The English Language, being an international language, is spoken all over the world with many variations. These variations occur primarily due to environmental, cultural and social differences. The main reasons for these variations are intermingling of different races and strata in a society. In this regard prominent differences can be observed at phonological levels. These phonological variations produce different kinds of English, like British and American English. In these two there are differences in intonation, stress pattern, and pronunciation. Although South-Eastern British R.P. is known as Standard English but one cannot deny the existence and value of American English. The study attempts to highlight the vowel variation between British English and American English at phonological level.
Background: Prescribing during pregnancy requires careful estimation of risk/benefit ratio for the mother and her baby. Both, underestimation and overestimation can produce undesirable maternal and fetal outcomes hence the present study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of medical practitioners related to the prescribing of medications during pregnancy. Methods: A preformed structured questionnaire was administered to 41 medical practitioners. Multiple choice questions (MCQs) and yes/no type questions were used to assess their knowledge. Likert type questions studied their attitude and practices. Their perception of teratogenic risk of medications was evaluated using a visual analogue scale. The data so obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Completed questionnaires were returned by 76% of the survey participants. Among whom only 24% felt highly confident while others were less confident or unsure regarding their prescribing ability during pregnancy. 90% of the respondents reported that a disease should not be untreated or undertreated due to fear of teratogenicity. 81% exhibited good knowledge of the FDA pregnancy categorization of drugs and more than 80% were aware of the teratogenic risk associated with valproic acid, lithium, isotretinoin, warfarin & thalidomide. The perceived risk of teratogenicity (mean) suggested for them was 33, 52, 52, 43 & 62 percentage respectively. Conclusions: Most respondents exhibited a healthy attitude and a fairly sound knowledge, except for their perception of risk associated with individual drugs which was much higher than what is mentioned in the literature. Educational interventions may help to increase the awareness leading to better and confident prescribing.
This research study investigates the pattern of English (primary) word stress in quadri-syllabic and five-syllabic suffixed words and their roots by Pashto speakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan and the effect of suffixation on stress placements. These suffixes in English language are called shifters which shift strong stress to the antepenultimate (third from the last), penultimate (second from the last), and ultimately (last) syllables, as well as those suffixes that do not shift strong stress to other syllables. The data was collected from sixteen Pashto language native speakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan, by way of recording their oral-reading of a card that contained the selected words. The findings of this study indicate that primary stress pattern varies among quadri-syllabic, and five-syllabic, suffixed words. The three types of suffixes in English language assert different degrees of effect on subjects stress placement, which can influence the amount of correct productions by the subjects. Actually, the suffixes "cial" or "tial" and "ic" state a great effect on subjects primary stress placement, because the subjects were capable of generating the shift in primary stress in penultimate syllable. Unlike the greater number of incorrect productions in "tory" and "ity" suffixed words, the subjects were sensitive to the change of stress pattern, which assists a great number of correct productions in "cial" or "tial" and "ic" suffixed words. The findings disclose the fact that there was extreme unawareness of the strong stress shifting effect by Pashto speakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which further needed more attention.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.