Android-based English Grammar Checker with Voice Recognition

Android-based English Grammar Checker with Voice Recognition Unique In this paper, the Researchers depict an Android-based Voice Recognition framework that goes about as a punctuation checker explicitly outfitted to the requirements of non-local speakers who are happy to learn and be acclimated with English language. This paper likewise looks at how wrong use of sentence structure can influence the correspondence of individuals both orally and recorded as a hard copy. Most business syntax checkers available today are intended to be utilized by local speakers of a language who have great instincts about their own language ability. These apparatuses were made to help local speakers who were not familiar with other language, along these lines making their yields syntactically right. Be that as it may, these blunders fluctuate from each other, the motivation behind why distinctive sentence structure checkers are intended for various explicit needs. The sentence structure checking segment utilizes island handling as opposed to a full parse. This methodolo gy is both fast and fitting when a content contains numerous mistakes. In this exploration, it means to build up a total voice-based English language structure checker application that will help non-local speakers that need to learn and to communicate in English smoothly. The focal point of this paper is the language checking segment. This methodology is both valuable and increasingly effective, since it legitimately revises the syntax by making an interpretation of the voice into text. The framework additionally utilized Internet Search Engines that will give instances of how the substance of the voice into text fragment can be communicated in a syntactically right and informal manner. This application can help individuals making some hard memories in communicating utilizing the English Language. Catchphrases Voice Recognition, Grammar Checker, Android, Natural Language Processing, Mobile, Application, Vocabulary, Grammar Presentation One of the normal reasons of miscommunication is because of wrong selection of words, coming about to helpless language. Helpless sentence structure later aftereffects of miscommunication or more terrible, somebody with awful language was frequently offended or disgraced by individuals. To stay away from these, word-preparing frameworks are created right now as of now incorporate language checkers that are utilized to find diverse syntactic blunders in a book. These instruments were made to help local speakers who were not familiar with another dialect, subsequently making their yields linguistically right. It is additionally expected to assist its specialists with writing writings in English, which isn't their language. Despite the fact that their order of the language is commonly satisfactory, the greater part of them don't feel certain about their accuracy and the expressiveness of their composition. Notwithstanding, these mistakes shift from each other, the motivation behind why diverse language checkers are intended for various explicit needs. Web gives an endless number of archives in English so the fundamental capacity of the checker is the utilization of an Internet web crawler that distinguishes the content portions that are not found on any pages. In any case, the majority of these apparatuses were expected to assist local speakers with checking their English sentence structure, however shouldn't something be said about Filipino and different residents who are not conversant in communicating in English Language? How might one point out their sentence structure botches when they are attempting to compose a paper in our language? We structured an Android application for sentence structure checking in English Language by utilizing voice acknowledgment. This android application means to help the clients that needs to learn English Language fluidly and simultaneously, it can assist with improving their English jargon and punctuation. The framework will require the client to record a voice message. After the account, the framework will make an interpretation of the message into text. There will be two fastens, the record again and go. In the event that the content yield isn't right, the client should press the record again button and if the content yield is right, the client can continue. The framework will presently check the sentence structure. For instance, the client recorded â€Å"Matt like Fish†. The content yield was right, so the client squeezed go. The framework will currently process the syntax checking and following a couple of moments, the framework will give the remedied outcome by means of text yield which is â€Å"Matt likes Fish.† So as to discover the normal mistakes typically done by clients, we directed an overview among expected clients around the New Era University, explicitly some Filipino understudies who are somewhat battling with regards to communicating in English easily. We positioned the outcomes by rate with the goal that we comprehend what we ought to concentrate on. A sum of 30 respondents took part in the study. Depiction OF THE COMPONENTS Web crawler Language structure Checker Web Search motor The checker utilized the Wordnet 3.0 motor, a lexical database for the English Language. It organizes English words into sets of equivalents called synsets. The motors used to discover the query items for a book fragment are Google and Yahoo. Syntax Checker Some portion of a framework that check composed content for linguistic accuracy. The execution of a syntax checker utilizes Natural Language Processing. When the language structure checker has been dynamic, the content which depends on the voice recorded by the client will experience various stages. It is isolated into sentences and words. The individual words are then turned upward in the web. It incorporates all the words that happen in the framework with all its conceivable use. Approach The table shows the consequences of the study. With this table, we are presently educated about the regular errors that the potential clients may submit. This table will assist us with distinguishing and to concentrate more on the most widely recognized blunder to help the clients all the more productively. The normal mistake that had the most noteworthy rate is the ill-advised structure of English sentences. Next is the inappropriate utilization of action words. Third is an inappropriate characterization of Noun. Fourth is the inappropriate mixes of specific words, fifth is inaccurate utilization of Adjectives and ultimately, is ill-advised utilization of Adverbs. This application will enable the clients to build English sentences which are syntactically right. Along these lines, the clients will gain proficiency with their errors and simultaneously, figure out how to talk and write in English smoothly. The accompanying table gives the rates of mistakes found in the reviews led. Table 1. Mistake Percentage Framework ARCHITECTURE Figure 1 Grammar Checker Architecture Figure 1 shows the design of the framework. It shows the progression of the framework and how the framework functions and furthermore how to pick up and give a potential yield of the application. Figure 1.2 Voice Recognition In this image, it shows the pressure of the user’s recorded voice and makes an interpretation of it into text. The framework will perceive the voice and checks its punctuation all the while. From that point onward, the client will currently discover his/her mix-ups and the framework will give the right syntax. Technique RELATED WORKS Programmed voice acknowledgment has a long history discourse handling. Programmed discourse recognitioncan bedefinedas the free, PC driven interpretation of communicated in language into meaningful content continuously (Stuckless, 1994). There is a ton of exploration has been accomplished for Android applications including Speech Analysis and Natural Language Processing. Voice Recognition today is as yet improving as extra uses for the innovation are created. The applied voice examination to finish up exercises occurred around a client. Voice Recognition Technology can set up to rely upon instruments known as language structure models that help limit the information required to perceive the signs. Plan AND ALGORITHM ANALYSIS The eCheck: An Android-based English Grammar Checker Using Voice Recognition is intended to guide and help Filipino residents, yet in addition others that need to learn English smoothly and simultaneously, improve their English jargon and language aptitudes. Framework OVERVIEW As expressed in this investigation, the Researchers applied indistinguishable essential standards from they have embraced previously, in any case, the Researchers thought about a graph to show the progression of the framework and to show how our application work. The Researchers additionally attempted to quantify the association of each sentence in the message of the arrangement of classes in our examination. When the sentence structure checker has been actuated, the content which depends on the voice recorded by the client will experience various stages. It is isolated into sentences and words. The individual words are then gazed upward in the word reference (see Burnage 1990). It incorporates all the words that happen in the framework with all its conceivable utilization. There are a few words that are the equivalent, yet has an alternate significance. In this sense our word reference is anything but a disentangled sort. It is huge yet essentially a shorter rendition. End/RECOMMENDATIONS The ability and unwavering quality of the Voice Recognition innovation have been ever-developing. With more consideration and execution into the world’s most regular working gadgets, this innovation will keep on creating. The Overall assessment of this application is useful, particularly to the Filipino residents. This application can create information that can offer responses to their language structure and talking worries, With the progression of innovation, doing a sentence structure check and spelling is simpler than you might suspect. It no longer requires hitting the books and having bunches of thesauruses or word references within reach. The Researchers suggest this application for non-local speakers making some hard memories in communicating utilizing the English Language.This application can be utilized for the business and exchanges that expects them to talk in English. Since this application can assist them with learning increasingly about the English Language by simply and by knowing the syntax legitimate and the correct way to express it. There are numerous highlights of English that make it fun and fascinating to learn. The Researchers additionally prescribe this application to Everyone who needs to get familiar with the correct syntax in English, for them to improve, to acquire information and to completely create t

International Trade Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Universal Trade Law - Essay Example The analyst of this exposition depicts the improvement of the traditions associations and unhindered commerce territories that holds fast to Article XXIV of GATT that additionally creates a creation impact that outcomes in love effective utilization of world assets. Killing the levy boundaries implies having the option to contend with lower-cost and increasingly effective makers. Wasteful local makers drop out of the market bringing about a decrease in home yield. Albeit a traditions association may add to world government assistance by method of exchange creation, its exchange enhancement impact for the most part infers a government assistance misfortune. The arrangement of a traditions association will expand the government assistance of its individuals just as the remainder of the world, if the positive exchange creation more that balances the negative exchange preoccupation impact. In extraordinary situations where the association is comprised of the whole world, there can just e xist exchange creation and not exchange preoccupation. The extent of exchange preoccupation is littler when the traditions union’s normal outer duty is lower. The progress for a Market-Oriented Economy, that was portrays in the paper requires surrendering responsibility for possessed properties and evacuating focal arranging frameworks for respectable expectations for everyday comforts. Hence, to keep up solid market economies would require: foundation of sound financial and money related approaches; evacuating value controls; opening economies to serious market powers; setting up private property rights and a lawful framework to ensure those rights; and lessening government inclusion in the economy for an open exchange.

Impact of Climate Change on Food Security Free Essays

[pic] CASESTUDY: SOLOMON ISLANDS NAME: LIZZIE IMMACULATE. TEGU ID #: S11053489 Course Code: GE302 DUE DATE: week - 13-2011 Lecturer: Dr. Tamarisi Yabaki INTRODUCTION Agricultural division was the most significant segment for the economy. We will compose a custom article test on Effect of Climate Change on Food Security or on the other hand any comparable point just for you Request Now It represents roughly 30% of the GDP. Rural fare is a significant wellspring of fare profit and it is the primary wellspring of work and job in the provincial territories. Horticulture comprises of three sub-parts: means smallholder cultivating, a business sub-segment, and huge manors (Central Bank of Solomon Islands, 2006, Annual Report 2005). Then again, the atmosphere of the Solomon Islands is changing and individuals are currently encountering expanded in power or seriousness of extraordinary occasions like typhoons, storm floods, floods and dry spells. These outrageous occasions are making significant harm agribusiness and related foundation with negative effect on food creation. In which, There is expanding worry over the results of environmental change on food creation among the Pacific Island Countries, Solomon Islands for example. As of now, the changing climate designs is having a few impacts soil ripeness, nuisances and maladies, expanded warmth weight on plants, changes in precipitation and soil dampness, salt water attack from rising ocean levels and expanded harm on agribusiness and harvests from outrageous climate occasions (Baragamu, G. 2008). Indeed, in this report it will concentrate on the impacts of environmental change on the farming development in Solomon Islands. In any case, the examination will amass took a gander at the food security and land explicitly separated from domesticated animals, fisheries, and ranger service as a piece of farming too. In addition, the exploration sees how impacts of atmosphere changes influence land , and result in reduce of food yields, for example, taro, banana, yams, Pineapple, coconut, etc. Articulation of the difficult Well, this exploration venture will basically concentrate on the environmental change and its impact on the rural development in SIDS. The issue that this examination attempted to discover it out is that, how do the SIDS will adapt to exceptional impact of environmental change if there is no enough land left for horticulture to extend, for instance low-lying lands are secured because of ocean level ascent Ontong Java for occasions. And furthermore what occurred if the harvests are influenced because of expanded of temperature, and dampness where it urge the plants to cease to exist because of absence of underground water, and furthermore urge of irritations to harm the yields, while it decrease the rural creations in the nation. It prompts ruin of the GDP of the economy, neediness that individuals will understanding. In which it is an issue for Solomon Islands, in this way these exploration will research on the issue, and accompany a potential answers for help them to manage issue. Essentialness of the examination The criticalness of this exploration is that, to discover the most issues, and difficulties that face by the Solomon Islands as far as their rural extension as aftereffect of environmental change, and how it end the farming advancement at the network premise or level and to give some potential answers for help them to adapt to the evolving atmosphere. Foundation INFROMATION The nation had an expected populace of 508,000, there were nine regions in the nation Malaita is the most crowded and Renbel the least crowded. The number of inhabitants in Solomon Islands is transcendently Melanesian (about 95%) despite the fact that there are littler Polynesian, Micronesian, Chinese and European people group ( Solomon Islands national enumeration measurement, 2007). Also, the economy is to a great extent subject to horticulture, ranger service, and angling. For a high extent of the populace (fundamentally town based), the Solomon Islands economy includes the creation of means nourishments and different things for individual utilization. The principle thing of creation for money at the town level is copra (the dried substance of coconut), yet in addition huge in certain territories is cocoa, advertise vegetables and marine items including fish and shells. Fare wares incorporate gold, copra, wood and fish items, and cocoa (Judith A. Bennett 1978) Solomon Islands is a low-lying seaside nation that has comparable reasonable improvement challenges, including little populace, remoteness, defenselessness to catastrophic events, helplessness to outside stuns, and over the top reliance on global exchange and remote guide. Furthermore, Solomon Islands have specific issues and worries in managing the impacts of environmental change, fluctuation and extraordinary occasions, and Climate change will be a significant obstacle to the accomplishment of supportable improvement in Solomon Islands. As all monetary and social areas are probably going to be unfavorably influenced, and the expense of adjustment will be lopsidedly high, comparative with (GDP) (World Bank, 2000). Geological LOCATION INFORMATION The Solomon Islands is situated between scopes 5o South and 12o South and longitudes 1520 East and 1630 East in the Pacific Ocean, incorporating an absolute land territory of 28, 785 square kilometers (km-2) and an Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) of 1. 34 million km-2. The land territory of the Solomon Islands comprises of a twofold chain of six huge islands that make up complete 997 islands. The twofold chain of islands is depicted as a divided island bend arranged along the limit between the Ontong Java Plateau-Central Pacific Basin and the Solomon Sea-Woodlark-Torres Basins. A composite bowl isolates the twofold chain of islands that make up the fundamental archipelago of the Solomon Islands and is the fragment of the Melanesian Island curve complex that isolates the Pacific Ocean from the Coral Sea and Solomon Sea (Geography. about Solomon 2005). Guide of Solomon Islands [pic] Source:http://maps. google. com/maps? hl=enbiw=1276bih=820bav=on. 2,or. r_gc. r_pw. wrapid=tlif130062192869311q=google+map+of+solomon) OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH †¢ To discover the impacts of environmental change on the horticultural creation explicitly on the food security. To see if the stop of farming extension influence the employment and country all in all. †¢ To discover the difficulties or issues that Solomon Islanders or ranchers were looking because of environmental change. †¢ To decide adjustment and alleviation methodologies to adapt with the impact of environmental change, nearby and national level. Writing REVIEW According to Kenneth M, and Joel S (1995 ), they featured that agrarian creation could diminish in numerous nations, low-lying land; especially in deltas could immersed via ocean level ascent. Accordingly, they said that, environmental change could make creating nations fall farther behind created nations. In which they give models, that rural yield in many creating might be diminished by environmental change contrasted with what it would be without it, while many created countries could have expanded yield, since high reliance on atmosphere delicate frameworks, and fast populace development, cause creating nations will be more powerless against environmental change than created nations. Other than that, he notice that, nations with enormous farming creations in deltas, for example, Egypt, Bangladesh, and China are especially powerless for a 1m ocean level ascent, in which he individuals will be in danger since they rely upon agribusiness for food and financial purposes. In which Solomon Islands experience the comparative issues as expressed by the two creators. All things considered, notwithstanding that, in the coming decades, some low-lying zones, and plain zones in Solomon Islands will very likely experience the ill effects of progressively visit and serious dry spells and floods, which will diminish yields and conceivably fuel woodland leeway. Besides, as indicated by Aalbersberg, W. , Nun, P. D. , and Ravuvu, A. D. (1993), expressed that environmental change has the extraordinary impact on horticulture it could be said that expanded temperatures will cause heat weight on numerous plants, and expanded dissipation may prompt expanded dry season, particularly in drier regions during the dry season. Other than that, expanded climatic carbon dioxide will build plant development; quicker development will likewise decrease time development. This could diminish yields and maybe food esteems. Weeds will likewise become quicker, rivaling plants for water and soil supplements, and zones of agribusiness would move. Because of warming upland territory could be planted with crops that already couldn't be developed there. Ocean level ascent will guarantee beach front land that is right now for horticulture through immersion or salination where it influence the development of farming while it cause the cost to quicken, and the economy of the SIDS will be drop. To more degree, different variables influencing rural yield may change in a hotter, increasingly sticky south-west Pacific. The event of farming irritations may build causing lower yields and expanded misfortune during capacity. His summarize with one articulation which is,† Farmers are probably going to be less beneficial as temperature and mugginess increase†. All things considered, there are ways that the creators feature to moderate environmental change as far as agribusiness, for instance Network universally, it was worldwide research to discover cultivars that are less delicate to warmth, salt and dry spell pressure, and it required mechanical improvements that help us the pacific to address these issues. In any case, it isn't appropriate for the Solomon Islands for example, since it was over the top expensive in sense that it expected experts to manage this sort of investigation and very interest. And furthermore, they didn’t seen the basic issues of protection from heat, salt since pacific islands are encircled by seas, and despite the fact that they discover those cultivars yet they don't suite the atmosphere conditions in the pacific. The hole of t

The Invention of the Cotton Gin and Its Historic Impact

The Invention of the Cotton Gin and Its Historic Impact The cotton gin, protected by American-brought into the world conceived creator Eli Whitney in 1794, upset the cotton business by extraordinarily accelerating the dull procedure of expelling seeds and husks from cotton fiber. Like today’s huge machines, Whitney’s cotton gin utilized snares to draw natural cotton through a little work screen that isolated the fiber from seeds and husks. As one of the numerous developments made during the American Industrial Revolution, the cotton gin enormously affected the cotton business, and the American economy, particularly in the South. Tragically, it additionally changed the essence of the slave exchange - for the more awful. How Eli Whitney Learned About Cotton Conceived on December 8, 1765, in Westborough, Massachusetts, Eli Whitney was raised by a cultivating father, a capable technician, and innovator himself. In the wake of moving on from Yale College in 1792, Eli moved to Georgia, subsequent to tolerating a challenge to live on the manor of Catherine Greene, the widow of an American Revolutionary War general. On her estate named Mulberry Grove, close to Savannah, Whitney educated of the challenges cotton cultivators confronted attempting to get by. While simpler to develop and store than food crops, cotton’s seeds were difficult to isolate from the delicate fiber. Compelled to carry out the responsibility by hand, every specialist could pick the seeds from close to around one pound of cotton for each day. Soon after finding out about the procedure and the issue, Whitney had fabricated his first working cotton gin. Early forms of his gin, albeit little and hand-turned, were effectively duplicated and could expel the seeds from 50 pounds of cotton in a solitary day. Authentic Significance of the Cotton Gin The cotton gin made the cotton business of the south detonate. Beforeâ its innovation, isolating cotton filaments from its seeds was a work serious and unbeneficial adventure. After Eli Whitney disclosed hisâ cotton gin, preparing cotton turned out to be a lot simpler, bringing about more noteworthy accessibility and less expensive material. Be that as it may, the creation likewise had the result of expanding the quantity of slaves expected to pick the cotton and accordingly fortifying the contentions for proceeding with subjugation. Cotton as a money crop turned out to be essential to such an extent that it was known as King Cotton and influenced legislative issues up until the Civil War. A Booming Industry Eli Whitneys cotton gin altered a basic advance of cotton handling. The subsequent increment in cotton productionâ dovetailed with other Industrial Revolution developments, to be specific the steamer, which extraordinarily expanded the delivery pace of cotton, just as apparatus that spun and wove cotton considerably more productively than it had been done before. These and different headways, also the expanded benefits created by the higher creation rates, sent the cotton business on a galactic direction. By the center of the 1800s, the United States created more than 75 percent of the universes cotton, and 60 percent of the countries all out fares originated from the South. A large portion of those fares were cotton. A significant part of the South’s out of nowhere expanded amount of prepared to-weave cotton was sent out toward the North, quite a bit of it bound to take care of the New England material factories. The Cotton Gin and Slaveryâ At the point when he kicked the bucket in 1825, Whitney had never understood that the innovation for which he is most popular today had really added to the development of bondage and, to a certain extent, the Civil War. While his cotton gin had diminished the quantity of laborers expected to expel the seeds from the fiber, it really expanded the quantity of slaves the ranch proprietors expected to plant, develop, and gather the cotton. Because of the cotton gin, developing cotton turned out to be productive to such an extent that manor proprietors continually required more land and slave work to fulfill the expanding need for the fiber. From 1790 to 1860, the quantity of U.S. states where servitude was drilled developed from six to 15. From 1790, until Congress restricted the importation of slaves from Africa in 1808, the slave states imported more than 80,000 Africans. By 1860, the year prior to the flare-up of the Civil War, roughly one of every three inhabitants of the Southern states was a slave. Whitneys Other Invention: Mass-Production In spite of the fact that patent law questions kept Whitney from fundamentally benefitting from his cotton gin, he was granted a U.S. government in 1789 to deliver 10,000 black powder guns in two years, various rifles at no other time worked in such a brief timeframe. At that point, firearms were manufactured each in turn by gifted skilled workers, in this way bringing about weapons each made of one of a kind parts and troublesome, if not difficult to fix. Whitney, in any case, built up an assembling procedure utilizing normalized indistinguishable and exchangeable parts that both sped creation and rearranged fix. While it took Whitney approximately 10 years, instead of two to satisfy his agreement, his strategies for utilizing normalized parts that could be amassed and fixed by generally untalented specialists brought about his being credited with spearheading the advancement of America’s modern arrangement of large scale manufacturing. - Updated by Robert Longley

Historical Milestones in Production and Operations Management Essay

Authentic Milestones in Production and Operations Management - Essay Example While the procedure included may fluctuate from association to association contingent upon the idea of yield be it substantial item or elusive assistance, the basic components of creation and activity the board is worried about the administration of information throughput-yield process adequately and proficiently Operation Management can, subsequently, be characterized as â€Å"the the executives of the change procedure, which changes over land, work, capital and the board contributions to wanted yields of products and services†. The movement of terms utilized for this administration work throughout the hundreds of years as assembling the executives, creation the executives, and tasks the board, is a decent sign of the advancement procedure it has experienced and the recorded achievements it has accomplished which will be the focal point of assessment in this article. The starting points of activities the board can be followed to the Industrial Revolution time which started du ring the 1700s in England. The fundamental highlights of the progressions which occurred during this time were the Centralized creation, Powered apparatus, and idea of Factory creation. One of the milestone accomplishments of this time was the steam motor being created by James Watt in 1764, which gave another wellspring of vitality to control the manufacturing plant idea. Another key achievement which upset the control was the 1776 production of Adam Smith’s fundamental work referred to normally as â€Å"The Wealth of Nations† which proposed the monetary advantages related with specialization of work. His proposal was that work ought to be separated to subtasks, and relegated to laborers where they got spent significant time in playing out this undertakings with proficiency through monotonous execution. As the mechanical transformation picked up force and spread to different pieces of the world, Eli Whitney from America built up the idea of â€Å"Interchangeable part s† in 1970, establishing the framework for volume creations and normalized parts and the beginning of enormous scope manufacturing plants in enterprises, for example, material. By the mid-1800s, the conventional assembling frameworks related with bungalow and craftsman creations was totally supplanted by industrial facility frameworks which likewise got new difficulties, for example, dealing with the workforce and the board of value issues.  â â â â

Word of the Week! Arriviste Richmond Writing

Word of the Week! Arriviste Richmond Writing Last weeks parvenu provides an excellent example of a loan-word from French. English has so many of these terms that they merit their own category at the blog. Last weeks word was not quite as nasty as this also rare term, so I love it! To quote the OED, the arriviste persistently strives to advance his or her position, social status, etc., esp. to an extent considered ruthless or unscrupulous; spec. one who has recently or rapidly advanced to a social group for which he or she is considered unfit or unworthy.   We can use the term as noun or adjective. Such unwelcome and unhealthy ambition! Theres no sugar-coating our Word of the Week this time. Parvenus could, I suppose, simply want to join the crowd. Arrivistes simply do not belong. They will use any means to get in. I suppose we smile upon the parvenu who behaves well, but we should beware the arriviste. Think of the classic film  All About Eve. Things do not end well. Please send us words and metaphors useful in academic writing by e-mailing me (jessid -at- richmond -dot- edu) or leaving a comment below. See all of our Metaphors of the Month  here  and Words of the Week  here. Film image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Christian Duty and Religious Doubt in The Song of Roland and The Canterbury Tales - Literature Essay Samples

The Middle Ages were marked by religious upheaval in Europe. Two new major world religions were coming to power: Islam and Christianity. The rapid success of Christianity led the Roman Catholic Church to become the dominant religious force in most of the western world, and as with any powerful institution, it became increasingly corrupt (Swanson 409). As Lillian Bisson writes in Chaucer and the Late Medieval World, [the] Medieval church . . . was a collection of competing factions with often contradictory agendas (49). The churchs internal conflict led to public mistrust in religious authority (51-53). Expanding on Bissons observations, this paper will describe the development of religious doubt in Medieval Europe and note how it characterizes the literature of the period. Comparing two of the foremost texts of the Middle Ages the anonymous epic The Song of Roland and Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales I argue that the latter work registers a profound mistrust of religious authority that is not present in the former. The different images the two texts present of the church, I suggest, distinguishes The Song of Roland and the Canterbury tales as, respectively, early-Medieval and late-Medieval works.Three developments contributed to the rise of Christian doubt in the Middle Ages: the persecution of heretics, the Black Plague, and The Great Schism. As Bisson describes, the Catholic Church became increasingly powerful as it became inseparable from government. When the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, the church gained influence rapidly and a new doctrinal hierarchy began to develop in place of the former communal character of the church (52). Individuals who did not accept Catholic doctrine were either dismissed as subhuman, or if they lived in what came to be called Christendom persecuted as heretics. Eventually, the laity and especially the middle and lower classes developed a sense of distrust for the church. Members of the cl ergy who became church leaders for money and status rather than religious conviction routinely abused their power. The general public noticed these abuses and so began the downfall of the previously ultimate trust in religious authority. The Black Plague, a tragedy that killed countless numbers of people in Christendom, also contributed to public mistrust in the church because the people realized their clergymens prayers were useless against the illness. Faith in Gods power and Gods benevolence came to an all-time low as people helplessly watched their loved ones die. Many members of the clergy fled their positions in fear of the work required of them with the morbidly ill (50). A third major problem with the church resulted from what is known as the Great Schism. When two different men claimed the right to the papacy, immense scandal and internal conflict threatened the future of the church (56). During the same period, Oxford scholar John Wyclif began to criticize the chur ch publicly. Not only did he challenge fundamental beliefs and practices by denying the possibility of transubstantiation, but he also attempted to diminish the priests power. He translated the Bible to English for the first time in history, which made it much more available to the common person (58), and he claimed that any good Christian was a priest. This claim, along with the newly translated Bible and a growing lower class literacy rate, led to the decrease in a need for priests in order to worship. Suddenly, the common person could be religious without the intervention of the church. This shift in religious power is registered in the literature of the time: while early Medieval writings emphasize the higher ranking of monks and nuns, later works place more emphasis on the religious importance of poor preachers and even the laity. With the church weakened by both internal conflict and diminishing credibility among the public, many Christians began to seriously reconsider church values and doctrine. Accordingly, the literature of the period reflects profound reservations about the church, reservations that are not present in earlier texts. The anonymous French national epic, The Song of Roland, written before Wyclifs criticisms and before the Black Death wreaked its havoc on Christendom, is unambiguously supportive of church authority. Written as a piece of propaganda for the necessity of Holy Wars, The Song of Roland demonstrates the intolerance of the church in the Middle Ages. Although The Song of Roland describes events that occured in 778, it was composed in 1095: the year the first Crusade against the Muslims was launched. In reality, however, the battle the text deals with was not part of a holy war. In fact, it had nothing to do with Islam. The Basques, not the Muslims, had massacred the rear guard of the Frankish army. The writer of The Song of Roland uses extensive creative license to develop the story into a reductive allegory about the triumph of Christianity (good) over Islam (evil). The writer gives religious significance to secular acts, appropriating the campaign of 778 not only as holy war but as war between God and Satan (Dominik, 2). Within the allegorical framework of the text, Rolands tale is also the story of Jesus crucifixion and resurrection. Roland is a Christ figure who dies a martyrs death; the parallels between the two characters re-inforce the dogmatic nature of the text. Roland has Twelve Peers (Roland 1259), much like the Twelve Disciples of Christ. Ganelon, Rolands downfall, is figured as Judas. He betrays Roland by telling the Saracens (pagans and therefore enemies of Christianity) how they can ambush and kill the skilled warrior. Interestingly, Ganelon betrays Roland for reasons of pride rather than money. In his conversation with the pagans, Ganelon remarks: If someone can bring about the death of Roland, / the Charles would lose the right arm of his body (1266). The author dra ws a parallel between Roland and Jesus Christ, who in Christian mythology is often described as the right hand of God. Rolands death re-enforces the allegorical character of the epic. Attempting to alert his supporters that his army has been ambushed, Roland blows his horn so hard that he dies of sheer effort. Almost immediately, his soul is taken directly to Heaven by angels. Accordingly, the language used in the death scene recalls the Biblical episode of The Passion: Roland the Count feels: his sight is gone; / gets on his feet, draws on his final strength, /the color on his face lost now for good (1301). Christian allegory is used to justify not just the church, but the particular Crusade the church was promoting at the time of the epics composition. Insofar as Rolands death is presented as noble, the scene reminds readers of the Christian value of sacrifice: holy war is justifiable because its warriors must suffer as Jesus Christ suffered for the common good of the people. Th e Song of Roland is used to promote the idea of Holy War as a necessary sacrifice that elevates the warrior to the status of Jesus Christ. Written somewhere between 1386 and 1400, Chaucers The Canterbury Tales is a late-medieval text, and as such, marked by the serious conflict surrounding the Catholic Church during this period. Lee Patterson, in his introduction to Chaucer in the Norton Anthology of Western Literature, underestimates the importance of religious doubt in Chaucers writing. Oddly enough, he writes, [most] of these events [within and surrounding the church] find only the barest mention in Chaucers poetry (1697). As other critics have noted, however, Chaucers texts often deal extensively with religion on a subtextual level. Bisson notes that Chaucer had friends in common with John Wyclif and thus extensive connections to the critics of the church (58). Similarly, Helen Phillips argues that much of Chaucers writing can be characterized as anticlerical fabliaux, a commo n literary technique of the late Middle Ages that satirized, and thus undermined, church authority (104). Phillips also notes the subversive gesture of Chaucers choice to write in vernacular English, as opposed to Latin, the official language of Roman Catholicism and, as such, a marker of the elitism that characterized the Medieval church. Well aware of the growing literacy among the people of the lower classes, Chaucers use of vernacular English made his works unlike the Bible accessible to everyone across a wide class stata. His particular sympathy for people in the lower strata of the social hierarchy is registered throughout his writing. As Phillips argues, Chaucers depiction of peasants [] is empathetic, unpatronising, and respectful. He contrasts their sound moral judgement, sense of fair play and disgust with rogues [with] the arrogant clerical predators (106). Aligning himself with the critics of the church, whose skepticism was frequently directed at its most powerful m embers, Chaucer presented the upper members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy as hateful and corrupt, and his few examples of good religious figures are of the lowest status (107). Religious issues permeated many aspects of Chaucers writings, even those texts dealing only indirectly with the church. In The Canterbury Tales, his most famous work, Chaucer uses characterization and imagery to subtly critique the corruption and tyranny of church authority. For example, the Miller, a character seemingly unassociated with the church, is among Chaucers most potent vehicles for voicing religious doubt. As the Miller prepares to tell his tale, he says, Ill tell a golden legend and a life, which, as Nicholas Watson notes, is a common phrase used to describe the stories told of saints lives in the time. Chaucer is stripping [Christianity] of its pretensions, by describing the Millers vile tale of adultery with language of a holy text (52). The Miller thus announces his tale as a satire of the seriousness with which people at the time approached religion, and the authority it had over them. The content of the Millers tale also has a subtext of religious doubt. The Miller tells the story of Alison, a young woman who is married to a carpenter named John. Alison is having an affair with Nicholas, an Oxford student, and is also the object of the clerk Absolons unrequited affections. The sexuality and crudeness of the tale establishes it as a profane story that is inherently at odds with Christian doctrine, which legislates against sins of the flesh. However, the Millers tale has numerous religious references. Introducing Nicholas to the reader, the Miller sings Angelus to the Virgin, an ancient prayer that, when used to describe adultery, becomes sacriligious(1720). Similarly, after Nicholas and Alison decide to trick John in order that they can become lovers, Chaucer writes: Now in her Christian duty, one saints day, To the parish church this good wife made her way, And as she went her forehead cast a glow As bright as noon, for she had washed it so It glistened when she finished with her work.(1722)Chaucer uses juxtaposition here to sacriligious effect. The images of cleanliness and purity bright, glow, glistened), as well as the fact that Alison goes to church in her Christian duty, establish the character as a hypocrite. Alison is incriminated by her zeal for the church, and vice versa. If this is a woman who upholds her Christian duty, Chaucer suggests, then Christianity leaves a lot to be desired. The trickery that Alison and Nicholas create in order to prevent her husband from discovering their adultery also takes a blatant jab at Christianity. The lovers use the story of Noah and the Great Flood from the Bible to coerce John into believing another flood is coming. The exchange of Biblical scripture for sexual gain suggests that Chaucer felt the church was often used as a means to an end (usually sexual or monetary) rather than as a path to spiritual fulfullment. Similarly, in a later episode, Absolon tries to woo Alison from outside her bedroom window by using images and language from the Biblical Song of Songs. What is interesting about the Song of Songs is that while it is a love song in the Bible, it is interpreted by clergy as a representation of the pure love between God and humans. Here, however, Absolon uses it to attempt to woo a married woman, an act that reverses the official purpose of the text. The many perversions of Biblical scripture work together in the Millers Tale to form a sort of comedic interpretation of the hypocrisy of the authority and actions of the Medieval Christian church. While there are many religious figures portrayed in a negative light in The Canterbury Tales, the most deplorable is the Pardoner. A pardoners job was to sell papal indulgences, pre-written slips of paper which gave forgiveness to a sinner in exchange for an act of retribution and a donation of money to the churc h. The pardoner became an important figure within the church in the 13th century, when the full doctrine of purgatory was established (Phillips 105). This doctrine defined purgatory as a place of short-term punishment for sinners who were not completely absolved at death, but who had not committed sins bad enough to be banished to hell for all eternity. Indulgences could be bought either for a living person or for a deceased loved one, to decrease the amount of time spent in purgatory. Naturally, these indulgences became a large source of corruption in the church. Some pardoners falsified the documents in order to earn extra money for themselves, and laity felt free to indulge in sin because they could simply purchase forgiveness. Even within this corrupt profession, Chaucers Pardoner is particularly despicable. In the first paragraph of his Prologue, he announces that his sermon is always based on the phrase, Radix malorum est cupiditas, or Avarice is the root of all evil (175 7). He then immediately begins to describe how he uses religion for his own material gain by selling false relics and forged indulgences. Directly contradicting his own sermon, the Pardoner reinforces the subtext of religious doubt that runs throughout The Canterbury Tales. His hypocrisy is further compounded by the content of his tale, which is presented as a moral lesson and involves three men who die because of their own greed. In the General Prologue, the description of the Pardoner suggests what Phillips calls his spiritual barrenness (149). He is described as having long blonde hair, no facial hair, and a high-pitched voice, qualities that suggest he is effeminate. He is also described as being very fashionable, also a feminine trait. Accordingly, the narrator observes: I think he was a gelding or a mare, (1715). The implication is that the Pardoner is either a eunich or a homosexual, both figures who would have represented complete fruitlessness and barrenness during the Middle Ages. His own physical infertility suggests his even greater spiritual infertility (Phillips 149). In contrast to the Pardoner, the Parson in The Canterbury tales is portrayed sympathetically. The Parson is of the lowest class of clergy, and his positive characterization suggests Chaucers religious criticism was directed at the upper strata of the church. He is described in the General Prologue as a good man of the priests vocation, / A poor town Parson of true consecration, / But he was rich in holy thought and work (1710). A man who truly cares for his congregation, the Parson hates to discipline someone who has not been able to pay tithes. Accordingly his tale is structured less as a story than as a sermon. The parsons tale suggests that his piety is sincere: indeed, a pious religious figure would not waste time telling light-hearted stories when he could instead be spreading the word of God. Unlike the Pardoner, the lower class Parson truly follows his own preaching. A s a comparison of two Medieval works indicates, the intense conflict surrounding the Catholic church in the latter half of the period distinguishes early Medieval literature from later works. In the Song of Roland, which was composed before the major problems of dissent, disease, and corruption led to public doubt in religious authority, the church is depicted as the ultimate good triumphing over the ultimate evil, which is figured by Islam. The author does not appear to question whether Holy War was truly holy. In Chaucers The Canterbury Tales, however, the author voices serious skepticism about the churchs influence and motives. Chaucer, himself a man of faith, does not attack Christianity as a belief system, but rather as an organized religion. He reserves his harshest criticism for the corruption and hypocrisy of the clergymen in the upper strata of the church hierarchy. As The Song of Roland reflects the success of Christianitys rise to power in the early Middle Ages, so The Canterbury tales registers the beginning of the churchs internal fragmentation and diminishing credibility among the public. Works CitedBisson, Lillian. Chaucer and the Late Medieval World. New York: St. Martins Press, 1998.Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Theodore Morrison. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Heather James et al. New York: Norton, 2005. 1696-1759.Dominik, Mark. Holy War in The Song of Roland: The `Mythification of History. Stanford Undergraduate Research Journal 2 (2003). 2-8.Patterson, Lee. Geoffrey Chaucer. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Heather James et al. New York: Norton, 2005. 1696-1701.Phillips, Helen. An Introduction to the Canterbury Tales. New York: Palgrave 2000.The Song of Roland. Trans. Frederick Goldin. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. New York: Norton, 2005. 1247-1316.Watson, Nicholas. Christian Ideologies. A Companion to Chaucer. Ed. Peter Brown. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002. 75-90.