text: Dwarves, introduced in "Avengers: Infinity War", are an ancient race of skilled forgers and blacksmiths hailing from the realm of Nidavellir. They are ruled by King Eitri. They are close allies of the Asgardians, and after being asked by Odin, forged Mjolnir. Unlike the comics, Eitri was shown to be larger than normal.


title: Species of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

text: Eitri appears in "", when Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive on Nidavellir. They find Eitri who informs them that Thanos killed the rest of the Dwarves after they forged the Infinity Gauntlet.


text: In "Thor: The Dark World", The Dark Elves, as with their enemies the Asgardians, are depicted as ancient astronauts. It is stated that they existed in the primordial darkness that predated the current vibrant state of the universe. Their goal is stated as destroying the current universe and returning existence back to that state. They were believed extinct, but unbeknownst to the Asgardians, Malekith and a number of warriors escaped and went into stasis in deep space until another attempt would be possible. For the film, David J. Peterson created a language for the Dark Elves called Shiväisith. In "Guardians of the Galaxy", an imprisoned Dark Elf appears as an exhibit in Taneleer Tivan's museum. In "Spider-Man: Homecoming", Dark Elf technology that was salvaged from the Battle of Greenwich was used by Tinkerer alongside the technologies from the Chitauri and Stark Industries.


text: Runa, a Light Elf with shape shifting abilities, appears in "". After impersonating various people including Megan Thee Stallion, she is caught and sentenced to pay damages and serve a 60 day sentence.


text: Eternals are an immortal race of superpowered synthetic beings appearing in the film of the same name. They are revealed to have been created by the Celestials at the World Forge to rid planets of Deviants in order to ensure the continual growth of their native populations, allowing new Celestials to "emerge" when the time comes. A group of ten Eternals—Ajak, Sersi, Ikaris, Kingo, Sprite, Phastos, Makkari, Druig, Gilgamesh, and Thena—are sent to Earth on their starship, the "Domo", by Arishem in 5000 BC, where they help humanity progress while refraining from interfering in human conflicts. In the present day, this group of Eternals rebel once they learn of their true purpose, with Ajak being betrayed by Ikaris and her and Gilgamesh both being killed by Deviants in the process. Sersi replaces Ajak as the team's leader and activates the Uni-Mind, successfully preventing the Celestial Tiamut from being born and destroying the planet. A guilt-ridden Ikaris, who had vowed to uphold Arishem's instructions but was unable to bring himself to kill Sersi, flies into the Sun, while Sprite is turned into a human.


text: The Flerken, introduced in "Captain Marvel", are stated to be alien creatures that completely resemble Earth's cats in appearance and behavior, but are shown to possess human-level intelligence. They have tentacles that come out of their mouths and can swallow up large objects and store them in pocket dimensions in their bellies. Flerken also have longevity.


text: Goose is the Flerken that makes her appearance in "Captain Marvel". She accompanies Carol Danvers and Nick Fury on their mission, where she demonstrates her abilities by defeating Kree soldiers and swallowing the Tesseract. Later, she stays with Fury.


text: The Frost Giants, introduced in "Thor", are a race of 10 ft. tall humanoid beings that inhabit the frozen, barren realm Jotunheim. They are ruled by Laufey, king of the Frost Giants, who is also Loki's true biological father. Small and weak for a Frost Giant, Loki is abandoned by his father in a temple, and left to die. In 965 A.D., not long after the war between the Giants and the Asgardians, Loki is found by King Odin and raised as his son.


text: After "Thor", they also appear through Loki in the films "The Avengers", "Thor: The Dark World", "Thor: Ragnarok", "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame", as well as the Disney+ series "Loki" and "What If...?".


text: The Kree are a militaristic race of mostly blue-skinned humanoids from the planet Hala, first featured in the ABC series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." One of the most technically advanced races in the galaxy, the Kree are skilled in genetic engineering and are responsible for the creation of the Inhumans on Earth.


text: The species made its cinematic debut in "Guardians of the Galaxy" with Ronan the Accuser and Korath the Pursuer. The Kree Empire is stated to have just signed a peace treaty with the Nova Corps of Xandar, thereby ending a centuries-long war between the two races. This treaty prompts the radical Ronan to embark on a renegade campaign of genocide against all Xandarians, before being defeated and killed by Guardians of the Galaxy.


text: The Kree briefly appear in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", where their planet Hala is nearly destroyed by Ego.


text: They next appear in "Captain Marvel". Pace and Hounsou reprise their roles as Ronan and Korath, and are joined by Yon-Rogg, Minn-Erva, Att-Lass, and Bron-Char, who are members of the Kree military team Starforce. Mar-Vell and the Supreme Intelligence also appear in the film. Yon-Rogg comes to Earth when the Kree discovers that Mar-Vell is working on a light-speed engine experiment as well as harboring some Skrulls. When Mar-Vell dies in a crash with Carol Danvers and Yon-Rogg arrives, Carol shoots the engine and gets exposed to its energies. After a blood transfusion from Yon-Rogg, Carol's memories are altered and she works under him and the Supreme Intelligence. Carol then comes back to Earth following an encounter with the Skrulls led by Talos. On a parley with Talos, Carol learns of what the Kree did to the Skrulls and their homeworld. After removing the dampener from her head, Carol uses her powers to fight the Kree forces, resulting in most of them either being killed or incapacitated. Yon-Rogg is sent back to Hala to relay Carol's message to the Supreme Intelligence.


text: The Kree also appear in "Avengers: Endgame" as well as the and the Disney+ animated series "What If...?".


text: The Outriders are mindless, feral aliens utilized by Thanos in his army, first appearing in "", in which they invade Wakanda. Alternate versions of the Outriders appear in "" during the final battle, but are disintegrated at the end.


text: The non-canon novel "" gives their origin as the result of Thanos combining samples of DNA from the Chitauri, himself, and of various species that he has killed.


text: The Skrulls are a race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters hailing from the planet Skrullos, introduced in "Captain Marvel."


text: The Sovereign, appearing in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", are a golden-skinned humanoid race that has advanced through genetic engineering and live on the amalgamation of planets of the same name. They are led by Ayesha, the Golden High Priestess. In a post-credits scene in, Ayesha oversees the birth of the latest member of the race—Adam Warlock, who she intends to use as a weapon against the Guardians.


text: Several other species make appearances throughout the MCU, often in the form of a single character. These include:


title: Saajan

text: Saajan () is a 1991 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Lawrence D'Souza and produced by Sudhakar Bokade. It stars Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan in lead roles, with Kader Khan, Reema Lagoo and Laxmikant Berde in supporting roles. Nadeem–Shravan composed the film's music whereas Sameer wrote the lyrics of the songs.


title: Saajan

text: "Saajan" released on 30 August 1991, and grossed worldwide, thus becoming the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1991. It received positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise for its soundtrack and performances of the cast. It was unofficially remade in Telugu as "Allari Priyudu" and it remade into Bengali Bangladesh in 1996 as "Swajan".


title: Saajan

text: At the 37th Filmfare Awards, "Saajan" received a leading 11 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (D'Souza), Best Actor (Dutt) and Best Actress (Dixit), and won 2 awards – Best Music Director (Nadeem–Shravan) and Best Male Playback Singer (Kumar Sanu for "Mera Dil Bhi Kitna Pagal Hai").


title: Saajan

text: Rajiv Verma, a wealthy businessman adopts Aman, an impoverished and lame orphan. Rajiv's wife, Kamla and their own son, Akash also accept Aman.


title: Saajan

text: Grown-up, Aman and Akash bond very closely. Carefree, flexible and gregarious, Akash becomes a roadside romeo and womaniser. More serious, Aman writes best-selling poems under the pen name Sagar due to which his popularity increases and he gains millions of fans. A fan of him is the pretty book store owner Pooja Saxena, who frequently writes letters to correspond with him, revealing she loves and admires him and his poetic abilities. She meets Aman one day; he recognizes her but she fails to identify him.


title: Saajan

text: Akash meets and falls in love with Pooja, and explains Aman that he is in love with her, showing her photo. Shocked and shaken, Aman instead suggests him to pose as Sagar. Akash is unaware that Aman writes poems as Sagar. As Akash does this, Pooja is overjoyed that she has met "Sagar" finally, unaware of the truth. Gradually, Akash gets tired of posing as a poet and not only learns that Aman loves Pooja, but also that he is actually "Sagar". He confronts Aman and brings Pooja, making Aman admit he loves her.


title: Saajan

text: Pooja meets and tells Aman that she would have loved him if he revealed that he is Sagar. Eventually, Akash decides to unite Pooja and Aman and sacrifices his love, as the movie ends.


title: Saajan

text: Aamir Khan was the initial choice for Aman's role. Despite liking the story, he refused the film as he did not connect the role to his satisfaction.


title: Saajan

text: The music was composed by Nadeem-Shravan, with lyrics by Sameer and Faiz Anwar (for song "Pehli Bar Mile Hain"). The album was the year's top seller, with around 7 million copies sold. The soundtrack of the film also fetched Nadeem-Shravan their second consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Kumar Sanu, who sang for Sanjay Dutt's character won his second Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Mera Dil Bhi Kitna Pagal Hai". S. P. Balasubramanyam, Pankaj Udhas, Anuradha Paudwal and Alka Yagnik also rendered their voice for the album. All the singers were nominated for Filmfare Awards.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: In biology, polymorphism is the occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms, also referred to as alternative "phenotypes", in the population of a species. To be classified as such, morphs must occupy the same habitat at the same time and belong to a panmictic population (one with random mating).


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Put simply, polymorphism is when there are two or more possibilities of a trait on a gene. For example, there is more than one possible trait in terms of a jaguar's skin colouring; they can be light morph or dark morph. Due to having more than one possible variation for this gene, it is termed 'polymorphism'. However, if the jaguar has only one possible trait for that gene, it would be termed "monomorphic". For example, if there was only one possible skin colour that a jaguar could have, it would be termed monomorphic.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: The term polyphenism can be used to clarify that the different forms arise from the same genotype. Genetic polymorphism is a term used somewhat differently by geneticists and molecular biologists to describe certain mutations in the genotype, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms that may not always correspond to a phenotype, but always corresponds to a branch in the genetic tree. See below.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Polymorphism is common in nature; it is related to biodiversity, genetic variation, and adaptation. Polymorphism usually functions to retain a variety of forms in a population living in a varied environment. The most common example is sexual dimorphism, which occurs in many organisms. Other examples are mimetic forms of butterflies (see mimicry), and human hemoglobin and blood types.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: According to the theory of evolution, polymorphism results from evolutionary processes, as does any aspect of a species. It is heritable and is modified by natural selection. In polyphenism, an individual's genetic makeup allows for different morphs, and the switch mechanism that determines which morph is shown is environmental. In genetic polymorphism, the genetic makeup determines the morph.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: The term polymorphism also refers to the occurrence of structurally and functionally more than two different types of individuals, called zooids, within the same organism. It is a characteristic feature of cnidarians.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: For example, "Obelia" has feeding individuals, the gastrozooids; the individuals capable of asexual reproduction only, the gonozooids, blastostyles; and free-living or sexually reproducing individuals, the medusae.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Polymorphism crosses several discipline boundaries, including ecology, genetics, evolution theory, taxonomy, cytology, and biochemistry. Different disciplines may give the same concept different names, and different concepts may be given the same name. For example, there are the terms established in ecological genetics by E.B. Ford (1975), and for classical genetics by John Maynard Smith (1998). The shorter term morphism was preferred by the evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley (1955).


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Various synonymous terms exist for the various polymorphic forms of an organism. The most common are morph and morpha, while a more formal term is morphotype. Form and phase are sometimes used, but are easily confused in zoology with, respectively, "form" in a population of animals, and "phase" as a color or other change in an organism due to environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.). Phenotypic traits and characteristics are also possible descriptions, though that would imply just a limited aspect of the body.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: In the taxonomic nomenclature of zoology, the word "morpha" plus a Latin name for the morph can be added to a binomial or trinomial name. However, this invites confusion with geographically variant ring species or subspecies, especially if polytypic. Morphs have no formal standing in the ICZN. In botanical taxonomy, the concept of morphs is represented with the terms "variety", "subvariety" and "form", which are formally regulated by the ICN. Horticulturists sometimes confuse this usage of "variety" both with cultivar ("variety" in viticultural usage, rice agriculture jargon, and informal gardening lingo) and with the legal concept "plant variety" (protection of a cultivar as a form of intellectual property).


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Endler's survey of natural selection gave an indication of the relative importance of polymorphisms among studies showing natural selection. The results, in summary: Number of species demonstrating natural selection: 141. Number showing quantitative traits: 56. Number showing polymorphic traits: 62. Number showing both Q and P traits: 23. This shows that polymorphisms are found to be at least as common as continuous variation in studies of natural selection, and hence just as likely to be part of the evolutionary process.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: The definition has three parts: a) sympatry: one interbreeding population; b) discrete forms; and c) not maintained just by mutation.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: In simple words, the term polymorphism was originally used to describe variations in shape and form that distinguish normal individuals within a species from each other. Presently, geneticists use the term genetic polymorphism to describe the inter-individual, functionally silent differences in DNA sequence that make each human genome unique.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Genetic polymorphism is actively and steadily maintained in populations by natural selection, in contrast to "transient polymorphisms" where a form is progressively replaced by another. By definition, genetic polymorphism relates to a balance or equilibrium between morphs. The mechanisms that conserve it are types of balancing selection.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Most genes have more than one effect on the phenotype of an organism (pleiotropism). Some of these effects may be visible, and others cryptic, so it is often important to look beyond the most obvious effects of a gene to identify other effects. Cases occur where a gene affects an unimportant visible character, yet a change in fitness is recorded. In such cases, the gene's other (cryptic or 'physiological') effects may be responsible for the change in fitness. Pleiotropism is posing continual challenges for many clinical dysmorphologists in their attempt to explain birth defects which affect one or more organ system, with only a single underlying causative agent. For many pleiotropic disorders, the connection between the gene defect and the various manifestations is neither obvious, nor well understood.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Epistasis occurs when the expression of one gene is modified by another gene. For example, gene A only shows its effect when allele B1 (at another locus) is present, but not if it is absent. This is one of the ways in which two or more genes may combine to produce a coordinated change in more than one characteristic (for instance, in mimicry). Unlike the supergene, epistatic genes do not need to be closely linked or even on the same chromosome.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Both pleiotropism and epistasis show that a gene need not relate to a character in the simple manner that was once supposed.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Although a polymorphism can be controlled by alleles at a single locus (e.g. human ABO blood groups), the more complex forms are controlled by supergenes consisting of several tightly linked genes on a single chromosome. Batesian mimicry in butterflies and heterostyly in angiosperms are good examples. There is a long-standing debate as to how this situation could have arisen, and the question is not yet resolved.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Whereas a gene family (several tightly linked genes performing similar or identical functions) arises by duplication of a single original gene, this is usually not the case with supergenes. In a supergene some of the constituent genes have quite distinct functions, so they must have come together under selection. This process might involve suppression of crossing-over, translocation of chromosome fragments and possibly occasional cistron duplication. That crossing-over can be suppressed by selection has been known for many years.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Debate has centered round the question of whether the component genes in a super-gene could have started off on separate chromosomes, with subsequent reorganization, or if it is necessary for them to start on the same chromosome. Originally, it was held that chromosome rearrangement would play an important role. This explanation was accepted by E. B. Ford and incorporated into his accounts of ecological genetics.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: However, many believe it more likely that the genes start on the same chromosome. They argue that supergenes arose "in situ". This is known as Turner's sieve hypothesis. John Maynard Smith agreed with this view in his authoritative textbook, but the question is still not definitively settled.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Selection, whether natural or artificial, changes the frequency of morphs within a population; this occurs when morphs reproduce with different degrees of success. A genetic (or balanced) polymorphism usually persists over many generations, maintained by two or more opposed and powerful selection pressures. Diver (1929) found banding morphs in "Cepaea nemoralis" could be seen in prefossil shells going back to the Mesolithic Holocene. Non-human apes have similar blood groups to humans; this strongly suggests that this kind of polymorphism is ancient, at least as far back as the last common ancestor of the apes and man, and possibly even further.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: The relative proportions of the morphs may vary; the actual values are determined by the effective fitness of the morphs at a particular time and place. The mechanism of heterozygote advantage assures the population of some alternative alleles at the locus or loci involved. Only if competing selection disappears will an allele disappear. However, heterozygote advantage is not the only way a polymorphism can be maintained. Apostatic selection, whereby a predator consumes a common morph whilst overlooking rarer morphs is possible and does occur. This would tend to preserve rarer morphs from extinction.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Polymorphism is strongly tied to the adaptation of a species to its environment, which may vary in colour, food supply, and predation and in many other ways including sexual harassment avoidance. Polymorphism is one good way the opportunities get to be used; it has survival value, and the selection of modifier genes may reinforce the polymorphism. In addition, polymorphism seems to be associated with a higher rate of speciation.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: G. Evelyn Hutchinson, a founder of niche research, commented "It is very likely from an ecological point of view that all species, or at least all common species, consist of populations adapted to more than one niche". He gave as examples sexual size dimorphism and mimicry. In many cases where the male is short-lived and smaller than the female, he does not compete with her during her late pre-adult and adult life. Size difference may permit both sexes to exploit different niches. In elaborate cases of mimicry, such as the African butterfly "Papilio dardanus", female morphs mimic a range of distasteful models called Batesian mimicry, often in the same region. The fitness of each type of mimic decreases as it becomes more common, so the polymorphism is maintained by frequency-dependent selection. Thus the efficiency of the mimicry is maintained in a much increased total population. However it can exist within one gender.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Female-limited polymorphism in "Papilio dardanus" can be described as an outcome of sexual conflict. Cook et al. (1994) argued that the male-like phenotype in some females in "P. dardanus" population on Pemba Island, Tanzania functions to avoid detection from a mate-searching male. The researchers found that male mate preference is controlled by frequency-dependent selection, which means that the rare morph suffers less from mating attempt than the common morph. The reasons why females try to avoid male sexual harassment are that male mating attempt can reduce female fitness in many ways such as fecundity and longevity.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: The mechanism which decides which of several morphs an individual displays is called the "switch". This switch may be genetic, or it may be environmental. Taking sex determination as the example, in humans the determination is genetic, by the XY sex-determination system. In Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps), sex determination is by haplo-diploidy: the females are all diploid, the males are haploid. However, in some animals an environmental trigger determines the sex: alligators are a famous case in point. In ants the distinction between workers and guards is environmental, by the feeding of the grubs. Polymorphism with an environmental trigger is called polyphenism.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: The polyphenic system does have a degree of environmental flexibility not present in the genetic polymorphism. However, such environmental triggers are the less common of the two methods.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Without proper field-work, the significance of the polymorphism to the species is uncertain and without laboratory breeding the genetic basis is obscure. Even with insects, the work may take many years; examples of Batesian mimicry noted in the nineteenth century are still being researched.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Polymorphism was crucial to research in ecological genetics by E. B. Ford and his co-workers from the mid-1920s to the 1970s (similar work continues today, especially on mimicry). The results had a considerable effect on the mid-century evolutionary synthesis, and on present evolutionary theory. The work started at a time when natural selection was largely discounted as the leading mechanism for evolution, continued through the middle period when Sewall Wright's ideas on drift were prominent, to the last quarter of the 20th century when ideas such as Kimura's neutral theory of molecular evolution was given much attention. The significance of the work on ecological genetics is that it has shown how important selection is in the evolution of natural populations, and that selection is a much stronger force than was envisaged even by those population geneticists who believed in its importance, such as Haldane and Fisher.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: In just a couple of decades the work of Fisher, Ford, Arthur Cain, Philip Sheppard and Cyril Clarke promoted natural selection as the primary explanation of variation in natural populations, instead of genetic drift. Evidence can be seen in Mayr's famous book "Animal Species and Evolution", and Ford's "Ecological Genetics". Similar shifts in emphasis can be seen in most of the other participants in the evolutionary synthesis, such as Stebbins and Dobzhansky, though the latter was slow to change.


title: Polymorphism (biology)

text: Kimura drew a distinction between molecular evolution, which he saw as dominated by selectively neutral mutations, and phenotypic characters, probably dominated by natural selection rather than drift.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: , also known as Journey to Agartha, is a 2011 Japanese anime film created and directed by Makoto Shinkai, following his previous work "5 Centimeters per Second". This film is described as a "lively" animated film with adventure, action, and romance centered on a cheerful and spirited girl on a journey to say "farewell". The film was released in Japan on May 7, 2011. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on November 25, 2011. The film was previously licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America and released on DVD and Blu-ray in November 2012. On May 9, 2019 it was announced that Sentai had lost the North American license, causing the releases to go out of print. On March 10, 2022, GKIDS announced that they have licensed "Children Who Chase Lost Voices", along with three other works by Makoto Shinkai, and will re-release the film on home video in 2022.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Asuna Watase is a 6th grader who has been forced to grow up quickly ever since her father had died, while her mother, a nurse, works long shifts at a hospital. Asuna spends her solitary days listening to the mysterious music emanating from the cat's-whisker receiver her father gave to her as a memento, accompanied by pet cat Mimi, who bears strange red markings on her fur.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: One day, while walking to her clubhouse across a bridge, she is attacked by a fearsome creature and saved by a mysterious teenage boy who calls himself Shun. Asuna treats Shun's wound from fighting the creature and later they both listen to Asuna's radio. Shun tells Asuna he is from another country called Agartha and that he came to this place to find something. He then gives Asuna a blessing in the form of a kiss to the forehead. Asuna leaves hurriedly and tells Shun she'll be back tomorrow. Shun, now alone, looks up at the stars and falls from the ledge to his death.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: The next morning, Asuna hears from her mother that a boy was found dead in the river, but refuses to believe it's Shun. In school, Mr. Morisaki, a substitute teacher, is giving a lecture on a book which grabs Asuna's attention when he mentions Agartha, the land of the dead. After school, she visits Morisaki and asks him about Agartha. Morisaki explains that long ago when humankind was young, it needed the guidance of Quetzalcoatls, keepers of the dead, until humans matured and no longer needed them. They went underground along with a few humans who joined them.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Afterwards, Asuna goes to her hideout to find another mysterious boy who looks like Shun standing on the ledge. Just then, a group of armed men called the Arch Angels appear, and attack both of them. The mysterious boy hides in the underground entrance with Asuna, and the two proceed further into the cave when the cave's entrance is bombed. The two meet a Quetzalcoatl who has apparently lost its physical senses and attacks the boy. He refuses to kill the gatekeeper, giving Asuna his clavis, a crystal, and fights back. The Arch Angels interfere, killing the gatekeeper. The Arch Angel commander captures Asuna and uses the clavis to open a gateway to Agartha. The commander and Asuna enter the gateway followed by the boy. Once inside the commander reveals himself to be Morisaki and the boy also reveals himself to be Shin, Shun's younger brother. Morisaki tells Shin that all he wants is to bring back his late wife from the dead. Shin leaves Asuna and Morisaki.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Morisaki tells Asuna that she can go back but she decides to accompany him. They both go into the realm via an underwater entrance. Once inside, they journey to the Gate of Life and Death which can bring the souls of people back from the dead, along with Mimi (who had snuck inside Asuna's backpack).


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Upon arriving in his village, Shin is told he failed his mission to retrieve the clavis, because Asuna has unknowingly returned with a fragment of one. Shin re-embarks to stop Asuna and Morisaki from wreaking havoc in Agartha.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Along the way, Asuna is kidnapped by a race of monsters called the Izoku. She awakens in a closed area and meets a young girl named Manna; they both try to escape but are not able to. The day begins to darken and the Izoku begin to appear, but they can only move in the shadows. In their escape attempt they encounter Shin, who helps them but is wounded by an Izoku during the escape. Morisaki finds Asuna and Manna down the river as well as Shin with the help of Mimi. Shin tries to retrieve the clavis crystal fragment that belongs to Asuna. However, he is too weak to put up a fight and Morisaki easily defeats him. Asuna convinces Morisaki to take him with them while Manna leads them to her village.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Once there, the villagers are at first reluctant to help the "top-dwellers" but the village elder convinces the guards to let them in. The elder allows them to stay one night at the village because they have brought Manna back but they cannot stay more than that due to past history in that top-dwellers always bring bad luck to Agartha. Meanwhile, Asuna checks up on Shin but he yells at her to leave him alone.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: The next morning, Asuna and Morisaki depart from Amaurot by boat, but Mimi no longer wants to accompany them. Shin wakes up later and finds that Mimi has died; Shin, Manna, and the elder proceed to offer Mimi's corpse to the Quetzalcoatl. When Shin sees the villagers riding away to kill them, he decides to follow, in order to protect Asuna. Morisaki and Asuna are walking towards a steep cliff when they are attacked by the villagers but they are saved by Shin. Asuna tries to climb down but is too scared, while Morisaki continues on, after trading his gun for her clavis shard and telling her to go back to the surface.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Meanwhile, Shin is fighting the villagers and is about to be killed when the villagers sense that the clavis crystal has reached the Gate of Life and Death. They leave Shin to let him wander aimlessly, having betrayed his country.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Asuna, following Morisaki's instructions to stay in the water during nighttime because of the Izoku, walks aimlessly and asks herself why she came to Agartha; she finally accepts that she came to Agartha because she was feeling lonely. When the water dries up, she is attacked by the Izoku but is saved by Shin again. The two return to the cliff after seeing the Ark of Life descending. They encounter a Quetzalcoatl who is about to die. Before he dies, the Quetzalcoatl sings its song to send all its memories into the world; Asuna now understands that the last song she heard in her world was Shun's song before he was to die. The Quetzalcoatl offers to take them to the bottom of the cliff.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: At the bottom of the cliff, they both find the Gate of Life and Death and enter it. Morisaki has already made a wish for his late wife Lisa to return, however, her soul requires a vessel. Asuna and Shin find Morisaki, who tells Asuna she shouldn't have come; she is soon possessed by the soul of Morisaki’s wife. But this price is insufficient; Morisaki also pays with the loss of an eye. To undo Asuna’s possession, Shin destroys the clavis crystal, despite Morisaki having a knife to his throat. Breaking the clavis brings Asuna's soul back to her body, after she has had a short reunion with Mimi and Shun. Before Lisa leaves Asuna's body, she tells Morisaki to find happiness without her. Asuna is now back to her normal self but Morisaki is devastated and asks Shin to kill him. Shin tells him that carrying the burden of a deceased loved one is humanity's curse, telling Morisaki to live on. Asuna heads back to the surface and is seen making her farewell to Shin and Morisaki, who chose to stay behind. The film ends with an older Asuna looking out her window at the cliff side where she had met Shun and Shin. She then says her goodbyes to her mother as she hurries to her graduation ceremony.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Other voice actors include Fumiko Orikasa as Asuna's mother, voiced by Shelley Calene-Black in the English dub, Junko Takeuchi as Asuna's pet cat Mimi (みみ), Rina Hidaka as Manna (まんな), voiced by Emily Neves in the English dub, Tamio Ohki as the Amaurot village elder, voiced by Sam Roman in the English dub, and Sumi Shimamoto as Lisa (リサ), voiced by Shannon Emerick in the English dub.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Shinkai spent 2008 in London, after the completion of "5 Centimeters per Second". He returned to Japan in 2009 to start work on his next project. He released two concept drawings for this film in December 2009 and noted that most of his works in the past decade were stories about characters who have to part ways with those they hold dear, but he wanted to take that theme further and wanted to deal more specifically on how to overcome that loss.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: In November 2010 he revealed critical information about "Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below" such as the title, plot summary, release date, and a teaser trailer. As with his previous films, Shinkai is the director and screenplay writer. Takayo Nishimura designed the characters and oversaw the animation process. Takumi Tanji directed the art, and musical composer Tenmon collaborated with Shinkai again.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Before the film's release in May 2011, manga adaptations were set to begin serialization in April 2011 in the first issue of the new magazine "Monthly Comic Gene" and in "Monthly Comic Flapper", both by Media Factory.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: The film's English adaptation was broadcast on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block in the United States on November 5, 2016.


title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices

text: Luke Halliday from "Capsule Computers" gave the film a perfect score, heralding the film as Shinkai's finest: ""Children Who Chase Lost Voices" is an astonishing film that truly feels like the culmination of Shinkai’s entire career up until this point. It is his most ambitious work to date and quite simply his crowning achievement in the art form." He continued on to highlight the film's significance to anime as an artform: "This is perhaps the most important anime film of the new millennium, because it marks an important changing of tides. It is films like "Children Who Chase Lost Voices" that remind us of how magical anime can truly be."


title: Barbie Hsu

text: Barbie Hsu (; born 6 October 1976) is a Taiwanese actress, singer, and television host. She is best known for her leading role in the television series "Meteor Garden" (2001).


title: Barbie Hsu

text: Hsu was born in Taipei, Taiwan on 6 October 1976. She was the second of three sisters, with the eldest being Hsu Si-hsien, and the youngest sister being Dee Hsu.


title: Barbie Hsu

text: From 1994 to 2001, she was a member of the pop duo ASOS (originally called SOS for "Sisters of Shu", the name was changed to ASOS for legal reasons) with her youngest sister Dee Hsu. As such, Hsu is also known by her nickname "Big S" (while Dee Hsu is nicknamed "Little S") although she was the middle child in the family.


title: Barbie Hsu

text: As an actress, Hsu is best known for her lead role in the 2001 television series "Meteor Garden". She has endorsed Tissot watches since 2005 and signed an additional 3-year contract in April 2008.


title: Barbie Hsu

text: On 16 November 2010, Hsu married Chinese entrepreneur Wang Xiaofei in a civil ceremony in Beijing. They held their wedding banquet on Hainan Island on 22 March 2011. They have two children: a daughter, Wang Hsi-yueh (born 24 April 2014), and a son, Wang Hsi-lin (born 14 May 2016). On 22 November 2021, Hsu and Wang officially announced their divorce amid claims of infidelity and political differences over Taiwan.


title: Barbie Hsu

text: On 8 March 2022, Hsu announced on both her Instagram and Facebook pagesthat she had married South Korean singer Koo Jun-yup. When the news of their marriage broke, it stirred the Asian entertainment industry and took over news headlines everywhere in both South Korea and Taiwan. Both Korean and Taiwanese fans congratulated and sent their blessings to the international celebrity couple. Fashion magazine "Vogue Taiwan" highlighted the couple's marriage as “a love story more thrilling than an idol drama.”


title: Barbie Hsu

text: Hsu and Koo's relationship dates back to August 1997 when she first saw Koo performing on stage while in the audience for a concert by Taiwanese singer Tarcy Su. Hsu developed a crush on Koo and, after meeting again in 1998, the pair immediately fell in love. Hsu's declaration of their love is her tattoo of his surname “Koo” on her right ankle. However, their relationship only lasted for about a year. Due to “dating ban” in the K-pop industry, their relationship was opposed by Koo's management which led to their heartbreaking split in 2000. They rekindled their romance after her divorce. Although Hsu and Koo registered their marriage in Taiwan on 28 March 2022, the couple officially tied the knot on 8 February 2022, the day they registered their marriage in South Korea. According to Hsu's agent, the couple mainly communicate in English mixed with Korean.


title: Rain on Me (Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande song)

text: "Rain on Me" is a song by American singers Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, from Gaga's sixth studio album, "Chromatica" (2020). It was written by Gaga, Grande, Nija Charles, Rami Yacoub, Tchami, Boys Noize and its producers BloodPop and Burns. An upbeat house, dance-pop, electropop and disco song, the song features a synth-disco beat and funk guitars. Described by Gaga as a "celebration of tears", the track explores resilience in defiance of the hardships in life.


text: The track was released by Interscope Records as the album's second single on May 22, 2020. Music critics lauded the singers' vocals as well as the song's message. With the song's debut at the top of the "Billboard" Hot 100, it became Gaga's fifth and Grande's fourth number-one single in the US. It marked the first all-female collaboration to debut atop the chart, and made Grande the first artist to have four songs debut at the top spot. On Spotify, "Rain on Me" was the seventh most streamed song of summer 2020 and the most streamed song by a female artist globally during the season. Additionally, "Rain on Me" topped the charts in 13 other countries, and also charted within the top ten in more than 50 territories.


text: The accompanying music video was directed by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, and features Gaga and Grande dancing inside a giant arena during a rainstorm, with daggers falling from the sky. "Rain on Me" was nominated for seven MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year, ultimately winning three awards, including Song of the Year. The duo gave a performance of "Rain on Me" at the VMA show, while Gaga performed the song solo on The Chromatica Ball tour (2022). "Rain on Me" was further promoted with the release of mock news broadcasts in partnership with The Weather Channel in which Gaga and Grande both appeared. The song won the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category at the 63rd Grammy Awards, being the first female collaboration in history to win.


text: The song was first mentioned in Gaga's March 2020 interview with "Paper", when then unknown to be with Grande, was described as a "monster of a dance tune, but its message is about submitting yourself to devastation – a flawless dance floor crier as a "celebration of all the tears". Gaga disclosed that she had collaborated with a "fellow female pop star who [had similarly experienced] immense trauma while in the public eye" and went into depth about the genesis of their song: "I sat with her and we talked about our lives. It's two women having a conversation about how to keep going and how to be grateful for what you do."


text: In her May 21, 2020 interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music's Beats 1, Gaga further talked about the writing process of the song:


text: "Rain on Me" was written by Gaga, Grande, Burns, Nija Charles, Rami Yacoub, Bresso, Boys Noize and "Chromatica" executive producer BloodPop. Co-producer Burns explained that he wanted to create the "same energy" that songs like "Another Chance" by Roger Sanchez and "Music Sounds Better with You" by the French house group Stardust have, so that it can "feel classic but modern at the same time." Initially, the song was "a stark, solo acid-house demo", and Burns disclosed how the track changed significantly during their process:


text: "Rain on Me" is a 1990s-influenced house, dance-pop, and disco song, with electropop, French house, and Eurodance elements. It was composed using common time in the key of C minor, with a tempo of 123 beats per minute. Most of the song follows a Cm–Amaj sequence while the first verse and second pre-chorus adds a B(add) and both pre-choruses include a Fm at the end. The track features an upbeat production consisting of synth-pop instrumentals, an R&B-influenced synth-disco beat, synth claps, funk guitar strums and rolling synths.


text: It opens with a stripped-down verse where Gaga's vocals are in the forefront. It is then accompanied by a French house bass and a thundering percussion. The mid-90s house-pop hook contains a pitched-down vocal loop. In the chorus, which is described as thundering, the beats build up, which then is altered into a techno beat drop. After doing ad-libs, Grande joins in the second verse, where handclapped beats are added. The final chorus "explodes" with the singers belting the song.


text: Gaga's and Grande's vocals, which were described as "booming", span from the low note of G to the high note of B. Vocally, Gaga makes use of spoken word deliveries and Grande uses her "signature" high note octave. Described by Gaga as a "celebration of tears", the song uses the metaphor of rain for alcohol used to numb pain. Its first verse sees Gaga thinking about the hardships of life while Grande delivers lyrics about accepting reality in the second verse. According to "Elle", the song is about "persevering through hardship, healing, and finding beauty in the pain, heartbreak, and life."


text: "Rain on Me" was officially announced on April 22, 2020, when Gaga posted the tracklist of her "Chromatica" album. On May 15, 2020, both Gaga and Grande posted the single's cover art on Instagram and Twitter to announce its release a week later. It premiered as the album's second single on May 21, 2020, at 21:00 PT (4:00 UTC on May 22, 2020). The song was also promoted through an Amazon Music lyric video commercial. To coincide with the single release, rain-themed merchandise items were made available in Gaga's official online store, such as rainboots, poncho, and an umbrella. On May 27, 2020, a limited 7-inch vinyl with alternate artwork became available to ship on Lady Gaga's official web store.


text: On May 26, 2020, Gaga and Grande posted a one-minute skit in partnership with The Weather Channel, where they give a mock weather update while holding an umbrella, and talk about how they "would like to celebrate the rain". On May 28, 2020, they released another weather update, filmed in Gaga's pool and Grande's bathtub. "Rain on Me" was added to a list of songs played on "Fortnite" radio stations. On August 26, 2020, Gaga announced an online competition with a $10,000 cash grand prize for the winner, where participants had to design a poster inspired by "Rain on Me", using Adobe creative apps.


text: "Rain on Me" received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. Adam White of "The Independent" gave "Rain on Me" four out of five stars, expressing that the song was "three minutes of euphoric melodrama" and a "theatrical and replenishing triumph". Joey Nolfi of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "Rain on Me" is "taking fans to sonic heaven" with the "therapeutic banger". Mikale Wood from the "Los Angeles Times" called it "a fist-pumping self-empowerment jam". Althea Legapsi of "Rolling Stone" labelled the song "rejuvenating", noting that the singers offer "a call-and-response exchange" as they "tout the rejuvenating aspects of the situation, despite the metaphorical bad weather sentiments." Dave Quinn from "People" highlighted "Grande touching her signature high note octaves" and "Gaga's bold voice" that "echos throughout the track as she sings, "Rain on Me" and "Hands up to the sky/I'll be your galaxy". Quinn Moreland of "Pitchfork" praised the song, writing that it "draws its power from two women connecting on an emotional level." In a rave review, Brenden Wetmore of "Paper" described the song as "absolutely electric by its end, having charged up enough raw emotion and heartbreak to power an entire circuit party's worth of strobe lights."


text: Craig Jenkins of "Vulture" magazine complimented the singers' vocals and the beat, and thought that the song "will be huge", because "it has that nebulous quality memorable pop hits have where the lyric seems distinctly about one thing but also not about anything in particular." Hannah Mylrea from "NME" called it a "smash hit" that "may just be Gaga's best song since 2011's 'Born This Way"". Rania Aniftos from "Billboard" thought that "the song showcases both Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga's unmatched vocals". "Billboard" also named "Rain on Me" as the second best song off Gaga's "Chromatica" album, stating that "the incredible [...] production and uplifting songwriting help make the song great, but its the unmatched chemistry between the two pop divas that makes it one of Gaga's best." Chris DeVille of "Stereogum" called the song "epic", saying that "there is some genuine catharsis in there [...] when Gaga and Ariana Grande come together to persevere through trauma."


text: Matt Melis of "Consequence of Sound" wrote that "Gaga and Grande have vocal chops for miles", and called it a "dynamite feature". He also thought that "it's the release all of us have needed at least a couple dozen times during this pandemic", while highlighting its uplifting message: "No matter how bad the storm gets, we will endure and perhaps come out a little cleaner on the other side for the pain." Allison Stewart from "The Washington Post" called the song a "big-voiced superdiva summit" that is "engineered to be irresistible". Evan Sawdey from "PopMatters" named it "one of [Gaga's] all-time greatest singles", that "flies through its three-minute run time so quickly you barely realize it's about alcohol abuse". Alexa Camp of "Slant Magazine" was less enthusiastic, and while she opined that "Rain on Me" is "an improvement over previous single 'Stupid Love, she described the song as "two overzealous vocalists duking it out to see who can out-sing the other over the course of the track's three chart-maximizing minutes" and criticized the song's bridge.


text: "Rain on Me" was considered one of the best songs of 2020 by many critics. Ben Beaumont-Thomas from "The Guardian" named "Rain on Me" as the best song of 2020, stating "it’s that sense of transcendence that makes it such a potent song in 2020, by acknowledging the rain and dancing through it". "Billboard" staff also named "Rain on Me" as the best song of the year, calling it a "stratospheric level of pop perfection" and stating "the song‘s true historical legacy will become clearer years from now when we look back on 2020, 'Rain on Me' stands apart as the song that helped millions of people cope with the uncertainty, tragedy and anxiety of an endless downpour of a year". Chris DeVille from "Stereogum" named "Rain on Me" as the best pop song of 2020, calling it an epic dance track that finds euphoria in resilience and stating "over a mammoth '90s-vintage house beat, Gaga and Grande channeled every ounce of their diva power, not quite erasing their trauma and struggle but vanquishing it for three minutes at a time". Helen Ainsley from Official Charts Company picked "Rain on Me" as her favourite song of 2020, stating "like a sudden downpour after a heatwave, 'Rain on Me' was an antidote to the drudge and uncertainty of the first few months of lockdown. This candid collab between two of pop’s most beloved powerhouses was a rousing reminder that while we may be struggling, at least we’re alive, packaged inside a dance-pop stomper that would have dominated clubs had they been open."


text: "Rain on Me" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Gaga's fifth and Grande's fourth number one single as well as Gaga's seventeenth top 10 entry and Grande's sixteenth. It additionally became the first female-collaboration song to debut at number one on the chart. "Rain on Me" is Gaga's second song to debut at the top following "Born This Way", making her the fourth female artist to have two songs debut at number one, following Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, and Ariana Grande, and seventh overall, following Drake, Justin Bieber, and Travis Scott. Gaga is also the third artist following Carey and Beyoncé to accumulate a number one single in the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s decades. Grande became the first artist to have four number one debut singles, surpassing Carey, Drake, and Bieber. Gaga also earns her eighth Digital Song Sales No. 1 and Grande adds her seventh. The song was driven by 31.5 million streams, 73,000 downloads and 11.1 million audience impressions in the week ending May 28, 2020. On March 17, 2021, "Rain on Me" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for moving 2 million units in the United States. The song's sales were aided by four physical/digital combination offerings during the tracking week; consumers could also purchase cassette, CD and vinyl singles, each with a digital download.


text: In the United Kingdom, "Rain on Me" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart becoming both Gaga and Grande's sixth UK number one single and Gaga's first single to debut atop. With this Gaga became the fourth female artist after Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears, to have a number one single across three consecutive decades. Notching up 70,000 chart sales to seize the top spot from the previous week's leader, DaBaby's "Rockstar", "Rain on Me" claimed the biggest ever opening week streaming numbers by an all-female collaboration in the UK, with 8.1 million plays in seven days. At six number-one singles each, Gaga and Grande match Britney Spears and Rod Stewart with the tenth-most number-ones on the UK Singles Chart. With 515,000 chart sales during the three-month period, "Rain on Me" was the third best selling song of the summer 2020 in the UK, being the biggest song by a female artist in the country. "Rain on Me" was the seventeenth biggest song of 2020 in the UK, while also being the fourth biggest song by female artists in the country. It was the twelfth best selling and twentieth most streamed song of 2020 in the United Kingdom. As of July 2022, the song has sold 1.3 million copies and gained 153 million streams and has been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).


text: In Ireland, "Rain on Me" debuted atop the Irish Singles Chart, becoming Grande's sixth and Gaga's seventh number one single in the country. "Rain on Me" also scored the biggest opening week of 2020, surpassing the previous best set by Billie Eilish's "No Time to Die". "Rain on Me" is Gaga's first song to debut in pole position in over nine years since "Born This Way" in 2011 and Grande's sixth to lead the top 50 in Ireland, and in doing so, she matched Rihanna as the female artists with the most number-ones of the past ten years. "Rain on Me" was the 20th biggest song of 2020 in Ireland, being the 5th biggest song by a female artist in the country. It was also the fastest-selling single of 2020.


text: In Canada, "Rain on Me" entered the Canadian Hot 100 chart at the top position on the issue dated June 6, 2020, becoming Gaga's sixth and Grande's fourth number one single in the country. It also debuted at number one on the Canadian Digital Songs Sales chart. In Australia, "Rain on Me" debuted at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart dated June 1, 2020, becoming Gaga's fourteenth and Grande's fifteenth top ten single in the country. For Grande, it is the second top 10 duet single to debut in that tier in three, following "Stuck with U". It remained at number two on its second week, still behind DaBaby's "Rockstar".


text: The music video for "Rain on Me" was filmed in Los Angeles from February 20 to 24, 2020, shortly before the state of California went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The outfits worn by Gaga and Grande were designed by Laura Pulice and manufactured by Vex Clothing, a company specialized in latex suits. Pulice said that the inspiration for Gaga's look was "a futuristic sci-fi punk" and "a heavy metal album sex symbol", while for Grande they "wanted to keep with the style that she's comfortable with, while staying with the futuristic theme of the video." The singers' makeup was done by Sarah Tanno, who used products from Haus Laboratories and "wanted the looks to feel powerful, pop, with a mix of dangerous rebellion." Choreographer Richy Jackson aspired to develop choreography which was uplifting and easy to recreate for those who watch it. He added that he really enjoyed the process because he was "able to work with both Gaga and Ariana and design their dances based on their individual artistic personalities, unique likenesses and differences and also how they each sang their lyrics parts."


text: Prior to the release of the video, Gaga talked with Beats 1's Zane Lowe about working with Grande on the video, saying that "she was so open to trying things that she hasn't done before". The music video was directed by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, who had previously worked with Gaga on the films "Machete Kills" and "". It premiered on May 22, 2020, at 10 a.m. PT. On August 6, 2020, Gaga released the forty-eighth episode of her web series "Gagavision", showing her and Grande going through rehearsals and filming the music video.


text: The video starts with "Gaga lying on the ground in a pose similar to that on the "Chromatica" artwork with a dagger stuck in her thigh", which she later pulls out. The fashion of the video include much "dominatrix-esque" latex and PVC. Gaga appears in a pink outfit and platform boots, leading a troupe of dancers also dressed in pink as in her previous video for "Stupid Love", while Grande wears a purple outift and a "shiny black metallic miniskirt with butterfly wings", with her respective group of dancers also in purple.


text: They are all dancing inside a giant arena during a rainstorm, with daggers falling from the sky. At one point in the clip, Gaga sports Grande's "trademark high pony" hairstyle, with Grande having her hair down. The video also features "some dramatic close-ups of Gaga with rain pouring down her face" behind a pane of glass, and a scene where the two singers are holding hands, "each with lengthy Sailor Moon hair floating in the wind behind them". The video ends with a shot of the two singers hugging each other.


text: Amy Mackelden of "Harper's Bazaar" thought that the music video "is nothing short of iconic", and "features dramatic costume changes, and killer dance moves". Erin Vanderhoof of "Vanity Fair" called it a "lavishly produced and animated video" with "TikTok–friendly" dance moves, and found it "a bit of nostalgia to [...] the pre-coronavirus days". Kyle Munzenrieder of "W" magazine also noted that the choreography would translate well to TikTok videos as "the singers mostly stay static in place and pull the kind of moves one could easily record themselves doing in their bedroom". Stefanee Wang of "Nylon" complimented the performance of Gaga and Grande in the video, saying that "neither of them miss a single beat". She added that the visual for the song "makes a convincing case that, when the world falls, society should really just become a huge dance party. Brendan Wetmore of "Paper" found the video "equally as sparkly" as the single, "putting the two '10s dance-pop icons alongside each other for a riot in the rain." George Griffiths of "Metro" called it a "cathartic [...] triumph". Critics found inspirations in the video from "Blade Runner", "Mortal Kombat" and "Bayonetta".


text: On August 30, 2020, the duo performed the song at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, marking its first live performance. The track was part of a medley of songs from "Chromatica". After performing "911", Gaga changed into a purple outift with a spiky shoulder-piece and started singing "Rain on Me". Grande joined her on stage, sporting long pigtails and high, white platform shoes. Accompanied by dancers, they performed the choreography as seen in the music video of the song, which included their synchronized jumping. Joey Nolfi from "Entertainment Weekly" called the performance "epic", as "the two singers hit high notes and performed exuberant choreography, wearing futuristic masks the entire time."


text: In 2022, Gaga performed "Rain on Me" at The Chromatica Ball stadium tour. Similarly to the music video, she starts singing the song flat on her back. The show in Los Angeles – which was recorded for an unknown project – involved fireworks exploding over Dodger Stadium during the closing part of "Rain on Me".


text: On July 17, 2021, remixes of "Rain on Me" done by Ralphi Rosario and Purple Disco Machine were released digitally. On August 9, 2021, Venezuelan producer Arca announced via Discord that she produced her own remix of the song for Gaga's third remix album "Dawn of Chromatica" (2021). Her rendition samples the songs "Time" and "Mequetrefe" off her fourth studio album "Kick I" (2020), as well as the Changa tuki track "Mételo Sácalo" by DJ Yirvin.


text: In a review of "Dawn of Chromatica", "Slant Magazine" Alexa Camp praised Arca's remix of the track, claiming that "it offers a glimpse of what "Chromatica" might have sounded like had Gaga's music lived up to the avant-garde pop image she's created for herself." Arca's remix earned the praise of "Pitchfork" Jamieson Cox as well, who thought it was "Dawn of Chromatica"'s "most radical cut" that "situate[s] Gaga and Ariana Grande within "Kick I" gossamer avant-pop." Writing for "Clash", Robin Murray thought that Arca's "mosaic-like approach" to the deconstruction of the song has "a sly, subversive edge." Sam Murphy of Junkee opined that Arca's remix "emerges from a sonic sludge, slowly revealing the song's euphoria bit-by-bit. The euphoria is harder to access but by the time it builds to its climax, through glitchy synths and chopped vocals, the pay-off is glorious." Alex Rigotti from "Gigwise" appreciated the producer's risk-taking in the remix, saying that "Arca lets the track simmer and steam, never letting up", and opined that "the decision to make all of 'Rain on Me' high-strung and tense with no resolution was certainly a big choice". She however added that she "respect[s] the intentions more than the product", saying that this remix is not one she "personally would come back to a lot".


title: Blackpool Combat Club

text: The Blackpool Combat Club (BCC) is a professional wrestling stable performing in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Its namesake derives from Blackpool, a seaside resort in Lancashire, England, where the group's former creator and manager William Regal began his career. The group was originally composed of Regal, Bryan Danielson, and Jon Moxley, who would later be joined by Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli. Regal turned on Moxley and left the group in November 2022, as he felt the BCC no longer needed him. He also chose to not renew his AEW contract in order to return to WWE to train his son.


title: Blackpool Combat Club

text: Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson had their first interaction in August 2010 when they challenged one another to a professional wrestling match at Heartland Wrestling Association's Road to Destiny event in Dragon Gate USA a month later. Danielson, who was employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) at the time after his return at SummerSlam and was referred to as Daniel Bryan, wrestled his match against Moxley. In 2011, Moxley signed with WWE as Dean Ambrose and wrestled in its development territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, which later became NXT. He later became a successful member of The Shield. Ambrose and Bryan wrestled various matches throughout the 2010s, and both men became successful world champions for WWE before reverting to their respective names after their departures from WWE in 2019 and 2021, respectively, with both men joining All Elite Wrestling (AEW). During that period, William Regal was also employed by WWE prior to the faction's establishment as a wrestler and general manager for NXT, having helped train and teach both men.


title: Blackpool Combat Club

text: On the February 2, 2022, episode of "AEW Dynamite", Danielson offered Moxley to team up together, which Moxley accepted on the condition that they wrestled each other first. Danielson was defeated by Moxley at Revolution on March 6, after which the two began brawling. William Regal, once a mentor to both men, then made his AEW surprise debut to break up the fight and force them to shake hands. The two formed a team with Regal acting as their manager, later being named the Blackpool Combat Club.


title: Blackpool Combat Club

text: On the April 8 episode of "AEW Rampage", Moxley wrestled ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta in a critically acclaimed match, in which Moxley ultimately emerged victorious. After the match, Regal offered Yuta a handshake, and subsequently invited him to join the group, which Yuta accepted. On the May 11 episode of "Dynamite", Eddie Kingston and Santana and Ortiz united with the Blackpool Combat Club to fight off the Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, Angelo Parker, and Matt Menard). At Double or Nothing on May 29, Blackpool Combat Club teamed with Eddie Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz to face the Jericho Appreciation Society in an Anarchy in the Arena match, but lost.


title: Blackpool Combat Club

text: At on June 26, Yuta teamed up with Kingston and Shota Umino in a losing effort against Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki. Later that night, Claudio Castagnoli joined the Blackpool Combat Club and made his surprise AEW debut as Danielson's handpicked replacement due to the latter suffering an injury, defeating Zack Sabre Jr., while Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the interim AEW World Championship in the main event. The Blackpool Combat Club would then team up again with Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz and avenge their loss to the Jericho Appreciation Society in a Blood and Guts match at the eponymous event. At Death Before Dishonor on July 23, Castagnoli defeated Jonathan Gresham to capture the ROH World Championship, while Yuta successfully defended the ROH Pure Championship against Daniel Garcia.


title: Blackpool Combat Club

text: On the August 24 episode of "Dynamite", Moxley quickly defeated lineal AEW World Champion CM Punk to win his record-setting second AEW World Championship, becoming the undisputed AEW World Champion in the process. Danielson was defeated by Jericho at All Out on September 4, while Moxley lost the undisputed championship to Punk, ending his reign at eleven days. On the following episode of "Dynamite", Yuta lost the ROH Pure Championship to Daniel Garcia, thus ending his reign at 159 days. Moxley and Danielson were inserted in the AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions to crown a new AEW World Champion as previous champion CM Punk was stripped of the title. At "Dynamite": Grand Slam on September 21, Castagnoli lost the ROH World Championship to Chris Jericho, while Moxley defeated Danielson in the tournament final to win the vacant championship, becoming the first ever three-time AEW World Champion.


title: Blackpool Combat Club

text: At Full Gear, Moxley would lose the title to MJF after Regal gave MJF the Brass Knuckles, aligning himself with MJF. On the December 1 episode of "Dynamite", MJF turned on Regal by attacking him with the Brass Knuckles, causing him to be taken by hospital. On the following episode of "Dynamite", a interview between Tony Schiavone and Regal was revealed. The interview was revealed to only be released should MJF have taken him out, and explained that his actions at Full Gear were to teach the group that they would be fine without him. He also revealed that he helped MJF to teach him a lesson of "be careful what you wish for", which lead to his final lesson to the group: always be one step ahead and have eyes in the back of your head. He then said he is Blackpool Combat Club until he dies, signifying the end of his tenure with the promotion.


title: 1990–91 European Cup

text: The 1990–91 European Cup was the 36th season of the European Cup, a tournament for men's football clubs in nations affiliated to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It was won for the first time by Red Star Belgrade on penalties in the final against Marseille; both were first-time finalists. This was only the second time that an Eastern European side had won the competition, after Steaua București of Romania in 1986. It was also the last tournament to be solely knock-out based, with a group stage added for the next season. Red Star won the tournament as the only Yugoslavian club shortly before the breakup of Yugoslavia. This was also the last season to feature a team from East Germany, since the East and its West counterpart reunified in October 1990.


title: 1990–91 European Cup

text: Although 1990–91 marked the return of English clubs to the Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup, after a five-year ban resulting from the Heysel Stadium disaster, Liverpool had been banned for an additional year, so could not participate in the European Cup as English champions.


title: 1990–91 European Cup

text: Ajax, the Dutch champions, were not allowed to participate in a European Cup competition because of the poor behaviour of their fans during a game the previous season, so their spot in the qualification was simply vacated, giving the two-time defending champions Milan a first-round bye.


title: 1990–91 European Cup

text: Milan were eliminated by Marseille in the quarter-finals after the second leg had been awarded as a 3–0 win for Marseille when the eventual runners-up were leading 1–0, and 2–1 on aggregate, in injury time, when the floodlights failed. Milan refused to play on when floodlights were fixed and were banned, giving Marseille a 3–0 automatic win.


title: 1990–91 European Cup

text: – Match abandoned due to rioting after 78 mins. With Red Star Belgrade leading 2–1, they were awarded the match 3–0.


title: 1990–91 European Cup

text: "The match was abandoned in the 78th minute as per the decision by the match referee Emilio Soriano Aladrén due to Dynamo Dresden fans causing commotion in the stands and pelting the pitch with objects that landed in the vicinity of Red Star player Robert Prosinečki who was about to take a corner kick and the assistant referee on the sideline. Following several minutes of unsuccessful attempts to calm the fans, the match referee ordered the teams off the pitch and the contest was never resumed. Red Star Belgrade led 2–1 on the night and 5–1 on aggregate at the moment of the stoppage. At a disciplinary hearing several days later, UEFA awarded a 3–0 win to Red Star Belgrade and banned Dynamo Dresden for a year from European competition.<br>Red Star Belgrade won 6–0 on aggregate."


title: 1990–91 European Cup

text: "The match was interrupted in injury time due to poor visibility after two of the four floodlights in the stadium failed. Marseille led 1–0 on the night and 2–1 on aggregate at the moment. When power was restored after 15 minutes, Milan director Adriano Galliani decided not to let his team go back on the pitch at which point the contest was abandoned permanently. UEFA awarded a 3–0 win to Marseille and banned Milan for a year from European competition including suspending Galliani from all official club functions for two years.<br>Marseille won 4–1 on aggregate."


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: Doutzen Kroes (, ; born 23 January 1985) is a Dutch fashion model. She began her modelling career in 2003, in the Netherlands and was quickly sent by her agency to New York where she was cast by lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2008 until 2014, making her the second Dutch Victoria's Secret angel after Karen Mulder. She has been a brand ambassador for L'Oréal Paris since 2006. Kroes has been one of the highest-paid models, with an estimated income of more than $5 million per year, since 2008. In 2014, she came in second on the "Forbes" top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $8 million in one year. As of December 2015, she was ranked as one of the "New Supers" in the fashion industry and dubbed "Helen of Troy of advertising" by "Models.com". In 2013, she became the first model to land four different solo international covers of "Vogue"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s September issue in a single year.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: Doutzen Kroes was born on 23 January 1985, in the village of Eastermar (). Her mother, Geartsje Leistra, was a nurse, then a teacher, and her father, Johan Kroes, was a psychotherapist. In the 1970s, they were both champion speed skaters. As a young girl, Kroes aspired to be a professional speed skater.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: Describing herself as a "tomboy" in her youth, she had never seriously considered modelling, but sent snapshots to modelling agency Paparazzi Model Management in Amsterdam, in 2003.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: In 2005, Kroes won "Model of The Year" on Vogue.com by readers. She was presented on the May 2007 cover of Vogue as one of the "World's Next Top Models" along with Chanel Iman among others. Along with several of these models, she appeared in the 2008 Pirelli Calendar.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: In 2006, a Frisian documentary directed by J.J.M. Jansen about a week in Kroes' life as a model was released. It documented Kroes at Milan Fashion Week and her thinking about the modelling industry. In July 2007, earning at an estimated total of $1.5 million in the previous twelve months, "Forbes" named Kroes fourteenth in the list of the world's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels. In April 2008, she was in fifth position, with an estimated income of $6 million. Forbes named Kroes fifth again in 2009 ($6 million), 2010 ($6 million) and 2012 ($6.9 million). Kroes escalated to the second position of the ranking in 2014, having earned $8 million the year before.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: At the end of August 2008, Victoria's Secret confirmed to "People" magazine that Kroes was to be the newest Victoria's Secret Angel. Her first campaign as the brand's newest Angel was "Supermodel Obsessions".


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: There is a wax figure of Kroes in the Amsterdam branch of Madame Tussaud's wax museum. From November 2009 to July 2010, Kroes wrote a monthly column about her life for the Dutch edition of "Marie Claire".


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: In February 2010, Kroes returned to the catwalk during fashion week for Prada with fellow Angels Alessandra Ambrosio and Miranda Kerr. Prada was praised by former editor-in-chief of "Glamour", "Cosmopolitan" and "Marie Claire" magazines, Bonnie Fuller in her blog for using a curvy model such as Kroes for the fashion show.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: In September 2013, Kroes became the first model in history to appear on the cover of four international editions of "Vogue" in one month.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: In 2014, Kroes appeared in the new Calvin Klein Reveal Fragrance commercial alongside Charlie Hunnam, as well as continuing her long-standing contracts. She also announced that she was ending her contract with Victoria's Secret after seven years of being with the brand; she walked in the 2005–2009 (excluding 2007), and 2011–2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows. Kroes is considered one of the "New Supers" by Models.com.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: In 2016, Kroes was announced as the spokesmodel for Dutch lingerie retailer Hunkemöller. Kroes released her own collection line 'Doutzen's Stories' and has starred in several campaigns for the Hunkemöller brand to date.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: On 24 November 2011, Kroes debuted in "Nova Zembla", the first Dutch 3D film made. Kroes has been taking acting classes in New York City for several years and has stated in interviews that she plans to act in more movies to come. In 2017, she appeared in the superhero film "Wonder Woman", as an Amazon warrior.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: Kroes is actively involved with the non-profit organization Dance4Life, which uses song and dance to educate youth about HIV and AIDS prevention. She is also an ambassador for "Praat mar Frysk" ("Just speak Frisian") campaign which aims to promote the Frisian language, which is spoken in Kroes' native Friesland.


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: In 2009, Kroes started dating Dutch DJ Sunnery James Gorré. On 7 November 2010, she and Sunnery married in Eastermar. The couple have two children: son Phyllon Joy Gorré (born January 2011) and daughter Myllena Mae Gorré (born July 2014). Both children were born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In an April 2014 interview on the future of her daughter, Kroes said: "Instead of saying, 'You're so beautiful', I'll say, 'You're smart', so she'll have different aspirations in life than beauty and modelling. Though I love my job, I'm not changing the world. I'd love for her to study and to have different aspirations. We need to teach girls they can become presidents, and it's not about beauty all the time."


title: Doutzen Kroes

text: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Kroes has spread conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and vaccines. In September 2021, Kroes elicited some controversy by revealing her anti-vaccine point of view on Instagram, stating she would "not be forced to take the shot", in reference to the COVID-19 vaccine. In November 2021, Kroes shared a video on her Instagram account stating that COVID-19 vaccines are part of a plot by "satanists" to "reduce the global population". Kroes, whose net worth is estimated by "Quote" at €29 million, has also been criticised for applying for government compensation of loss of income due to COVID-19 while at the same time spreading misinformation about the pandemic.


title: Diglossia

text: In linguistics, diglossia () is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" or "low" variety), a second, highly codified lect (labeled "H" or "high") is used in certain situations such as literature, formal education, or other specific settings, but not used normally for ordinary conversation. In most cases, the H variety has no native speakers but various degrees of fluency of the low speakers. In cases of three dialects, the term triglossia is used. When referring to two writing systems coexisting for a single language, the term digraphia is used.


title: Diglossia

text: The high variety may be an older stage of the same language (as in medieval Europe, where Latin (H) remained in formal use even as colloquial speech (L) diverged), an unrelated language, or a distinct yet closely related present-day dialect (as in northern India and Pakistan, where Hindustani (L) is used alongside the standard registers of Hindi (H) and Urdu (H); Hochdeutsch (H) is used alongside German dialects (L); the Arab world, where Modern Standard Arabic (H) is used alongside other varieties of Arabic (L); and China, where Standard Chinese (H) is used as the official, literary standard and local varieties of Chinese (L) are used in everyday communication). Other examples include literary Katharevousa (H) versus spoken Demotic Greek (L); Indonesian, with its "bahasa baku" (H) and "bahasa gaul" (L) forms; Standard American English (H) versus African-American Vernacular English (L); and literary (H) versus spoken (L) Welsh


title: Diglossia

text: The Greek word διγλωσσία ("diglōssia") meant bilingualism; it was given its specialized meaning "two forms of the same language" by Emmanuel Rhoides in the prologue of his "Parerga" in 1885. The term was quickly adapted into French as "diglossie" by the Greek linguist and demoticist Ioannis Psycharis, with credit to Rhoides.


title: Diglossia

text: The Arabist William Marçais used the term in 1930 to describe the linguistic situation in Arabic-speaking countries. The sociolinguist Charles A. Ferguson introduced the English equivalent "diglossia" in 1959 in the title of an article. His conceptualization of diglossia describes a society with more than one prevalent language or the high variety, which pertains to the language used in literature, newspapers, and other social institutions. The article has been cited over 4,000 times. The term is particularly embraced among sociolinguists and a number of these proposed different interpretations or varieties of the concept.


title: Diglossia

text: Here, diglossia is seen as a kind of bilingualism in a society in which one of the languages has high prestige (henceforth referred to as "H"), and another of the languages has low prestige ("L"). In Ferguson's definition, the high and low variants are always closely related.


title: Diglossia

text: Ferguson gives the example of standardized Arabic and says that, "very often, educated Arabs will maintain they never use L at all, in spite of the fact that direct observation shows that they use it constantly in ordinary conversation"


title: Diglossia

text: Joshua Fishman expanded the definition of diglossia to include the use of unrelated languages as high and low varieties. For example, in Alsace the Alsatian language (Elsässisch) serves as (L) and French as (H). Heinz Kloss calls the (H) variant "exoglossia" and the (L) variant "endoglossia".


title: Diglossia

text: In some cases (especially with creole languages), the nature of the connection between (H) and (L) is not one of diglossia but a continuum; for example, Jamaican Creole as (L) and Standard English as (H) in Jamaica. Similar is the case in the Lowlands, with the Scots language as (L) and Scottish English as (H).


title: Diglossia

text: (H) is usually the written language whereas (L) is the spoken language. In formal situations, (H) is used; in informal situations, (L) is used. Sometimes, (H) is used in informal situations and as spoken language when speakers of 2 different (L) languages and dialects or more communicate with each other (as a "lingua franca"), but not the other way around.


title: Diglossia

text: One of the earliest examples was that of Middle Egyptian, the language in everyday use in Ancient Egypt during the Middle Kingdom (2000 - 1650 BC). By 1350 BC, in the New Kingdom (1550 -1050 BC), the Egyptian language had evolved into Late Egyptian, which itself later evolved into Demotic (700 BC - AD 400). These two later forms served as (L) languages in their respective periods. But in both cases, Middle Egyptian remained the standard written, prestigious form, the (H) language, and was still used for this purpose until the fourth century AD, more than sixteen centuries after it had ceased to exist in everyday speech.


title: Diglossia

text: Another historical example is Latin, Classical Latin being the (H) and Vulgar Latin the (L); the latter, which is almost completely unattested in text, is the tongue from which the Romance languages descended.


title: Diglossia

text: The (L) variants are not just simplifications or "corruptions" of the (H) variants. In phonology, for example, (L) dialects are as likely to have phonemes absent from the (H) as vice versa. Some Swiss German dialects have three phonemes, , and , in the phonetic space where Standard German has only two phonemes, ("Berlin" 'Berlin', "Bären" 'bears') and ("Beeren" 'berries'). Jamaican Creole has fewer vowel phonemes than standard English, but it has additional palatal and phonemes.


title: Diglossia

text: Especially in endoglossia the (L) form may also be called "basilect", the (H) form "acrolect", and an intermediate form "mesolect".


title: Diglossia

text: Ferguson's classic examples include Standard German/Swiss German, Standard Arabic/Arabic vernaculars, Standard French/Creole in Haiti, and Katharevousa/Dimotiki in Greece, though the "low prestige" nature of most of these examples has changed since Ferguson's article was published. Creole is now recognized as a standard language in Haiti; Swiss German dialects are hardly low-prestige languages in Switzerland (see Chambers, Sociolinguistic Theory); and after the end of the Greek military regime in 1974, Dimotiki was made into Greece's only standard language in 1976, and nowadays, Katharevousa is (with a few exceptions) no longer used. Harold Schiffman wrote about Swiss German in 2010, "It seems to be the case that Swiss German was once consensually agreed to be in a diglossic hierarchy with Standard German, but that this consensus is now breaking." Code-switching is also commonplace, especially in the Arabic world; according to Andrew Freeman, this is "different from Ferguson's description of diglossia which states that the two forms are in complementary distribution." To a certain extent, there is code switching and overlap in all diglossic societies, even German-speaking Switzerland.


title: Diglossia

text: Examples where the High/Low dichotomy is justified in terms of social prestige include Italian dialects as (L) and Standard Italian as (H) in Italy and German dialects and Standard German in Germany. In Italy and Germany, those speakers who still speak non-standard dialects typically use those dialects in informal situations, especially in the family. In German-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, Swiss German dialects are to a certain extent even used in schools, and to a larger extent in churches. Ramseier calls German-speaking Switzerland's diglossia a "medial diglossia", whereas Felicity Rash prefers "functional diglossia". Paradoxically, Swiss German offers both the best example of diglossia (all speakers are native speakers of Swiss German and thus diglossic) and the worst, because there is no clear-cut hierarchy. While Swiss Standard German is spoken in formal situations like in school, news broadcasts, and government speeches, Swiss Standard German is also spoken in informal situations only whenever a German Swiss is communicating with a non-Swiss and it is assumed that this person does not understand the respective dialect. Amongst themselves, the German-speaking Swiss use their respective Swiss German dialect, irrespective of social class, education or topic.


title: Diglossia

text: In most African countries, a European language serves as the official, prestige language, and local languages are used in everyday life outside formal situations. For example, Wolof is the everyday "lingua franca" in Senegal, French being spoken only in very formal situations, and English is spoken in formal situations in Nigeria, but native languages like Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba are spoken in ordinary conversation. However, a European language that serves as an official language can also act as a "lingua franca", being spoken in informal situations between speakers of two or more different languages to facilitate communication. Diglossia can exist between two dialects of a European language as well. For example, in Côte d'Ivoire, Standard French is the prestige language used in business, politics, etc. while Ivorian French is the daily language in the street, on the markets, and in informal situations in general; in Mozambique, European Portuguese is used in formal situations, while Mozambican Portuguese is the spoken language in informal situations; and British English is used in formal situations in Nigeria, while Nigerian English is the spoken language in informal situations. In the countryside, local African dialects prevail. However, in traditional events, local languages can be used as prestige dialects : for example, a wedding ceremony between two young urban Baoulé people with poor knowledge of the Baoulé language (spoken in Côte d'Ivoire) would require the presence of elder family members as interpreters to conduct the ceremony in that language. Local languages, if used as prestige languages, are also used in writing materials in a more formal type of vocabulary. There are also European languages in Africa, particularly North Africa, without official status that are used as prestige language: for example, in Morocco, while Modern Standard Arabic and recently Tamazight are the only two official languages used in formal situations, with Moroccan Arabic and Amazigh dialects spoken in informal situations, while French and Spanish are also spoken in formal situations, making some Moroccans bilinguals or trilinguals in Modern Standard Arabic or Tamazight, French or Spanish, and Moroccan Arabic or Amazigh dialects. In Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, the official languages are Modern Standard Arabic and Spanish, which are spoken in formal situations, while Hassaniya Arabic is spoken in informal situations, and Spanish is also spoken in informal situations.


title: Diglossia

text: In Ghana, a dialect called "Student Pidgin" was traditionally used by men in once all-male secondary schools, though an ever-increasing number of female students are now also using it due to social change.


title: Diglossia

text: Gender-based oral speech variations are found in Arabic-speaking communities. Makkan males are found to adopt more formal linguistic variants in their WhatsApp messages than their female counterparts, who tend to use more informal "locally prestigious" linguistic variants.


title: Diglossia

text: Among Garifuna (Karif) speakers in Central America, men and women quite often have different words for the same concepts.


title: Diglossia

text: Greek diglossia belongs to the category whereby, while the living language of the area evolves and changes as time passes by, there is an artificial retrospection to and imitation of earlier (more ancient) linguistic forms preserved in writing and considered to be scholarly and classic. One of the earliest recorded examples of diglossia was during the first century AD, when Hellenistic Alexandrian scholars decided that, in order to strengthen the link between the people and the glorious culture of the Greek “Golden Age” (5th c. BC), people should adopt the language of that era. The phenomenon, called “Atticism”, dominated the writings of part of the Hellenistic period, the Byzantine and Medieval era. Following the Greek War of Independence of 1821 and in order to “cover new and immediate needs” making their appearance with “the creation of the Greek State”, scholars brought to life “Κatharevousa” or “purist” language. Katharevousa did not constitute the natural development of the language of the people, the “Koine”, “Romeika”, Demotic Greek or Dimotiki as it is currently referred to. It constituted an attempt to purify the language from vulgar forms such as words of foreign origin, especially Turkish and Slavic languages, but also French or Italian and substitute them with ancient Attic forms and even by reaching down to Homeric "cleansed" and "refined" words.


title: Diglossia

text: Diglossia in modern Serbian language is the most obvious if we consider the usage of past tenses in High and Low varieties. The High variety of the Serbian is based on the Serbo-Croatian Language of the former communist Yugoslavia. In the High form (newspapers, television, other mass media, education, and any other formal use or situation) all of the Serbian past tenses are replaced by the present perfect tense (which is in the Serbian school system either called "perfect tense" or the "past tense", but never "present perfect" since WW2).


title: Diglossia

text: On the other side, the Low form informal vernacular language contains several other past tenses (aorist, two past perfect forms and rarely imperfect, and one more with no name), of which the aorist is the most important. In the Low form the present perfect tense with perfective verbs is not strictly treated as a past tense. In many rural and semi-rural parts of Serbia the aorist, despite being banished from any formal use, is the most frequent past tense form in the spoken informal language, more frequent even than the highly prestigious present perfect. When statements of peasants need to be written down by authorities, or published in any form, the past tenses are usually replaced by the present perfect tense.


title: Diglossia

text: The High form of Serbian today does have native speakers: those are usually younger and more educated parts of the population living in big cities, such as Belgrade (the capital of Serbia) and Novi Sad. Most of them are unable to differentiate the meanings among the present perfect tense and the other past tenses, which they do not use due to the influence of education and mass media.


title: Diglossia

text: As an aspect of study of the relationships between codes and social structure, diglossia is an important concept in the field of sociolinguistics. At the social level, each of the two dialects has certain spheres of social interaction assigned to it and in the assigned spheres it is the only socially acceptable dialect (with minor exceptions). At the grammatical level, differences may involve pronunciation, inflection, and/or syntax (sentence structure). Differences can range from minor (although conspicuous) to extreme. In many cases of diglossia, the two dialects are so divergent that they are distinct languages as defined by linguists: they are not mutually intelligible.


title: Diglossia

text: Thomas Ricento, an author on language policy and political theory believes that there is always a "socially constructed hierarchy, indexed from low to high." The hierarchy is generally imposed by leading political figures or popular media and is sometimes not the native language of that particular region. The dialect that is the original mother tongue is almost always of low prestige. Its spheres of use involve informal, interpersonal communication: conversation in the home, among friends, in marketplaces. In some diglossias, this vernacular dialect is virtually unwritten. Those who try to use it in literature may be severely criticized or even persecuted. The other dialect is held in high esteem and is devoted to written communication and formal spoken communication, such as university instruction, primary education, sermons, and speeches by government officials. It is usually not possible to acquire proficiency in the formal, "high" dialect without formal study of it. Thus in those diglossic societies which are also characterized by extreme inequality of social classes, most people are not proficient in speaking the high dialect, and if the high dialect is grammatically different enough, as in the case of Arabic diglossia, these uneducated classes cannot understand most of the public speeches that they might hear on television and radio. The high prestige dialect (or language) tends to be the more formalised, and its forms and vocabulary often 'filter down' into the vernacular though often in a changed form.


title: Diglossia

text: In many diglossic areas, there is controversy and polarization of opinions of native speakers regarding the relationship between the two dialects and their respective statuses. In cases that the "high" dialect is objectively not intelligible to those exposed only to the vernacular, some people insist that the two dialects are nevertheless a common language. The pioneering scholar of diglossia, Charles A. Ferguson, observed that native speakers proficient in the high prestige dialect will commonly try to avoid using the vernacular dialect with foreigners and may even deny its existence even though the vernacular is the only socially appropriate one for themselves to use when speaking to their relatives and friends. Yet another common attitude is that the low dialect, which is everyone's native language, ought to be abandoned in favor of the high dialect, which presently is nobody's native language.


title: Dance in India

text: Dance in India comprises numerous styles of dances, generally classified as classical or folk. As with other aspects of Indian culture, different forms of dances originated in different parts of India, developed according to the local traditions and also imbibed elements from other parts of the country.


title: Dance in India

text: Sangeet Natya Academy, the national academy for performing arts in India, recognizes eight traditional dances as Indian classical dances, while other sources and scholars recognize more. These have roots in the Sanskrit text "Natya Shastra", and the religious performance arts of Hinduism.


title: Dance in India

text: Folk dances are numerous in number and style and vary according to the local tradition of the respective state, ethnic or geographic regions. Contemporary dances include refined and experimental fusions of classical, folk and Western forms. Dancing traditions of India have influence not only over the dances in the whole of South Asia, but on the dancing forms of South East Asia as well. Dances in Indian films, like Bollywood Dance for Hindi films, are often noted for freeform expression of dance and hold a significant presence in popular culture of the Indian subcontinent.


title: Dance in India

text: A classical dance is one whose theory, training, means and rationale for expressive practice is documented and traceable to ancient classical texts, particularly the "Natya Shastra". Classical Indian dances have historically involved a school or "guru-shishya parampara" (teacher-disciple tradition) and require studies of the classical texts, physical exercises and extensive training to systematically synchronize the dance repertoire with underlying play or composition, vocalists and the orchestra.


title: Dance in India

text: A folk Indian dance is one which is largely an oral tradition, whose traditions have been historically learnt and mostly passed down from one generation to the next through word of mouth and casual joint practice. A semi-classical Indian dance is one that contains a classical imprint but has become a folk dance and lost its texts or schools. A tribal dance is a more local form of folk dance, typically found in one tribal population; typically tribal dances evolve into folk dances over a historic period.


title: Dance in India

text: The origins of dance in India go back into the ancient times. The earliest paleolithic and neolithic cave paintings such as the UNESCO world heritage site at Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh shows dance scenes. Several sculptures found at Indus Valley civilization archaeological sites, now distributed between Pakistan and India, show dance figures. For example, the Dancing Girl sculpture is dated to about 2500 BCE, shows a high figurine in a dance pose.


title: Dance in India

text: The Vedas integrate rituals with performance arts, such as a dramatic play, where not only praises to gods were recited or sung, but the dialogues were part of a dramatic representation and discussion of spiritual themes. The Sanskrit verses in chapter 13.2 of Shatapatha Brahmana (≈800–700 BCE), for example, are written in the form of a play between two actors.


title: Dance in India

text: The evidence of earliest dance related texts are in "Natasutras", which are mentioned in the text of Panini, the sage who wrote the classic on Sanskrit grammar, and who is dated to about 500 BCE. This performance arts related Sutra text is mentioned in other late Vedic texts, are as two scholars names Shilalin (IAST: Śilālin) and Krishashva (Kṛśaśva), credited to be pioneers in the studies of ancient drama, singing, dance and Sanskrit compositions for these arts. Richmond et al. estimate the "Natasutras" to have been composed around 600 BCE, whose complete manuscript has not survived into the modern age.