Plot.

"Washington Post" columnist John Klein and his wife Mary are involved in an accident when Mary swerves to avoid a black, flying figure. John survives the crash unscathed, but Mary is hospitalized. After Mary dies of an unrelated brain tumor, John discovers mysterious drawings of the creature that she had created in hospital.  Two years later, John becomes lost in West Virginia and inexplicably finds himself in Point Pleasant, hundreds of miles off his route. Driving in the middle of the night, his car breaks down, and he walks to a nearby house to get help. The owner, Gordon Smallwood, reacts violently to John's appearance and holds him at gunpoint. Local police officer Connie Mills defuses the situation while Gordon explains that this is the third consecutive night John has knocked on his door at 2:30 AM asking to use a phone, much to John's disbelief. John stays at a local motel and ponders how he ended up so far from his original destination.  Officer Mills mentions to John that many strange things have been occurring in the past few weeks and that people report seeing a large winged creature like a giant moth with red eyes. She also tells John about a strange dream she had, in which the words "Wake up, Number 37" were spoken to her. During a conversation one day, Gordon reveals to John that he has heard voices coming from his sink telling him that, in Denver, "99 will die". While discussing the day's events at a local diner, John notices that the news is showing the story of an airplane crash in Denver that killed all 99 passengers aboard. The next night Gordon frantically explains that the voices in his head emanate from a being named Indrid Cold.  Later that night Gordon calls John and says that he is standing next to someone named Indrid Cold. While John keeps Cold on the line, Officer Mills checks on Gordon. Cold answers John's questions, including ones he could not possibly know the answers to, convincing John that Cold is a supernatural being. This episode starts a string of supernatural calls to John's motel room. One tells him that there will be a great tragedy on the Ohio River. Later John receives a call from Gordon and rushes to his home to check on him. He finds Gordon outside, dead from exposure.  John becomes obsessed with the being dubbed the Mothman. He meets an expert on the subject, Alexander Leek, who explains its nature and discourages John from becoming further involved. However, when John learns the Governor plans to tour a chemical plant located on the Ohio River the following day, he becomes convinced the tragedy will occur there. Officer Mills and the governor ignore his warnings, and nothing happens during the tour. Soon afterwards, John receives a mysterious message that instructs him to await a call from his deceased wife Mary back in Georgetown, and he returns home.  On Christmas Eve, Officer Mills calls and convinces him to ignore the phone call from "Mary", return to Point Pleasant, and join her. Though anguished, John agrees. As John reaches the Silver Bridge, a malfunctioning traffic light causes traffic congestion. As John walks onto the bridge to investigate, the bolts and supports of the bridge strain. The bridge comes apart, and John realizes that the prophesied tragedy on the Ohio River was about the bridge. As the bridge collapses, Officer Mills' car falls into the water. John jumps in after her and pulls her from the river and up to safety. As the two sit on the back of an ambulance they were informed that 36 people have been killed, making Connie the "number 37" from her dream. The cause of the bridge collapse was never fully determined. Although the Mothman has been sighted in other parts of the world, it was never seen again in Point Pleasant.

Themes and interpretations.

Writer Paul Meehan judged the film's explanation of the Mothman to be a "confused mish-mosh of science fiction and demonology" and likened it to the television series "The X-Files", though preserving Keel's "breathless hysteria". Meehan remarked that "Aliens spouting prophetic utterances are rare in UFO literature".  In contrast to Meehan, author Jason Horsley declared "The Mothman Prophecies" "probably the most effective depiction of demonic forces at work" in U.S. cinema. Horsley assessed its approach to the Mothman legend as depicting a "schizophrenic nature of reality", fulfilling a "revelation" purpose in horror film, as it "strips away the comfortable veneer of consensus reality to reveal the seething abyss of irrationality". Horsley argued the film's Mothman arrives from a foreign dimension, but being without "physical existence", it is also a product of the minds of Point Pleasant's citizens, based on "formless and impersonal energy". The Mothman, identified by Horsley as "emissary of the Id", is depicted in the film as being as natural as electricity or gravity.

Production.

Carl Franklin was originally attached to direct Richard Hatem's spec script before Mark Pellington was hired. Pellington rejected numerous screenplay drafts as literal interpretations of Keel's book, and wished to explore psychological drama in UFO witnesses.  In reality, 46 people died in the collapse of the Silver Bridge, not 36 as depicted in the film. The motion picture's claim at the end credits of the collapse of the Silver Bridge never being explained is false; the incident was found to be caused by the failure of an eye-bar in a suspension chain in 1971, well before the publication of the book on which the film is based, let alone the film.

Filming.

Aside from a few opening scenes filmed in Washington, D.C., most of the motion picture was filmed in the areas of Pittsburgh and Kittanning in Pennsylvania. The scenes of Gere sitting on a park bench are on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Road montages were filmed on Pennsylvania Route 28, and the Chicago scenes are completely shot in downtown Pittsburgh’s Mellon Square and Trinity Churchyard environs as well as the entrance to the Duquesne Club. The "Chemical Plant" featured in the movie is actually a power station owned by Reliant Energy in Elrama, Pennsylvania. The Avalon Motor Inn is in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, though scenes set indoors were built as separate sets, as the inn's atmosphere could not accommodate production. Point Pleasant scenes were shot in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. The hospital scenes were filmed at St. Frances Medical Center which is now the site of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The collapse of the Silver Bridge was actually filmed at the Kittanning Citizens Bridge in downtown Kittanning. Scenes shot at Gordon Smallwood’s house were filmed in Washington County on Pennsylvania Route 917. Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County Airport serves as backdrop for the airfield scenes. Despite this relocation, several police officers from Point Pleasant appeared as extras.

Music.

The film's musical score was composed by the creative lab tomandandy. On January 22, 2002. Lakeshore Records released a two-disc edition of the soundtrack.

Release.

After the film was theatrically released on January 25, 2002, writer Brad Steiger observed Point Pleasant became a focal point for its promotion. Marketing in television and posters emphasized claims it was "based on true events", despite the supernatural premise and Pellington's acknowledgement that the account was reframed as a fictional narrative.  On June 4, 2002, a Region 1 edition of the motion picture was released on DVD. Special features included audio commentary by Pellington, a documentary entitled "Search for the Mothman", and the featurette "Day by Day: A Director's Journey – The Road In". In Region 2, a DVD was published also including "Search for the Mothman" as well as interviews with Gere, Linney and Patton.

Reception.

Critical response.

Among mainstream critics in the U.S., the film received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 52% of 138 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 5.5 out of 10. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, "The Mothman Prophecies" received a score of 52 based on 32 reviews. In 2003, the film won the "Best Sound Editing: Music in a Feature Film" award from the society of the Motion Picture Sound Editors.  Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave it two stars out of four, calling it unfocused, but praised the direction by Mark Pellington "whose command of camera, pacing and the overall effect is so good, it deserves a better screenplay." "The New York Times" critic Elvis Mitchell judged it "hushed and smooth" but "little more than an adequate shard of winter-doldrums genre fare". "The Washington Post"s Stephen Hunter dismissed it as "all buzz: It's camerawork on the verge of a meltdown and weird music in search of a composer", and joked seeing it "is like getting mugged in an alley by an especially thuggish crew of Method actors". In "Variety", Robert Koehler claimed it "wanders away from its sustained atmospherics into silly expository detours". For "The Guardian", Bob Rickard defended it as "an intelligent and creative exploration of the slippery, dream-like world of those who 'get too close' ".

Box office.

"The Mothman Prophecies" opened at the U.S. box office on January 25, 2002, earning $11,208,851 in its first weekend failing to enter the top five grossing films. It eventually went on to garner $35,746,370 in the U.S., and $19,411,169 in foreign markets for a worldwide total of $55,157,539.

The Mothman Prophecies is a 2002 American supernatural horror-mystery film directed by Mark Pellington, and starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney. Based on the 1975 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel, the screenplay was written by Richard Hatem.

La Prophétie des ombres ("The Mothman Prophecies") est un film fantastique américain basé sur des faits réels, réalisé par Mark Pellington, sorti en 2002. Il est inspiré du livre éponyme écrit par John A. Keel en 1975, dont la version française est préfacée par Pierre Lagrange.


Fictional character biography.

Operation: Zero Tolerance.

Bastion is a mysterious man who had risen to power in relative short time in the U.S. Government and began assembling the international anti-mutant strike force (OZT). When the X-Men learned about the existence of OZT some months before the operation became public, Gambit and Phoenix, acting on information, snuck into an OZT meeting being held at the Pentagon to learn more about the program and its leader Bastion, but did not come out with much. Bastion showed that he was more than met the eye as Phoenix could not read his mind and Bastion easily identified the two X-Men hidden among representatives of various foreign intelligence agencies interested in supporting OZT.  When Professor X voluntarily turned himself in after the Onslaught event, Bastion confined him in an OZT facility along with the artificially-created mutant Mannites which revealed later allowed Bastion to take direct control over the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, and gaining possession of the Xavier Protocols, a list of files containing information on killing the X-Men. Bastion also killed a Daily Bugle reporter named Nick Bandouveris, who was going to report on Graydon Creed's history and later Bastion himself succeeded in capturing Jubilee and taking her to the OZT base in New Mexico.  As the OZT attempted to reconfigure the Sentinel force assembled by Project: Wideawake, Bastion deemed most of them outdated. Instead, Bastion was able to develop a new type of Sentinel, the Prime Sentinels. Graydon's death was the last ammunition needed to initiate Bastion's OZT, which attacked mutants everywhere. The operation soon targeted and succeeded in capturing some members of the X-Men.  Bastion also tries to buy off J. Jonah Jameson directly with all the available information he has managed to gather and decrypt on the outlaw X-Men and their associates. However Jameson reveals that he has already been working on his own story for quite some time and invites Bastion to see what he has so far. When Bastion sees nothing, Jameson points that Bastion has managed to ingratiate, intimidate, and dominate his way into a position of power in over a dozen countries. Yet there is no evidence of his existence. To Jameson this means the greatest story to follow is Bastion himself. He also implies that Bastion was behind the disappearance of Nick Bandouveris and this means Bastion would kill to keep his secrets. Jameson then burns the data disk and orders Bastion out of his office and warns that he will see him charged with Nick's murder.  After learning the nature of the Prime Sentinels, the President was convinced by Senator Robert Kelly and Henry Peter Gyrich to suspend Bastion's operations. Bastion was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., with help from Iceman.

Origin.

While in government custody, more mysteries surrounding Bastion were discovered, but before a further investigation could be made, Bastion managed to escape and returned to the home of his mother figure, Rose Gilberti. However, she is accidentally killed by the authorities which sends Bastion into a rage and returns to the former OZT facility where Cable is fighting Machine Man, who’s lost touch with his humanity. Bastion makes contact with the Master Mold unit which he had created the Prime Sentinels. Master Mold is drained of its energy as Bastion is transformed into a Nimrod unit.  Being transformed, allowed Bastion’s memories to be unblocked in the process and as it turns out Bastion had not been born human at all but actually started life out as two separate beings: the Sentinel Master Mold, and the highly advanced Sentinel Nimrod from an alternate future. While posing as a human construction worker, Nimrod unearthed a module from Master Mold. As soon as Nimrod made physical contact with the module, Master Mold's programming began to co-opt Nimrod's. Shortly after, during a conflict with the X-Men, the two of them, along with the X-Man Rogue, were blasted through the Siege Perilous, a mystical crystal capable of judging any who pass through it and reincarnating them into a new life commensurate in quality with their previous life. It was the Siege Perilous that was responsible for merging Nimrod and Master Mold into a single being with no memory of his past. Bastion was eventually found by Rose Gilberti who took him in and taught him human kindness. However, unbeknown to him, when Bastion began to hear about America's mutant problem, his mutant-termination directives were re-activated. He abandoned Rose and sought out high-profile mutant critic, Graydon Creed and his Friends of Humanity. After regaining its identity as a Sentinel, Bastion attempt to lead another crusade against mutants by turning Machine Man into a Sentinel Supreme, but Machine Man and Cable were able to defeat him. He was returned to government custody, only to be beheaded later by Apocalypse's Horseman of Death.

Template.

Bastion's remains were eventually found by a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Mainspring who headed a project called the Gatekeepers, whose goal is to study and destroy Phalanx technology. Bastion was however able to co-opted and integrate itself with one of the Gatekeeper's bodies and used it to attack the techno-organic hero Warlock and his allies, being eventually defeated. Mainspring was able to strip away the layers of Bastion's programming to reveal the original Master Mold's source code and, using the alien transmode virus he was infected with, rewrote Bastion's programming, transforming him into Template. The virus soon took complete control of Template and forced him to construct a Babel Spire on Earth to signal the alien Technarchy. To oppose them, Mainspring destroyed himself along with Template, while Warlock and Wolfsbane managed to destroy the Babel Spire.  Some time later, Carol Danvers contacted the X-Men about the current whereabouts of the remains of Bastion/Template. The X-Men sent Shadowcat, Wolverine, and Gambit to break into the government facility, intending to reclaim their stolen computer files. While there, Template showed the three X-Men false holograms of events and lies about their teammates. The X-Men eventually got their files, but they were left with doubts and fears about their teammates.

X-Force.

Following the events of the "" event, the fundamentalist Purifiers assaulted a heavily defended SHIELD installation, breaching the tight security with the aid of several double agents within the organization and recovered Bastion's head. At one of their churches, the Purifiers attached the head to the body of the Nimrod unit recovered from Forge's Aerie, returning Bastion to life. Immediately after his activation, the mutant-hunting robot alerts the Purifiers to the presence of the new X-Force. After accessing Nimrod's database, Bastion concludes that the X-Men are the greatest mutant threat to the Purifiers' objectives in this timeline or any other and that there is no terrestrial force in existence that could guarantee the elimination of the X-Men. However, he reveals that he has found something that could: Magus.  It was later revealed that what Bastion discovered at the bottom of the ocean was not the real Magus, but one of his offspring in a mindless state. Bastion rewrote its programming and infected Donald Pierce and the Leper Queen, the recovered techno-organic remains of Cameron Hodge and Steven Lang, as well as the corpses of Bolivar Trask, Graydon Creed and Reverend William Stryker with the Technarch transmode virus, declaring them to be the future of humanity and the end of mutantkind.  His first move was to capture several mutants and inject them with a strain of the Legacy Virus to cause their powers to go berserk and kill themselves and thousands of humans. This would compel the United Nations to form a Mutant Response Division, which is successful, despite X-Force's efforts.  Bastion also had Pierce act as his mole inside the X-Men's headquarters, all the while building several structures that surround Utopia.

Second Coming.

Bastion is the primary antagonist in the "X-Men: Second Coming" storyline. He is seen with Steven Lang, Cameron Hodge, and the revived Bolivar Trask, William Stryker and Graydon Creed, stating that their forces are assembled and at his disposal. Bastion tells them that the Mutant Messiah has returned and gives them orders to kill her. Later, Bastion attempts to kill Hope on his own, but he is confronted by Rogue and then severely damaged when Nightcrawler sacrifices himself. When rebooting, Bastion takes on much of Nimrod's old appearance, but is finally destroyed towards the end of the crossover when Hope manifests a variety of the current X-Men's mutant powers and obliterates him.

X-Men: Blue.

Despite his apparent destruction, Bastion had actually survived the attack by activating at the last second his temporal drives and shunted himself into the future. However Bastion had suffered catastrophic damage from Hope's assault and the time-shift had corrupted and compromised his systems. Arriving when mutants were being faced with extinction due to the Terrigenesis cloud, Bastion decided to re-dedicate himself to protecting mutants, assembling and reprogramming a wave of standard sentinels. He eventually returned to the present and was soon confronted by the time-displaced X-Men which confirm that Bastion's actual goal is simply to preserve mutants until their population rises to a level where he can destroy them all himself. The team try to fight him but Bastion instead just left them and retreat with his Sentinels.  In the aftermath of Hydra takeover of the United States of America under the leadership of a Cosmic Cube-altered Captain America, Bastion seemingly started to work with Miss Sinister, Emma Frost and Havok in order to use Mothervine on a global scale.

Powers and abilities.

Being a robot, Bastion has super strength, speed, intelligence, and endurance. He can also fly by using jet boots. He is immune to psychic reading from telepaths and has complete command of all Sentinels. He has an artificial healing factor like Nimrod, and the ability to turn people into Prime Sentinels. The Siege Perilous also conferred to Bastion something akin to eternal life, and he can exert itself on any cybernetic life form.

Other versions.

Age of Apocalypse.

A version of Bastion is seen in the Age of Apocalypse storyline. When the X-Men are discussing Abyss, they describe him as the one "rumored to have replaced Bastion". This iteration has never been seen in the comic and there is no indication whether or not he is related to the 616 version.

Bastion is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Scott Lobdell and Pascual Ferry and first made a cameo appearance in "" #52 (May 1996) while his first full appearance was in "Uncanny X-Men" #333 (June 1996).

Bastion est un super-vilain évoluant dans l'univers Marvel de la maison d'édition Marvel Comics. Créé par le scénariste Scott Lobdell et le dessinateur Pascual Ferry, le personnage de fiction fait une apparition dans le comic book "X-Men" (vol. 2) #52 en mai 1996, mais apparaît véritablement à partir de "Uncanny X-Men" #333 en juin 1996.


Common features of European languages.

Writing system.

Writing was introduced to Europe by the Greeks, and from there also brought to the Romans (6th century BC). There are five alphabets in regular use in the areas generally considered Europe. The Latin alphabet was developed into several scripts. In the early years of Europe, the Carolingian minuscules were the most important variety of the Latin script. From this two branches developed, the Gothic/Fracture/German tradition, which Germans used well into the 20th century, and the Italian/Italic/Antiqua/Latin tradition, still used. For some nations the integration into Europe meant giving up older scripts, e.g. the Germanic gave up the runes (Futhark) (3rd to 17th centuries), the Irish the Ogham script (4th to 7th centuries). The Cyrillic script is the second most widespread alphabet in Europe, and was developed in the 9th century under the influence of the Greek, Latin and Glagolitic alphabets. Both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are used for multiple languages in multiple states, both inside and outside Europe. As well as these two, there are three alphabets used primarily for a single language, although they are occasionally applied to minority languages in the states from which they originate. The oldest of these alphabets is the Greek alphabet, which could be considered the progenitor of all the surviving alphabets of Europe, with the earliest recorded inscriptions appearing in the 9th century BC. The other two are both found in the Caucasus, both originating in the 5th century. The Georgian alphabet is used primarily to write Georgian, though it is also used to write the other Kartvelian languages, Svan, Mingrelian and Laz, all of which are found largely within the borders of Georgia. The Armenian alphabet is used to write the Armenian language, which has two dialects, and has been used to write Turkish in the past.

Sound features.

The sound systems of languages may differ considerably between languages. European languages can thus rather be characterized negatively, e.g. by the absence of click sounds. One could also think of specific prosodic features, such as tonal accents. But there are also tonal languages in Europe: Serbian and Croatian (e.g. "lètī" ‘he flies, is flying’ with long rising accent vs. "lêta" ‘years’ with long falling accent) and Slovene (e.g. "sûda" ‘of the vessel’ with long falling accent vs. "súda" ‘of the court’ with long rising accent). In Slovene, the use of the musical accent is declining though (cf. Rehder 1998: 234) --but there are hardly any contexts where intelligibility is endangered. In Sweden Swedish (but not in Finland Swedish) there also is a pitch accent in some words, which can be meaningful, e.g. " ́anden" ‘the duck’ vs. "ˇanden" ‘the ghost, spirit’.

Grammatical features.

As a general introductory remark we can distinguish between three structural types of languages: European languages are seldom pure representatives of one type. For (a) Modern English is a good example (and in many way the code oral of French verbs); for (c) Old English and Modern High German are good examples (and in many ways the code écrit of French verb forms); classical representatives of type (b) are Finnish and Hungarian. If a language is not isolating, this does not necessarily mean that it has no word-order rules. Latin, Basque, Finnish and the Slavic languages have a relatively free word order, whereas many languages show more restricted rules. German and Dutch, e.g., show verb-second word-order in main clauses and verb-final order in subordinate clauses. English has subject-verb word-order, which is also preferred by the Romanic languages. Irish and Scottish Gaelic have a basic verb-initial word order.  We can also distinguish between analytic constructions (with free grammatical morphemes, i.e. grammatical elements as separate words) and synthetic constructions (with bound grammatical morphemes, i.e. grammatical elements attached to or included in a word), e.g. "the house of the man" vs. "the mans house".  Apart from the points already mentioned, the categories of aspect (not always easy to separate from the tense system) and gender are noteworthy. Under the category of aspect linguists basically understand the distinction between perfective actions (activity finished, has led to a result; single event) and imperfective actions (activity not yet finished, w/out information on termination; long duration, repetitive). The Slavic languages have a fine and rigid aspect system; in English there's the distinction between progressive and non-progressive (simple) and a distinction between present perfect and past; in the Romanic languages the imperfect serves to denote background actions.  The most current gender systems in Europe are twofold (masculine vs. feminine, e.g. in the Romanic languages, or uter vs. neuter, e.g. in Swedish and Danish); but there are also languages that are threefold (e.g. Slavic, German) or lack grammatical gender at all (e.g. English, Hungarian, Finnish). The problem of gender also concerns the system of personal pronouns. We normally distinguish between three persons singular and three persons plural, but there are also some languages that have specific words for the dual (e.g. Slovene). In the 3rd person singular we often have a distinction according to grammatical gender; in English, though, the choice is determined by natural gender; in Hungarian and Finnish we have no differentiation at all, in the Scandinavian languages on the other hand we have a differentiation that incorporate both grammatical and natural gender. In some languages the grammatical gender is also relevant in the 3rd pl. (e.g. the Romance languages).  Whereas traditionally we group languages according to historical language families (e.g. Indo-European languages, Uralic languages), a more modern way is to look at grammatical features from a synchronic point of view. A certain number of common structural features would then characterize a sprachbund. For Europe, the most prominent sprachbund that we can determine is referred to as SAE (= Standard Average European) or Charlemagne sprachbund. Haspelmath (2001) illustrates that German, Dutch, French, Occitan and Northern Italian are the most central members of this sprachbund. Important features are (cf., e.g., Haspelmath 2001, Heine/Kuteva 2006):

Vocabulary.

Latin, French and English not only served or still serve as "linguae francae" (cf. below), but also influenced the vernacular/national languages due to their high prestige. Due to this prestige, there are not only "necessity loans", but also "luxury loans" and pseudo-loans. Many loans from these three languages (esp. Neo-Latin with its Greek elements) can be considered internationalisms, although occasionally the meanings vary from one language to another, which might even lead to misunderstandings. Examples:  Three minor source languages for European borrowings are Arabic (esp. in mathematics and science, foreign plants and fruits), Italian (esp. in arts, esp. from the 15th to the 17th centuries), German (esp. in arts, education, mining, trading from the 12th to the 20th centuries with varying importance).  As far as the structuring or "wording" of the world is concerned changes occur relatively fast due to progress in knowledge, sociopolitical changes etc. Lexical items that seem more conservative are proverbs and metaphorical idioms. Many European proverbs and idioms go back to antiquity and the Bible; some originate in national stories and were spread over other languages via Latin. A typical European proverb to express that there is no profit without working can be paraphrased as "Roasted pigeons/larks/sparrows/geese/chickens/birds don't fly into one's mouth", e.g.:

Communicative strategies.

In Geert Hofstede's terms Europe can, to a large extent, be considered an individualistic civilization (i.e. a rather direct and analytic style is preferred, important points are mentioned before an explanation or illustration in an argument, decisions are based on compromise or majority vote); in contrast, the Sinic (Chinese), Japanese, Arabic and Hindu (Indian) civilizations are collectivistic (i.e. a rather indirect and synthetic style is used, explanations and illustrations are mentioned before the essential point of an argument, decisions are reached through consent). We can further make Edward Hall's distinction between "low context" communication (i.e. direct style, person-oriented, self-projection, loquacity) and "high context" communication (i.e. indirect style, status-oriented, reservation, silence). Most European nations use "low context" communication.

Linguae Francae.

Three linguae francae are prominent in European history:  Linguae francae that were less widespread, but still played a comparatively important role in European history are:  The first type of dictionary was the glossary, a more or less structured list of lexical pairs (in alphabetical order or according to conceptual fields). The Latin-German (Latin-Bavarian) Abrogans was among the first of these. A new wave of lexicography can be seen from the late 15th century onwards (after the introduction of the printing press, with the growing interest in standardizing languages).

Language and identity, standardization processes.

In the Middle Ages the two most important definitory elements of Europe were "Christianitas" and "Latinitas". Thus language—at least the supranational language—played an elementary role. This changed with the spread of the national languages in official contexts and the rise of a national feeling. Among other things, this led to projects of standardizing national language and gave birth to a number of language academies (e.g. 1582 Accademia della Crusca in Florence, 1617 Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, 1635 Académie française, 1713 Real Academia de la Lengua in Madrid). "Language" was then (and still is today) more connected with "nation" than with "civilization" (particularly in France). "Language" was also used to create a feeling of "religious/ethnic identity" (e.g. different Bible translations by Catholics and Protestants of the same language).  Among the first standardization discussions and processes are the ones for Italian ("questione della lingua": Modern Tuscan/Florentine vs. Old Tuscan/Florentine vs. Venetian > Modern Florentine + archaic Tuscan + Upper Italian), French (standard is based on Parisian), English (standard is based on the London dialect) and (High) German (based on: chancellery of Meißen/Saxony + Middle German + chancellery of Prague/Bohemia ["Common German"]). But also a number of other nations began to look for and develop a standard variety in the 16th century.

Linguistic minorities.

Despite the importance of English as an international lingua franca in Europe, Europe is also linguistically diverse, and minority languages are protected, e.g. by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages founded in the 1990s. This underlines that the popular view of "one nation = one language" (cf. Wirrer 2003) is mostly false.  A minority language can be defined as a language used by a group that defines itself as an ethnic minority group, whereby the language of this group is typologically different and not a dialect of the standard language. For several years now, Jan Wirrer has been working on the status of minority languages in Europe (cf., e.g., Wirrer 2000 and 2003). In Europe—e.g. thanks to the European Charter of Regional and Minority Language—some languages are in quite a strong position, in the sense that they are given special status, such as Basque, Irish, Welsh, Catalan, Rhaeto-Romance/Romansh and Romani, native language of the Roma/Gypsies in southern Europe), whereas others are in a rather weak position (e.g. Frisian, Scottish Gaelic, Turkish, Saami/Lappish, Sorbian/Wendish and Yiddish, the once common language of Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe). Especially allochthonous minority languages are not given official status in the EU.  Some minor languages don't even have a standard yet, i.e. they have not even reached the level of an ausbausprache yet, which could be changed, e.g., if these languages were given official status. (cf. also next section).

Issues in language politics.

France is the origin of two laws, or decrees, concerning language: the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts (1239), which says that every document in France should be written in French (i.e. not in Latin nor Occitan) and the French Loi Toubon, which aims at eliminating Anglicisms from official documents. But a characteristic feature of Europe is linguistic diversity and tolerance, which is not only shown by the European Charta of Regional and Minority Languages. An illustrative proof of the promotion of linguistic diversity in the Middle Ages is the translation school in Toledo, Spain, founded in the 12th century (in medieval Toledo the Christian, the Jewish and the Arab civilizations lived together remarkably peacefully).  This tolerant linguistic attitude is also the reason why the EU's general rule is that every official national language is also an official EU language. However, Letzebuergish/Luxemburgish is not an official EU language, because there are also other (stronger) official languages with "EU status" in that country. Several concepts for an EU language policy are being debated:

Eurolinguistics is a neologistic term for the study of the languages of Europe. The term "Eurolinguistics" was first used by Norbert Reiter in 1991 (German equivalent: "Eurolinguistik"). Apart from a series of works dealing with only a part of the European languages, the work of Harald Haarmann pursues a "pan- or trans-European perspective". This goal is also pursued by Mario Wandruszka.

L’eurolinguistique est une discipline linguistique assez récente. Elle s’occupe de langues d'Europe dans tous ses aspects : l’histoire, la sociologie, la politique et les systèmes des langues ainsi que la communication interculturelle.


Biography.

Early life.

Repin was born in the town of Chuguyev, in the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire, in the heart of the historical region of the Sloboda Ukraine. His father Yefim Vasilyevich Repin (1804—1894) was a private in the Uhlan Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army who fought during the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828), the Russo-Turkish War (1828–29) and the Hungarian campaign (1849) while making money on horse trade, his mother Tatiana Stepanovna Repina (née Bocharova) (1811—1880), also a daughter of a former private of the local Cossack Regiment, had family ties to noblemen and officers; the Repins had six children and were quite wealthy. As a boy Ilya was educated at the local school where his mother taught. From 1854 he attended a military Cantonist school. He did not have fond recollections of his childhood, mainly due to the military settlements his family lived in.  In 1856 he became a student of Ivan Bunakov, a local icon painter. In 1859–1863 he painted icons and wall-paintings by commission for the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. In 1864 he began attending the Imperial Academy of Arts, and met the painter Ivan Kramskoi. In 1869 he was awarded a small gold medal for his painting "Job and His Friends". He also met the critic Vladimir Stasov and painted a portrait of Vera Shevtsova, his future wife.  Repin traveled to the Volga River in 1870 to sketch landscapes and studies of barge haulers (Repin House and the Repin Museum on the Volga commemorate this sojourn). The following year he was awarded a large gold medal for his painting "The Raising of Jairus' Daughter". He married Vera Shevtsova in 1872 and met Pavel Tretyakov, who purchased some of Repin's first works. Repin's first daughter, Vera, was born the same year. During this time, he worked on the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga", commissioned by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. The painting was completed in 1873.  In an 1872 letter to Stasov, Repin wrote: "Now it is the peasant who is the judge and so it is necessary to represent his interests. (That is just the thing for me, since I am myself, as you know, a peasant, the son of a retired soldier who served twenty-seven hard years in Nicholas I's army.)" In 1873 Repin traveled to Italy and France with his family. His second daughter, Nadezhda, was born in 1874.

Career.

1870s–1880s.

In 1874–1876 he contributed to the Salon in Paris and to the exhibitions of the Itinerants' Society in Saint Petersburg. While in France he became familiar with the impressionists and the debate over a new direction in art. Though he admired some impressionist techniques, especially their depictions of light and color, he felt their work lacked moral or social purpose, key factors in his own art.  Repin earned the title of academician in 1876 for his painting "Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom". His son Yury was born the following year. He moved to Moscow that year, and produced a wide variety of works including portraits of Arkhip Kuindzhi and Ivan Shishkin. In 1878 he befriended Leo Tolstoy and the painter Vasily Surikov. His third daughter, Tatyana, was born in 1880. He frequented the art circle of Savva Mamontov, which gathered at Abramtsevo, his estate near Moscow. Here Repin met many of the leading painters of the day, including Vasily Polenov, Valentin Serov, and Mikhail Vrubel. In 1882 he and Vera divorced; they maintained a friendly relationship afterwards.  Repin's contemporaries often commented on his special ability of capturing peasant life in his works. In an 1876 letter to Stasov, Kramskoi wrote: "Repin is capable of depicting the Russian peasant exactly as he is. I know many artists who have painted peasants, some of them very well, but none of them ever came close to what Repin does." Leo Tolstoy later stated that Repin "depicts the life of the people much better than any other Russian artist." He was praised for his ability to reproduce human life with powerful and vivid force.  In 1880 he traveled to Zaporozhye to gather material for the painting "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks". In 1883 he traveled around Western Europe with Vladimir Stasov. Repin's painting "Religious Procession in Kursk Province" was shown at the eleventh Itinerants' Society Exhibition. In 1885 his painting "Ivan the Terrible and His Son" was shown at the 12th Itinerants' Society Exhibition. In 1886, he traveled to the Crimea with Arkhip Kuinji, and produced drawings and sketches on Biblical subjects.  In 1887 he visited Austria, Italy, and Germany, and retired from the board of the Itinerants' Society. He painted two portraits of Leo Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana that year and made preparations for his painting "Leo Tolstoy Ploughing", and painted "Alexander Pushkin on the Shore of the Black Sea" (in collaboration with Ivan Aivazovsky). In 1888 he traveled to Southern Russia and the Caucasus, where he did sketches and studies of descendants of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. In 1889 he traveled to Paris to see the World Exhibition and then visited London, Zurich, and Munich with Stasov.  Most of Repin's finest portraits were produced in the 1880s. Through the presentation of real faces, these portraits express the rich, tragical, and hopeful spirit of the period. His portraits of Aleksey Pisemsky (1880), Modest Mussorgsky (1881), and others created throughout the decade have become familiar to whole generations of Russians. Each is completely lifelike, conveying the transient, changeable nature of the sitter's state of mind. They give an intense embodiment of both the physical and spiritual life of the people who sat for him.

1890s.

In 1890 he was given a government commission to work on the creation of a new statute for the Academy of Arts. In 1891 he resigned from the Itinerants' Society in protest against a new statute that restricted the rights of young artists. An exhibition of works by Repin and Shishkin was held in the Academy of Arts, including "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks". In 1892 he held a one-man exhibition at the History Museum in Moscow. In 1893 he visited academic art schools in Warsaw, Kraków, Munich, Vienna, and Paris to observe and study teaching methods. He spent the winter in Italy and published his essays "Letters on Art".  In 1894 he began teaching a class at the Higher Art School attached to the Academy of Arts, a position he held, off and on, until 1907. In 1895 he painted portraits of Emperor Nicholas II, and Princess Maria Tenisheva. In 1896 he attended the All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhni Novgorod. His paintings were exhibited in Saint Petersburg, at the Exhibition of Works of Creative Art. His paintings from this year included "The Duel" and "Don Juan and Dona Anna". In 1897 he rejoined the Itinerants' Society, and was appointed rector of the Higher Artistic School for a year. In 1898 he traveled to the Holy Land, and painted the icon "Carrying the Cross" for the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Jerusalem. After returning to Russia, he attended Pavel Tretyakov's funeral. In 1899 he joined the editorial board of the magazine "World of Art", but soon quit.  In 1900 he met Nordman. Repin was captivated by her and they went to live in her home, Penaty (the Penates), in Kuokkala in Finland. The couple would invite notable artists from Russia every Wednesday as their new home was only an hour by train from St Petersburg. The Wednesday gatherings enabled Repin to put together an "album" of paintings for Nordman. He created portraits of the guests, each of which was labelled with their name, their profession and occasionally their autograph. Nordman's hospitality was well known and visitors included the writers Maxim Gorky and Aleksandr Kuprin; artists Vasily Polenov, Isaak Brodsky and Nicolai Fechin as well as poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, philosopher Vasily Rozanov and scientist Vladimir Bekhterev. Nordman was the keeper of this album as it was readied for display at World Exhibition in Italy in 1911. Repin was to describe Nordman as the "love of his life". The Penates became an important artistic and literary gathering place in the early 20th century.

1900–1915.

In 1900 he took his common-law wife Natalia Nordman to the World Exhibition in Paris, where he served as a painting judge. He visited Munich, the Tyrol, and Prague, and painted "Natalia Nordman in a Tyrolese Hat" and "In the Sunlight: Portrait of Nadezhda Repina". In 1901 he was awarded the Legion of Honor. His painting "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!" was shown at the 29th Itinerants' Society Exhibition. In 1902–1903 his works included the paintings "Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council" and "What a Freedom!", over forty portrait studies, and portraits of Sergei Witte and Vyacheslav von Plehve. "Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council" was the most demanding work commissioned by Repin, requiring numerous studies of the 100 councilors depicted, and the help of two of Repin's pupils.  In 1904 he gave a speech at a memorial gathering for the artist Vasily Vereshchagin. He painted a portrait of the writer Leonid Andreyev and his work "The Death of the Cossack Squadron Commander Zinovyev". He made sketches depicting government troops opening fire on a peaceful demonstration on 9 December 1905. During 1905 Repin participated in many protests against bloodshed and Tsarist repressions, and tried to convey his impressions of these emotionally and politically charged events in his paintings.  He also did sketches for portraits of Maxim Gorky and Vladimir Stasov and two portraits of Natalia Nordman. In 1907 he resigned from the Academy of Arts, visited Chuguyev and the Crimea, and wrote reminiscences of Vladimir Stasov. In 1908 he publicly denounced capital punishment in Russia. He illustrated Leonid Andreyev's story "The Seven Who Were Hanged", and his painting "The Cossacks from the Black Sea Coast" was exhibited at the Itinerants' Society Exhibition. In 1909 he painted "Gogol Burning the Manuscript of the Second Part of Dead Souls", and in 1910, portraits of Pyotr Stolypin, and the children's writer and poet Korney Chukovsky.  In 1911 he traveled with Nordman to the World Exhibition in Italy, where his painting "17 October 1905" and his portraits were displayed in their own separate room. He wrote his reminiscences of Leo Tolstoy, gave a speech on artistic education, and painted "Alexander Pushkin at the Lyceum Speech-Day, 8 January 1815". In 1912 he produced paintings related to the centenary of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. In 1913 he worked on restoring his painting "Ivan the Terrible and His Son". In 1914 Natalia Nordman died in Locarno, and Repin attended her funeral there, afterwards going to Italy, before returning home to the Penates.

Later life.

In 1916 Repin worked on his book of reminiscences, "Far and Near", with the assistance of Korney Chukovsky. He welcomed the Russian Revolution of February 1917. He painted a portrait of Alexander Kerensky, and "The Slaves of Imperialism" (a new version of the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga"). In 1918 the frontier between Russia and Finland was closed, meaning Repin's estate was in Finland. In 1919 he donated his collection of works by Russian artists and his own works to the Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki, and in 1920 honorary celebrations of Repin were held by artistic circles in Finland. In 1921–1922 he painted "The Ascent of Elijah the Prophet" and "Christ and Mary Magdalene (The Morning of the Resurrection)".  In 1923 Repin held a one-man exhibition in Prague. Celebrations were given in 1924 in Kuokkala to mark Repin's 80th birthday, and an exhibition of his works was held in Moscow. In 1925 a jubilee exhibition of his works was held in the Russian Museum in Leningrad, and his painting "Calvary" was shown in Oslo. In 1926 he declined an offer to move to Leningrad but donated three sketches devoted to the Revolution of 1905 and the portrait of Alexander Kerensky to the Museum of the Revolution of 1905 in that city. In 1928–29 he continued working on the painting "The Hopak Dance" ("The Zaporozhye Cossacks Dancing"), begun in 1926. Repin died in 1930, and was buried at the Penates. His work was held up as an example to Soviet painters after his death. After the Finnish town of Kuokkala was annexed by the Soviet Union, in 1948 it was renamed Repino in his honor. The Penates also became a museum in 1940.

Artistic work.

Creativity.

Repin persistently searched for new techniques and content to give his work more fullness and depth. Repin had a set of favorite subjects, and a limited circle of people whose portraits he painted. But he had a deep sense of purpose in his aesthetics, and had the great artistic gift to sense the spirit of the age and its reflection in the lives and characters of individuals. Repin's search for truth and for an ideal led him in various directions artistically, influenced by hidden aspects of social and spiritual experiences as well as national culture. Like most Russian realists of his times, Repin often based his works on dramatic conflicts, drawn from contemporary life or history. He also used mythological images with a strong sense of purpose; some of his religious paintings are among his greatest.  His method was the reverse of the general approach of impressionism. He produced works slowly and carefully. They were the result of close and detailed study. With some of his paintings, he made one hundred or more preliminary sketches. He was never satisfied with his works, and often painted multiple versions, years apart. He also changed and adjusted his methods constantly in order to obtain more effective arrangement, grouping and coloristic power. Repin's style of portraiture was unique, but owed something to the influence of Eduard Manet and Diego Velázquez.

Ukrainian cultural influence.

In the 1870s to 1880s he visited Chuguyev and gathered materials for his future works. There, he painted his "Archdeacon".  Paintings of Repin inspired by Ukrainian culture include:  Repin was a member of the committee, set up to create a monument to painter-poet Taras Shevchenko whom he called an "apostle of freedom". He illustrated novels such as "Taras Bulba" and "Sorochinsky Fair" by Nikolai Gogol (1872–82) and "Zaporissya in the remains of ancient legends and people" by Dmytro Yavornytsky (1887), and drew numerous sketches of architecture as well as different popular aspects of Ukrainian culture. Repin's sphere of knowledge included a number of prominent thinkers of the time, including Marko Kropyvnytskyi, Mykola Murashko, and Dmytro Yavornytsky.  Repin helped the committee of the Visual Arts Union in Mykolaiv. He was also an honorary member of Literature and Art Union, as well as Union of the Antiquities and Art in Kiev. He supported numerous painters, Murashko's art schools in Kiev, M. Rajevska-Ivanova in Kharkiv, and the Art school in Odessa.  In one of his last letters he wrote: "kind, dear compatriots [...] I ask you to believe in the sense of my devotion and endless regret that I can't move to live in a sweet, joyful Ukraine [...] Loving you from the childhood, Ilya Repin". The painter was buried by the "Chuguyev's hill", a place at the end of his property in Penates.

Legacy.

Repin was the first Russian artist to achieve European fame using specifically Russian themes. His 1873 painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga", radically different from previous Russian paintings, made him the leader of a new movement of critical realism in Russian art. He chose nature and character over academic formalism. The triumph of this work was widespread, and it was praised by contemporaries like Vladimir Stasov and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The paintings show his feeling of personal responsibility for the hard life of the common people and the destiny of Russia. In the 1880s he produced many of his most famous works, and joined the Itinerants' Society.

Ilya Yefimovich Repin (; ; ; – 29 September 1930) was a Russian realist painter. He was the most renowned Russian artist of the 19th century, when his position in the world of art was comparable to that of Leo Tolstoy in literature. He played a major role in bringing Russian art into the mainstream of European culture. His major works include "Barge Haulers on the Volga" (1873), "Religious Procession in Kursk Province" (1883) and "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks" (1880–1891).

Ilia Iefimovitch Répine (en ) est un peintre russe né le et mort le à Kuokkala (Finlande). Répine naît à Tchouhouïv, près de Kharkiv (à l'époque dans l'Empire russe, aujourd'hui en Ukraine). Ses parents font du commerce de chevaux, son père est un ancien soldat cosaque et sa mère tient une petite école rurale. Il travaille dans sa jeunesse comme peintre d'icônes, étudie le dessin avec Ivan Kramskoï, et poursuit sa formation à l'Académie impériale des beaux-arts.


Etymology.

The name is derived from the Quechua word "chirimuya", which means "cold seeds." The plant grows at high altitudes, where the weather is colder, and the seeds will germinate at higher altitudes. In Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia, the fruit is commonly known as "chirimoya" (spelled according to the rules of the Spanish language).

Description.

"Annona cherimola" is a fairly dense, fast-growing, woody, briefly deciduous but mostly evergreen, low-branched, spreading tree or shrub, to tall.

Stems and leaves.

Mature branches are sappy and woody. Young branches and twigs have a matting of short, fine, rust colored hairs.  The leathery leaves are long wide and mostly elliptic, pointed at the ends and rounded near the leaf stalk. When young, they are covered with soft, fine, tangled, rust colored hairs. When mature, the leaves bear hairs only along the veins on the undersurface. Tops are hairless and a dull medium green with paler veins, backs velvety, dull grey-green with raised pale green veins. New leaves are whitish below.  Leaves are single and alternate, dark green and slightly hairy on the top surface. They attach to branches with stout long and densely hairy leaf stalks.

Flowers.

Cherimoya trees bear very pale green, fleshy flowers. They are long, with very strong fruity odor. Each flower has three outer, greenish, fleshy, oblong, downy petals and three smaller, pinkish inner petals with yellow or brown finely matted hairs outside, whitish with purple spot and many stamens on the inside. Flowers appear on the branches opposite to the leaves, solitary or in pairs or groups of three, on flower stalks that are covered densely with fine rust colored hairs, long. Buds are long, wide at the base. The pollen is shed as permanent tetrads.

Fruits.

Cherimoya fruit are large green conical or heart-shaped compound fruit, to long, with diameters of to, and skin that gives the appearance of having overlapping scales or knobby warts. They ripen to brown with a fissured surface from winter into spring; they weigh on the average to but extra large specimens may weigh or more. The ripened flesh is creamy white. When ripe, the skin is green and gives slightly to pressure. Some characterize the fruit flavor as a blend of banana, pineapple, papaya, peach, and strawberry. The fruit can be chilled and eaten with a spoon, which has earned it another nickname, the ice cream fruit. In Peru and Chile, it is commonly used in ice creams and yogurt.  The cherimoya fruits are classed according to degree of surface irregularity, as: "Lisa", almost smooth, difficult to discern areoles; "Impresa", with "fingerprint" depressions; "Umbonata", with rounded protrusions at the apex of each areole; "Mamilata" with fleshy, nipple-like protrusions; "Tuberculata", with conical protrusions having wartlike tips.  The flesh of the cherimoya contains numerous hard, inedible, black, bean-like, glossy seeds, to long and about half as wide. Cherimoya seeds are poisonous if crushed open. Like other members of the family Annonaceae, the entire plant contain small amounts of neurotoxic acetogenins, such as annonacin, which appear to be linked to atypical parkinsonism in Guadeloupe. Moreover, an extract of the bark can induce paralysis if injected.  "The pineapple, the mangosteen, and the cherimoya", wrote the botanist Berthold Carl Seemann, "are considered the finest fruits in the world, and I have tasted them in those localities where they are supposed to attain their highest perfection – the pineapple in Guayaquil, the mangosteen in the Indian Archipelago, and the cherimoya on the slopes of the Andes, and if I were asked which would be the best fruit, I would choose without hesitation, cherimoya. Its taste, indeed, surpasses that of every other fruit, and Haenke was quite right when he called it the masterpiece of Nature."

Taxonomy.

Cultivars.

The cherimoya of the Granada-Málaga Tropical Coast is a fruit of the cultivar ‘Fino de Jete′ grown in the Granada-Málaga tropical southern coast of Spain with the EU's appellation protected designation of origin status. The cultivar 'Fino de Jete' has skin type Impressa, are smooth or slightly concave at the edges. The fruit is round, oval, heart-shaped or kidney-shaped. The seeds are enclosed in the carpels and so do not detach easily, the flavour balances intense sweetness with slight acidity and the soluble sugar content exceeds 17° Bx. This variety is prepared and packed in the geographical area because "it is a very delicate perishable fruit and its skin is very susceptible to browning caused by mechanical damage, such as rubbing, knocks, etc. The fruit must be handled with extreme care, from picking by hand in the field to packing in the warehouse, which must be carried out within 24 hours. Repacking or further handling is strictly forbidden."

Distribution and habitat.

Widely cultivated now, "Annona cherimola" is believed to originate from the Andes at altitudes of to although an alternative hypothesis postulates Central America as the origin of "Annona cherimola" because many of its wild relatives occur in this area. From there it was taken by Europeans to various parts of the tropics. Unlike other Annona species "A. cherimola" has not successfully naturalized in West Africa, and in Australasia "Annona glabra" is often misidentified as this species.  Australia

Ecology.

Pollination.

The flowers are hermaphroditic and have a mechanism to avoid self-pollination. The short-lived flowers open as female, then progress to a later, male stage in a matter of hours. This requires a separate pollinator that not only can collect the pollen from flowers in the male stage, but also deposit it in flowers in the female stage.  Studies of insects in the cherimoya's native region as its natural pollinator have been inconclusive; some form of beetle is suspected. Quite often, the female flower is receptive in the early part of the first day, but pollen is not produced in the male stage until the late afternoon of the second day. Honey bees are not good pollinators, for example, because their bodies are too large to fit between the fleshy petals of the female flower. Female flowers have the petals only partially separated, and the petals separate widely when they become male flowers. So, the bees pick up pollen from the male flowers, but are unable to transfer this pollen to the female flowers. The small beetles which are suspected to pollinate cherimoya in its land of origin are much smaller than bees.  For fruit production outside the cherimoya's native region, cultivators must either rely upon the wind to spread pollen in dense orchards or else use hand pollination. Pollinating by hand requires a paint brush. Briefly, to increase the fruit production, growers collect the pollen from the male plants with the brush, and then transfer it to the female flowers immediately or store it in the refrigerator overnight. Cherimoya pollen has a short life, but it can be extended with refrigeration.

Climate requirements.

The evaluation of 20 locations of Loja Province, Ecuador indicated certain growing preferences of wild cherimoya, including altitude between, optimum annual temperature range from, annual precipitation between, and soils with high sand content and slightly acidic properties with pH between 5 and 6.5.

Cultivation.

"Annona cherimola", preferring the cool Andean altitudes, hybridizes with the other "Annona" species. A hybrid with A. squamosa called atemoya has received some attention in West Africa, Australia, Brazil and Florida (United States).

Propagation.

The tree thrives throughout the tropics at altitudes of. Though sensitive to frost, it must have periods of cool temperatures or the tree will gradually go dormant. The indigenous inhabitants of the Andes say the cherimoya cannot tolerate snow.  In the Mediterranean region, it is cultivated mainly in southern Spain and Portugal, where it was introduced between 1751 and 1797 from where it was carried to Italy, but now can be also found in several countries of Africa, the Middle East and Oceania. It is cultivated throughout the Americas, including Hawaii since 1790 and California, where it was introduced in 1871.

Harvest.

Large fruits which are uniformly green, without cracks or mostly browned skin, are best.  The optimum temperature for storage is, depending on cultivar, ripeness stage, and duration, with an optimum relative humidity of 90–95%. Unripe cherimoyas will ripen at room temperature, when they will yield to gentle pressure. Exposure to Ethylene as a plant hormone#ethylene (100 ppm for one to two days) accelerates ripening of mature green cherimoya and other "Annona" fruits; they can ripen in about five days if kept at. Ethylene removal can be helpful in slowing the ripening of mature green fruits.

Eating characteristics.

Different varieties have different flavors, textures, and shapes. Shapes can range from imprint areoles, flat areoles, slight bump or point areoles, full areoles, and combinations of these shapes. The flavor of the flesh ranges from mellow sweet to tangy or acidic sweet, with variable suggestions of pineapple, banana, pear, papaya, strawberry or other berry, and apple, depending on the variety.  When the fruit is soft-ripe/fresh-ripe and still has the fresh, fully mature greenish/greenish-yellowish skin color, the texture is like that of a soft-ripe pear and papaya. If the skin is allowed to turn fully brown, yet the flesh has not fermented or gone "bad", then the texture can be custard-like. Often, when the skin turns brown at room temperature, the fruit is no longer good for human consumption. Also, the skin turns brown if it has been under normal refrigeration for too long i.e., after a day or two.

Nutritional value.

In a 100 g serving providing 75 calories, cherimoya is an excellent source (> 19% of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B6 and a good source (10–19% DV) of vitamin C, dietary fiber and riboflavin (table).

Culture.

The Moche culture of Peru had a fascination with agriculture and represented fruits and vegetables in their art. Cherimoyas were often depicted in their ceramics.

The cherimoya ("Annona cherimola"), also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Inca people, is an edible fruit-bearing species of the genus "Annona" from the family Annonaceae. They were believed to be native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile, spreading through cultivation to the Andes and Central America. But they have been found to have originated in Central America.

Le chérimolier "(Annona cherimola)" — appelé Cherimoya, Chirimoya, ou Churimoya en Amérique du Sud — est un arbre de la famille des "Annonaceae" donnant un fruit nommé la chérimole, dont le goût est semblable à celui de la pomme cannelle, du cœur de bœuf et du corossol, provenant tous d'arbres du genre "Annona".


Career.

Alexander was born in Sheffield, Alabama, United States. Working with Spar Music in Florence, Alabama, Alexander recorded his first single, "Sally Sue Brown", under the name of June Alexander (short for Junior), which was released in 1960 on Jud Phillips' Judd Records. (Phillips is the brother of music pioneer Sam Phillips).  A year later, Alexander cut "You Better Move On", at a former tobacco warehouse-turned-recording studio in Muscle Shoals. Released on Nashville's Dot Records, the song became a soul/R&B chart hit, and laid the foundation for the modern recording studio FAME. "You Better Move On" is perhaps Alexander's best-known song, covered by the Rolling Stones, the Hollies, George Jones & Johnny Paycheck, Gene Clark (from The Byrds) and Mink DeVille. "Anna (Go to Him)", a U.S. R&B Top Ten Hit, was covered by the Beatles, Roger McGuinn (from The Byrds) and Humble Pie. The Beatles also did live recordings of "Soldier of Love", which was also performed by Marshall Crenshaw and Pearl Jam, "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues", and "Where Have You Been" recorded live at the Star-Club in Hamburg, 1962. "Set Me Free" (covered by Esther Phillips and Joe Tex) were also major hits and established Alexander as a pioneering arranger of others' tunes, as well as an established songwriter in his own right.  In 1962, Steve Alaimo was the first to record Alexander's "Every Day I Have to Cry", which reached No.46 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Dusty Springfield also recorded the song for her first UK solo EP, "I Only Want to Be With You", released on March 6, 1964.  In the mid-1960s, Alexander switched to another label, Sound Stage 7, but failed to find commercial success. Although a 1972 album for Warner Brothers was promising, the singer's potential seemed to wither. He secured a pop hit with "Every Day I Have to Cry Some" on Buddah Records in 1975, but the success remained short-lived. The song was also covered by Ike and Tina Turner (produced by Phil Spector), the McCoys, Dusty Springfield, Joe Stampley, C.J. Chenier, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Gentrys and others. The follow-up single "Sharing The Night Together" (written by Muscle Shoals songwriters Ava Aldridge and Eddie Struzick) reached No. 92 on the R&B charts, but earned Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show a Top 10 hit in 1978; the Dr. Hook version was used in the 2012 "Family Guy" episode "Mr. and Mrs. Stewie".  For many years, Alexander was out of the music business; he was a bus driver for much of this time. In 1990, he was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. He began to perform again in 1993 as renewed interest was shown in his back catalogue. His last album "Lonely Just Like Me" was his first in 21 years. He signed a new recording/publishing contract in May 1993 but suffered a fatal heart attack the following month, three days after performing in Nashville with his new band.

Legacy.

Alexander is the only songwriter whose songs have been covered on studio albums by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan (who recorded "Sally Sue Brown" on his 1988 LP "Down in the Groove"). "Go Home Girl" was also recorded by Ry Cooder on his 1979 album "Bop Till You Drop".

Arthur Alexander (May 10, 1940 – June 9, 1993) was an American Country Soul songwriter and singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and that, though largely unknown, "his music is the stuff of genius, a poignant and deeply intimate body of work on par with the best of his contemporaries." Alexander's songs were covered by such stars as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Otis Redding, Tina Turner and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Arthur Alexander est un chanteur et un compositeur de rhythm and blues américain né le à Florence dans l'Alabama et décédé le à Nashville dans le Tennessee. Ses compositions ont alimenté le répertoire de nombreux artistes prestigieux.


The books.

The Clan of the Cave Bear.

The first book, "The Clan of the Cave Bear" was released in September 1980 and is a story of personal development set in pre-historic southern Europe during the current Ice Age but before the last glacial period. It introduces the reader to a wide variety of diverse topics, including herbal medicine and anthropological-archeological reasoning. The book introduces Ayla, a young girl belonging to the titular clan who looks nothing like her peers, especially with her long, golden hair.

The Valley of Horses.

"The Valley of Horses" was released in September 1982. Ayla, cast out of the Clan, has been forced to follow the advice given her in the first book by her dying foster-mother Iza. She goes in search of "the Others"—that is, people like herself: European Cro-Magnon "Homo sapiens", or early-modern humans, returned west and north to Europe after an incubation period of tens of millennia in the near and far east.

The Mammoth Hunters.

The third book in the series, "The Mammoth Hunters", was released in fall 1985. It details Ayla's personal growth as she learns to cope with a society of widely disparate individuals and their unpredictable behaviors, mysterious motivations, and habits.

The Plains of Passage.

"The Plains of Passage" was released in November 1990. Ayla and Jondalar travel west, back to Zelandonii territory, encountering dangers from both nature and humans along the way. Her interactions often force the people around her to take a broader view and be more accepting of new ideas.

The Shelters of Stone.

"The Shelters of Stone" was released on 30 April 2002. Ayla and Jondalar reach the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, Jondalar's home, and prepare to marry and have a child. Unfortunately, nothing is ever simple, especially for a woman with Ayla's background.

The Land of Painted Caves.

"The Land of Painted Caves", a sixth and final installment in the Earth Children's series was published on March 29, 2011. Author Jean M. Auel is quoted in September 2010 saying that in the book Ayla is now about 25 years old and training to become a spiritual leader of the Zelandonii. Her training includes a series of harrowing journeys.

The setting.

Since the stories take place during the Würm glaciation, populations are small in number and are surviving mostly in hunter-gatherer fashion. Prior to the discovery of metals, the primary materials used for tools are leather, wood, bone, horn, and flint.

People.

In Auel's series, two cultures vie for resources, space, and survival: the "Clan", which is what Neanderthals call themselves, and the Cro-Magnons (whom Ayla, with her Clan upbringing, generally refers to as "The Others"). The races are fairly different in culture, society and technology, but with some overlap: both depend on flint for their tools; both recognize the importance of fire and use it; both hunt and gather.  Physiologically, the Clan are heavier and broader but also shorter than the people of The Others. They are very slow to embrace change and to innovate, and they still chase after animals to spear them directly, whereas the Cro-Magnons are enthusiastic about innovation and have moved on to projectile spears. The Clan's tools, clothing, and household implements are similarly less refined and sometimes less effective than those of their Cro-Magnon counterparts, whose implements and other goods are more technologically sophisticated.  The Clan's reluctance to change is depicted by Auel as a function of their cognition; they are presented as dependent upon their racial-genetic memory. The average Clan child needs only be"'reminded' "of a thing to know it permanently, though skilled tasks still require repetitive practice. Furthermore, the need to encode "everything" into a child's brain has increased the average Neanderthal head size to the point that, by the time of the first novel, women of the Clan are having trouble giving birth to their large-headed babies—a sign that their evolutionary strategy has run its course.  The "Flatheads", as "The Others" pejoratively call the Neanderthals (owing to their distinctive back-sloping foreheads), also have a far more limited vocal repertoire than The Others, and largely communicate instead via a gestural sign language, although spoken words are sometimes used to add emphasis to the gestures. Auel describes this language as being quite nuanced, especially as bodily posture, facial expression and other physical actions — in short, body language — can expedite and expand upon the basic vocabulary of the hand signals. A Cro-Magnon observing Ayla demonstrating a translation characterizes the language as dancelike and elegant.  For this reason, Clan members are highly adept at reading body language and cannot be deceived by lying; while one can spell an untruth with one's hands, one's posture will give it away. Consequently, the idea of telling an untruth is alien to Clan culture, a fact that Ayla needs time to conceptualize and understand. However, a Clan member can "refrain from mentioning" something she would prefer other people did not know, even though residual clues would probably reveal that something was being concealed. Cultural conventions, Auel suggests, would cause other Clan members to ignore the concealment out of sheer courtesy, though, again, Ayla has trouble grasping this concept.  Finally, the wider Clan possesses not only a colloquial, everyday "localized" language, but also a more formal "ancient" or "spirit language," used to converse with ancestors and understood by every Clan member, anywhere. This language facilitates easy communication at inter-regional meetings of normally separated groups and does not require the multilingualism that the Others must acquire. This "spirit language" has no spoken words apart from personal names, and its users generally refer to themselves in the third person.  In Auel's context, our human ancestors, The Cro-Magnon "Others," generally look upon the "Flatheads" as animals, hardly better than bears (the lack of vocal language is a primary factor in this verdict). The Clan, for their part, seem to have no strong opinions about the Others other than considering their spoken language as babbling and a sign of their lack of intellect. Otherwise, they have concluded it is best simply to avoid the Cro-Magnon men.  Accurate to current DNA evidence, Auel depicts Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals as able to interbreed. The mixed-race children are generally not favorably regarded by either group. As in many historical cultures, malformed Clan children are routinely subjected to exposure, while the Others may allow such children to live but prejudicially label them as 'abominations'. Such children and their experiences enter the plotline in several books of the series.  "Children of mixed spirits", as the Cro-Magnons call them, are mis-matched combinations of both Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal phenotypes physiologically as they are genetic hybrids, with some traits (like facial features) appearing blurred or distorted when compared side-by-side. Of the five mixed-race people depicted in the series, only one has had the restricted vocal range of the Clan (Rydag, from "The Mammoth Hunters"), and all but one has been seen using Clan sign language, the sole exception being the difficult and disconsolate self-loathing Brukeval (who is in clear psychological denial about his ancestry), in "The Shelters of Stone".The vocal range of one of the mixed-race persons is as of yet unknown because she was only a baby when we meet her in "The Clan of the Cave Bear".

Organization.

"The Clan" is an overarching term; every Neanderthal is a member of the Clan. Organizationally, they live in smaller tribes, also called "clans" but named after the man who leads them; for instance, Ayla is adopted into Brun's clan. Later, when Brun steps down and, as is traditional, passes leadership of the clan on to the son of his mate, it becomes known as Broud's clan. Every seven years, Clans from the immediate area meet in a Clan Gathering; the only one Auel has depicted consisted of approximately 250 people. The Clan is mostly patriarchal: women cannot hunt, make hunting tools, lead a Clan or become a "Mog-ur" (a spiritual leader or shaman). But men cannot become medicine women, a job that is almost as prestigious as clan leader. Unlike other women, whose status depends on the status of their mates, a medicine woman has status in her own right and can, if her line is illustrious enough, even outrank the leader's mate.  "The Earth Children" is an overarching term; their primary allegiances are to their people and their caves. Each culture has a name for itself ("Zelandonii", for instance, means "Children of the Great Earth Mother who live in the Southwest") and may subdivide into smaller Caves or Camps (the Twenty-Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the Lion Camp of the Mamutoi). Curiously, however, most Other culture names includes their word for "Great Earth Mother": "Doni" in Zelandonii, "Mut" in Mamutoi ("Children of the Great Earth Mother who hunt Mammoths"), "Gaea" in Sungaea (translation unknown), etc. Their culture is far more egalitarian, with different twists and customs at every hand; Mamutoi Camps, for instance, are co-ruled by headmen and headwomen who are biological, or adoptive, siblings, and the Sharamudoi, a people that lives half-on and -off the Great Mother River, form complex co-mate systems between river couples (Ramudoi) and land couples (Shamudoi). Each entire people generally gathers for Summer Meetings every year, during which a number of important ceremonies, such as the Matrimonial, take place.

Religion.

The Clan worships animal spirits, most notably Ursus the Cave Bear, for, as is related in one of the best known Clan legends, it was the Spirit of the Great Cave Bear that taught the Clan to wear fur, live in caves, and store up reserves during the seasons of abundance in order to survive the winter. The honoring of Ursus is what binds the Clan together as a people, and it is for this reason that the Bear Ceremony, and Feast of Ursus which follows it, held at the Clan Gathering are the highest religious rituals of the Clan. As described in Chapter 22 of Clan of the Cave Bear when Brun's clan chanced to see a living cave bear on their way to the Clan Gathering, "But it was more than the tremendous size of the animal that held the clan spellbound. This was Ursus, the personification of the Clan itself. He was their kin, and more, he embodied their very essence. His bones alone were so sacred they could ward off any evil. The kinship they felt was a spiritual tie, far more meaningful than any physical one. It was through his spirit that all clans were united into one and meaning was given to the Gathering they had traveled so far to attend. It was his essence that made them Clan, the Clan of the Cave Bear."  The Clan's animal spirits are always male. However, in the early days of the Clan, weather spirits such as Wind and Rain—spirits whose worship is so ancient that Creb had to use deep meditation to find them in the Clan memories—bore female names. Goov, Creb's apprentice, also speculates that Ayla's totem may be the Cave Lioness, rather than the Cave Lion, although this would be unprecedented in the Clan.  In the ancient days when the weather spirits were honored, roles within the Clan had not yet become so markedly differentiated by sex—for example, women still hunted alongside the men when they didn't have little children who needed their care. At this time, women were also the ones in charge of the spiritual life of the Clan. Because they once controlled access to the spirit world, and because the ceremonies involved begging the Clan spirits in what could be considered an unmanly fashion, Clan tradition holds that should a woman see one of the men's religious ceremonies, the clan in which this occurred would suffer disaster. When a ceremony invoking the weather spirits is held to sanction Ayla's hunting, especially strong protection was required for the men, both to guard against the presence of a female at the ceremony and because the ancient spirits were feared as much as they were honored in the days when they were worshiped. Ayla's subsequent accidental observation of one of the highest ceremonies at the Clan Gathering is interpreted by Creb to foretell doom for the entire Clan of the Cave Bear, as those ceremonies have meaning for all the clans of the Clan, even those not present at the Gathering.  All Clan members are assigned a totem at birth, and boys are marked with that totem's ritual tattoo as part of the ceremony that marks their passage from child to man following their first major hunting kill. People are also believed to possess personality traits similar to those of their totem spirit; Broud, quick-tempered, stubborn and unpredictable like a woolly rhinoceros (his totem spirit) is a prime example. Totems are also responsible for pregnancy; a woman's moon time is believed to be her totem fighting off the presences of marauding male totems; for this reason, women's totems are almost invariably weaker than those of men and women may not associate with men during menstruation. Should the male totem prove stronger, the woman will become pregnant. If the totem is not strong enough by itself, it may ask for the help of one or more other totems, in which case it may be one of the other totems that leaves behind an impregnating essence. It is considered especially lucky for a boy to have the same totem as the mate of his mother. Totems are assigned by "Mog-ur"s, men whose talent is understanding the world of spirits. Each individual Clan has its own "Mog-ur", but one - the one in the clan which Ayla joins - is traditionally recognized as being first among them.  The Clan also believe that, if someone survives a cave bear attack, it means that person is now under the protection of Ursus and may claim the Cave Bear as their totem, in addition to the totem they were assigned in early childhood. Unlike other Clan totems, there is no specific mark for the Cave Bear and the Cave Bear is believed not to play a role in the conception, although it may be called on to help subdue a woman's unusually strong totem. In "Clan of the Cave Bear", two people, Creb and a man injured by a cave bear at a Clan Gathering, are described as being "chosen" in this way.  The Others worship the Great Earth Mother, and to some extent the Moon, her Fair Celestial Mate. The Great Earth Mother goes by many names, depending on the language, but is worshipped unconditionally as the source of all bounty, and carved depictions of her proliferate. Faith and guidance are administered by spiritual leaders of both sexes, with different names depending on the language. Among most of the peoples described, Those Who Serve abandon their personal names in favor of the name of their people and god. (The Mamutoi are the only depicted exception so far: only the Mamut of the Lion Camp, who is first amongst his priesthood due to his age and spiritual power, no longer uses any name but Mamut—mostly because no one remembers his original name!) To avoid confusion, among the Zelandonii they generally take appendices after their cave (e.g. Zelandoni of the Ninth Cave, First Acolyte to the Zelandonii of the Second Cave, etc.), leading Ayla to muse that they have traded their names for counting words, i.e. numbers. As with the Clan, one among Those Who Serve is generally acknowledged (or elected) First.

Sex and reproduction.

Whether accurately or not, Auel has incorporated sex into her prehistoric culture in a number of unique ways. While neither Clan nor Other society requires monogamy, a major difference is that in the former, sex can be treated as a purely physical need, whereas in the latter, it is always imbued with something of the sacred. For the Others, nothing is more abhorrent than the idea of sex without consent, and sexual rituals form a significant part of their culture.  Among the Clan, there exists a hand sign that only men can make and only women can receive, instructing the female in question to present for sexual intercourse. Any man of the Clan (a male who has made his first hunting kill) may give this instruction to any woman of the Clan (a female who has passed menarche), should he feel the need to "relieve his needs," regardless of marital status. (The female's state of arousal is never addressed directly, but since Clan women are able to flirt with men using seductive and inviting body language, enjoyment of the act is not unknown.) Because the Clan believes babies are created by the Totems and have no concept of any connection between copulation and conception, lines of descent are matrilineal, but any children a man's mate bears are considered his heirs (especially in regards to the son of the leader's mate becoming the future leader), and he is expected to provide for her family and train her sons to hunt. Who is mated to whom is decided solely by the men, though wise leaders do of course take the prospective bride's feelings into account; the few Clans depicted average less than fifty members, and even one discordant pairing can cause trouble.  Sexual maturity is the subject of semi-religious customs among the Others, both of which take place at Summer Meetings. Every year, women volunteer to become sexual tutors to boys who have reached maturity; the name of their office changes from culture to culture, but they are generally furnished with some distinguishing marking, often the Mother's sacred color red (red dye on the soles of the feet for the Mamutoi; a red fringe among the Zelandonii). These women are often pregnant by the end of the summer, which is believed to be the Great Earth Mother smiling upon their piety. Young women who have reached menarche, on the other hand, are the subject of a far more formal ceremony called First Rites, in which she is ritually deflowered by a man (often specially chosen by her friends and family). Both these relationships are meant to be solely physical, and social contact between the involved parties is frowned upon for at least a year afterwards. Finally, during "Mother Festivals" which take place at various times of the year, men and women are free to copulate with whomever they choose. Once again, these polygamous practices blur the lines of heredity, and descent is generally traced only through one's mother. However, certain familial resemblances have been noticed (for instance, Jondalar looks almost identical to Dalanar, his mother's spouse at the time of Jondalar's conception), which has led to the belief that the Great Earth Mother chooses the "spirit" or "essence" of a nearby man to impregnate the woman with. Ayla's more accurate belief that children are the result of sexual activity is treated with skepticism among the Others: their women are seldom celibate, which makes the connection between sex and pregnancy harder to isolate.  Homosexual relationships are portrayed as acceptable, if rare. The Zelandonii religious order features at least one homosexual male with a male partner. A Mamutoi clan leader is openly bisexual. Many shamans are also portrayed as what would now be called third gender or non-binary, along with mention of a Mamutoi who in our modern terms is a transwoman.

Earth's Children is a series of epic historical fiction novels written by Jean M. Auel set circa 30,000 years before present. There are six novels in the series. Auel had previously mentioned in interviews that there would be a seventh novel, but publicity announcements for the sixth confirmed it would be the final book in the sequence.

Les Enfants de la Terre (en anglais : "") est une série romanesque en six volumes de Jean M. Auel, qui met en scène la vie quotidienne des êtres humains durant la Préhistoire. Elle a été publiée entre 1980 et 2011.


History.

1989–2001: Foundation and early development.

Uli Behringer, the company's founder, was committed to music and technology from a very early age, and had constructed a synthesizer (the UB-1) by the age of 16.  While studying sound engineering and classical piano at the Robert Schumann conservatory in Düsseldorf, Behringer found the university had limited equipment for student use, so he started to build his own products. His fellow students requested equipment from him too, and soon he was receiving more orders than he could handle himself, leading to the creation of Behringer Inc. In the early days, Behringer focused on studio audio processors such as noise reduction systems and compressors, but the product line soon included guitar amps, PA amplifiers and loudspeakers, mixing boards, stompboxes, recording interfaces, microphones, digital pianos, guitars, lighting equipment, etc. The appeal of Behringer's products was the package of performance and low price.  While Behringer products were manufactured in Willich, Germany, many of the individual components were imported from mainland China. In 1990, to lower production costs, Behringer shifted production from West Germany to mainland China. Initially, subcontractors were engaged to produce the equipment. By 1997, Uli Behringer had relocated to Hong Kong in an effort to supervise manufacturing quality and to better understand Chinese culture.

Ear logo.

According to Uli Behringer his piano teacher, impressed with his sense of perfect pitch, nicknamed him "The Ear", the inspiration for the Behringer Ear logo. The highlighted "ING" stands for "diploma engineer", or the German academic title "Dipl.-Ing", which he received upon his graduation from the Fachhochschule Düsseldorf.  The logo was updated to the current logo in September 2010.

CoolAudio acquisition.

In May 2000, Behringer acquired the rights to the entire CoolAudio technology from Intersil Corporation, a US-based semi-conductor manufacturer specializing in integrated circuits for audio applications. The acquisition included an extensive intellectual property portfolio and licensees such as Alpine and Rowe, among others.

2002–2007: Behringer City.

In 2002, Behringer completed its own factory, Behringer City, in Zhongshan of China's Guangdong province after it consolidated more than ten separate production locations into one vertically integrated plant. Comprising eight buildings that produces electronics, speakers, guitars and digital pianos and also hosts an onsite health clinic. This strategy was different than that taken by other musical instrument companies who used third party manufacturers. Choosing to run a self-contained plant allowed Behringer a greater level of quality control. The manufacturing complex in Zhongshan ships more than 2.5 million Behringer products per year to markets around the globe. The plant turns out over 50,000 mixers per month.

Behringer University.

Inspired by lean manufacturing, and driven by the Kaizen philosophy of continual improvement, Behringer makes efforts to help its employees to improve. "Behringer University" supplies employees with training resources and E-learning courses to hone their career skills within the company. This project includes classes for management, career planning, health, language, and general knowledge.

Awards.

In 2008, Uli Behringer was one of 60 finalists in "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young of Germany.  In 2016, Uli Behringer received the award "Global Audio Industry Leader in recognition of his visionary leadership in creating and strengthening the International MUSIC"

Developments.

FCC dispute.

In February 2006, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined Behringer $1M, issuing a Notice of Apparent Liability against Behringer, claiming that 50 of the company's products had not been tested for conducted and radiated emissions limits as required by US law, and noting that Behringer continued to sell the products for a year after being notified. Behringer had believed that since the units had passed stringent European CE standards, they would also comply with FCC verification requirements. According to Behringer, it had overlooked the differences in testing standards and procedures under FCC and European requirements and has since implemented a complete UL certified safety and EMC testing laboratory under the UL certified witness program, including an in-house audit and global regulatory review system.

Legal cases.

In June 1997, Mackie accused Behringer of trademark and trade dress infringement, and brought suit seeking $327M in damages but such claims were later rejected by the court. In their suit, Mackie said that Behringer had a history of copying products by other manufacturers and selling them as their own. The Mackie suit detailed an instance, in which Behringer was sued by Aphex Systems for copying the Aural Exciter Type F—in that case Aphex Systems won 690,000 Deutsche Mark. The Mackie suit also mentioned similar cases filed by BBE, dbx and Drawmer. On 30 November 1999, the U.S. District Court in Seattle, Washington, dismissed Mackie claims that Behringer had infringed on Mackie copyrights with its MX 8000 mixer, noting that circuit schematics are not covered by copyright laws.  In 2005, Roland Corporation sued to enforce Roland's trade dress, trademark, and other intellectual property rights with regard to Behringer's recently released guitar pedals. The two companies came to a confidential settlement in 2006 after Behringer changed their designs.  In 2009 Peavey Electronics Corp. filed two lawsuits against various companies under Behringer/Music Group umbrella for patent infringement, federal and common law trademark infringement, false designation of origin, trademark dilution and unfair competition. In 2011 The Music Group filed a lawsuit against Peavey for "false advertising, false patent marking and unfair competition".  In 2018, Behringer/Music Tribe attempted to file a libel suit against Dave Smith Instruments (now Sequential) and 20 anonymous forum users for making what it referred to as "false, defamatory and libelous" remarks about its clones of synthesizers such as the Minimoog, Oberheim OB-Xa, and Sequential Pro-One. Although the lawsuit was directed mainly at the forum users, DSI was involved because an engineer who worked for them was a participant in the discussions. The lawsuits were dismissed after the defendants filed a motion under California's anti-SLAPP statute.

"Kirn CorkSniffer".

In March 2020, Behringer published a mock video for a synthesizer, the "KIRN CorkSniffer", which appeared to mock music technology journalist and synthesiser developer Peter Kirn. The video received extensive criticism and accusations of using antisemitic imagery. Company founder Uli Behringer issued an apology on Facebook, saying the video had been intended as "pure satire by our marketing department". The apology was deleted the following day.

Behringer is an audio equipment company founded by the Swiss engineer Uli Behringer on January 25, 1989, in Willich, Germany. Behringer was listed as the 14th largest manufacturer of music products in 2007. Behringer is a multinational group of companies, with direct marketing presence in 10 countries or territories and a sales network in over 130 countries around the world. Though originally a German manufacturer, the company now makes its products in China.

Behringer Spezielle Studiotechnik GmbH ("Behringer") est une société allemande d'électronique fondée en 1989 et spécialisée dans le domaine de l'audio. L'entreprise est créée par l'ingénieur du son et créateur d'instruments de musique Uli Behringer, qui en est le directeur général depuis la fondation.