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It is interesting how all of the people of China are viewed as being Chinese by outsiders, but are viewed much differently by the Chinese themselves. China seems to encompass more than what we believe is Chinese, including smaller ethnic groups like the Uyghurs. This seems to be reminiscent of the view of Native Americans in the United States today, who also have trouble finding work and live in relative poverty.

I never knew this was happening in China. Like Alex said, I did not know China had smaller ethnic groups. I thought the culture was relatively homogeneous. In the documentary we watched in class, I did not see any discrimination to different ethnic groups, either. It is interesting that the events taking place are very similar to The Red Scare in the United States. I wonder how China is going to resolve this conflict?

This is similar to the conflict in Palestine because of the persecution of a group of people resulting in hostilities such as protests, riots, etc. It is sad yet interesting that there are so many instances of such similar conflicts happening all over the world. It seems like if one was to be solved, the rest would be able to find similar solutions.

The Orthodox population of Ukraine is fighting for their churches and religion. These people are fighting against the Ukrainian government which is looking to overtake any religious land in order to wipe out the culture of eastern Ukrainians. The people of Ukraine are comparing their fight to the Crusades, so will they manage to take over their holy land like the Christians did?

I really liked the way that Katie described the crusades and how they are really involved in the conflicts in Ukraine and Russia. Why do Ukraine and Russia have bad history together?

You guys did a good job explaining the two sports and their diffusion, and I like how you put games at the end. Good job!

Your cooking show was very interesting and I especially liked the two recipes you picked. I liked watching and learning about the two folk foods and how they are made. Why did you pick those two? Any specific reason?

The show was very nicely done and seemed very professional. The way that curry became popular in England is a great example of folk culture spreading through relocation diffusion.

Awesome site! I know what I'm doing this weekend. I liked how you explained the diffusion of each dish. I enjoyed the videos, and I'm really digging the t-swift. #squad

I love the name! The setup was extremely professional and easy to follow making me want to look at more. The dishes all looked great and I'm definitely loving the site of #squad.

The foods you guys cooked look really delicious! I know what Susan will be cooking me this week! I liked the incorporation of RJ, he did a very nice job not hurting himself or anyone else. You're videos were very well put together and informative! Great job guys!

So much variation of food preferences in Southern Europe. The video of the food preparation was great too, showing what is native the the regions. Well Done!

"Generally, the southern dialects of American English carry a lower prestige, at least among northerners who will assume that a person speaking a southern dialect is less intelligent and less educated than they are. Some educated southerners even feel this way and will "correct" their speech to meet northern standards. The New York City dialect carries the lowest prestige of all." Similar to what Jake said, dialects can be considered favorable or unfavorable. Southern accents and New York accents are both of low prestige, and deemed improper. Teachers discourage the use of phrases derived from these dialects in formal writing. A language may evolve to eradicate dialects or promote dialects. Either way, the individual language will inevitably vary because of past, present, and future influences of both the indigenous inhabitants of a given region, and the ongoing flow of migrating persons.

"Compared with the Eastern United States, the Western regions were settled too recently for very distinctive dialects to have time to develop or to be studied in detail. Many words originally came from Spanish, cowboy jargon, and even some from the languages of the Native Americans: adobe, beer bust, belly up, boneyard, bronco, buckaroo, bunkhouse, cahoots, corral, greenhorn, hightail, hoosegow, lasso, mustang, maverick, roundup, wingding." This quote identifies a key factor in deciphering the cause for variations in individual languages: time and indigenous peoples. After a language has diffused from an area, the new locations that are influenced begin to develop their own unique twist on the language. This doesn't happen overnight. Because the Midwest was settled recently in historical terms, the dialects are not distinct. Perhaps in the future, an accent may develop. In addition, when a homeland of an indigenous group of people is influenced by a new language, the two languages intermix. Because of the large populations of Native Americans living in the Midwest, the pioneers adopted terms they learned from the Indians. This will cause the language to vary from a region with few Native Americans. In effect, both time and indigenous peoples impact a language and inspire regional differences.

"Mutual understandability in theory determines what is a "dialect" and what is a "language," but in reality there are also social and political issues. The government of a country might declare that all the languages spoken in that country are actually dialects of one language in order to create the illusion of political unity, while the government of another country might declare that the dialect spoken by its people is actually a unique language from other countries that speak dialects of the same language in order to create a sense of national pride." This quote is meaningful to identify why individual languages vary among places because it talks about how the government plays into the development of languages. This is relevant to the U.S, because when Webster's dictionary was made, he changed the spellings of words to break free from being dependent of England and to create a sense of national pride. This is just one example of how languages change over time.

"The modern development of communications technology may possibly retard the evolution of dialects and languages. For the first time in history, a single dialect (sometimes called Network Standard) can be broadcast over an entire country, so few people actually still live in geographic isolation. However, the existence of racism, poverty, and class distinctions may cause some groups to remain socially isolated from the cultural mainstream, giving rise to social dialects like Black English (Ebonics), which is spoken by some urban African-Americans. " This quote plays on the idea that new communication methods are stopping the evolution of dialects. This would mean that less people are living in isolation and therefore it is harder for a dialect to stay strong. This also means that geographic locations that are in isolation have an easier time developing their own dialect and/or language.

"Three things are needed for a new dialect to develop: a group of people living in close proximity to each other; this group living in isolation (either geographically or socially) from other groups; and the passage of time. Given enough time, a dialect may evolve to the point that it becomes a different language from the one it started as." This quote describes the factors needed for dialect and even new language to develop and vary among places. It is saying that first of all, there needs to be a group of people for this new language to develop in, which is common sense. However, it also says that this group needs to be living in isolation. For example, when British colonists moved to America, they became isolated from Britain by the Atlantic ocean, this isolation caused them to be unable to hear people talk from their homeland, as they only communicated through letters and writing. This slowly began to morph their language as they fed off each other's new pronunciations. This slow process is also displayed in the quote, when it says there is a need for time, a new dialect must slowly form as people speaking the same language being to get a little bit sloppy with pronunciation, spelling, etc. As the quote states, "given enough time, a dialect may evolve into a language."

"For the first time in history, a single dialect (sometimes called Network Standard) can be broadcast over an entire country, so few people actually still live in geographic isolation. However, the existence of racism, poverty, and class distinctions may cause some groups to remain socially isolated from the cultural mainstream, giving rise to social dialects like Black English (Ebonics), which is spoken by some urban African-Americans." This quote also displays how languages can diffuse, and vary among places. Or how they cant. It talks about modern technology's effect of the spread of language, so that people are able to experience ebonics or dialects they have never come in contact with. This could cause less variation, as people want to become like those they see on TV or hear on the radio. However, it could also have the opposite effect; increasing variation. Racism, poverty, and social class seen as "undesirable" by the public, could effect language by isolating it, causing more dialects of these languages to spring up. Technology can have a huge effect of language variation.