the world supply anthrax for scientific research. Has anthrax been used as a weapon before? Yes. Germany tried halfheartedly to use it during World War I. During World War II, most warring parties had biowarfare programs; Japan used anthrax in China. During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union set up large biowarfare programs. President Nixon banned the production and use of biological warfare agents in 1969. The Soviets carried on; in 1979, an anthrax leak from a Soviet weapons plant killed more than 60 people. WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT ANTHRAX The discovery of anthrax in mail sent to government offices and news organizations has Americans worried. The good news is that the disease is rare. It is extremely unlikely that children would be exposed to the disease. Junior Scholastic had these questions for U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher: Q: What is anthrax? A: Anthrax is a disease caused by bacteria. It most commonly occurs in animals such as sheep or goats, but can occur in people exposed to the bacteria. Q: How is it spread? A: Anthrax is not contagious -- it cannot be transmitted from person to person. Infection can occur (1) if spores enter through breaks in the skin; (2) through inhaling anthrax spores; and (3) through the digestive system. Q: Is anthrax treatable? A: Anthrax is very treatable. ... ...cades! Ricin, another threat, is regarded as one of the ten deadliest poisons known. There are no vaccines or antitoxins available for treatment of ricin exposure. Ricin was reportedly used in the assassination of Georgi Markov in London, in 1978, and an American, Tom Lavy, tried to import ricin into the United States in 1995. No doubt, ricin will appear again; it is a protein easily extracted from one of the world's most common crops, the Castor plant, source of the more familiar Castor Oil. Other weapons in the terrorist arsenal are as readily available. Anyone can still purchase fertilizer and fuel oil and concoct ANFO. Many biological and chemical agents can be produced or grown in simple laboratories with off-the-shelf equipment, such as refrigerators, separators, dryers, and fermentors. Nuclear bombs are not regarded by experts as an immediate threat because of the rarity of plutonium-239 and uranium-235. But other radioactive materials, such as cobalt-90, carbon-14, or cesium-137, are commonly used at industrial and medical sites. A chemical bomb laced with radiological contaminants could create widespread social disruption and achieve the attacker's central goal: terror.

The Golden House of Nero :: essays papers

The Golden House of Nero After years of fighting and civil wars, order was finally established throughout the Roman empire during the first century AD with the rule of Augustus. Peace and prosperity followed with the reign of Augustus and with the emperors that came into control after him, and it was during this time that Roman architecture began to move away from the traditional Hellenistic and Greek influences and generate its own style. It was also during this time that Rome was subjected to numerous horrendous fires that destroyed much of the city when it was under the control of the emperor Nero. Considered a tyrant and self-centered even for an aristocrat at the time, Nero became very unpopular towards the end of his reign, but not before he was able to commission the construction of a marvelous villa for himself stretching over two hundred acres in the center of Rome where the fires had destroyed most of the original buildings. Commonly called The Golden House of Nero, it was originally given the more formal name of Domus Aurea, and was and still is considered one of the most extravagant projects ever ordered by a Roman emperor to be created. The most significant and majestic feature of the Domus Aurea is the Esquiline wing, or the main palace, located about two hundred meters northeast of the Coliseum, formally known as the Flavian Amphitheater. After the fires of 104 AD, Trajan had his engineers fill in the Esquiline wing of the Domus Aurea so as to secure the elevated terrace for his Baths. By covering the Esquiline wing with earth, it was free from pillaging, fires, considerable wearing from weather, and other harmful effects over the years. Unfortunately, only a sizable fragment remains of the palace, and the original extent of the scores of rooms that have been recovered is unknown. Much can be extrapolated from these remaining bits of the structure, though, and like a puzzle, archeologist and architects have been able to piece together the scraps and come to fairly detailed conclusions. One major point that has been looked at closely but has not been completely decided upon is the original number of stories the palace contained. There are no indications of a second story beyond the two narrow staircases back in the upper north service area of the wing.

Projected Total Sales of Sundance Direct Sales Essay

Introduction Billboards, signage and eye-catching advertisement paraphernalia of different direct selling companies are sprouting everywhere, either local or international. Many companies established names and compete to prolong their standing in the business world. Defined in businessdictionary.com, direct selling is a face to face presentation, demonstration, and sale of products or services, usually at the home or office of a prospect by the independent direct sales representatives. Direct Selling contributes greatly on the economic development of the country; it manifests the Filipino spirit of enterprise and self-reliance. This industry gains greater popularity today than its early years. One of the popular direct selling companies in the Philippines is Sundance Direct Sales (Footworks Marketing Corporation). It was established on August 1999. Before they came with the business’ name, they first thought of fancy Italian names but they had decided on an original and easily remembered name- SUNDANCE. It was originated from the Hollywood movie, Butch Casedy and the Sundance Kid. Mr. Peter Yu is the managing director of Sundance Direct Sales. It is a fashion clothing and shoe retailing company with wide expertise in manufacturing industry. This company is engaged in selling of clothes, shoes, bags, cosmetics, accessories and infant and children lines. Currently, it is partnered with Maybelline New York, Afficionado and I2I eyewear. In its 12 successful years of existence, it has approximately 500,000 dealers and continuously increasing. It produced 16 branches and 400 local outlets nationwide. The mission of Sundance Direct Sales in helping fellowmen is to bring standard of excellence to all parts of the world. In lieu of their mission, they have reached and served international countries such as HongKong,  Dubai, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Singapore. Sundance Direct Sales is an industry that continuously progressing, competing and creating new styles of fashion, awarding them as the Best Direct Selling brand of Apparel. Methodology Many business organizations used tools or techniques, like quantitative forecasting, that helped them determine the possible result of the business operation in the future. Quantitative forecasting technique bases its forecast from past data. This tool helps the manager or the decision maker to accomplish their organizational goals. Specifically, if a company has the record of its past 30-year sales, then it can project the sales for the next year and this may help him to determine the inventory levels, scheduling of production and the like. However either quantitatively or qualitatively, forecasting is not 100% certain; it has uncertainties so we need to measure the accuracy of the forecast. Forecast accuracy can be measure by MAD (mean absolute deviation) MSE (mean square error) and MAPE (mean absolute percentage error); the best model depends on the measure. The goal of this study is to project the total sales for one of the Sundance branches –Calamba -2011 so that the branch manager can have preparations in their inventory levels. In order to get the projected total sales of Sundance Direct Sales Calamba branch in 2011, time-series regression and smoothing linear trends were used. Time-series regression is the process of estimating the relationship between two variables- in our case time and sales per month. Smoothing linear trends is just the same with simple smoothing however the intercept and the slope of the trend line are continually adjusted in each period. Two methods were used for comparative purposes. The data were also tested for occurrence of seasonality. MAD was used to evaluate the forecast accuracy since most of the errors were too large. It weighted the errors equally. MSE is not advisable for this kind of problem because it will result to a very large number. The data collected was a 3-year monthly sales of the Sundance Direct Sales Calamba branch for the years: 2008, 2009 and 2010. The sales representative allowed the author to have the data with proper and legal consent. A hard copy of the data is handed down to the author (Appendix A). To analyze the data for occurrence of seasonality, the data were graphed first. In figure 1 is an illustration of the comparison of the sales in the three years of operation of Sundance Direct Sales –CALAMBA. Figure 1.Monthly Sales of Sundance Direct Sales – Calamba in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Seasonal time series repeats over a specific period such as day, monthly, quarterly or yearly. According to Levin, to determine seasonality two questions must be satisfied. First, are the peaks and troughs consistent? Looking back to Figure 1, there are peaks and troughs in year 2009 and year 2010 that are consistent but if you look at year 2008 it did not follow those peak and troughs. Second, there is an explanation for the seasonal pattern? Since there is no consistency in the trends of the data points, then we will not answer this question anymore. Both questions were not satisfied so we can say that the data didn’t exhibit seasonality. We can now proceed in forecasting the sales using the two methods mentioned earlier. Forecasting models are evaluated by dividing the samples into two parts: warm-up samples and forecast samples. Warm-up samples are used to fit the forecasting model while forecast samples are for testing the model. In a long time series, data are divided into half. Using time-series regression, warm-up samples – periods 1-18 –was used to get the equation the best-fitting trend line. Using the data in Appendix B, it was determined that the equation for the best-fitted line is  Ft = 2340883.46 + 3800.51(t) .

Linguistics and Interjections Essay

In Western philosophy and linguistic theory, interjections—that is, words like oof, ouch, and bleah—have traditionally been understood to indicate emotional states. This article offers an account of interjections in Q’eqchi’ Maya that illuminates their social and discursive functions. In particular, it discusses the grammatical form of interjections, both in Q’eqchi’ and across languages, and characterizes the indexical objects and pragmatic functions of interjections in Q’eqchi’ in terms of a semiotic framework that may be generalized for other languages. With these grammatical forms, indexical objects, and pragmatic functions in hand, it details the various social and discursive ends that interjections serve in one Q’eqchi’ community, thereby shedding light on local values, norms, ontological classes, and social relations. In short, this article argues against interpretations of interjections that focus on internal emotional states by providing an account of their meanings in terms of situational, discursive, and social context. p a u l k o c k e l m a n is McKennan Post-Doctoral Fellow in Linguistic Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Dartmouth College (Hanover, N. H. 03755, U. S. A. [paul. kockelman@dartmouth. edu]). Born in 1970, he was educated at the University of California, Santa Cruz (B. A. , 1992) and the University of Chicago (M. S. , 1994; Ph. D. , 2002). His publications include â€Å"The Collection of Copal among the Q’eqchi’-Maya† (Research in Economic Anthropology 20:163–94), â€Å"Factive and Counterfactive Clitics in Q’eqchi’-Maya: Stance, Status, and Subjectivity,† in Papers from the Thirty-eighth Annual Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society (Chicago: Linguistics Society, in press), and â€Å"The Interclausal Relations Hierarchy in Q’eqchi’ Maya† (International Journal of American Linguistics 69:25–48). The present paper was submitted 1 vi 01 and accepted 27 xii 02. 1. A longer version of this article was presented at the workshop â€Å"Semiotics: Culture in Context† at the University of Chicago in January 2001. Chris Ball, Anya Bernstein, John Lucy, and Michael Silverstein all provided very helpful commentary. This article also greatly bene? ted from suggestions made by Benjamin S. Orlove and several anonymous referees. Western philosophy and linguistic theory have traditionally considered interjections at the periphery of language and primordially related to emotion. For example, the Latin grammarian Priscian de? ned interjections as â€Å"a part of speech signifying an emotion by means of an unformed word† (Padley 1976:266). Muller (1862) ? thought that interjections were at the limit of what might be called language. Sapir (1921:6–7) said that they were â€Å"the nearest of all language sounds to instinctive utterance. † Bloom? eld (1984[1933]:177) said that they â€Å"occur under a violent stimulus,† and Jakobson (1960: 354) considered them exemplars of the â€Å"purely emotive stratum of language. † While interjections are no longer considered peripheral to linguistics and are now carefully de? ned with respect to their grammatical form, their meanings remain vague and elusive. In particular, although interjections are no longer characterized purely in terms of emotion, they are still characterized in terms of â€Å"mental states. † For example, Wierzbicka (1992:164) characterizes interjections as â€Å"[referring] to the speaker’s current mental state or mental act. † Ameka (1992a:107) says that â€Å"from a pragmatic point of view, interjections may be de?ned as a subset of items that encode speaker attitudes and communicative intentions and are contextbound,† and Montes (1999:1289) notes that many interjections â€Å"[focus] on the internal reaction of affectedness of the speaker with respect to the referent. † Philosophers have offered similar interpretations. For example, Herder thought that interjections were the human equivalent of animal sounds, being both a â€Å"language of feeling† and a â€Å"law of nature† (1966:88), and Rousseau, pursuing the origins of language, theorized that protolanguage was â€Å"entirely interjectional† (1990:71). Indeed, such philosophers have posited a historical transition from interjections to language in which the latter allows us not only to index pain and express passion but also to denote values and exercise reason (D’Atri 1995). 2 Thus interjections have been understood as a semiotic artifact of our natural origins and the most transparent index of our emotions. Such an understanding of interjections is deeply rooted in Western thought. Aristotle (1984), for example, posited a contrastive relationship between voice, proper only to humans as instantiated in language, and sound, shared by humans and animals as instantiated in cries. This contrastive relation was then compared with other analogous contrastive relations, in particular, value and pleasure/pain, polis and household, and bios (the good life, or political life proper to humans) and zoe (pure life, shared by all living things). Such a contrast is so pervasive that modern philosophers such as Agamben (1995) have devoted much of their scholarly work to the thinking out of this tradition and others built on it such as id versus ego in the Freudian paradigm. In short, the folk distinction made between interjections and language 2. D’Atri (1995:124) argues that, for Rousseau, â€Å"interjections . . . are sounds and not voices: they are passive registerings and as such do not presuppose the intervention of will, which is what characterizes human acts of speech. † 467 468 F c u r r e n t a n t h ro p o l o g y Volume 44, Number 4, August–October 2003 proper maps onto a larger set of distinctions in Western thought: emotion and cognition, animality and humanity, nature and culture, female and male, passion and reason, bare life and the good life, pain and value, private and public, and so on (see, e.g. , Lutz 1988, Strathern 1988). In this article I avoid such abstracting and dichotomizing traps by going straight to the heart of interjections: their everyday usage in actual discourse when seen in the context of local culture and grounded in a semiotic framework. I begin by characterizing the linguistic and ethnographic context in which I carried out my research and go on to relate interjections to other linguistic forms, showing how they are both similar to and distinct from other classes of words in natural languages. Next I provide and exemplify a semiotic framework, generalizable across languages, in terms of which the indexical objects and pragmatic functions of interjections can best be characterized. Then I detail the local usage of the 12 most commonly used interjections in Q’eqchi’ and show the way in which they are tied into all things cultural: values, norms, ontological classes, social relations, and so on. I conclude by discussing the relative frequency with which the various forms and functions of interjections are used. In short, I argue against interpretations of interjections that focus on emotional states by providing an account of their meanings in terms of situational, discursive, and social context. Linguistic and Ethnographic Context While I am attempting to provide as wide a theoretical account of interjections as I can, thereby providing a metalanguage for speaking about similar sign phenomena in other languages, I am also trying to capture the grammatical niceties of Q’eqchi’ Maya and the discursive and social particularities of one Q’eqchi’-speaking village in particular. Before I begin my analysis, then, I want to sketch the linguistic and ethnographic context in which I worked. Q’eqchi’ is a language in the Kichean branch of the Mayan family, spoken by some 360,000 speakers in Guatemala (in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Izabel, and Peten) and Belize (Kaufman 1974, Stewart 1980). 3 Lin? guistically, Q’eqchi’ is relatively well described: scholars such as Berinstein (1985), Sedat (1955), Stewart (1980), Stoll (1896), and Chen Cao et al. (1997) have discussed its syntax, morphology, phonology, and lexicon, and I have detailed various morphosyntactic forms (encoding grammatical categories such as mood, status, evidentiality, taxis, and inalienable possession) as they intersect with sociocultural values and contextual features and as they illuminate local modes of personhood (Kockelman 3. Typologically, Q’eqchi’ is a morphologically ergative, head-marking language. In Q’eqchi’, vowel length (signaled by doubling letters) is phonemic; /k/ and /q/ are velar and uvular plosives, respectively, and /x/ and /j/ are palato-alveolar and velar fricatives, respectively. All other phonemes have their standard IPA values. 2002, 2003a, b). This article is therefore part of a larger project in which I examine how intentional and evaluative stances are encoded in natural languages and the relations that such stances bear to local modes of subjectivity. Alta Verapaz, the original center of the Q’eqchi’-speaking people who still make up the majority of its population, has had a unusual history even by Guatemalan standards. In 1537, after the Spanish crown had failed to conquer the indigenous peoples living there, the Dominican Friar Bartolome de Las Casas was permitted to ?pacify the area through religious methods. Having succeeded, he changed the name of the area from Tezulutlan (Land of War) to Verapaz (True Peace), and the Dominicans were granted full control over the area—the state banning secular immigration, removing all military colonies, and nullifying previous land grants. In this way, for almost 300 years the area remained an isolated enclave, relatively protected by the paternalism of the church in comparison with other parts of Guatemala (King 1974, Sapper 1985). This ended abruptly in the late 1800s, however, with the advent of coffee growing, liberal reforms, and the in? ux of Europeans (Cambranes 1985, Wagner 1996). Divested of their land and forced to work on coffee plantations, the Q’eqchi’ began migrating north into the unpopulated lowland forests of the Peten ? and Belize (Adams 1965, Carter 1969, Howard 1975, Kockelman 1999, Pedroni 1991, Saa Vidal 1979, Schwartz 1990, Wilk 1991). In the past 40 years this migration has been fueled by a civil war that has ravaged the Guatemalan countryside, with the Q’eqchi’ ? eeing not just scarce resources and labor quotas but also their own nation’s soldiers—often forcibly conscripted speakers of other Mayan languages (Carmack 1988, IWGIA 1978, Wilson 1995). As a consequence, the past century has seen the Q’eqchi’ population spread from Alta Verapaz to the Peten and ? nally to Belize, Mexico, and even the ? United States. Indeed, although only the fourth largest of some 24 Mayan languages, Q’eqchi’ is thought to have the largest percentage of monolinguals, and the ethnic group is Guatemala’s fastest-growing and most geographically extensive (Kaufman 1974, Stewart 1980). The two key ethnographies of Q’eqchi’-speakers have been written by Wilk (1991) and Wilson (1995), the former treating household ecology in Belize and the latter upheavals in village life and identity at the height of the civil war in highland Guatemala during the 1980s. In addition to these monographs, there are also a number of dissertations and articles on the history (King 1974, Sapper 1985, Wagner 1996), ecology (Carter 1969, Secaira 1992, Wilson 1972), and migration (Adams 1965, Howard 1975, Pedroni 1991) of Q’eqchi’-speaking  people. The data for this article are based on almost two years of ethnographic and linguistic ? eldwork among speakers of Q’eqchi’, most of it in Ch’inahab, a village of some 80 families (around 650 people) in the municipality of San Juan Chamelco, in the department of Alta Verapaz. At an altitude of approximately 2,400 m, Ch’inahab is one of the highest villages in this area, with an annual precipitation of more than 2,000 mm. It is also one of k o c k e l m a n The Meanings of Interjections in Q’eqchi’ Maya F 469  the most remote, access to the closest road requiring a three-hour hike down a steep and muddy single-track trail. Its relatively high altitude and remote location provide the perfect setting for cloud forest, and such a cloud forest provides the perfect setting for the resplendent quetzal, being home to what is thought to be the highest density of such birds in the world. Because of the existence of the quetzal and the cloud forest in which it makes its home, Ch’inahab has been the site of a successful eco-tourism project the conditions and consequences of which are detailed in my dissertation (Kockelman 2002). While the majority of villagers in Ch’inahab are monolingual speakers of Q’eqchi’, some men who have served time in the army or worked as itinerant traders speak some Spanish. All the villagers are Catholic. Ch’inahab is divided by a mountain peak with dwellings on both of its sides and in the surrounding valleys. It takes about 45 minutes to hike across the village. At one end there is a biological station kept by the eco-tourism project and used sporadically by European ecologists, and at the other there is a Catholic church and a cemetery. In the center there is a small store, a school for primary and secondary grades, and a soccer ? eld. The surrounding landscape is cloud forest giving way to scattered house sites, agricultural parcels, pasture, and ? elds now fallow. All villagers engage in corn-based, or milpa, agriculture, but very few have enough land to ful? ll all of their subsistence needs. 4 For this reason, many women in the village are dedicated to chicken husbandry, most men in the village engage in seasonal labor on plantations (up to ?ve months a year in some cases), and many families engage in itinerant trade (women weaving baskets and textiles for the men to sell) and eco-tourism (the women hosting tourists and the men guiding them). Dwelling sites often contain a scattering of houses in which reside an older couple and their married sons, all of whom share a water source and a pasture. The individual families themselves often have two houses, a relatively traditional thatched-roof house in which the family cooks and sleeps and a relatively new house with a tin roof in which they host festivals and in which older children and ecotourists may sleep. Because of eco-tourism and the in? ux of money and strangers that it brings, there has been an increase in the construction of such tin-roofed houses, and, as will be seen, many of my examples of interjections come from such construction contexts. My data on the use of interjections among villagers in Ch’inahab comes from 14 months of ? eldwork carried out between 1998 and 2001. The data collection con4. Before 1968, what is now Ch’inahab was owned by the owner of a plantation. Q’eqchi’-speakers who lived in the village of Popobaj (located to the south of and lower than Ch’inahab) were permitted to make their milpa in this area in exchange for two weeks of labor per month on the ? nca (Secaira 1992:20). Only in 1968, when a group of villagers got together to form a land acquisition committee, were some 15 caballer? as (678 ha) of land purchased from the owner ? for 4,200 quetzals (US$4,200). This land, while legally owned by the entire community, was divided among the original 33 villagers as a function of their original contributions.  sisted in part of characterizing tokens of usage when I heard them and in part of tracking tokens of usage through recordings of naturally occurring conversations. 5 In particular, given the fact that many interjections occur in relatively nonconversational, task-engaged situations (house building, planting, playing, cooking, etc. ), trying to record them in such contexts was futile. Luckily, as will be seen, they often occur in modes of disruption (when some goal-directed action goes awry), which makes them relatively easy to notice in real-time context and their contextual regularities relatively easy to stipulate. In addition, I tape-recorded naturally occurring conversations in the households of three families once a week over several months, usually at dinnertime. 6 After I describe the forms and meanings of the interjections I will discuss the relative frequency of the various tokens collected and thereby illuminate which forms and meanings are most often used by whom. The Grammatical Form of Interjections There are four criteria by which interjections may be differentiated from other linguistic forms within a particular language and generalized as a form class across languages (Ameka 1992, Bloom?eld 1984[1933], Jespersen 1965, Wilkins 1992). First, all interjections are conventional lexical forms, or words, that can constitute utterances on their own (Wilkins 1992). They are conventional in that their sign carriers have relatively standardized and arbitrary phonological forms, and they can constitute utterances on their own because their only syntagmatic relation with other linguistic forms is parataxis—in which two forms are â€Å"united by the use of only one sentence pitch† (Bloom? eld 1984[1933]:171). They can therefore stand alone as perfectly sensible stretches of talk before and after which there is silence. Second, with few exceptions, no interjection is simultaneously a member of another word class (Ameka 1992a, Wilkins 1992). Almost all of them are what Ameka (1992a:105), following Bloom? eld (1984[1933]), calls primary interjections: â€Å"little words or non-words which . . . can constitute an utterance by themselves and do not normally enter into constructions with other word classes. † In Q’eqchi’, the main exceptions are interjections built, through lexical extension, from the primary interjection ay. In the case of ay dios, the additional 5. I also include several examples of interjection usage that occurred in the context of ethnographic interviews about topics other than interjections, for these often indicated that an ethnographic question was poorly posed or inappropriate in the local context. I also carried out extensive interviews about the meanings of interjections with native speakers (see Kockelman 2002 for an extended discussion of the relationship between form, usage, and speakers’ re? ections). 6.  Indeed, the best two accounts of interjection-like things— â€Å"response cries† in Goffman (1978) and â€Å"emblematic gestures† in Sherzer (1993)—explicitly take into account social interaction and ethnographic description. Good accounts of the discursive use of interjections are offered by De Bruyn (1998), Ehlich (1986), Gardner (1998), and Meng and Schrabback (1999). 470 F c u r r e n t a n t h ro p o l o g y Volume 44, Number 4, August–October 2003 element, dios, is a loan noun from Spanish, meaning â€Å"god. † In the case of ay dios atinyuwa’, besides the Spanish loanword there is a Q’eqchi’ expression, at-in-yuwa’ (you [are] my father). Interjections of this latter kind, which are or involve forms that belong to other word classes, will be called secondary interjections (again following Ameka and Bloom? eld). Similarly, the English secondary interjections damn and heavens may be used as both interjections and verbs or nouns. Third, with few exceptions, an interjection consists of a single morpheme and undergoes neither in? ectional nor derivational processes (Wilkins 1992). Interjections cannot be in? ectionally marked for grammatical categories such as tense or number, and they cannot be further derived into another form class such as noun or verb. Such forms are often classi? ed as a subclass of â€Å"particles† or discourse markers (see Ameka 1992a, Fraser 1999, Jespersen 1965, Schiffrin 1987, Wilkins 1992, and Zwicky 1985). In Q’eqchi’ there are three exceptions to this characterization. First, uyaluy is what I will call a reduplicative interjection, being composed, through syllabic reduplication, from the interjection uy. Second, ay dios and ay dios atinyuwa’ are what I will call extended interjections, being composed, through lexical extension, from the interjection ay. And lastly, the interjection ay may undergo further derivation into a delocutionary verb (becoming ayaynak, â€Å"to cry or yell continually,† often said of dogs howling), which may then undergo normal verbal in? ection for grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, person, and number. Lastly, although it is not a criterial feature, many of these forms are phonologically or morphologically anomalous, having features which mark them as odd or unique relative to the standard lexical forms of a language. For example, unlike most Q’eqchi’ words, in which stress falls on the last syllable (Stewart 1980), the interjection uyaluy has syllable-initial stress. Similarly, while reduplication is a common morphological process in Q’eqchi’ (Stewart 1980), the reduplicative interjection uyaluy is derived through a nonstandard morphological form. While many Q’eqchi’ words involve a glottalized alveolar stop, the interjection t’ is also implosive. 7 Whereas the Spanish loanword dios is usually phonetically assimilated in Q’eqchi’ as tiox when used as a noun, in the interjection ay dios there is no devoicing of the initial consonant of this noun (i.e. , /d/ does not become /t/) or palatization of its ? nal consonant (i. e. , /s/ does not become /x/). And the interjection sht differs from ordinary Q’eqchi’ words in using /sh/, rather than a vowel, as a syllabic (see Bloom? eld 1984[1933]:121). In short, it is clear from the number of quali? cations that interjections, like most linguistic forms, are dif? cult to characterize with necessary and suf? cient conditions (see Taylor 1995, Zwicky 1985). Nevertheless, they may simultaneously be differentiated from other form classes within a particular language and generalized as a form class across languages. 7. Often called a â€Å"dental click† (Wilkins 1992) or a â€Å"suction stop† (Jespersen 1965:90). Readers who speak some Spanish may have noticed that many Q’eqchi’ interjections look similar to Spanish interjections—ay (dios), uy, ah, eh, sht—and even to English interjections (sh[t] and t’). While I have no historical data that would attest to such a claim, given the history of sustained linguistic contact between speakers of Spanish and Q’eqchi’ via the colonial encounter and between speakers of Spanish and English this should come as no surprise. The one good account of interjections in Spanish (Montes 1999) discusses only a small range of the discursive functions of interjections and focuses on the internal state of the speaker. As I will show, however, the meanings of some of these interjections in Q’eqchi’ seem to bear a resemblance to their meanings in Spanish, as far as can be discerned from the comparative data. In this way, these â€Å"loan interjections† show that almost any linguistic form may be borrowed (see Brody 1995) with some maintenance of its meaning. The Meanings of Q’eqchi’ Interjections  Although interjections are relatively easy to characterize from the standpoint of grammatical form, there is no framework in terms of which one may order and compare their meanings—that is, the classes of objects and signs that they index (and thereby stand in a relationship of contiguity with) and the types of pragmatic functions they serve (and thereby may be used as a means to achieve). In what follows, I frame their use in terms of situational, discursive, and social context. I will begin with an extended example through which the framework will become clear. The Q’eqchi’ interjection chix indexes loathsome objects in the situational context. For example, when picking up his bowl of food from the ground, a man notices that he has set it in chicken feces. â€Å"Chix,† he says, scraping the bowl on the dirt to wipe off the feces. His wife, herself responsible for the chicken, then takes his bowl for herself and gives him a new one. Similarly, when opening the door to her house early one morning, a woman notices that the dog has vomited right outside the doorway. â€Å"Chix,† she says, and her ? ve-year-old son comes over to look. She tells him to scrape it away with a machete. Like most interjections that have indexical objects in the situational context, this interjection serves to call another’s attention to the object. 8 Relatedly, and as a function of responsibility assessment (husband 1 wife 1 child), it directs another’s attention to what must be cleaned up, avoided, etc. The interjection chix may also be transposed to index a sign denoting or characterizing a loathsome object (see Buhler 1990). In such cases of sign-based transposition, ? the interjection is in a relationship of contiguity with a 8. Montes (1999:1293) notes that most of the Spanish interjections she examined â€Å"seem to be associated with seeing. We ? nd that a large number of the interjections [ah, oh, uh, ay, oy, uy] used in the conversations examined co-occur with directives to ‘see’ or ‘look at’ or as a response to these directives. † k o c k e l m a n The Meanings of Interjections in Q’eqchi’ Maya F 471 sign that denotes or characterizes the object or event in question (rather than being in contiguity with the actual object or event, as in the usage of chix just discussed). In other words, it is as if the speaker were inhabiting the frame of the narrated event (Buhler 1990). In this way, ? the interjection chix indexes not just loathsomeness but also signs that refer to or predicate qualities of loathsome objects. Insofar as the denotatum of such a sign has the same qualities and values as the object itself, the modality of contiguity (being able to taste, touch, see, or smell the object in question) is suspended while the ontological class of the object (loathsomeness) is maintained. For example, in telling a story to a group of  men about a friend who was bitten by a poisonous spider while working on a plantation in the lowland area of Guatemala, the speaker describes the pus blisters that rose up on his friend’s arm. â€Å"Chix,† says one of the men listening. The other men laugh, and before continuing his story the speaker adds that the pus blisters took two weeks to heal. Like most interjections that undergo signbased transposition, such usage often serves as a backchannel cue, indicating that the speaker is listening but cannot or does not want to contribute to the topic at hand (Brown and Yule 1983:90–94; Duncan 1973; compare the usage of mmm or jeez in English). Lastly, the interjection chix may be transposed to index an addressee’s relation of contiguity with a loathsome object. In such cases of addressee-based transposition, the situational indexical object is transposed to a person other than the speaker. The speaker’s sign is audible (a relation of contiguity) to the addressee, who is in a relationship of contiguity with the object. In other words, it is as if the speaker were inhabiting the ad? dressee’s current corporal?  eld (see Buhler 1990, Hanks 1990), and, again, the modality of contiguity is suspended while the ontological class is maintained. For example, a mother watching her three-year-old son approach a dog that is defecating wormy stool calls out to him â€Å"Chix. † The child stops his advance and watches from a distance. In this most addressee-focused way, the sign is used by a parent to index that a child is within reach (typically tactile) of a disgusting object and serves as an imperative not to touch the object. Interjections are primarily indexical (see Peirce 1955) in that they stand for their objects by a relationship of contiguity rather than by a relationship of convention (as in the case of symbols) or similarity (as in the case of icons). 9 Although the indexical modality of interjections is emphasized in this article, the symbolic modality is always present in at least two interrelated ways. First, and trivially, the interjection itself has a standard9. If interjections were iconic, then they would be expected to resemble their objects. The problem with this, as exempli?  ed by Kryk-Kastovsky’s (1997) argument that interjections are the most iconic of all linguistic elements expressing surprise, is that one needs to know what â€Å"surprise† looks like when usually our only indication of surprise is the interjection or behavior itself. However, interjections as indexical of situational and discursive objects do in certain cases have iconic modalities of meaning (see, e. g. , the discussion of ay, ay dios, and ay dios atinyuwa’ below). ized but relatively arbitrary form that is conventionally used by members of a given linguistic community. Second, interjections conventionally stand in a relation of contiguity with particular classes of objects. These conventional classes of indexical objects are present in two ways. First, across interjections, one may characterize what semiotic class of objects is being indexed. Second, in the case of any particular interjection, one may characterize what ontological class of objects is being indexed. Besides indexing objects or signs in the immediate context, interjections have pragmatic functions: they serve as a means to achieve certain ends. For example, chix variously serves as an attentative (when nontransposed), a back-channel cue (when undergoing sign-based transposition), and an imperative (when undergoing addressee-based transposition). Both the objects indexed and the pragmatic functions served (see Silverstein 1987) are integral aspects of the meanings of interjections. Finally, interjections may index more than one object at once. In particular, they may index objects, signs, internal states, and social relations. In what follows, I will refer to these distinct types of indexical objects as situational, discursive, expressive, and social, respectively. Situational indexical objects are the objects or events in the immediate context of the speech event. Discursive indexical objects are the signs that occur in the speech event. 10 Together, situational and discursive indexical objects are the most stable co-occurrence regularities that interjections possess and therefore the only ones that are easy to tabulate. Expressive indexical objects are the intentional stances of the speaker—the putative mental states, whether construed as â€Å"cognitive† or â€Å"emotive. †11 Lastly, social indexical objects are the various social roles inhabited by the speaker or addressee (gender, ethnicity, age, etc. ) or the social relations that exist between the two (status, deference, politeness, etc. ). For example, chix may index not only a loathsome object in the situational context but a social relation (parentchild, husband-wife, raconteur–appreciative listener) and, in many cases, an internal state (â€Å"disgust†). And the interjection ay not only indexes a painful object in the situational context or an unexpected answer in the dis10. This is not quite the standard distinction between â€Å"text† and â€Å"context† (Montes 1999 and Wilkins 1992). For example, while it is tempting to put sign-based transposition into the discursive context for the purposes of schematizing the data, sign-based transpositions make sense only in terms of the qualities of the objects referred to by the sign indexed by the interjection. In contrast, an unsolicited response such as a dubitive is directed at the truth of another’s assertion rather than at any particular quality of the state of affairs predicated by that assertion. For this reason, dubitives belong to the discursive context and sign-based transpositions to the situational context. 11. Whereas interjections creatively index expressive indexical objects in that the interjection is often the only sign of the internal state in question, they presupposedly index situational and discursive indexical objects in that both interjection and indexical object are simultaneously present in context (see Silverstein 1976 for this distinction). This difference in semiotic status (presupposing/creative) maps onto a putative difference in ontological status (world/mind). 472 F c u r r e n t a n t h ro p o l o g y Volume 44, Number 4, August–October 2003 cursive context but also an internal state (pain) in the expressive context and a role in the social context (in particular, female gender). Many interjections index signs in the discursive context in that they co-occur with (or serve as) a response to an addressee’s previous utterance or a nonresponse. In the case of a response, the use of an interjection occurs after and makes sense only relative to the addressee’s previous utterance. For example, the interjection ih indexes an addressee’s previous statement and serves as a registerative, indicating that the speaker has heard and understood the statement. In the case of a nonresponse, the interjection may either elicit an addressee’s utterance (and thereby occur before it) or occur in the midst of the speaker.