This page contains research essays.
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Comparison of the Japanese and English writing systems
Types of writing systems, how they work, and whether and how they relate to their spoke mode of their respective languages. In this essay, I will compare the writing systems employed in British English and Japanese. Specifically, I will be describing the type of systems they are, how they work, and how they relate to…
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The Bilingual Advantage (or Disadvantage): A Discussion
In this essay I will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of being bilingual or monolingual in terms of which languages are spoken, similarities between languages learnt, and effects on cognitive decline. Lingua Franca (LF) An obvious advantage to being bilingual is increasing the number of people with whom one can communicate with,…
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Evidence for language’s emergence, origin, purpose, and evolution process.
(Include primate, genetic, anatomical, archaeological, and petrophysical evidence) When Language Occurred There are three main hypotheses regarding when language occurred: upper palaeolithic with H. sapien sapien, with H. sapien, or with H. erectus. Some argue that the emergence of language with H. sapien sapien is found from archaeological evidence from the Upper Palaeolithic revolution…
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Socio-cognitive capacities which facilitated language’s evolution. (Evidence from primate behaviour)
According to Worden (1998), language must have evolved from cognitive capacities already present amongst our non-speaking ancestors due to an “evolutionary speed limit”. This essay describes several of these capacities, supported by evidence from primate cognition and behaviour. Capacities described (in order) include Theory of Mind (ToM), Conceptualisation, Imitation, Joint Attention & Gaze Tracking, Call…
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Speech sounds explained using the source-filter model.
Answers supported with vowel and consonant acoustics. [Image from https://waygaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/7decf-vocal-tract.gif%5D In this essay I will be outlining the source-filter model’s affect on the production of speech sounds and their acoustic properties. I begin by introducing the source-filter model and discuss its various sources including Periodic Excitation and Constrictions (specifically, Turbulent Excitation and Transient Excitation). I…
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How does land use change impact the Kayapo living in the indigenous reserves in the Amazon Rainforest?
This essay outlines how land use change impacts the Kayapo indigenous group living in Southern Brazil. I will begin by introducing the Kayapo and how their lifestyle depends on their environment, then I will explain the impacts of changes in land cover uses (gold mining, deforestation, and hydroelectric dams) on the Kayapo, before concluding with…
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Ecology of Human Groups – Fish-for-Sex practices in Lake Victoria: Women as Victims or Agents
In this essay, I will discuss whether women are agents or victims of Fish-for-Sex (FFS) transactions occurring around Lake Victoria. Firstly, I will define FFS and briefly outline key reasons for its occurrence. Then I will discuss how Lake Victoria’s gendered economy, women’s statuses of vulnerability, spread of HIV, declining ecology, and Kenya’s ‘No Sex…
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Psychological Anthropology – How does spirit possession function as therapy?
In this essay, I will outline the therapeutic uses of spirit possession (SP) in case studies predominantly from Sudan and Uganda alongside other complementary examples. Firstly, I will outline what SP is and its geographical context. Then I will discuss how SP functions as a therapy including as an expression of distress, living with SP,…
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Double dissociations: Evidence for a modular organisation of cognitive processing
A discussion on the above statement with reference to the English Past Tense debate and Language Development and Processing in Atypical Populations According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology (n.d.), a double dissociation demonstrates “two separable psychological or biological systems, such as differentiating between types of memory or the function of brain areas. One experimental…
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