Project management for business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Project management for business - Essay Example The success of the project was also underpinned by building effective control systems which included email, shared servers and interfaces that facilitated better discourse between project members. Such systems also created opportunities for routine data collection and analysis, further underpinning success in decision-making in terms of cost control and resource allocation. Planning and monitoring as strategies of Arup were the most instrumental in ensuring that the project achieved its objectives, which is supported by best practice literature in project management. This report highlights how planning and development of monitoring and control systems best served meeting budgetary and timeline expectations for closure of the Water Cube project. In preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Arup Project Management was heavily involved in the construction and design of the Water Cube Aquatic Centre, a highly successful project. What made this project so significantly triumphant was proper planning and establishment of relevant monitoring and control systems. Outside of the physical and functional features of the Water Cube, in relation to architectural design, Arup’s involvement in planning the proper team, developing effective organisational hierarchies, and ensuring that project outcomes were achieved underpinned Arup’s success in this project. This report evaluates why Arup’s planning, monitoring and control systems contributed to achieving successful project objectives. The Water Cube Project entailed construction of a revolutionary aquatic centre in Beijing which would facilitate aquatic competitions for the Games. The centre was to be constructed to sustain a competition pool, a warm-up pool for competitors, and a relevant diving pool. For the purpose of the Games, the centre was to be constructed with 17,000 spectator seats and, after the Games, be reduced

Value Based Management Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Value Based Management - Research Proposal Example This project is therefore an effort to find out the importance of value based management and how companies are doing it. The realisation for a need to identify the key stakeholders in order to optimise their contributions towards the cause arose when the modern management principles were experimented with. Stakeholder concept was originally defined as, "those groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist". But the term 'stakeholder' as such was introduced by the Stanford Research Institute in 1963, for generalising the notion of 'stockholder' when the term was made a part of the internal memo (Zsolnai, 2006). These days management encompasses a range of issues involving various aspects like environment friendliness, adherence to rules and regulations, management of the human resources, ethical business practices and of course the profitability of the operations. Japanese management philosophy of commitment to serving the timely needs of a stakeholder has been at the back of the concepts like JIT, and Kaizen. Value based management, in a way is termed to carry forward these very p rinciples. Koller (1994) finds out that one of the key reasons behind the failure in delivering the objectives is the setting of unrealistic performance targets. While underlining the fact that value is created only when companies are able to invest the capital at rates exceeding the cost of that capital, Koller (1994) state that value based management helps companies in devising the targets in such a manner that they get strategic as well as operating advantages. Even an ordinary individual investor expects profits from investing in shares of an enterprise. As a result, the investor keeps comparing his or her holdings with other such investment opportunities. It is for the company and its management to retain the interest of such investors into the enterprise. While devising suitable strategies for value based management, it is equally important that the enterprise is able to take stock of the outcome as a result of implementing certain policies and decisions. Therefore, the search for suitable metrics in order to measure economic performance represents an essential area in theory and practice of company management. In these times of globalization, liberalization, market deregulation, cut-throat competition and industry consolidation, value-based company management becomes all the more important. The manner in which some of the reputed banks and companies have melted during the ongoing recession around the world, is an indicator that if the company is not able to make itself strong enough to take on uncertain times, it will have to face the heat. Rationale of the Study As the industrial activities see an upsurge on global scale, it requires the stakeholders to be more conscious about their investments, risks and operating conditions. For example, when the Lehman Brothers announced bankruptcy in 2008, the world community was taken aback. But, subsequently, stakeholders started taking more active interest and becoming more aware about the operational details and financial health of the companies. With an objective of maximizing the market value and using the 'shareholder value' enterprises have now started resorting to newer evaluation models. The idea

Transmission of Sound Waves in Ocean Water Essay Example for Free

Transmission of Sound Waves in Ocean Water Essay Ocean acoustics is the study of the behavior of sound in the sea water. When underwater species and objects move and vibrate, they create sound-pressure waves which compress and decompress water molecules. These sound waves travel through the sea and radiates in all directions away from their source and thus forming ripples on the water surface. The three basic components of sound waves which explain the behavior of sounds are wavelength, frequency and amplitude. Frequency is the number of pressure waves that pass by a reference point per unit time (NOAA Ocean Explorer). Higher frequency means a higher pitched sound and vice versa. Wavelength is the distances between the two peaks of sound waves. It is a rule that longer wavelength means lower frequency. Lastly, amplitude is the height of the sound-pressure wave or it is the loudness of a sound (measured in decibels). If there are only small variations in amplitude (short pressure waves), the sound is said to be weak or quiet, and vice versa. Temperature, pressure and the degree of salinity also affect the speed of sound. The spread of sound waves in sea water can be directly affected by suspensions of particle matter that can scatter, absorb and reflect waves. This means that the more obstructions there are beneath the water, the more random sound waves can be. It has been proven that wavelength and frequency are inversely proportional (i. e. the longer the wavelength, the lower the frequency). When long wavelength sounds encountered few particles as they pass through the medium, they are not as subject to absorption, reflection or scattering. Therefore, low frequency sounds are able to travel farther without any significant loss of signal strength. The speed of sound in the deeper regions is influenced more by high pressure than any other factors. On the other hand, temperature is the factor that governs the speed of sound in shallower surfaces. In short, the greater the temperature of water the faster sound can travel and the greater the pressure, the slower the sound can travel. Works Cited Nieukirk, Sharon. â€Å"Understanding Ocean Acoustics. † 12 July 2005. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Explorer. 8 March 2009 http://oceanexplorer. noaa. gov/. Lerner, Lee. â€Å"Sound Transmission in the Ocean. † C. 2007. Water Encyclopedia. 8 March 2009 http://www. waterencyclopedia. com/.

Forms And Modern Manifestations Of Racism Social Work Essay

Forms And Modern Manifestations Of Racism Social Work Essay Racism embodies the ideology or practice via demonstrated power of perceiving the dominance of one group over others by on the grounds of color, race, ethnicity, or cultural heritage, whereby ethnic minorities might be perceived as being biologically (intrinsically) inferior and, thus, practices detailing their domination and exploitation are justified. In many places across the world, racism is manifested at individual, group, or institutional level. Individual racism comprising of overt acts perpetuated by individuals that injure another or their property; institutional racism, which details processes that, deliberately, or not, yield to the prolonged exclusion of a subordinate group and activities and practices that are fashioned to safeguard the advantages of the superior group and/or sustain or broaden the uneven position of a subordinate group. Racism has over the years been institutionalized and sustained via educational, economic, religious, political, social, and cultural po licies and activities. Racism is functional in that it is employed to sustain structural inequalities within the society that are skewed against individuals of color or minority groups. Systematic discrimination against certain members of visibly identifiable racial and ethnic groups has continued to pervade most aspects of peoples lives inclusive of education, politics, economics, religion, social relationships, housing, and employment. Sources and causes of racism and deeply embedded throughout major aspects of many societies. The sources and causes of racism can be delineated as colonialism whereby the intrinsically racist process of colonialisation availed the basis and continued presence of systematic racism within most societies. Other causes of racism include pervasive ignorance, fear and lack of appreciation of cultural diversity, power and privilege. One of the outstanding impacts of racism in disadvantaging the minorities details the invisibility of the achievement of minorities over the centuries. Since capitalist societies mainly recognize achievements that can be translated into monetary terms, the portrayal of minority groups as criminals or poverty stricken serves to paint them as burdens of history. As a result, racism leads to entrenching of disadvantaged position of ethnic minorities. Historically, racism has been employed to validate the conquering of ethnic minorities to obtain key resources such as land, strategic military outposts, or forced cheap labour. In most societies diverse racial and ethnic groups possess unequal access to power, prestige, presumed worth, and resources whereby individuals possessing superior power, majority group, develop a system of inequality by controlling the less-powerful groups. The resultant system of inequality is then sustained and perpetuated via social forces. The impact of racism within the society are widely manifested in poor health and health services, low wages, inadequate access to mental health services, substandard housing, high incidences of school dropouts, high unemployment and under-employment, and reduced access t higher education opportunities, as well as other institution maladies. It is ironical that the lack of jobs, housing, or other resources has led to minority scapegoating whereby ethnic minorities are increasingly becoming a scapegoat for prevalent social problems within the society. Forms and modern manifestations of racism In equality in access to critical resources within the society such as health across ethnic groups may not be necessarily reducible to socioeconomic arrangement. Indeed, the relative deprivation encountered by ethnic minorities within the society is highly likely to involve more than mere material disadvantage as ethnic minorities face significant alienation and racial harassment. Research indicates that racial harassment and perceptions of prejudice possess significant impact in disadvantaging ethnic minorities within the society. Political sphere In the contemporary society, there is an increase and support gained by political parties and entities that that openly express racist, bigoted, and xenophobic views. This has placed ethnic minorities, who are marginally represented, at a disadvantage mainly through exclusion policies. Minorities are also underrepresented in decision-making and administrative positions and the instituted affirmative programs have only yielded conflict and polarity among the employees. Employment, Racism has been widely reported in the arena of employment, which leads to economic depression for members of the oppressed racial and ethnic groups. The experience of majority of ethnic minority within the job market has not been always pleasant or positive with some individuals from minority groups and recent immigrants earning relatively lower pay than their white counterparts despite being sometimes well qualified and highly educated. In some cases, racial discrimination is reported within the workplace centring on an individuals appearance, denial of career advancement opportunities, and ascription of cultural stereotypes to individuals. There is a continued absence of employment opportunities for ethnic minorities, although the general agreement cited mainly details lack of skills on the part of the ethnic minorities. Nevertheless, in most cases structural barriers hamper access to the labour market, plus other economic opportunities. Similarly, the unemployment rate for adolescents from ethnic minorities is in many instances disproportionately distributed with higher percentages reported among people from ethnic minorities compared to their white counterparts. Education Individuals from minority groups often have lower education attainment. The persistent low levels of educational and occupational outcomes attained by ethnic minorities can be cited, in part, as resulting from structural discrimination within the education sector. This can be regarded as systemic racism and the reluctance education authorities and the government to introduce various cultural models of learning and teaching within the curricula, which in turn leads to a disproportionate access of education. The education system in some societies systematically denies similar access and prospect to children from ethnic minorities, especially where the minorities are poor. Accommodation Some minority groups encounter challenges in gaining accommodation whereby minorities (people of different race or color) are expected to reside in separate districts. This represents a microcosm mirroring all the major facets at all levels of society. Ethnic minorities are often denied accommodation based on race manifested in numerous cases where individuals from the ethnic minorities are informed of availability of accommodation, but later informed of non-availability after their race or ethnic background became known. Similarly, individuals from ethnic minorities are sometimes issued with inadequate and inappropriate public housing stock. In many instances, ethnic minorities have minimal choice as to places that they reside and often end up paying higher rent for less adequate housing. It is documented that mortgage and lending institutions within the U.S. have on several occasions perpetuated the illegal practice of redlining mortgages in minority neighborhoods. Studies in this area have unearthed consistent discrimination against ethnic minorities by financial institutions, real estate agencies, and landlords. Service provision Individuals from ethnic minorities often face discrimination in the day-to-day provision of goods and services manifested by the lack of services availed by majority of Councils. Social service mainly masks symptoms of larger problems such as racism, illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty. The need for social service stem from economic policies and practices and in many cases, the society puts the blame on minority groups and constantly adjust the individuals to suit the existing societal conditions. Criminal justice The pervasive disproportionate high rates of incarceration of individuals from ethnic minorities are frequently cited as mirroring the systemic discrimination within the society. Individuals from ethnic minorities often, especially males, often complain of over-policing. There are numerous claims of individuals from ethnic minorities being searched by security personnel devoid of reasonable justification. The ethnic descriptors employed by the police, politicians, and the media yields criminalization of ethnic minorities. As a result, Ethnic minorities sometimes are unwilling to report incidences of racist crime to law enforcement authorities in the belief that their report will not be acted upon. Minority ethnic groups often possess disproportionately high incidences of criminal offending and victimization. This is largely driven by factors such as persistent racial inequality and concentrated poverty that culminate into frustration, which, in turn, heightens delinquency and possible aggression. Ethnic minorities who are racially segregated and who manifest high rates of poverty, family disruption, social isolation, and unemployment experience high levels of crime and violence. High concentrations of poverty and high levels of racial segregation have interacted to create social conditions that disadvantage ethnic minorities. Healthcare The core factor influencing health inequality within the UK centres on the social class. A significant section of ethnic minorities are frequently located within the lowest social classes, which renders them vulnerable to diseases of poverty and deprivation. Healthcare systems in societies where racism is rife do not meet the needs of people of ethnic minorities whereby healthcare costs continue to increase while the quality and accessibility of services decrease. Moreover, too many health care facilities tend to be established in places that are inaccessible to low-income urban neighborhoods where most ethnic minorities reside. Public welfare The welfare system has in instances been exploited to keep wages low and sustain a pool of people available undertake menial, unskilled jobs. Public welfare services in most instances fail to include services such as educational, child care, family planning, job training, or unemployment insurance services that will contribute to the empowerment of individuals to gain from the economic system. The disregard for individual rights and human dignity, incoherent policies, and contravention of regulations has frequently typified the administration and delivery of public assistance, which, in turn, places minority groups who apply for assistance at a disadvantage. Conclusion Racism significantly restrains and minimizes the contributions that ethnic minorities deliver in any society. Racism is pervasive within majority of societies and continues to be silent code that methodically constrains the opportunities for most minority groups. The consequent discrimination and social exclusion of ethnic minorities can yield to a disadvantaged socioeconomic position and poor health of ethnic minorities within the society. Similarly, racism may disadvantage ethnic minorities as a result of the psychological processes that might stem from the direct experience of racism, or perceptions regarding living in a racist society. It is apparent that members of racial and ethnic dominated groups persist to struggle for equal access and opportunity, especially during moments of widespread, unemployment, and inflation.

Manage the Cultural Differences while Working with People from other Cu

Nowadays, as we all notice that the world is getting flatter. More and more people are getting the chance to work with people from other culture. It is not only limited to the people from the developed countries like Americans and Europeans. People in the developing countries are also open to the opportunity to work with people from other culture. Understanding that culture difference is heavily rooted in people’s everyday behavior is only the first step to get to work with people. Coping the way foreigners do with the local culture is the key point to be successful in working with people from other culture. Misunderstanding the culture and behavioral difference can lead to problems and alienation, even confrontation, between colleagues and ultimately the collapse of partnership. Being self-centered and refusing to social with the local culture would also lead to the failure eventually. When people from the different culture meet or a person goes to a different country, they are expecting to have a culture clash, which includes the communication, leadership and organization and etc. The communication problem would the language barrier, but most time it is more than just the language difficulties. How to get the message across can vary and greatly impact the communication. In the video, Building the Transnational Team, it clearly shows that everybody can speak the same international English, but everyone understanding one another is the challenge. First, when the native English speaker talking with another non-native speaker, if he or she speaks too fast and uses slang terms, the non-native speaker would totally get lost and feel frustrated. Like in the video, Luis from Spain who speaks English but has limited understanding of ... ... will help people from different culture work efficiently together. The change would be in communication, leadership and organization. In the video, five people finally realize that they have to manage the culture difference before they can talk about business. They figure out the way to have a better communication by using simple English and also they could like to phone call and fax both to satisfy people from different culture. Furthermore, strategic change will be implemented which means to adapt or create organization policies which take into account cultural differences. Particular attention should be paid to policies or programs that have been developed to meet the requirements of one culture and are then imposed internationally. The key thing to work with people from different culture is to manage the cultural difference and cope to different cultures.

pay equity :: essays research papers

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has long fought to end wage discrimination. Despite the Equal Pay Act and many improvements in women’s economic status over the past 40 years, wage discrimination still persists. AAUW continues to believe that pay equity—economic equity—is a simple matter of justice and strongly supports initiatives that seek to close the persistent and sizable wage gaps between men and women. The effects of pay inequity reach far. According to a 1999 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the AFL-CIO, based on U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor statistics, women who work full time earn just 74 cents for every dollar men earn. That equals $148 less each week, or $7,696 a year. Women of color who work full time are paid even less, only 64 cents for every dollar men earn—$210 less per week and $11,440 less per year. With a record 64 million women in the workforce, pay discrimination hurts the majority of American families. Families lose $200 billion in income annually to the wage gap—an average loss of more than $4,000 for each working family. In addition, wage discrimination lowers total lifetime earnings, thereby reducing women’s benefits from Social Security and pension plans. Wage inequalities are not a result of women’s qualifications or choices. Wage discrimination persists despite women’s increased educational attainment, greater level of experience in workforce, and decreased amount of time spent out of the workforce raising children. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education. Although the number of women attaining baccalaureate and advanced degrees now surpasses the number of men, in 1999 the median wages of female college graduates were $14,665 less than those of male graduates. College-educated African American women earn only $1,500 more than white male high school graduates. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experience. Women gain only approximately 30 cents per hour for five additional years of work experience, compared to $1. pay equity :: essays research papers The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has long fought to end wage discrimination. Despite the Equal Pay Act and many improvements in women’s economic status over the past 40 years, wage discrimination still persists. AAUW continues to believe that pay equity—economic equity—is a simple matter of justice and strongly supports initiatives that seek to close the persistent and sizable wage gaps between men and women. The effects of pay inequity reach far. According to a 1999 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the AFL-CIO, based on U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor statistics, women who work full time earn just 74 cents for every dollar men earn. That equals $148 less each week, or $7,696 a year. Women of color who work full time are paid even less, only 64 cents for every dollar men earn—$210 less per week and $11,440 less per year. With a record 64 million women in the workforce, pay discrimination hurts the majority of American families. Families lose $200 billion in income annually to the wage gap—an average loss of more than $4,000 for each working family. In addition, wage discrimination lowers total lifetime earnings, thereby reducing women’s benefits from Social Security and pension plans. Wage inequalities are not a result of women’s qualifications or choices. Wage discrimination persists despite women’s increased educational attainment, greater level of experience in workforce, and decreased amount of time spent out of the workforce raising children. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education. Although the number of women attaining baccalaureate and advanced degrees now surpasses the number of men, in 1999 the median wages of female college graduates were $14,665 less than those of male graduates. College-educated African American women earn only $1,500 more than white male high school graduates. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experience. Women gain only approximately 30 cents per hour for five additional years of work experience, compared to $1.

A Brief Survey of the Languages of the Neelam Valley

[i]A brief Survey of the Languages of the Neelam Valley Khawaja A. Rehman[1] The Neelam Valley, formerly known as Drawa, is located at an altitude of 4000 to 7500 feet. However, the mountain peaks around the valley range up to 17,000 feet. The total length of the valley is about 150 kilometers and according to the census of 1998 the population was 120,661 with 84 separate villages (online census report). In 2005, it was given the status of a distinct and has been known since then as District Neelam with two tehsils: Sharda and Athmuqam. Previously, it was subdivision of Muzaffarabad District with its headquarters at Athmuqam. Before partition in 1947, the tehsil headquarters of the area was Titwal, now under Indian control, the area was known as Drawa and the river flowing through the valley was called Kishan Ganga (Stein: 1900). The name of the river after partition has been changed to Neelam and the name of the territory to Neelam Valley. The word Neelam comes from the name of a village on the right bank of the river about 12 kilometers upstream from Athmuqam. Moreover, there are also two other small villages known as Neelam in the region. The river Neelam originates from Indian administered Kashmir and enters Pakistani administered Kashmir, known as Azad Kashmir, at Taubutt. Beyond this point it is still referred to as Kishan Ganga. The population lives on both sides of the Neelam or Kishan Ganga River. A few villages on the left bank of the Neelam valley fall under Indian control This region remains a relatively uncharted territory on the linguistic map. The Linguistic Survey of India (edited by Grierson in the early 20th century) does not contain substantive information on the languages of the valley, and neither does one find much information about the area in the more recent literature (Schmidt: 1981, 2002, Koul: 2004, Hook and Koul: 2002, Radloff: 1999, Grimes: 2000, O’Leary: 1992). The fact that the Line of Control runs right through the valley is one obvious reason as to why the area is hardly accessible to researchers presently. However, before partition the area was inaccessible due to nonexistence of road link In this paper, I present a brief overview of the language varieties spoken in the Neelam Valley based on recent research as well as my experience as a resident of the area. These varieties include forms of languages that are spoken widely elsewhere, such as Hindko, Gojri, Shina (Guresi and Chilasi), Kashmiri, and even Pashto, but also the rather distinct language of the village of Kundal Shahi, located near the Neelam district headquarters, Athmuqam (Rehman & Baart 2005).. Hindko . The Hindko language spoken in the Neelam Valley is usually known as Parmi , by the communities other than the Kashmiries and PArim by the Kashmiries and sometimes Hindko or Pahari as well. The word Parmi or PArim’ is derived from the Kashmiri word ApArim ‘from the other side’ Historically speaking the Hindko speaking communities lived in the highlands of the Kashmir Valley and these highlanders were referred to by the Kashmiries as apArim.. Afterwards the use of this word would have been extended to their language as well. The word ‘pArim’ for Hindko is also used in Indian administered Kashmir as the expression I found in a Kashmiri comedy recorded in Srinagar. The use of Hindko has never been documented before in any part of Kashmir. In traditional linguistic literature the Hindko language spoken in Kashmir is referred to as Pahari In 2004, I recorded a word list, used as part of the Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, from eight different locations in the Neelam valley. I analyzed the word list in collaboration with Dr. Joan Baart, who has been working on the languages of Northern Pakistan for the last 13 years. The analysis of the word list showed that the variety spoken in the Neelam valley was closer to the variety of the Kaghan Valley than that of the Murree Hills. In traditional literature, the language spoken in the Murree Hills is classified as Pahari and that of spoken in the Kaghan Valley as Hindko. The conclusion was also confirmed in informal discussions with the Hindko speakers as well as the Hindko speakers from the Kaghan Valley and Mansehra. This proves that the Northern dialect of Hindko is also spoken in Azad Kashmir and my hypothesis is that same variety is also spoken on the other side of Line of control. There are many villages in Indian administered Kashmir along the line of control, at a distance of only few yards from the villages of Azad Kashmir. The Line of Control actually divides some villages in the Neelam Valley. Linguistically speaking, it may be interesting to look into the speech differences that have evolved during the last 58 years among adjacent villages lying on either side of the Line of control. It is worth distinguishing two populations of native Hindko speakers in the Neelam Valley: ethnic Hindko speakers and the Hindko speakers of other ethnicities. According to the oral histories Hindko speakers came from Mansehra and the Kaghan Valley, which parallels the Neelam Valley where as the non-ethnic Hindko speakers came from either the Valley of Kashmir or other parts of South Asia. In spite of the fact that most of the groups originally speaking languages other than Hindko have shifted to Hindko, they retain a strong ethnic consciousness, identifying along ethnic rather than linguistic lines The variety of Hindko spoken in the Neelam valley very interestingly retains, unlike other varieties of Hindko, Pahari and Punjabi, the old Indo-Aryan voiced aspirated stops /bh/, /dh/, /Dh/, /gh/, in the initial positions. However my present research shows that a shift is going on very rapidly. The reason being that the frequent contact with the Hindko speakers of other varieties of Hindko, Punjabi and Pahari speakers, is a major cause of this change. The shift is quite evident along the roadside and in main towns, where the influx of the outsiders is very frequent. The settlements away from the main road and further up stream from Dudnial, show strong retention of this feature. The influence of the Punjabi is not only restricted to the Phonology but also at syntax level. The dative and accusative marker kUo f traditional Hindko is being replaced by the nuu of Punjabi. Hindko is the predominant language of the Neelam Valley. It is the main lingua franca. Speakers of other languages are usually proficient in Hindko except some women in a few Kashmiri and Shina speaking villages. It is also encroaching upon the languages of smaller groups. Virtually all members of the other language communities are bilingual in Hindko. A process of language shift to Hindko is going on in many of these communities. In some of these communities this process started relatively recently, while in others it has been going on much longer. . Kashmiri Kashmiri is the second largest language of the area. it is spoken by the ethnic Kashmiries. However many kashmiries have switched to Hindko in the last two centuries. The villages where Kasmiri is spoken exclusively as a mother tongue include: Halmat, Sardari, ShunDdas, Tehjian, Malik Seri and Khawaja Seri. Among these the former three are adjacent to each other at the distance of about 193 kilometers from Muzaffarabad, the capital city of Azad Kashmir. And if we go further up the stream we come to Nekro, where majority are Kashmiri mother tongue speakers with a few families of Shina speakers. The village Nekro is adjacent to Karimabad, formerly known as Sutti, where Guresi Shina is spoken as a mother tongue. The residents of these villages are less proficient in Hindko than other Kashmiri speakers of the region. They usually prefer to use Urdu with the Hindko speakers. The latter two villages Malik Seri and Khawaja Seri are adjacent to each other and normally known as Khawaja Seri but the revenue department of the state lists them separately. These villages are bout 130 kilometers from Muzaffarabad. Tehjian, another Kashmiri speaking village, is about seven kilometers further down stream from Khawaja Seri Almost all individuals of these villages are bilingual in Hindko. Apart from these there are some six other villages where Kashmiri is the language of majority group. The variety of Kashmiri spoken in the Neelam Valley is closer to the variety spoken in northern Kashmir especially that of the Kupwara District, of Indian administered Kashmir rather than that of Muzaffarabad city. Although the Kashmiri spoken in Muzaffarabad is intelligible to the Kashmiries of the Neelam Valley, they can understand the variety of Srinagar better than that of Muzaffarabad. The Kashmiri spoken in the Neelam Valley has retained some archaic features. For example, Nealam Valey Kashmiri has daram maj ‘woman’ and daram boi ‘friend’, which are hardly found in other varieties of Kashmiri. The word daram is probably derived from the Sanskrit word dharma. Moreover, my research reveals that the Neelam Valley dialect of Kashmiri retains the third person plural subject agreement suffix –ukh more consistently than other dialects.. Speakers of the Srinagar dialect accept this usage, but it is not in common use, suggesting that it is an archaism. It also shares the retroflex flap /R/ with the variety of Kupwara, which is an alveolar flap in the variety of Srinagar. A historically very important town located five kilometers upstream from Khawaja Seri and Malik Seri, known as Shardi or Sharda, is headquarters of the tehsil of the same name. . A marvelous Hindu/ Buddhist temple is still standing and ruins of a great civilization are still visible. The place had been a seat of learning for a long time and it is likely that the Sharda Script developed to write the languages of the region. The script was developed some 1200years back and was popular in most parts of the South Asia and was named after Sharda (Deamb:online). No substantial research has been carried out so far in Sharda. It is very much likely that the script would have been developed in Sharda as this place had been a very famous seat of learning (Stein: 1900) Before partition the place was frequented by the Hindus from different parts of India and was esteemed sacred. Kundal Shahi Kundal Shahi is a village that is located in the Neelam valley 74 kilometers upstream from Muzaffarabad, the capital city of Azad Kashmir, and seven kilometers from the district headquarters ‘Athmuqam’. The Kundal Shahi anguage is spoken by an ethnic group, called Qureshi. They make up the majority of the Kundal Shahi village. There are some other tribes, but they do not speak it as their mother tongue (Rehman and Baart 2005). The people claim to have migrated from a town called Tajjar, presently in the Indian part of Kashmir some three centuries back. No other variety of the language is known. A first publication on the language, ‘A First L ook at the Language of Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir’ appeared in March 2005 (Rehman &. Baart 2005) The tribe comprises approximately 1,500 to 2,000 people(ibid). In recent years a process of language shift has been taking place to Hindko. Almost all members of the community are bilingual in Hindko and are very rapidly shifting to Hindko. Gojri Third largest ethnic group in Neelam valley is Gojars. Basically there are two types of Gojars: settled Gojars and nomads or Bakarwals. Settled Gojars Local folktales indicate that the settled Gojars are the earliest settlers of Neelam valley. They are believed to have migrated to the Neelam Valley to find summer pastures for their goats and sheep and gradually settled down permanently. These Gojars no longer raise sheep and goats on a large scale. Their villages, Marnat, Kharigam, Kuttan and Ashkot, are scattered all over the Neelam valley. The interesting thing about these Gojars is that the majority have abandoned their mother tongue and adopted Hindko. However, there are still a few settlements among the Gojars who speak their mother tongue at least at home. The settled Gojars hardly use Gojri in bazaars and other public places in front of speakers of other languages. The Bakarwals The Bakerwals ‘goatherds’ are those Gojars who still raise goats and sheep. They are not permanent residents of the Neelam Valley, but come during the summer with their animals, especially goats, sheep and mules (for carrying load). They go to high pastures for the summer and sometimes even travel to the Northern Areas and the Kaghan Valley. These people usually go to the Punjab plains and lower parts of Azad Kashmir during the winters. They use the Gojri language in their daily communication and show a strong tendency for language maintenance, reducing the probability of. Language shift among these people in the short term. The total population of these nomadic Gojars is not available. However, according to the crude estimate of the Wildlife Department of Azad Kashmir, the summer of 2005 saw a total of 150,000 goats and sheep traveling into the Neelam Valley (personal communication with Manzoor a local official) Shina Although the Gojars are the third largest ethnic group in the Neelam Valley, third largest language spoken is Shina. Though Shina is only spoken in three villages, there are two clearly different varieties of Shina, Guresi Shina and Chilasi Shina. Guresi Shina Guresi shina is spoken in Taubutt, the last village of the Neelam valley and its adjacent village: Karimabad (Sutti) Taubutt is about 215 kilometers from Muzaffarabad. Both villages are on the right bank of the river Neelam. The language is locally known as ShiNa and some times Dardi. Total population of these two villages was 1332 in 1998 and majority among them are Lone by tribe. Most of the Shina speakers of the area are bilingual in Kashmiri. They use Kashmiri with their neighboring Kashmiries. They have also borrowed many Kashmiri words. Their Hindko intelligibility is very poor and with Hindko speakers they usually use Urdu. Moreover, they don’t consider themselves grouped in any way with the Shina speakers of Phulwei. On the other hand they are culturally closer to the Kashmiri speakers of Halmat and Sardari and associate themselves with these people rather than Phulweites. There are intermarriages between the neighboring Kashmiri communities and there is no record of intermarrying with the Shina speakers of Phulwei. According to my informants the mutual intelligibility with the people of Phulwei is very poor and their language is different in vocabulary and pronunciation. They claim to have relatives on the other side of the line of control and also claim that their variety is similar to the variety spoken in the Gures valley of Indian part of Kashmir. However when I compared some words with the Guresi Shina collected on the other side (Schimdt: 2000) I found most of the words quite different These Shina speakers also claim that they can communicate easily with the people from Qamri – a town in the northern areas – without any difficulty and their variety is quite closer to theirs. Chilasi Shina Phulwei a large village with many sub villages, locally known as Mozas, is at the distance of 180 kilometers from Muzaffarabad Total population of the village was according to 1998 census 2912. My current research shows that the in the beginning, about some two centuries back, the first group of these shin speakers settled at ‘Pain Seri (meaning lower plain). This group included four brothers who had migrated from Nait, a town in Chilas, owing to some family feud. Majority of the people claim to belong to lone tribe, have assumed local titles. Clans living in this village include: Kachray, Nasray, Butt, Sheikh and Rajput etc. The majority belong to Kachray and both Kachray and Nasray claim to belong to Lone clan. It is very interesting that in Taubutt and Karimabad the same tribe is in majority. Grierson (1915) claims by using secondary information, that in Nait , Chilas some people speak Guresi Shina. However neither any research (Schimdt: 2002, Carla: 1992, 1999) reports such kind of variety and the variety spoken by the people of Phulwei also negates the statement of Grierson. My respondents belonged to all groups and all claimed to have come from Nait. Their mutual intelligibility with those of from Nait is far better than the shins of Taubutt and Sutti/ Karimabad. They have their close relations in Chilas and frequently travel to Chilas. However for the last nine years the intermarrying with these people has been terminated. This boycott is a result of feud, which claimed many lives on either side some nine years back. The people in the Neelam Valley are normally very peaceful but the people of Phulwei are known for their feuds and fights all over the region. They themselves also admit the fact. One of my informants told me that there are very frequent murders and narrated that his grand father had committed seven murders, his father three and his son killed a man. Locally these people are known as Dards and they themselves call the Hindko speakers Gojars irrespective of their ethnic group. They have no record of intermarrying with the people of Karimabad/ Sutti or Taubutt. However there are some instances of their intermarrying with the local Hindko Speakers. According to them the Shina or Dardi spoken in Taubutt and Karimabad is not standard variety and refer to it as kachi ‘half-baked’ In the village there are few Hindko speaking households but they are bilingual in Shina Pashto Dhaki and Changnar are two villages of Neelam valley, where Pashto is the mother tongue of all residents. The speakers of the language refer to their language as Pukhto/Pakhto. The population of these two villages, according to1998 census, was 1087 with 170 households. The people claim that some two centuries back their forefathers migrated from Swat, a region in Northern Pakistan, and settled in Dhaki and few others, among these, settled in Kashmir valley as well. The main reason, according to the oral history for choosing the place, was its conducive and rich environment for raising livestock. Dhaki is at about two hours walking distance from the left bank of the river Neelam and later some, among these, shifted to another nearby village Changnar. Both villages are right on the Line of Control, separating Indian part of Kashmir from that of Azad Kashmir. Almost all male members of the group are bilingual in Hindko. Some of the females of the group can understand Hindko but most of them are not bilingual in Hindko. The reason being that the men have very frequent contact with the Hindko speaking population where as the women are less likely to travel outside these villages and have no Hindko speaking community nearby. During the last fifteen years cross border firing between the Indo-Pak troops has caused large scale migration from these villages and this migration has led to the language loss at large scale. It will be very interesting to document the degree of this loss The Pashto spoken by the population is quite different from other varieties of Pashto and is a dialect on its own right. These Pashto speakers can communicate with the Pashto speakers from outside but they can’t understand them fully. My current research shows that they have assimilated many Hindko words into their Pashto, and also have kept some archaic words of Pashto, which are no longer used by the other Pashto speakers in Pakistan. . No linguistic literature has mentioned the existence of Pashto in any part of Kashmir (Grierson 1921, Hallberg 1992, Personal communication with Hook and Koul. To my Knowledge this is only settlement in both parts of Kashmir who speaks Pashto. In the Neelam Valley, apart from these Pashto speakers, there are some other groups who claim to be ethnic Pathans, but have apparently shifted to Hindko long time ago. Locally these groups are still known as Pathans and they also refer themselves as Pathan. Present Member of legislature and minister in the cabinet of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, from the District Neelam, also belongs to the same group. . Conclusion: Apart from these local languages Urdu and English are also used. These languages are medium of instruction. No indigenous language is taught in schools. No standard orthography is available for these local languages. However, Some Kashmiri literatures, especially poetry books, published before partition, are available at some houses. Lots of borrowings from Urdu and English are obvious in these local languages. This is a preliminary overview of the languages of the Neelam Valley. The aim of this study is to introduce this linguistically rich but undiscovered area to the outer world and invite scholars to carry out linguistic research in the region. And also create awareness about the languages loss among the speakers of these languages References: Barbara F. Grimes, Ed, 2000 fourteenth edition) Ethnologue; volume1, Languages of the world; SIL International, Dallas, Texas, USA. (http://www. ethnologue. com/web. asp) Deambi, B. K. Kaul. The Sharada Script:Origin and Development. in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh linguistic predicament Eds. P. N. Pushp and K. Warikoo: Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation Har-Anand Publications online:http://www. koshur. org/Linguistic/3. html Federal bureaue of sensus online: http://www. isepak. com/Forms/VillageListMUZAFFARABAD. pdf. Grierson, George. 1915. Linguistic survey of India, volume 8,part 2, 150-190. Calcutta Hallberg, Daniel G. and Calinda E. Hallberg. 1999. Indus Kohistani preliminary phonological and Morphological analysis. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies and Summer Institute of Linguistics. Hook Edwin Peter & Omkar N. Koul. 2002. Eds. Koul N Omkar & Wali Kashi Top ics in Kashmiri linguistics, P: 130- 143, Creative books New Delhi Joan L. G. Baart . 2003. Pakistani languages and society: Problems and Prospects. NIPS and SIL, ed. with Ghulam Hyder Sindhi Koul, N Omkar, 2004,Kashmiri: A Grammatical Sketch In The Indo-Aryan Languages. Eds. George Cardona and Dhanesh Jain, Rutledge, London Local revenue department. The cesus report 1998. O’ Leary, Clear. (ed). 1992. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan. 5 Volumes. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies and Summer Institute of Linguistics Radloff, Carla F. 1999. Aspects of the Sound System of Gilgit Shina. 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Originally published: London: constable, 1900 ———————– [1] The author is a PhD candidate at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan ———————– [i] Paper was presented at the 19th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Panel 31: ‘Linguistics in Lesser-known languages in South Asia’, 27-30 June 2006, Leiden, The Netherlands. http://213. 207. 98. 217/index. php? q=node/56