Sudans civil War essays

Sudan's civil War essays Sudans current Darfur conflict did not begin arbitrarily and without reason. Instead, many underlying factors that have been fomenting and resulting in breakouts of violence are still at work in Sudan. The ethnical differences of the Arab Muslim ruling majority and the African and primarily animistic inhabitants of the southern state of Darfur have caused Sudan to have been mired in a nearly constant state of civil war since 1955. The application of Islamic law to all citizens has always been the sparkplug that more than anything else caused the non-Muslim population in Sudan to feel the need to rebel. The effects of the civil wars and more importantly, the most recent conflict in Darfur, are massive, and the death tolls, especially of Africans, are so immense that this conflict is being labeled as genocide. To understand the conflict that is ongoing currently in Sudan it is necessary to understand the history and how Sudan has been a state of comprised mostly of Arabs since olden times. In 642 A.D., ten years after the prophet Mohammeds death an Arab army invaded Nubia, in present-day Sudan Later in the 1820s Egypts Muslim rulers conquered Sudan and enslaved 2 million Africans by the end of the 19th century (Anderson 64). The enslavers were mostly Muslims from the Ottoman Empire, yet Sudanese Muslims also took part in the slavery. In the 1880s the Ansar, a Muslim group from the Kordofan province took over control of a new Islamic Sudanese state through the leadership of Mahdi, the rightly guided one. After expulsing Turco-Egyptian troops and killing General Charles Gordon, the viceroy from Britain via Egypt, Mahdi took up a campaign of spreading Islam throughout all of Sudan (Anderson 65). However, before the Ansar could take over what is now present day Sudan, Britai n took over control of all of this area. Britains policy was one of promoting Christianity and Eng...

Strong and Weak Vowels in Spanish

Strong and Weak Vowels in Spanish Vowels in Spanish are classified as either weak or strong, and the classification determines when combinations of two or more vowels are considered to form a separate syllable. Key Takeaways: Spanish Vowels The strong vowels of Spanish are a, e, and o; the weak vowels are i and u.When two strong vowels are next to each other, they form separate syllables; in other combinations, the vowels are in the same syllable.Two vowels next to each other form a diphthong; three vowels next to each other form a triphthong. Two Types of Vowels The strong vowels of Spanish - sometimes known as open vowels- are a, e, and o. The weak vowels - sometimes known as closed vowels or semivowels- are i and u. Y often serves as a weak vowel as well, functioning in the same way and sounding the same as i. The basic rule of vowel combinations and syllables is that two strong vowels cannot be in the same syllable, so that when two strong vowels are next to each other, they are considered to belong to separate syllables. But other combinations - such as a strong and a weak vowel or two weak vowels - form a single syllable. Be aware that in real life, especially in rapid speech, two strong vowels, such as in the words maestro and Oaxaca, often slide together to be pronounced in a way that may sound like a single syllable or very close to it. But they are still considered separate syllables for writing purposes, such as when dividing words at the end of a line or for the use of accent marks. Keep in mind that vowel sounds in Spanish tend to be purer than they are in English. In English, for example, the word boa (a type of snake) often sounds something like boh-wah, while in Spanish boa sounds more like boh-ah. This is because English speakers often pronounce the long o with a slight ooh sound at the end, while Spanish speakers do not. Diphthongs When a strong and a weak vowel or two weak vowels combine to form a single syllable, they form a diphthong. An example of a diphthong is the ai combination in baile (dance). The ai combination here sounds much like the English word eye. Another example is the ui combination in fui, which to the English speaker sounds much like fwee. Here are some fairly common words that include diphthongs (shown in boldface): puerto (port), tierra (earth), siete (seven), hay (there is or there are), cuida (care), ciudad (city), labio (lip), hacia (toward), paisano (peasant), cancià ³n (song), Europa (Europe), aire (air). In some words, a strong and weak vowel or two weak vowels dont merge together but instead form separate syllables. In those cases, a written accent over the weak vowel is used to show the distinction. A common example is the name Marà ­a. Without the accent mark, the name would be pronounced much like MAHR-yah. In effect, the accent mark turns the i into a strong vowel. Other words where an accent mark is used to keep a weak vowel from becoming part of a diphthong include rà ­o (river), heroà ­na (heroine), dà ºo (duet) and paà ­s (country). If there is an accent over the strong vowel, it doesnt destroy the diphthong. For example, in adià ³s, the accent merely indicates where the spoken stress goes but doesnt affect how the vowels work together. Triphthongs Occasionally, a diphthong can combine with a third vowel to form a triphthong. Triphthongs never have two strong vowels in them; they are formed by either three weak vowels or a strong vowel with two weak vowels. Words that have triphthongs include Uruguay (Uruguay), estudiis (you study) and buey (ox). Note that for purposes of the written accent, the y is considered a consonant even if it is functioning as a vowel. Thus the final syllable of Uruguay is what gets the stress; thats where the stress goes on words ending in a consonant other than n or s. If the final letter were an i, the word would need to be spelled Urugui to maintain the pronunciation.