Are Musicians Born or Made?

For nearly 2,000 years philosophers have wondered whether artists are born or made. In the case of musicians, the existence of thousands of music schools would seem to argue that musicians can be made, like engineers. Arguing against the importance of all that activity are the curious exceptions: famous musicians who cannot even read music. The latter include the most famous male pop singer of the 20th century and one of that century’s most famous orchestral conductors.The earliest important discussion of this question presents the problem well, found in a treatise, â€Å"On the Sublime,† is by a 1st century AD writer named Longinus. Nothing else can be documented about the man, but this treatise was well-known through the Renaissance and deeply influenced such writers as Dryden and Pope. Longinus begins by emphasizing the importance of learning. First of all, we must raise the question whether there is such a thing as an art [craft] of the sublime or lofty. Some hold t hat those are entirely in error who would bring such matters under the precepts of art. A lofty tone, says one, is innate, and does not come by teaching; nature is the only art that can compass it.Works of nature are, they think, made worse and altogether feebler when wizened by the rules of art. But I maintain that this will be found to be otherwise if it be observed that, while nature as a rule is free and independent in matters of passion and elevation, yet is she wont not to act at random and utterly without system†¦. Moreover, the expression of the sublime is more exposed to danger when it goes its own way without the guidance of knowledge, — when it is suffered to be unstable and unballasted, — when it is left at the mercy of mere momentum and ignorant audacity. It is true that it often needs the spur, but it is also true that it often needs the curb.1However, in another place, when he is thinking of the great gifts of the orator, Demosthenes, he wonders if such a great performer can be the result of learning. There are some, he seems to conclude, whose success can be explained only by a God-given ability. But Demosthenes draws — as from a store — excellences allied to the highest sublimity and perfected to the utmost, the tone of lofty speech, living passions, copiousness, readiness, speed (where it is legitimate), and that power and vehemence of his which forbid approach.Having, I say, absorbed bodily within himself these mighty gifts which we may deem heaven-sent (for it would not be right to term them human), he thus with the noble qualities which are his own routs all comers even where the qualities he does not possess are concerned, and overpowers with thunder and with lightening the orators of every age. One could sooner face with unflinching eyes a descending thunderbolt than meet with steady gaze his bursts of passion in their swift succession.In the end Longinus retreats from having to make a choice between a st udied craft, which he calls â€Å"art,† and that talent which is a gift of nature. The highest achievement, he reasons, requires both. Since freedom from failings is for the most part the successful result of art, and excellence (though it may be unevenly sustained) the result of sublimity, the employment of art is in every way a fitting aid to nature; for it is the conjunction of the two which tends to ensure perfection.When the Church defeated Rome and began its process of reinventing, so to speak, the Roman citizen, it began by attempting to eliminate as much of the pagan world as possible, in the process burning the books of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, etc. The church also attempted to remove emotion from the life of the Christian and as a subordinate part of that idea they warned the Christian about being enthusiastic about art.The rationale of the Church was: God created the artist, therefore you should love God and not the artist, much less the art object. Because of thi s position, during the long Church dominated period we call the â€Å"Dark Ages,† books which discuss art and the artist are rare. With the Renaissance, however, this subject is widely discussed, beginning with the important 16th century treatise, the Dodecachordon of 1547, by Heinrich Glarean. Glarean (1488 – 1563) of  Switzerland was a man of many talents as is testified to in numerous letters by Erasmus, who gives the impression that he was unusually proficient in all the Liberal Arts. In letters of recommendation, Erasmus calls Glarean a mathematician, meaning four branches of the Liberal Arts.It was from this perspective that Glarean was interested in music3 and our guess is that he probably did not think of himself as a performing musician, although on one occasion he so impressed Maximilian I in his singing of a poem that he was made poet laureate. Such a widely talented man is never universally popular and in the fictitious, satirical â€Å"Letters of Obscur e Men,† of 1515, by Crotus Rubeanus and Ulrich von Hutten, Glarean is described as, very headstrong man†¦. A terrible man, a choleric, for ever threatening fights — and he must be possessed of a devil.Glarean first clearly frames the question: who should receive the higher praise, the composer who has his gift through birth or the man who has studied counterpoint and who composes multi-part music upon the original melody?As we were hastening to the end of this very toilsome book, this not entirely inconsequential thought came to our mind about a matter which I say has been considered in doubt a long time now among men of our times, that is, which is more deserving of praise, the invention of a theme or the addition of several voices; namely, so that the uninitiated may also understand, whether it is of more value if one can invent a natural tenor, which affects all minds, which takes hold of a man’s heart, in short, which so clings to our memory that it ofte n steals upon us without our even thinking, and into which we break as if awakened from sleep, as we commonly see concerning many tenors; or if one adds three or more voices to the tenor invented in the aforementioned way, which voices, so to speak, embellish it with imitations, canons, changes of modus, tempus, and prolatio†¦.Having presented the question, Glarean’s own view seems to be that talent comes with birth, not study. It is interesting that he mentions the factor we have pointed out at the beginning, the success of untrained artists. He concludes by presenting the subordinate questions which he implies are necessary to answering the main question. Here is an example of this matter, so that one may comprehend so much the better what we say. Whoever first  invented the tenor Te Deum laudamus or any other as Pange lingua, may he not be preferred in talent to one who afterwards composed a complete Mass according to it? First, indeed, to say as a preface, we canno t deny that this happens to each through the power of his talent, and through a certain natural and native capacity rather than through art.The reason for this seems to be that very frequently those who are untrained in music are also surprisingly proficient in inventing tenors in our vernacular, whether Celtic or German, and further, that many who are proficient in adding voices likewise have learned music badly, to say nothing of other disciplines. Therefore, it is clear that neither talent is really possible for a man unless he is born to it, and, as it is commonly said, unless he received it from his mother.This is likewise true of painters, also of sculptors, and preachers†¦, in short, of all works dedicated to Minerva†¦. But indeed, if as Aristotle asserts, a man is truly deserving of praise who discovers the principles of any discipline, for it is very easy to add the rest (he says), I do not see why the first artist, the simple creator of a simple melody (now calle d a tenor) ought to be inferior to one who does not invent as easily as he adds to what has already been invented. Indeed, we see in the various disciplines that the first inventors always have merited the most praise. Thus Hippocrates is considered superior to Galen, even though Galen surpassed him with a thousand books†¦. Let everyone direct his attention to the following points as the most worthy of our consideration, namely, which of the two is older, which is more useful, and, finally, which yields to the other.In a letter sent to his publisher, Giraldi Cinthio,6 he indicates that he wrote his treatise, Discorso intorno al comporre dei romanzi of 1549, to refute attacks on Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, which he considered a great heroic poem. While his treatise is thus about the 16th century heroic poem in general, which he calls the Romance, Giraldi is equally concerned with establishing poetry as an art. In so doing, he presents one of the most important treatises on Beauty to be found in the 16th century.7 He begins by stating the all men have the genetic materials necessary to fine writing. But, he follows this by writing that â€Å"Nature produces the poets, but art makes the orators,†8 His point apparently is in attempting to make a  distinction between genius and (learned) skill. By â€Å"elocution,† Giraldi means the manner of expressing with fitting words the thought which the poet has in mind. Here he presents a unique and curious analogy.Since elocution has the same place in composition as the skin does in the human body, the poet ought to put his effort on this part, under which stand all the others, as nature does on the skin of the body. Just as nature, a judicious creatress (by virtue of the intelligence which rules her) of that which she produces, took great care to make the skin soft, pliable, and delicate, and to give it the grace of proper colors so that it appears pleasing to our eyes and makes delightful all t hat is under it, so the poet should put much talent and study on everything pertaining to words. Since they clothe our ideas and carry them from the intellect to the eyes, they ought to be adorned with all the beauty that the industry of the writer can give them.Although in this, no less than in other particulars, one ought to shun such superfluous diligence, lest what one would make good becomes bad, and lest excessive desire to embellish results in fastidiousness. Negligence neatly practiced is sometimes better than too much diligence.9This last sentence requires a note of explanation. For the Italian Renaissance (upper class) man, one of the personal characteristics held to be important was that he never exhibit effort. â€Å"Studied negligence† was the goal. This can be easily understood in the example of chess playing, where it was held that the gentleman could play but that he should not appear to be very good, for if he were good it implied study, practice and work, al l of which were not appropriate to the gentleman. Giraldi contends that epic poetry must be in rhyme. This is only fitting for heroic matter and â€Å"it carries in itself the sweetness of sound and gravity with measure and with the other qualities that belong to the sublime.†10 Later he adds that words must not only convey thoughts, but in themselves, â€Å"pleasurable beauty.† It is interesting that he warns the poet to remember that his goal is to find words for the thoughts, and not thoughts for the words. He pauses to comment on the ancient question of the relationship of learned Art and genius which is a gift of Nature. Here concludes that both are necessary. Of these two, however, the one so needs the other that each is of little value alone. Indeed, art without nature produces such impoverished verses  that they seem to have suffered for ten years from the hectic fever. Nature without art makes them like fat peasants who are of good color and health but witha l have no gentility.Therefore, he concludes, that poet who has as his guide both Nature and Art cannot help but succeed. His definition of Art which follows consequently focuses on both Beauty and Nature. By art I mean here not the intricacies and the entanglements of which I spoke above, which with metaphors, enigmas, and monstrosities would turn authors into alchemists; which precepts can make it appear that a man has seen and read much, but are not likely to teach; but that which gives us light, not shadow; makes our way pleasant, not painful; easy, not intricate; level, not steep; that which leads us not through briars but through flowering meadows; that which teaches us without so much tortuousness and such monstrosities of words and images. Like arranged flowers, after we have chosen them from the green fields of poesy, our compositions ought to be set in order with marvelous beauty.Marco Girolamo Vida was born in Cremona some time before the beginning of the 16th century, at which time his first poems appear, and died in 1566. His poem on chess (Scacchiae Ludus) brought him to the attention of Leo X. After the death of Leo X, Vida remained in the papal court of Clement VII, who made him Bishop of Alba in 1532. Holding this office, Vida participated in the council of Trent. In his treatise on poetry, De Arte Poetica, of 1561, Vida has observed that there are some who fervently desire to be poets, yet, in spite of all, are not successful. They, apparently, have the training, but not the gift. These men, he recommends, might find a suitable career as lawyers! How oft the youth, who wants the sacred fire,Fondly mistakes for genius his desire, Courts the coy Muses, though rejected still, Nor Nature seconds his misguided will! He strives, he toils with unavailing care, Nor Heaven relents, nor Phoebus hears his prayer. He with success, perhaps, may plead a cause, Shine at the bar, and flourish by the laws.One of the important Italian Renaissance writers, Pietr o Aretino (1492 – 1556), was much concerned with respect to the character of the artist. He also considered the question of the nature of Art and the artist, he concluded that the essential gift is one of genetics and not instruction. The truth is that art is an innate gift for considering the excellencies of nature that comes to us when we are babes in swaddling clothes. That which is learned later may be called art, but it is not legitimate, whereas you could not call that art bastard which the spider uses in weaving his web.We might note that to another correspondent he states that neither the gift nor the skill is of any importance without heart.To GiorgioVasari (1511 – 1574) we are indebted for his revised Lives of 1568, which provides important biographical information regarding 16th century artists. Vasari summarizes his views on our subject of whether the artist is born or learned by declaring, Very great is the obligation that is owed to Heaven and to Nature b y those who bring their works to birth without effort and with a certain grace which others cannot give to their creations either by study or by imitation.With the Baroque Period we begin to find German commentary which is related to our question, that is are musicians the product of training or Nature? One philosopher that we appreciate was Johann David Heinichen (1683 – 1729), a composer in Dresden. In his mind, there was a natural connection between the learned rules of music and the talent which comes from Nature, for he believed the important rules were all drawn from Nature herself.All arts and sciences have rules and must be learned through rules, if we do not wish to remain simple naturalists, ie., half-ignorant. But we must not err excessively on the side of rules; furthermore, we should not accept so crudely the equivocal word: Rule, as if we would serve as high sounding rule makers, prescribing laws even to Nature, according to which she must limit herself to aucto ritate nostra. No! All of our useful rules must be derived from Nature; and we must investigate on all levels the will, preference, and character of this mistress and learn from her cum submissione.Heinichen conceded the importance of that which is learned about music, believing that the essential abilities needed for successful composition include natural aptitude and diligence, as well, of course, as knowledge of the basic conceptual information on writing music. However, as he quotes Andreas Werkmeister, rules alone do not suffice.18 If one has no musical aptitude 1,000 rules could be illustrated with 10,000 examples and still the purpose would not be achieved.We have seen above Heinichen’s contention that all useful rules must be derived from Nature. But he seems hesitant to take on the burden of discussing the full dimension of Nature’s contribution. For one reason, while he finds Nature’s gifts unquestionably important, he finds that these gifts vary from composer to composer. One can as little describe the differences in musical talent as one can describe the differences between all ingenuities. Generally, however, one can say that the good talents of composers differ only in degree. For Nature gives to one an animated, clear, burning spirit, but to another a tempered, modest, or even affective nature. The latter is better suited to to the devout church style, the former, however, more to the theatrical†¦.Another very important German writer took a similar position. Johann Mattheson not only found that the gifts of Nature varied from man to man, but that sometimes Nature left her gifts incomplete! One sometimes encounters fine minds without true desire and love for it; thus one encounters nothing more seldom than the required diligence and necessary, untiring industry, joined together with these two things, natural ability and real desire: because commonly not a little laziness and idleness, lasciviousness, comfortableness, and the like, tend to go side by side with innate gifts and inclinations. A so-called natural disposition without ambition or love is like a buried treasure†¦. Desire and diligence without natural ability is really the worst of all†¦.This partiality which Nature demonstrates in passing out her talents led Mattheson, in another place, to comment on the treatment of students.Natural stupidity or innate simplicity is among the failures of the intellect which no one can rightfully punish, though it can be deplored or at best ridiculed. Desiring to make youngsters intelligent with thrashing is not only futile, but godless. Many examples verify that beatings make heads ten times more dumb than they were previously. This is and remains abysmally characteristic of education in almost every guild and apprenticeship.The great German composer, Georg Telemann (1681-1767), found that of the poets he worked with, some were talented but lacked the learning to successfully complete their ass ignment. Just as not everyone is born a poet, so every poet cannot write texts adaptable to music, and especially sacred music. It would be desirable for experts to explore this question.Another German writer of the Baroque, Johann Birnbaum, placed more importance on the learned facet of the artist. Indeed, his was a rather unique opinion that one of the fundamental roles of the artist was to perfect and shape Nature into its most ideal state. If art imitates Nature, then indisputably the natural element must everywhere shine through the works of art. Accordingly it is impossible that art should take away the natural element from those things in which it imitates Nature — including music. If art aids Nature, then its aim is only to preserve it, and to improve its condition; certainly not to destroy it.Many things are delivered to us by Nature in the most misshapen states, which, however, acquire the most beautiful appearance when they have been formed by art. Thus art lends N ature a beauty it lacks, and increases the beauty it possesses. Now, the greater the art is — that is, the more industriously and painstakingly it works at the improvement of Nature — the more brilliantly shines the beauty thus brought into being.The opposite view was taken by the great French philosopher, Marin Mersenne (1588-1648). He studied mathematics, physics, the classics and metaphysics at the Jesuit College of Le Mans. After becoming a Jesuit priest, and a member of the Minorite friars, Mersenne began teaching Hebrew, philosophy and theology at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1619. His residence became a  required stopping place for every intellectual visiting Paris, which, together with his correspondence with persons throughout Europe, including Galilei, Huygens and Descartes, made him a virtual one-man academy. His studies and experimentation in music resulted in his Harmonie universelle (1636), a work of encyclopedia proportion organized in five treatises.It wa s the conclusion by Mersenne that composers are born and not made through â€Å"Art.† Whatever rules we could give for composing fine and beautiful melodies on all kinds of subjects and texts, it appears that they cannot bring this to pass until we are induced by the favorable genius and natural inclination of those who write excellent ones without having learned or established any other rules than those which their imagination furnishes†¦. I shall be of the opinion of those who say that the genius of music is like that of the poet, the painter, the orator, and of several other craftsmen, to whom nature, or rather the Master of Nature, has dispensed certain gifts to which art cannot attain.He was also of the opinion that to some degree the beautiful singer is born and not made. This should be ascribed to the order of Divine Providence, which makes use of all kinds of conditions, as it does of as many voices, to compose the great concert of this universe, whose beauties a nd charms we will never understand except in Heaven.Franà §ois Marie Arouet (1694-1778), known as Voltaire,27 was the son of a successful attorney and a lively and intelligent woman who hosted a minor salon in Paris. His father advised him, â€Å"Literature is the profession of the man who wishes to be useless to society and a burden to his relatives, and to die of hunger.† The son responded by becoming one of the most prolific writers of the Baroque, supporting his family and dying wealthy.Voltaire arrived in Paris in 1715 as France was in transition from the era of Louis XIV to the regency for the young Louis XV. His brilliant wit, and sharp tongue, soon brought him to the attention of high society and earned him several visits to the Bastille. One comment remembered from this time followed an announcement that the regent, for reasons of the economy, had sold half the horses of the royal stables. Voltaire suggested it might have been better if he dismissed half the asses a t court!In one place Voltaire  seems to take the position that learning must be everything in the artist, for the reason that Nature has rendered all men equal physically. Yet all nations†¦, even the Hottentots and Kaffirs, pronounce the vowels and consonants as we do, because the larynx in them is essentially the same as in us — just as the throat of the rudest boor is made like that of the finest opera-singer, the difference, which makes of one a rough, discordant, insupportable bass, and of the other a voice sweeter than the nightingale’s, being imperceptible to the most acute anatomist; or, as the brain of a fool is for all the world like the brain of a great genius.In another place, however, he takes the position that those with real individual genius in the arts possessed something beyond learning or emulation. It must be confessed that in the arts having genius as their basis, everything is the product of instinct.By â€Å"instinct† here, Voltaire apparently meant that the true genius is born and not made. Here he seems to suggest that â€Å"learning† is replaced by â€Å"taste.† We use the word â€Å"genius† indifferently in speaking of†¦an artist, or a musician†¦. Now an artist, however perfect he may be in his profession, if he have no invention, if he be not original, is not considered a genius. He is only inspired by the artists his predecessors, even when he surpasses them†¦.Poussin, who was a great painter before he had seen any good pictures, had a genius for painting. Lully, who never heard any good musician in France, had a genius for music†¦. Genius, conducted by taste, will never commit a gross fault†¦. Genius, without taste, will often commit enormous errors; and, what is worse, it will not be sensible of them.30In another place, he adds,The gift of nature is an imagination inventive in the arts — in the disposition of a picture, in the structure of a poem. It cannot exist without memory, but it uses memory as an instrument with which it produces all its performances.The primary characteristic of this â€Å"gift of nature,† that the artist is born with, Voltaire finds to be the quality of his imagination. Active imagination, which constitutes men poets, confers on them enthusiasm, according to the true meaning of the Greek word, that internal emotion which in reality agitates the mind and transforms the author into the personage whom he introduces as the speaker; for such is the true enthusiasm, which consists in emotion and imagery†¦. In general, the imaginations of painters when they are merely ingenious, contribute more to exhibit the learning in the artist than to increase the beauty of the art†¦. In all the arts, the most beautiful imagination is always the most natural.Two examples from English literature take the position that the successful artist is the product of both birth and art (learning). We have an interes ting poem in honor of Shakespeare by Ben Jonson, in which the poet observes that â€Å"though the matter of poets be Nature,† it is the art of the poet which must shape it. In a reflection on Shakespeare’s own labor, Jonson notes, For a good poet’s made, as well as born.And such wert thou.33A similar reflection is made by Robert Herrick (1591 – 1674). Man is composed here of a two-fold part; The first of Nature, and the next of Art: Art presupposes Nature†¦.34And now, it might be interesting to consider what some of the great composers have written on this subject. First, there are some isolated thoughts from the diary of Robert Schumann, which has been dated about 1833. It is the curse of talent that, although it labors more steadily and perseveringly than genius, it does not reach a goal; while genius, floating on the summit of the ideal, grazes from above, serenely smiling. †¦..It is not a good thing to have acquired too much facility in any occupation. †¦.. The youthful works of masters who have become great, are looked upon with very different eyes than are the works of composers who promised as much, but did not keep their word. †¦.. Dare talent permit itself to take the same liberties as genius? †¦.. Talent labors, genius creates. †¦.. Few strikingly original works of genius have become popular.These comments on talent as opposed to genius by Schumann remind us of one of Wagner’s essays where he quotes Schopenhauer, Talent hits a mark we all can see, but cannot lightly reach; whilst Genius attains a goal we others do not even see.35Our original question was, â€Å"Are musicians born or made?† When you look at the sketch books of Beethoven, it is perfectly obvious that even so great a composer as he had to go to great efforts to â€Å"make† his compositions. In looking at these sketches one sometimes feels that if he had a gift, it was the gift of knowing what to reject. His b irth gift was Taste, not counterpoint. Mozart is another matter. As Schumann pointed out one time, the only way you can be a Mozart is to be born a Mozart.36 But, if you have to be born a Mozart, then what is going on in all those thousands of music schools around the world? It is an interesting question.It is even a more interesting question from the following perspective. You go to hear, let’s say, a piano recital. You are moved, you are inspired, and you say, â€Å"That was really musical.† What you are referring to in that moment is not taught in those music schools. What then is being taught in all those music schools? In our view most of this activity is centered in two areas: [1] A great amount of time is spent by music schools in the teaching of grammar. In no other field and in none of the other arts is such a disproportionate amount of time spent on grammar as opposed to meaning and purpose.Can one imagine, for example, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Fonda at the Lee Strasberg Actors Studio in New York sitting around discussing grammar? In what music school is there even one comprehensive course in aesthetics? In what music school is there discussion on what music meant to Beethoven? Who will talk about music and character development? Who tells students why classical music is important and popular music is not? Who explains to students the difference between inspired  music and educational music? Who takes on the responsibility for explaining to students that music education is about commerce, but not art? [2] The other great field of activity in music schools is the instruction of students on how to become players of instruments, including the vocal instrument.But what studio teacher, as a part of the necessary technique, explains to the student how to move the emotions of the listener? In how many studios is the word â€Å"listener† even mentioned? What studio teacher brings up the subject of earning a living? One day students will ask that question and the house of cards will collapse. To conclude, surely everyone understands that one cannot learn, in any music school anywhere, to become a Mozart. That is not only a gift of God, but a gift God rarely dispenses. But there are other gifts, some of which are genetic, gifts of God to everyman. First and foremost among these is the ability to understand music as a listener without going to those music schools. And then there are the gifts which come from participation in music.Surely anyone whose means of making a living includes the performance of music, whether professional, community or school, must feel a recipient of a gift of the gods. You could be a dentist! How much would they have to pay you to stand and look into other people’s mouths all day? And finally there are those people who may not have the opportunity to perform, but understand the importance of music to society and give of themselves to make it happen. It was of them that Mendelssohn once wrote, The smallest real service to art†¦seems a blessing sent by God.

The significance of Hrothgars sermon in Beowulf essays

The significance of Hrothgar's sermon in Beowulf essays The significance of Hrothgars sermon in Beowulf (lines 1700-1784) Hrothgar delivers this speech in his royal hall Heorot, where the Geats and the Danes are celebrating Beowulfs victory over Grendels mother. This victory has finally freed the Danes of the monsters which had been terrorizing them for twelve years. Hence, there is much rejoicing and feasting over the victory as Beowulf and his warriors are feted and rewarded by Hrothgar. Beowulf had earlier given a speech recounting the details of his fight with the monster. He then presented the golden hilt of the sword salvaged from the monsters den to Hrothgar. In accepting this relic, Hrothgar launches into a long moralizing speech of advice to Beowulf. In his speech Hrothgar highlights the code of the heroic world and the serious repercussions if one were to break or disregard this heroic ideal. According to this code, the relationship between the king/lord and his men, known as thanes/warriors, is very important. It is the responsibility of the thanes to defend their lord and his lands and also to fight his wars. This relationship is one of mutual loyalty, trust and respect. The thane vows his loyalty to his lord and eventually becomes his companion. In return, the king/lord is responsible for looking after the welfare of his warriors. He offers them shelter, helmets, gold rings, bracelets, swords, beer, mead and a home. A good lord is of noble character and he is generous with his wealth and he forms a close bond with his men through merrymaking and feasting. This ideal of the heroic world is known as comitatus and it is an important characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race. Thus, Hrothgars reference to Heremod is meant as a warni ng to Beowulf on the serious repercussions if a lord were to disregard this code. Heremod, a Danish king, who was at one time a renowned and glorious youth became tyrannical and broke the virtues of the heroic co...

Divergence of Hungarian and Finnish Languages

Divergence of Hungarian and Finnish Languages Geographic isolation is a term commonly used in biogeography to explain how a species might diverge into two distinct species. What is often overlooked is how this mechanism serves as a major driving force for many cultural and linguistic differences among different human populations. This article explores one such case: the divergence of Hungarian and Finnish. Origins of the Finno-Ugrian Language Family Also known as the Finno-Ugrian language family, the Uralic language family consists of thirty-eight living languages. Today, the number of speakers of each language varies immensely from thirty (Votian) to fourteen million (Hungarian). Linguists unite these diverse tongues with a hypothetical common ancestor called the Proto-Uralic language. This common ancestral language is posited to have originated in the Ural Mountains between 7,000 to 10,000 years ago. The origin of the modern Hungarian people is theorized to be the Magyars who resided in the dense forests on the Western side of the Ural Mountains. For unknown reasons, they migrated to western Siberia at the beginning of the Christian era. There, they were vulnerable to the onslaught of military attacks by eastern armies such as the Huns. Later, the Magyars formed an alliance with the Turks and become a formidable military power that raided and fought throughout Europe. From this alliance, many Turkish influences are evident in the Hungarian language even today. After being driven out by the Pechenegs in 889 CE, the Magyar people searched for a new home, eventually settling on the outer slopes of Carpathians. Today, their descendants are the Hungarian people who still inhabit the Danube Valley. The Finnish people split off from the Proto-Uralic language group approximately 4,500 years ago, traveling west from the Ural Mountains to ​the south of the Gulf of Finland. There, this group split into two populations; one settled in what is now Estonia and the other moved northward to modern-day Finland. Through differences in region and over thousands of years, these languages diverged into unique languages, Finnish and Estonian. In the middle ages, Finland was under Swedish control, apparent from the significant Swedish influence present in the Finnish language today. The Divergence of Finnish and Hungarian The diaspora of the Uralic language family has led to geographic isolation between members. In fact, there is a clear pattern in this language family between distance and language divergence. One of the most obvious examples of this drastic divergence is the relationship between Finnish and Hungarian. These two major branches split approximately 4,500 years ago, compared with Germanic languages, whose divergence commenced an estimated 2,000 years ago. Dr. Gyula Weà ¶res, a lecturer at the University of Helsinki in the early twentieth century, published several books about Uralic linguistics. In Finland-Hungary Album (Suomi-Unkari Albumi), Dr. Weà ¶res explains that there are nine independent Uralic languages that form a language chain from the Danube valley to the coast of Finland. Hungarian and Finnish exist on the polar opposite ends of this language chain. Hungarian is even more isolated due to its peoples history of conquering while traveling across Europe toward Hungary. Excluding Hungarian, the Uralic languages form two geographically continuous language chains along major waterways. Coupling this vast geographic distance with several thousand years of independent development and vastly differing history, the extent of the language diversion between Finnish and Hungarian is not surprising. Finnish and Hungarian At first glance, the differences between Hungarian and Finnish seem overwhelming. In fact, not only are Finnish and Hungarian speakers are mutually unintelligible to each other, but Hungarian and Finnish differ significantly in basic word order, phonology, and vocabulary. For example, although both based on the Latin alphabet, Hungarian has 44 letters while Finnish has only 29 in comparison. Upon closer inspection of these languages, several patterns reveal their common origin. For example, both languages employ an elaborate case system. This case system uses a word root and then the speaker can add several prefixes and suffixes in order to tailor it for their specific needs. Such a system at times leads to extremely long words characteristic of many Uralic languages. For example, the Hungarian word megszentsà ©gtelenà ­thetetlensà ©ges translates to a thing that is almost impossible to make unholy, originally coming from the root word szent, meaning holy or sacred. Perhaps the most significant similarity between these two languages is the relatively large number of Hungarian words with Finnish counterparts and vice versa. These common words generally are not exactly alike  but can be traced to a common origin within the Uralic language family. Finnish and Hungarian share approximately 200 of these common words and concepts, most of which concern everyday concepts such as body parts, food, or family members. In conclusion, despite the mutual unintelligibility of Hungarian and Finnish speakers, both originated from a Proto-Uralic group that resided in the Ural Mountains. Differences in migration patterns and histories led to geographic isolation between language groups that in turn led to the independent evolution of language and culture.

Risk and return, portfolio diversification and the Capital Asset Essay

Risk and return, portfolio diversification and the Capital Asset Pricing Model; The cost of equity (Starbucks Co.) - Essay Example (Valuebasedmanagement.net, 2011) This paper will therefore provide computation and will also discuss the cost of equity of Starbucks besides computing the cost of equity for Nestle and McDonalds to make a comparison. Further, cost of equity will also be calculated by using dividend discount model as well as arbitrage pricing theory. The above calculations show that the overall cost of equity for Starbucks is 11.82% based on the data provided. This value is higher than the cost of equity of an average firm on the S&P 500 index thus indicating that the overall risk profile of Starbucks may be higher than an average firm. It may be due to the fact that the investors, considering the dynamics of the industry and particular performance of the firm in the industry, may not be willing to put their bets on Starbucks. The cost of equity should have been lower than an average firm on the S&P considering the overall market strength of Starbucks and brand power. The above comparison between McDonalds, Nestle as well as Starbucks shows that the return on equity for other two firms is lower as compared to Starbucks. The lower cost of equity of these firms suggests that these firms have relatively stable risk profile due to their stronger financial performance as well as fundamentals. What is also important to note that these firms are diversified in nature whereas Starbucks is only relatively focused on the sale of coffee only? It is therefore of no surprise that the cost of equity of such firms is relatively lower than Starbucks Dividend discount model is another important model to find out the fair values of the stock based on the dividends. (Investopedia.com, 2011 ). This model considers dividends as the future cash flows to be received and accordingly the price of the stock is calculated by using following formula: Thus the expected rate of return is obtained by considering a linear combination of different macroeconomic factors combined with

Movie review 2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

2 - Movie Review Example It represents crime scenes. The director presents this perception when Paul’s wife and daughter are killed and raped respectively, his boss sends him specifically to New York to fight crime (Brian and Winner, 2003). The role race plays in the film is evident when Kersey kills more black muggers with the intent of increasing the number of the white muggers. Race is used to indicate that most for the criminals in the setting were of the black origin and this necessitated the discriminative killing (Brian and Winner, 2003). Gender plays a significant role of indicating that the muggers targeted women in their criminal activities. This is evident from the killing of Kersey’s wife, rape of Kersey’s daughter and the killing of a young woman at the parking garage. In essence, gender is used to show that, women fall victims of the muggers’ criminal activities. Gender is represented as an indicator of the safety loophole. This implies that women needed more safety measures than their male counterparts (Brian and Winner, 2003). Class plays a key role of enhancing criminal activities. It is represented by drug barons who engage in a fierce competition in selling hard drugs such as cocaine. They kill each other’s accomplices. For instance, Zacharias gang competes with brothers Jack and Romero’s gang. This is an elite class but grossly involved in criminal activities. This leaves the society a rotten and unsafe place for peaceful dwelling (Brian and Winner, 2003). The film reflects the political situation of the society. There is no political willingness to solve the problems facing the subjects. The coordination between the police and the Kersey indicates a rotten political set up. The film reflects the aspects of racism in fighting crime and this extends to the broader perspective of a racist political milieu existing tin the society (Brian and Winner,

Security Essentials DB 4.3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Security Essentials DB 4.3 - Essay Example The world today faces many types of crimes in this age of the computer. The number of hackers driven by the urge to steal and embezzle funds is on the rise. In addition, computer crimes get more sophisticated with hackers working in organized groups to steal credit information, military secrets, funds and information pertaining to personal identity. Due to the prevalence of such crimes, IT security professionals spend much time dealing with the criminal aspects of the legislation than civil issues. Civil laws have limited connection to the security profession. It is because many civil cases concern intellectual property laws, which include trade secrets, trademarks, patents and copyrights. In several instances, these civil laws serve to protect the value of the corporation and other professional may handle them. The aspects governed by the civil laws were vital before the computer age. However, they do not engage security experts intensely in the contemporary issues facing firms today. Therefore, the criminal aspects of the law directly touch on the security profession in the modern word of

Applying Cue Utilization Theory

Applying Cue Utilization Theory Evaluating Website Quality: Applying Cue Utilization Theory to WebQual Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cue Utilization Theory is applied to examine the relative importance of each of the WebQual dimensions (Informational Fit-to-Task, Tailored Information, Trust, Response Time, Ease of Understanding, Intuitive Operations, Visual Appeal, Innovativeness, Emotional Appeal, Consistent Image, On-line Completeness, and Relative Advantage) in determining consumers evaluation of website quality. Two studies have been designed for this task. Study 1 qualifies how subjects rate the predictive value (PV) and confidence value (CV) of each dimension. An analysis of these results provides an ability to fit the WebQual dimensions to a 22 model showing the relative magnitude that each dimension has on consumers evaluation of website quality. Study 2 is designed to test the viability of the model via a set of proposed hypotheses. The results from this research will contribute to the field by providing a model that developers can utilize to focus on those characteristics most determi nistic of overall website quality. 1. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the last ten years, online shopping has become a prevalent part of the average consumers shopping experience. The consumer now has the ability to purchase virtually anything online; ranging from small-ticket items such as a rubber-band ball to bigticket items like vacation homes. With this increase in the online consumers purchasing power and propensity to purchase online, retailers have become increasingly willing to develop their e-commerce presence. Moreover, this explosion of Internet activity has prompted businesses to demand that website developers understand the qualities of a website that serve to facilitate the shopping experience for e-commerce consumers. At the same time, this growth of e-commerce has provided a virtual plethora of new options for crimes of opportunity such as identity theft. The online shopper has to worry not only about finding the perfect product, but they also have to evaluate the website to determine if they are willing to make a purchase from this site.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Valacich, Parboteeah and Wells [1] developed the Online Consumers Hierarchy of Needs to delineate the needs of the online consumer. Their model showed that certain fundamental needs exist that the online consumer must have met before they are willing to utilize a website. These fundamental needs are then further broken down into the specific website characteristic categories of Functional Convenience, Representational Delight and Structural Firmness. Functional Convenience is the category allowing the consumer to accomplish the task-athand easily and includes attributes, such as ease of ordering and tracking. Representational Delight is characterized by those dimensions that make the site visually appealing, such as graphics and sizing. Structural Firmness consists of fundamental qualities such as response time and security. Using this Hierarchy of Needs, a consumer interested in online banking would need to have their basic need for each of these characteristics met before they would be willing to use the website.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This Hierarchy of Needs model shows those characteristics that are necessary for a consumer to utilize a website, and further elaborates by showing which characteristics are most important depending on if the consumer is visiting the website for business, pleasure or a combination of the two [1]. Knowing these characteristics is important for development of the website, but also implies that the consumers level of confidence in evaluating these characteristics of a website is of particular importance to their overall assessment of a given websites quality. Traditional marketing literature suggests that when people make assessments of quality, they tend to use informational cues that are not only predictive, but also easy to assess. This is known as the Cue Utilization Theory [2], and has been paramount in evaluating consumers perceptions of product quality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This research project elaborates on consumers inability to evaluate all relevant cues during the online shopping experience. A model is developed using Cue Utilization Theory [2] and WebQual [3] to show the attributes of a website that are the most determinant of how a consumer will react to the website. This model will provide a deeper understanding of the evaluation of existing and proposed websites with respect to consumers confidence in evaluating the cues communicated by the website. 2. Cue Utilization Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Richardson, Dick and Jain [2] employed Cue Utilization Theory in their research to determine how consumers viewed store brand quality vs. nationally branded merchandise. According to this theory, â€Å" products consist of an array of cues that serve as surrogate indicators of quality to shoppers† [2]. This theory purports that cues are evoked by the two separate dimensions of predictive and confidence values. The predictive value (PV) is â€Å" the degree to which consumers associate a given cue with product quality† [2]. Confidence value (CV) is â€Å" the degree to which consumers have confidence in their ability to use and judge that cue accurately† [2].   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Further, based on relative differences in PV and CV, cues can be broken down into the distinct areas of extrinsic and intrinsic. The American Heritage dictionary describes intrinsic as, â€Å"Of or relating to the essential nature of a thing; inherent† [4] and extrinsic as, â€Å"not forming an essential or inherent part of a thing; extraneous.† [5] From this definition, an intrinsic attribute would be one that would fundamentally alter the focal object (e.g., product) if it was changed or absent and, per Cue Utilization Theory, would possess an inherently high degree of PV. Alternatively, an extrinsic attribute would be one that would not alter the fundamental nature of the focal object in its absence but might alter a consumers reaction or perceptions of the object. Per Cue Utilization theory, an extrinsic cue would typically have higher degrees of CV compared to PV.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For example, when looking at a video card on an e-commerce website it could be said that the product price is an example of an extrinsic attribute of the video card. While the video cards dimensions and material composition of the video card serve as intrinsic indicators. Further, you could postulate that the average consumer has a higher CV in their ability to judge the quality of the card based on the price rather than the material composition. Though the consumer knows that the dimensions and material composition of the card are important, they will tend to rely on price as an informational cue, as that is the cue that they feel the most comfortable evaluating.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When considering the quality of a website there are a myriad of dimensions that the consumer mustevaluate to determine if they intend to perform a transaction on this website. From the Valacich et al [1] article the consumers basic needs in terms of Structural Firmness, Functional Convenience and Representational Delight must all be met before the consumer will consider doing business. To determine if these needs are being met the consumer will evaluate the cues they perceive as being exhibited from the website. These cues can be further broken down into components by utilizing the WebQual model [3]. 3. WebQual   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  WebQual consists of 12 dimensions: Informational Fit-to-Task, Tailored Information, Trust, Response Time, Ease of Understanding, Intuitive Operations, Visual Appeal, Innovativeness, Emotional Appeal, Consistent Image, On-line Completeness, and Relative Advantage. Each of these dimensions is shown to have strong measurement validity in regards to the consumers evaluation of overall website quality [3].   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Information fit-to-task is an amalgamation of information quality and functional fit-to-task [3]. In component form, information quality refers to the datas appropriateness for use or ability to meet the users needs [6]. Functional Fit-to-Task can be represented as the degree the technology assists the user at a given task [7]. Drawing these two components back together as a whole and relating them to cyberspace lends credence to the definition that information fit-to-task is assisting the user in their desired task by presenting relevant/appropriate information. Loiacono, Chen, and Goodhue [8] define this as â€Å"The information provided meets task needs and improves performance†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ability for consumers to tailor the information displayed on a website to meet their needs is the basic form of Tailored Information. Tailored Information is further characterized by Ghose and Dou [9] as the interactivity of the website, and represents the consumers ability to modify information presented on the website. Recent research suggests that website interactivity will lead consumers to be more positive in their evaluation of websites [9]. This concept has also been operationalized as the ability to personalize information between the consumer and the website [8,10]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Trust, in relation to websites, is defined in an extremely simple form as consumers confidence that any information entered into the website will remain confidential and that said information will be transmitted and stored in a secure fashion [8]. Furthermore, trust is having faith that the information presented on the website is true and accurate [11,12]. Lack of Trust has been cited as one of the main hindrances to completion of e-commerce transactions [14,11,15]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Response Time (aka. download time or download delay) is defined by Rose and Straub [16] as â€Å" the time it takes for a web client to fully receive, process, and display files† (p. 56), and is ranked as one of the largest impediments to electronic commerce in their research. Additional research has reinforced that Response Time can be an impediment to e-Commerce, and that is it also strongly associated with web site success [17,18]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The consumers ease in comprehending the website is the Ease of Understanding. Loiacono et al. [8] describe this in terms of a websites ease of reading and the understandability of said website. This would include things like presenting the information in a manner which is easy for the consumer to assimilate, and in a fashion such that the consumer can quickly navigate to the desired information.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intuitive Operations deals with the usability of a website, and includes items such as navigability, link placement, operation, and changing the color of visited links [19]. Intuitive Operations could be thought of as making the webpage easy to navigate, and providing intuitive options for available tasks [8]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Visual Appeal is how aesthetically pleasing the website is to the consumer. Determining what is aesthetically pleasing is complicated though; it ranges from the overall complexity of the website [20] and the layout of the interface [21] to how many ads and graphics are appropriate on a given page[22]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Innovativeness is â€Å"The creativity and uniqueness of a site design† [8]. This could include concepts such as a website having a new way of presenting its merchandise (e.g. Woot.com) or a website attempting to tailor the information to consumer preferences (e.g. Amazon.com)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emotional Appeal can be elicited in many forms and can be thought of as the consumers intensity of involvement given the emotions that the website elicits [8]. This is often seen in the form of testimonials presented on the website, but can also be observed by simple things such as a consumers reaction to a Valentines Day card.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Loiacono et al. [8] articulate Consistent Image as the websites ability to project a company image that is compatible with the company image shown in other forms of media channels. For instance, a traditional brick-and-mortal store would want to ensure that their website was displaying a compatible image so that they could capitalize on synergies created by marketing in multiple channels such as cost savings, market extension and improved Trus [23].   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Presenting all the information required for the tasks that the website is designed for would be considered On-line Completeness. This would include tasks such as the ability to complete an online transaction on e-commerce sites. A bank for instance would want ubiquitous account access using all available channels, and the information presented in each of these channels has to be on the same update cycle as to present the customer the same information regardless of channel [6].   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Relative Advantage is gaining a competitive advantage by being able to do something better than the competition. This could come in the form of providing better interaction with the customer through the website [8], being able to provide more accurate and timely data through your website than the competition [6] or being able to price products lower than the competition because of reduced prices in your supply chain. Each of these dimensions is then tied back into the consumers intention to use/reuse the site. Trust and Response Time, being key indicators, are directly linked to the consumers intention to use the site. Common sense would tell us that consumers are not going to shop on a site that does not respond rapidly to requests. Likewise, if users dont trust the site to keep their information secure, they are not likely to supply the information in the first place. The remaining dimensions are all fully mediated by Usefulness, Ease of Use and Entertainment. Usefulness mediates Informational Fit-to-Task, Tailored Information, Online Completeness and Relative Advantage. Additionally, Ease of Use is partially mediated by Usefulness. Ease of Use mediates Ease of Understanding and Intuitive Operations. Finally, Entertainment mediates Visual Appeal, Innovativeness, Emotional Appeal and Consistent Image (See WebQual model in Figure 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consumers do not just browse a site and evaluate each of these individual traits though. Consumers instead tend to examine a website using those cues that they feel confident in their ability to evaluate successfully. To understand this issue further, WebQual needs to be combined with Cue Utilization Theory to explain the extrinsic/intrinsic nature of each of these dimensions. 4. Cue Utilization/WebQual Conceptual Model   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As Valacich et al [1] point out; consumers must have their basic level of needs met before any of the other elements of the website can become relevant to the consumers experience. To validate that these basic needs have been met, the consumer will evaluate those features that they believe to be highly predictive of the quality of the website. This evaluation will then be indicative of their willingness to continue to use the website.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both extrinsic and intrinsic cues serve a function in the consumers overall evaluation of the quality of a website, which means that such cues possess varying degrees of PV and CV. Literature has shown that consumers tend to use a combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic cues when evaluating the quality of a product [2]. An argument can be made about the extrinsic versus intrinsic nature of each of the dimensions in the WebQual model.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intrinsic cues are those cues that are inherent to a website. Conceptually they are the cues that when changed fundamentally alter a characteristic of the website (e.g. Visual Appeal). Consumers tend to see these cues as being highly predictive of quality [2]. At the same time, consumers may or may not have a high degree of confidence in their ability to evaluate these intrinsic cues because these cues are often difficult to differentiate. Thus, assuming a Cue Utilization Theory perspective, a website characteristic that is perceived to be an intrinsic cue would have an inherently high degree of PV. Yet, the power of an intrinsic cue for assessments of quality will depend on the CV of the cue, with higher levels of CV being optimal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Extrinsic cues are those cues that are used to evaluate a website but are not an inherent part of the website (e.g. Response Time). Consumers tend to have a lot of confidence in their ability to evaluate these cues in regards to assessment of quality [2]. On [the other hand, consumers typically do not rate these cues as being highly predictive (as compared to intrinsic cues) of the overall quality of the website. Considering extrinsic cues from a Cue Utilization Theory perspective, a website characteristic that is perceived to be an extrinsic cue would have an inherently high degree of CV.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shown in Table 1 is a 22 matrix representing how each of the combinations of CV and PV will influence consumers willingness to perform tasks on a given website. As shown, characteristics with high CV and high PV are believed to have the largest effect on consumers perceptions of website quality. Those with low CV and PV would have a small to none existent effect, and those high on one dimension but low on the other would have a moderate effect. Next, we will posit about how varying degrees of cue PVs and CVs, respectively, will affect consumer perceptions of overall website quality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Relative Advantage is often considered an important aspect of websites as discussed previously. However, from a Cue Utilization Theory perspective the consumer may experience, at most, only a vague feeling about the Relative Advantage of the website. As such they would not place much value in their confidence in assessing this characteristic, which would result in a low CV. Along the same lines the average consumer would also not really take Relative Advantage into consideration when they were performing tasks, implying a relatively low level of PV. Thus, website characteristics that fall into the quadrant in the model with low levels of both PV and CV would have a small impact on consumers willingness to perform tasks on a website. H1: A website characteristic with low CV low PV will produce a small to none existent effect on the consumers perception of website quality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A characteristic such as Trust is highly predictive of consumers willingness to use a website, but the average consumer may not have much confidence in their ability to evaluate this characteristic. Trust in an online medium has been shown to be an attribute that is hard for the consumer to evaluate and in some cases to even define. Cue Utilization Theory suggests that though this characteristic is highly predictive of website quality, consumers lack of confidence in evaluating the characteristic may inhibit their ability to use the characteristic to assess the quality of the website. Moreover, dimensions in this quadrant, high PV/Low CV, have been shown to be relatively intrinsic to the website [2], and will have a moderate effect on the consumers evaluation of the websites quality. H2a: A website characteristic with low CV high PV will produce a moderate effect on consumers perception of website quality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One could reason that Response Time is a good example of an extrinsic attribute because it is not part of the inherent composition of the website. Rather, Response Time could be considered extrinsic because it can vary without changing anything about the content of the website. Rose and Straub [16] have shown in their research that consumers tend to attribute lack of responsiveness to extrinsic factors such as the overall speed of the internet, their own internet connection being slow, or other factors. In general, consumers seem to be willing to give the website the benefit of the doubt when slow response times are encountered, and as such, Response Time could be considered extrinsic to the website because it doesnt fundamental change the consumers perception of the website when it is altered. Based on Cue Utilization theory attributes with a low PV and high CV (such as Response Time) will only have a moderate influence on the consumers evaluations of website qua lity, and those dimensions belonging to this quadrant would be extrinsic to the website [2]. H2b: A website characteristic with high CV low PV will produce a moderate effect on consumers perception of website quality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cue Utilization Theory suggests that those characteristics with High CV and PV are the most highly predictive of consumers perception of website quality. Visual Appeal could be considered an intrinsic attribute because it is a characteristic inherent to the website that consumers are confident in using to evaluate website quality. One could further speculate that Visual Appeal is intrinsic to the website because if the Visual Appeal of the website was changed it would alter the inherent nature of the website. Lindgaard, Fernandes, Dudek, and Browà ± [24] have shown in their research that consumers form opinions about websites within the first 50 milliseconds (ms) of exposure. Furthermore, this initial perception of websites is almost entirely based on Visual Appeal; this was shown by correlating the ratings between 50 ms and 500 ms. However, though this attribute is intrinsic it shows an optimally high level of CV and PV thus placing it firmly into the high impac t quadrant. Dimensions in this quadrant would exhibit the optimal balance between PV and CV (i.e., an optimal intrinsic cue), and as such this quadrant of the table is hypothesized to have the largest impact on the consumers evaluation of the websites quality. H3: A website characteristic with high CV high PV will produce the largest effect on consumers perception of website quality. 5. Research Method   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To test these hypotheses two empirical studies will be administered. Study 1 is designed to determine where each of the WebQual dimensions fit into the 22 model shown in Table 1. Furthermore, this study is designed to determine if a significant difference can be perceived to exist between each of the dimensions when rank ordered by PV and CV. Study 2 will test the hypotheses by collecting data on each of these dimensions using a sample website, and comparing actual results to those found in the first study. 5.1 Study 1   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This study will focus on determining the CV and PV for each of the 12 dimensions of website quality, and determining if there is a significant difference between adjacent dimensions when rank ordered. 5.1.1 Subjects. Approximately 500 subjects will be recruited from an introductory Information Systems class held on campus at a large Northwestern University. Additionally, approximately 125 subjects will also be recruited from a distance education class offered by the same university. Subjects physically present on campus will complete the survey during their regular lecture times, and the distance education participants will have one week to complete the survey on their own personal computer. All data for Study 1 will be collected during the fall of 2009. Subjects will be given course credit for completing the survey, and no other incentives will be provided. 5.1.2 Survey Procedure. The survey is broken into two sections, one for CV and one for PV. In the CV section subjects are presented with a scenario about shopping on the Internet and asked about their confidence in assessing each of the 12 WebQual dimensions when shopping on the Internet for a product (e.g. Amazon.com) or Service (e.g. Bank of America). For this series of questions, the subjects will be required to rate each of the 12 WebQual dimensions on a 10-point likert-type scale with Confident/Not Confident being the top and bottom end of the scale. Finally, the subjects are asked to rank order the dimensions from the ones they have the highest confidence in assessing to the ones they have the least confidence in assessing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second section is designed to measure the PV of each of the 12 dimensions. Subjects are put in a hypothetical situation where they are in charge of designing a website for their employer. The first step towards designing the website is to decide the relative importance of each of the twelve dimensions in regards to consumers evaluation of the overall website quality. For this series of questions, the subjects will be required to rate each of the 12 dimensions on a 10-point likert-type scale with Important/Not Important being the top and bottom end of the scale. The subjects are then asked to rank order each of the 12 dimensions with respect to how predictive of website quality the subject believes each dimension to be. 5.1.3 Data Analysis. Aggregating the results of this data collection will allow each of the dimensions to be mapped to a CV and PV scale. Based on the relative PV and CV scores, each of the dimensions will be integrated into the 22 matrix shown in Table 1. Furthermore, the relative magnitude of each dimension will indicate the relative effect each dimension will have on the overall rating of website quality. 5.2 Study 2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This study will utilize subjects from an introductory Information Systems class taught in the fall of 2009. Approximately 500 students will participate. This study will focus on first determining the overall quality attributed to a website by the subjects, and secondly how the subjects rate each of the twelve WebQual dimensions for each website. Using regression analysis, we should then be able to show that the model accurately predicts the website quality based on the rating of each of the 12 dimensions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Furthermore, the pattern of results from this study will examine how well the WebQual dimensions fit to the quadrant they were assigned in Study 1, and that the model developed in Study 1 is predictive of the responses received in Study 2. Those dimensions that serve as the highest-level indicators of website quality should be rated the highest by the subjects, and those that are the lowest should be rated likewise. Ideally, this study should provide significant support for each of the proposed hypotheses, and indicate which of the dimensions should be of highest consideration when constructing a high quality website. Initial data for both of these studies should be ready to share at the conference, should the paper be accepted. 6. Discussion and Potential Contribution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As shown in the model, the most important considerations when developing a website are those attributes that reside in the high CV and high PV quadrant. Online businesses should pay particular attention to the characteristics in this quadrant, as the consumer will tend to utilize these dimensions the most when determining the overall quality of the website. All businesses seeking to perform transactions within the e-commerce channel should pay heed to these recommendations, but online retailers need to pay particular attention, as this is the primary channel through which they produce revenue.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Of secondary importance to consumers are the Low CV/High PV and High CV/Low PV quadrants. If an online business seeks to capitalize on one of the dimensions within these quadrants, they need to pay particular attention to how they will nudge the consumer into using these dimensions for evaluation of website quality. This could potentially be accomplished through educational campaigns or marketing literature. Finally, the low CV/Low PV quadrant is of limited value to the online retailer, and should be removed from consideration when developing a website. This article seeks to contribute to the field by providing a model that can be used to enable web developers to effectively predict the overall quality of a website based on its design. In following this model, the developer will need to pay particular attention to those attributes that are highly predictive, from the consumers viewpoint, of overall website quality, and as such, the website should be designed in a fashion that encourages the consumer to conduct transactions. Additionally, the consumer will be motivated to perform future transactions from this website because they are familiar with the layout and possess a high confidence in the overall quality of the website. 7. Limitations and Future Research   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The primary limitation of this model is that it is an untested conceptual model. The assumptions contained herein are as of yet ungrounded in solid empirical evidence; furthermore, this model was designed around e-commerce websites designed to sell products to end consumers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Future research could delve into decomposing those elements that are the most highly predictive of website quality. This research could take each dimension and decompose them to their base elements to discover what it is about the dimension that makes it highly predictive of website quality. Additionally, the extrinsic/intrinsic nature of each of the dimensions could be explored to determine how a company can best capitalize on these dimensions when trying to sell the consumer on the quality of their website. Either of these approaches could prove invaluable to the field, as they will begin to give the developer a specific set of principles to follow when developing a high quality website. 8. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cue Utilization Theory is a concept that has been used in marketing for years to determine why consumers react differently to a given product. The author of this article has overlaid Cue Utilization theory upon WebQual to design a model that is predictive of the dimensions serving to form the consumers overall feel for the quality of a website. Using this model, website designers will be able to build a website that consumers will be more confident in assessing the quality of, and as such, the consumer will gain confidence in performing transactions on this website. 9. References J.S. Valacich, D.V. Parboteeah, and J.D. Wells, â€Å"The online consumers hierarchy of needs,† Commun. ACM, Vol. 50, No. 9, pp. 84-90, 2007. P.S. Richardson, A.S. Dick, and A.K. Jain, â€Å"Extrinsic and intrinsic cue effects on perceptions of store brand quality.,† Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, No. 4, p. 28, Oct. 1994. E.T. Loiacono, R.T. Watson, and D.L. 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