text:
Agent

Agent may refer to:

Espionage, investigation, and law

 * , spies or intelligence officers
 * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another
 * Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insurance policy owner
 * Election agent, a person responsible for the conduct of a political campaign
 * Free agent, a sports player who is eligible to sign with any club or franchise
 * Literary agent, an agent who represents writers and their written works
 * Modeling agency, a person or a corporation which represents fashion models
 * Press agent, a professional publicist
 * Foreign agent, a person who carries out the interests of a foreign country
 * Political agent (disambiguation)
 * Patent attorney, an attorney who represents clients in patent matters
 * Real estate agent, an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate
 * Registered agent, in the US, receives service of process for a party in a legal action
 * Shipping agent, a person responsible for handling shipments and cargo
 * Sports agent, a legal representative for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches
 * Talent agent or booking agent, a person who finds jobs for entertainment professionals
 * Trade mark agent, a person who represents clients in trade mark matters
 * Travel agent, a retailer that provides travel and tourism related services
 * Special agent, an American criminal investigator or detective for example

Fictional characters

 * Agent (comics), a Marvel Comics character
 * Agent (The Matrix), a group of characters in the series
 * The Agents, superhuman characters in Seven Samurai 20XX

Film and television

 * The Agent (1922 film), featuring Oliver Hardy
 * The Agent (2010 film), a short film
 * Agent (film), an spy thriller film
 * Agent (TV series), a Polish reality competition

Music

 * Agent (band), an American hardcore band from Long Island, New York
 * Agents (Finnish band), a Finnish schlager/rock'n'roll band
 * The Agents (Australian band), led by James Griffin
 * "Intro: The Agent", by Rhymefest from El Che (2010)
 * "The Agent" (Little Man Tate song) (2006)

Other uses in arts and entertainment

 * Agent (video game), a stealth action game

Biology and chemistry

 * Biological agent, a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, or fungus used as a weapon
 * Chemical agent, used as a chemical weapon

Computing

 * Agent architecture, a blueprint for software agents and control systems
 * Agent-based model, a computational model for simulating the actions and interactions of individuals
 * Intelligent agent, an autonomous, goal-directed entity which observes and acts upon an environment
 * Software agent, a piece of software that acts for a user or other program
 * User agent, software that is acting on behalf of a user

Other uses

 * Agency (philosophy), the capacity of an actor to act in a given environment
 * Agency (psychology), an attribute of humans and non-human animals
 * Agent (economics), an actor and decision maker in a model
 * Agent (grammar), in linguistics, the thematic relation of a cause or initiator to an event
 * Agent noun, a word identifying an actor, derived from a word denoting an action
 * Cleaning agent, a substance used to remove bad smells, clutter, dirt, dust, or stains on surfaces

title: Agent


text:
Igbo language

Igbo (, ;  Standard Igbo: Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò ) is the principal native language cluster of the Igbo people, an ethnicity in the Southeastern part of Nigeria.

Igbo Languages are spoken by a total of 31 million people. The number of Igboid languages depends on how one classifies a language versus a dialect, so there could be around 35 different Igbo languages. The core Igbo cluster or Igbo proper is generally thought to be one language but there is limited mutual intelligibility between the different groupings (north, west, south and east). A standard literary language termed 'Igbo izugbe' (meaning "general igbo") was generically developed and later adopted around 1972, with its core foundation based on the Orlu (Isu dialects), Anambra (Awka dialects) and Umuahia (Ohuhu dialects), omitting the nasalization and aspiration of those varieties.

History
The first book to publish Igbo terms was History of the Mission of the Evangelical Brothers in the Caribbean (Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Brüder auf den Carabischen Inseln), published in 1777. Shortly afterwards in 1789, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was published in London, England, written by Olaudah Equiano, who was a former slave, featuring 79 Igbo words. The narrative also illustrated various aspects of Igbo life in detail, based on Equiano's experiences in his hometown of Essaka. Following the British Niger Expeditions of 1854 and 1857, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, published an Igbo primer coded by a young Igbo missionary named Simon Jonas, who travelled with him to Aboh in 1857.

The language was standardized in church usage by the Union Igbo Bible (1913).

Central Igbo, is based on the dialects of two members of the Ezinifite group of Igbo in Central Owerri Province between the towns of Owerri and Umuahia in Eastern Nigeria. From its proposal as a literary form in 1939 by Ida C. Ward, it was gradually accepted by missionaries, writers, and publishers across the region.

Standard Igbo aims to cross-pollinate Central Igbo with words from other Igbo dialects, with the adoption of loan words.

Chinua Achebe passionately denounced language standardization efforts, beginning with Union Igbo through to Central and finally Standard Igbo, in a 1999 lecture sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Owerri.

Distribution
Igbo (and its dialects) is the dominant language in the following Nigerian states:
 * Abia State
 * Anambra State
 * Ebonyi State
 * Enugu State
 * Imo State
 * Northern Delta State
 * Rivers State

Word classes
Lexical categories in Igbo include nouns, pronouns, numerals, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, and a single preposition. The meaning of na, the single preposition, is flexible and must be ascertained from the context. Examples from Emenanjo (2015) illustrate the range of meaning:

O bì n'Enugwū.

3sg live PREP-Enugwū

'He lives in Enugwū.'

O bì ebe à n'ogè agha.

3sg live here this PREP-time war

'He lived here during the time of the war.'

Ndị Fàda kwènyèrè n'atọ̀ n'ime otù.

people Catholic believe PREP-three PREP-inside one

'The Catholics believe in the Trinity.'

Igbo has an extremely limited number of adjectives in a closed class. Emenanjo (1978, 2015) counts just eight, which occur in pairs of opposites: ukwu 'big', nta 'small'; oji 'dark', ọcha 'light'; ọhụrụ 'new', ochie 'old'; ọma 'good'; ọjọọ 'bad' (Payne 1990). Adjectival meaning is otherwise conveyed through the use of stative verbs or abstract nouns.

Verbs, by far the most prominent category in Igbo, host most of the language's morphology and appear to be the most basic category; many processes can derive new words from verbs, but few can derive verbs from words of other classes.

Igbo pronouns do not index gender, and the same pronouns are used for male, female and inanimate beings. So the sentence, ọ maka can mean "he, she or it is beautiful".

Vowels
Igbo is a tonal language. Tone varies by dialect but in most dialects there seem to be three register tones and three contour tones. The language's tone system was given by John Goldsmith as an example of autosegmental phenomena that go beyond the linear model of phonology laid out in The Sound Pattern of English. Igbo words may differ only in tone. An example is ákwá "cry", àkwà "bed", àkwá "egg", and ákwà "cloth". As tone is not normally written, these all appear as $⟨akwa⟩$ in print.

In many cases, the two (or sometimes three) tones commonly used in Igbo dictionaries fail to represent how words actually sound in the spoken language. This indicates that Igbo may have many more tones than previously recognised. For example, the imperative form of the word bia "come" has a different tone to that used in statement O bia "he came". That imperative tone is also used in the second syllable of abuo "two". Another distinct tone appears in the second syllable of asaa "seven" and another in the second syllable of aguu "hunger". The language features vowel harmony with two sets of oral vowels distinguished by pharyngeal cavity size described in terms of retracted tongue root (RTR). These vowels also occupy different places in vowel space: (the last commonly transcribed, in keeping with neighboring languages). For simplicity, phonemic transcriptions typically choose only one of these parameters to be distinctive, either RTR as in the chart on the right and Igbo orthography (that is, as ), or vowel space as in the alphabetic chart below (that is, as ). There are also nasal vowels.

Adjacent vowels usually undergo assimilation during speech. The sound of a preceding vowel, usually at the end of one word, merges in a rapid transition to the sound of the following vowel, particularly at the start of another word, giving the second vowel greater prominence in speech. Usually the first vowel (in the first word) is only slightly identifiable to listeners, usually undergoing centralisation. /kà ó mésjá/, for example, becomes /kòó mésjá/ "goodbye". An exception to this assimilation may be with words ending in /a/ such as /nà/ in /nà àlà/, "on the ground", which could be completely assimilated leaving /n/ in rapid speech, as in "nàlà" or "n'àlà". In other dialects however, the instance of /a/ such as in "nà" in /ọ́ nà èrí ńrí/, "he/she/it is eating", results in a long vowel, /ọ́ nèèrí ńrí/.

Tone
The Igbo language is tonal in nature. This means that the meaning of a word can be altered depending on the tone used when pronouncing it. Igbo has two main tones: high and low. The high tone is usually marked with an acute accent (´) and the low tone is marked with a grave accent (`).

For example, the word $⟨akwa⟩$ can mean "cry, egg, cloth, sew" depending on the tone used. If pronounced with a high tone on the first and last syllable it means "cry". But if pronounced with a low tone on the first syllable and high on the last syllable, it means "egg”. If it is pronounced with low tone on both syllables, then it will mean “cloth” or “sew”.

Another example is the word "eze” which means "king” or “teeth". If pronounced with a high tone, it means "king". But if pronounced with a low tone, it means "teeth".

The use of tonal inflection in Igbo language is very important because it helps to differentiate between words that would otherwise sound the same. It can be challenging for English speakers to learn how to use the tones properly, but with practice, it can be mastered.

Consonants
Igbo does not have a contrast among voiced occlusives (between voiced stops and nasals): stops precede oral vowels, and nasals precede nasal vowels. Only a limited number of other consonants occur before nasal vowels, including.

In some dialects, such as Enu-Onitsha Igbo, the doubly articulated and  are realized as a voiced/devoiced labial–velar implosive. The approximant is realized as an alveolar tap  between vowels as in árá. The Enu-Onitsha Igbo dialect is very much similar to Enuani spoken among the Igbo-Anioma people in Delta State.

To illustrate the effect of phonological analysis, the following inventory of a typical Central dialect is taken from Clark (1990). Nasality has been analyzed as a feature of consonants, rather than vowels, avoiding the problem of why so few consonants occur before nasal vowels; has also been analyzed as.

Syllables are of the form (C)V (optional consonant, vowel) or N (a syllabic nasal). CV is the most common syllable type. Every syllable bears a tone. Consonant clusters do not occur. The semivowels and  can occur between consonant and vowel in some syllables. The semi-vowel in is analyzed as an underlying vowel "ị", so that -bịa is the phonemic form of bjá 'come'. On the other hand, "w" in is analyzed as an instance of labialization; so the phonemic form of the verb -gwá "tell" is.

Morphological typology
Igbo is an isolating language that exhibits very little fusion. The language is predominantly suffixing in a hierarchical manner, such that the ordering of suffixes is governed semantically rather than by fixed position classes. The language has very little inflectional morphology but much derivational and extensional morphology. Most derivation takes place with verbal roots.

Extensional suffixes, a term used in the Igbo literature, refer to morphology that has some but not all characteristics of derivation. The words created by these suffixes always belong to the same lexical category as the root from which they are created, and the suffixes' effects are principally semantic. On these grounds, Emenanjo (2015) asserts that the suffixes called extensional are bound lexical compounding elements; they cannot occur independently, though many are related to other free morphemes from which they may have originally been derived.

In addition to affixation, Igbo exhibits both partial and full reduplication to form gerunds from verbs. The partial form copies on the initial consonant and inserts a high front vowel, while the full form copies the first consonant and vowel. Both types are then prefixed with o-. For example, -go 'buy' partially reduplicates to form ògigo 'buying,' and -bu 'carry' fully reduplicates to form òbubu 'carrying'. Some other noun and verb forms also exhibit reduplication, but because the reduplicated forms are semantically unpredictable, reduplication in their case is not synchronically productive, and they are better described as separate lexical items.

Grammatical relations
Igbo does not mark overt case distinctions on nominal constituents and conveys grammatical relations only through word order. The typical Igbo sentence displays subject-verb-object (SVO) ordering, where the subject is understood as the sole argument of an intransitive verb or the agent-like (external) argument of a transitive verb. Igbo thus exhibits accusative alignment.

It has been proposed, with reservations, that some Igbo verbs display ergativity on some level, as in the following two examples:

Nnukwu mmīri nà-ezò n'iro.

big water AUX-fall PREP-outside

'Heavy rain is falling outside.'

Ọ nà-ezò nnukwu mmīri n'iro.

it AUX-fall big water PREP-outside

'Heavy rain is falling outside.'

In (4), the verb has a single argument, nnukwu mmīri, which appears in subject position, and in the transitive sentence (5), that same argument appears in the object position, even though the two are semantically identical. On this basis, authors such as Emenanjuo (2015) have posited that this argument is an absolutive and that Igbo therefore contains some degree of ergativity.

However, others disagree, arguing that the relevant category is not alignment but underlying argument structure; under this hypothesis, (4) and (5) differ only in the application of a transformation and can be accounted for entirely by the unaccusative hypothesis and the Extended Projection Principle; the nominal argument is generated in object position, and either it is raised to the subject position, as in (4), or the subject position is filled with a pleonastic pronoun, as in (5).

Relative clauses
Igbo relative clauses are externally headed and follow the head noun. They do not employ overt relative markers or resumptive pronouns, instead leaving a gap in the position of the relativized noun. Subjects and objects can be relativized. Examples include (relative clauses bracketed):

Ọ zụ̀-tà-rà àkwa [mā-ra mmā].

3sg buy-SUFF-PRF egg [be.good-PRF goodness]

'She bought eggs that are good.'

Àkwa [ọ zụ̀-tà-rà] mà-rà mmā.

egg [3sg buy-SUFF-PRF] good-PRF goodness

'The eggs that she bought are good.'

Voice and valence
Igbo lacks the common valence-decreasing operation of passivization, a fact which has led multiple scholars to claim that "voice is not a relevant category in Igbo." The language does, however, possess some valence-increasing operations that could be construed as voice under a broader definition

Ógù a-vó-ọ-la

Ogu PREF-be.open-SUFF-PRF

'Ogu has become disgraced.'

Íbè e-mé-vọ-ọ-la Ogù.

Ibe PREF-make-be.open-SUFF-PRF Ogu

'Ibe has disgraced Ogu.'

Àfe isé kò-ro n'ezí.

clothes five hang-PRF PREP-compound

'Five items of clothing are hanging in the compound.'

Ókwu kò-we-re afe isé n'ezi.

Okwu hang-INCH-PRF clothes five PREP-compound

'Okwu hung five items of clothing in the compound.'

Igbo also possess an applicative construction, which takes the suffix -rV, where V copies the previous vowel, and the applicative argument follows the verb directly. The applicative suffix is identical in form with the past tense suffix, with which it should not be confused. For example:

Íbè nye-re-re m Ógù ákwụkwọ.

Ibe give-PRF-APPL 1sg Ogu book

'Ibe gave the book to Ogu for me.'

Verb serialization
Igbo permits verb serialization, which is used extensively to compensate for its paucity of prepositions. Among the meaning types commonly expressed in serial verb constructions are instruments, datives, accompaniment, purpose, and manner. (13) and (14) below illustrate instrumental and dative verb series, respectively:

Ọ nà-èji mmà à-bacha jī.

3sg AUX-PREF-use knife PREF-peel yam

'He peels yams with a knife.'

Ọ zụ̀-tà-rà akwụkwọ nye m̄.

3sg buy-SUFF-PRF book give 1sg

'He bought a book and gave it to me.'

Writing system
The Igbo people invented Nsibidi ideograms, which spread to their neighbors such as Ekoi people, and Ejegham people for basic written communication. Nsibidi is an ancient system of graphic communication indigenous to peoples in southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon in the Cross River region. It is also used by neighboring Ekoi, Ejegham, Efik, and Ibibio peoples. They have been used since at least the 16th century, under the Aro Confederacy, but died out publicly after they became popular amongst secret societies such as the Ekpe, who used them as a secret form of communication. Nsibidi, however, is not a full writing system, because it cannot transcribe the Igbo language specifically. In 1960, a rural land owner and dibia named Nwagu Aneke developed a syllabary for the Umuleri dialect of Igbo, the script, named after him as the Nwagu Aneke script, was used to write hundreds of diary entries until Aneke's death in 1991. The Nwagu Aneke Project is working on translating Nwagu's commentary and diary.

History of Igbo orthography
Before the existence of any official system of orthography for the Igbo language, travelers and writers documented Igbo sounds by utilizing the orthracyologies of their own languages in transcribing them, though they encountered difficulty representing particular sounds, such as implosives, labialized velars, syllabic nasals, and non-expanded vowels. In the 1850s, German philologist Karl Richard Lepsius published the Standard Alphabet, which was universal to all languages of the world, and became the first Igbo orthography. It contained 34 letters and included digraphs and diacritical marks to transcribe sounds distinct to African languages. The Lepsius Standard Alphabet contained the following letters: The Lepsius orthography was replaced by the Practical Orthography of African Languages (Africa Orthography) in 1929 by the colonial government in Nigeria. The new orthography, created by the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (IIALC), had 36 letters and disposed of diacritic marks. Numerous controversial issues with the new orthography eventually led to its replacement in the early 1960s. The Africa Orthography contained the following letters:
 * a b d e f g h i k l m n o p r s t u v w y z gb gh gw kp kw ṅ nw ny ọ s ds ts
 * a b c d e f g gb gh h i j k kp l m n ŋ ny o ɔ ɵ p r s t u w y z gw kw nw

Ọnwụ

The current Ọnwụ alphabet, a compromise between the older Lepsius alphabet and a newer alphabet advocated by the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (IIALC), is presented in the following table, with the International Phonetic Alphabet equivalents for the characters: The graphemes $\langlegb\rangle$ and $\langlekp\rangle$ are described both as coarticulated and  and as implosives, so both values are included in the table.

$\langlem\rangle$ and $\langlen\rangle$ each represent two phonemes: a nasal consonant and a syllabic nasal.

Tones are sometimes indicated in writing, and sometimes not. When tone is indicated, low tones are shown with a grave accent over the vowel, for example $\langlea\rangle$ → $\langleà\rangle$, and high tones with an acute accent over the vowel, for example $\langlea\rangle$ → $\langleá\rangle$.

Other orthographies
A variety of issues have made agreement on a standardized orthography for the Igbo language difficult. In 1976, the Igbo Standardization Committee criticized the official orthography in light of the difficulty notating diacritic marks using typewriters and computers; difficulty in accurately representing tone with tone-marking conventions, as they are subject to change in different environments; and the inability to capture various sounds particular to certain Igbo dialects. The Committee produced a modified version of the Ọnwụ orthography, called the New Standard Orthography, which substituted $⟨ö⟩$ and $⟨ü⟩$ for $⟨ọ⟩$ and $⟨ụ⟩$, $⟨c⟩$ for $⟨ch⟩$, and $⟨ñ⟩$ for $⟨ṅ⟩$. The New Standard Orthography has not been widely adopted, although it was used, for example, in the 1998 Igbo English Dictionary by Michael Echeruo.

More recent calls for reform have been based in part on the rogue use of alphabetic symbols, tonal notations, and spelling conventions that deviate from the standard orthography.

There are also some modern movements to restore the use of and modernize nsibidi as a writing system, which mostly focus on Igbo as it is the most populous language that used to use nsibidi.

Ndebe Script
In 2009, a Nigerian software engineer and artist named Lotanna Igwe-Odunze developed a native script named Ndebe script. It was further redesigned and relaunched in 2020 as a standalone writing system completely independent of Nsibidi. The script gained notable attention after a write-up from Nigerian linguist Kola Tubosun on its "straightforward" and "logical" approach to indicating tonal and dialectal variety compared to Latin.

Proverbs
Proverbs and idiomatic expressions (ilu and akpalaokwu in Igbo, respectively) are highly valued by the Igbo people and proficiency in the language means knowing how to intersperse speech with a good dose of proverbs. Chinua Achebe (in Things Fall Apart) describes proverbs as "the palm oil with which words are eaten". Proverbs are widely used in the traditional society to describe, in very few words, what could have otherwise required a thousand words. Proverbs may also become euphemistic means of making certain expressions in the Igbo society, thus the Igbo have come to typically rely on this as avenues of certain expressions.

Usage in the diaspora
As a consequence of the Atlantic slave trade, the Igbo language was spread by enslaved Igbo people throughout slave colonies in the Americas. Examples can be found in Jamaican Patois: the pronoun, used for 'you (plural)', is taken from Igbo, Red eboe refers to a fair-skinned black person because of the reported account of a fair or yellowish skin tone among the Igbo. Soso meaning only comes from Igbo. See List of Jamaican Patois words of African origin for more examples.

The word Bim, a name for Barbados, was commonly used by enslaved Barbadians (Bajans). This word is said to derive from the Igbo language, derived from bi mu (or either bem, Ndi bem, Nwanyi ibem or Nwoke ibem) (My people), but it may have other origins (see: Barbados etymology).

In Cuba, the Igbo language (along with the Efik language) continues to be used, albeit in a creolized form, in ceremonies of the Abakuá society, equivalent or derived from the Ekpe society in modern Nigeria.

In modern times, Igbo people in the diaspora are putting resources in place to make the study of the language accessible.

Present state
There are some discussions as to whether the Igbo language is in danger of extinction, advanced in part by a 2006 UNESCO report that predicted the Igbo language will become extinct within 50 years. Professor of African and African Diaspora Literatures at University of Massachusetts, Chukwuma Azuonye, emphasizes indicators for the endangerment of the Igbo language based on criteria that includes the declining population of monolingual elderly speakers; reduced competence and performance among Igbo speakers, especially children; the deterioration of idioms, proverbs, and other rhetorical elements of the Igbo language that convey the cultural aesthetic; and code-switching, code-mixing, and language shift.

External and internal factors have been proposed as causes for the decline of the Igbo language and its usage. Preference for the English language in post-colonial Nigeria has usurped the Igbo language's role and function in society, as English is perceived by Igbo speakers as the language of status and opportunity. This perception may be a contributor to the negative attitude towards the Igbo language by its speakers across the spectrum of socio-economic classes. Igbo children's reduced competence and performance has been attributed in part to the lack of exposure in the home environment, which impacts intergenerational transmission of the language. English is the official language in Nigeria and is utilized in government administration, educational institutions, and commerce. Aside from its role in numerous facets of daily life in Nigeria, globalization exerts pressure to utilize English as a universal standard language in support of economic and technological advancement. A 2005 study by Igboanusi and Peter demonstrated the preferential attitude towards English over the Igbo language amongst Igbo people in the communication, entertainment, and media domains. English was preferred by Igbo speakers at 56.5% for oral communication, 91.5% for written communication, 55.5–59.5% in entertainment, and 73.5–83.5% for media.

The effect of English on Igbo languages amongst bilingual Igbo speakers can be seen by the incorporation of English loanwords into Igbo and code-switching between the two languages. English loanwords, which are usually nouns, have been found to retain English semantics, but typically follow phonological and morphological structures of Igbo. Lexical items conform to the vowel harmony intrinsic to Igbo phonological structures. For example, loanwords with syllable-final consonants may be assimilated by the addition of a vowel after the consonant, and vowels are inserted in between consonant clusters, which have not been found to occur in Igbo. This can be seen in the word sukulu, which is a loanword derived from the English word school that has followed the aforementioned pattern of modification when it was assimilated into the Igbo language. Code-switching, which involves the insertion of longer English syntactic units into Igbo utterances, may consist of phrases or entire sentences, principally nouns and verbs, that may or may not follow Igbo syntactic patterns. Igbo affixes to English verbs determine tense and aspectual markers, such as the Igbo suffix -i affixed to the English word 'check', expressed as the word check-i.

The standardized Igbo language is composed of fragmented features from numerous Igbo dialects and is not technically a spoken language, but it is used in communicational, educational, and academic contexts. This unification is perceived by Chukwuma Azuonye as undermining the survival of Igbo by erasing diversity between dialects. Each individual dialect possesses unique untranslatable idioms and rhetorical devices that represent Igbo cultural nuances that can be lost as dialects disappear or deteriorate. Newly coined terms may fail to conform to a dialect's lexical formation in assimilating loan words.

Proverbs are an essential component of the Igbo language that convey cultural wisdom and contextual significance to linguistic expression. Everyday usage of Igbo proverbs has declined in recent generations of speakers, which threatens loss in intergenerational transmission. A recent study of the Ogwashi dialect of Igbo demonstrated a steep decline in youth's knowledge and use of proverbs compared to elder speakers. In this study, youths employed simplified or incomplete proverbial expressions, lacked a diverse proverbial repertoire, and were deficient in their understanding of proper contextual usages as compared to elders who demonstrated competence to enhance linguistic expression with a diverse vocabulary of proverbs.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Igbo language


text:
Halogen lamp

A halogen lamp (also called tungsten halogen, quartz-halogen, and quartz iodine lamp) is an incandescent lamp consisting of a tungsten filament sealed in a compact transparent envelope that is filled with a mixture of an inert gas and a small amount of a halogen, such as iodine or bromine. The combination of the halogen gas and the tungsten filament produces a halogen-cycle chemical reaction, which redeposits evaporated tungsten on the filament, increasing its life and maintaining the clarity of the envelope. This allows the filament to operate at a higher temperature than a standard incandescent lamp of similar power and operating life; this also produces light with higher luminous efficacy and color temperature. The small size of halogen lamps permits their use in compact optical systems for projectors and illumination. The small glass envelope may be enclosed in a much larger outer glass bulb, which has a lower temperature, protects the inner bulb from contamination, and makes the bulb mechanically more similar to a conventional lamp.

Standard and halogen incandescent bulbs are much less efficient than LED and compact fluorescent lamps, and therefore have been or are being phased out in many places.

History
A carbon filament lamp using chlorine to prevent darkening of the envelope was patented in 1882, and chlorine-filled "NoVak" lamps were marketed in 1892.

The use of iodine was proposed in a 1933 patent, which also described the cyclic redeposition of tungsten back onto the filament. In 1959, General Electric patented a practical lamp using iodine.

Phase-out
In 2009, the EU and other European countries began a phase-out of inefficient bulbs. The production and importation of directional mains-voltage halogen bulbs was banned on 1 September 2016 and non-directional halogen bulbs followed on 1 September 2018. Australia banned some halogen light bulbs above 10W from September 2021 in favour of eco-halogen bulbs, later than the planned date of September 2020 to keep the policy in line with the European Union. In June 2021, the UK government also announced plans to end the sale of halogen light bulbs from September, as part of the UK's wider efforts to tackle climate change.

Halogen cycle
In ordinary incandescent lamps, evaporated tungsten mostly deposits onto the inner surface of the bulb, causing the bulb to blacken and the filament to grow increasingly weak until it eventually breaks. The presence of the halogen, however, sets up a reversible chemical reaction cycle with this evaporated tungsten. The halogen cycle keeps the bulb clean and causes the light output to remain almost constant throughout the bulb's life. At moderate temperatures the halogen reacts with the evaporating tungsten, the halide formed being moved around in the inert gas filling. At some point, however, it will reach higher temperature regions within the bulb where it then dissociates, releasing tungsten back onto the filament and freeing the halogen to repeat the process. However, the overall bulb envelope temperature must be significantly higher than in conventional incandescent lamps for this reaction to succeed: it is only at temperatures of above 250 C on the inside of the glass envelope that the halogen vapor can combine with the tungsten and return it to the filament rather than the tungsten becoming deposited on the glass. A 300 watt tubular halogen bulb operated at full power quickly reaches a temperature of about 540 C, while a 500 watt regular incandescent bulb operates at only 180 C and a 75 watt regular incandescent at only 130 C.

The bulb must be made of fused silica (quartz) or a high-melting-point glass (such as aluminosilicate glass). Since quartz is very strong, the gas pressure can be higher, which reduces the rate of evaporation of the filament, permitting it to run a higher temperature (and so luminous efficacy) for the same average life. The tungsten released in hotter regions does not generally redeposit where it came from, so the hotter parts of the filament eventually thin out and fail.

Quartz iodine lamps, using elemental iodine, were the first commercial halogen lamps launched by GE in 1959. Quite soon, bromine was found to have advantages, but was not used in elemental form. Certain hydrocarbon bromine compounds gave good results. Regeneration of the filament is also possible with fluorine, but its chemical reactivity is so great that other parts of the lamp are attacked. The halogen is normally mixed with a noble gas, often krypton or xenon. The first lamps used only tungsten for filament supports, but some designs use molybdenum – an example being the molybdenum shield in the H4 twin filament headlight for the European Asymmetric Passing Beam.

For a fixed power and life, the luminous efficacy of all incandescent lamps is greatest at a particular design voltage. Halogen lamps made for 12 to 24 volt operation have good light outputs, and the very compact filaments are particularly beneficial for optical control (see picture). The ranges of multifaceted reflector "MR" lamps of 20–50 watts were originally conceived for the projection of 8 mm film, but are now widely used for display lighting and in the home. More recently, wider beam versions have become available designed for direct use on supply voltages of 120 or 230 V.

Effect of voltage on performance
Tungsten halogen lamps behave in a similar manner to other incandescent lamps when run on a different voltage. However the light output is reported as proportional to $$V^3$$, and the luminous efficacy proportional to $$V^{1.3}$$. The normal relationship regarding the lifetime is that it is proportional to $$V^{-14}$$. For example, a bulb operated at 5% higher than its design voltage would produce about 15% more light, and the luminous efficacy would be about 6.5% higher, but would be expected to have only half the rated life.

Halogen lamps are manufactured with enough halogen to match the rate of tungsten evaporation at their design voltage. Increasing the applied voltage increases the rate of evaporation, so at some point, there may be insufficient halogen and the lamp goes black. Over-voltage operation is not generally recommended. With a reduced voltage, the evaporation is lower and there may be too much halogen, which can lead to abnormal failure. At much lower voltages, the bulb temperature may be too low to support the halogen cycle, but by this time the evaporation rate is too low for the bulb to blacken significantly. If the bulbs do blacken, it is recommended to run the lamps at the rated voltage to restart the cycle. There are many situations where halogen lamps are dimmed successfully. However, lamp life may not be extended as much as predicted. The life span on dimming depends on lamp construction, the halogen additive used, and whether dimming is normally expected for this type.

Spectrum
Like all incandescent light bulbs, a halogen lamp produces a continuous spectrum of light, from near ultraviolet to deep into the infrared. Since the lamp filament can operate at a higher temperature than a non-halogen lamp, the spectrum is shifted toward blue, producing light with a higher effective color temperature and higher power efficiency.

High-temperature filaments emit some energy in the UV region. Small amounts of other elements can be mixed into the quartz, so that the doped quartz (or selective optical coating) blocks harmful UV radiation. Hard glass blocks UV and has been used extensively for the bulbs of car headlights. Alternatively, the halogen lamp can be mounted inside an outer bulb, similar to an ordinary incandescent lamp, which also reduces the risks from the high bulb temperature. Undoped quartz halogen lamps are used in some scientific, medical, and dental instruments as a UV-B source.

Safety

Halogen lamps must run at much higher temperatures than regular incandescent lamps for proper operation. Their small size helps to concentrate the heat on a smaller envelope surface, closer to the filament than a non-halogen incandescent. Because of the very high temperatures, halogen lamps can pose fire and burn hazards. In Australia, numerous house fires each year are attributed to ceiling-mounted halogen downlights. The Western Australia Department of Fire and Emergency Services recommends that homeowners consider instead using cooler-running compact fluorescent lamps or light emitting diode lamps. Halogen Torchère floor lamps have been banned in some places, such as dormitories, because of the large numbers of fires they have caused. They were held responsible by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission for 100 fires and 10 deaths between 1992 and 1997. Halogen bulbs operate at high temperatures and the tall height of the lamps can bring them near flammable materials, such as curtains. Some safety codes require halogen bulbs to be protected by a grid or grille, especially for high-power (1–2 kW) bulbs used in theatre, or by the glass and metal housing of the fixture, to prevent ignition of draperies or flammable objects in contact with the lamp. To reduce unintentional ultraviolet (UV) exposure, and to contain hot bulb fragments in the event of explosive bulb failure, general-purpose lamps usually have a UV-absorbing glass filter over or around the bulb. Alternatively, lamp bulbs may be doped or coated to filter out the UV radiation. With adequate filtering, a halogen lamp exposes users to less UV than a standard incandescent lamp producing the same effective level of illumination without filtering.

Any surface contamination, notably the oil from human fingertips, can damage the quartz envelope when it is heated. Contaminants, because they absorb more light and heat than the glass does, will create a hot spot on the bulb surface when the lamp is turned on. This extreme, localized heat causes the quartz to change from its vitreous form into a weaker, crystalline form that leaks gas. This weakening may also cause the bulb to form a bubble, weakening it and leading to its explosion.

The small glass envelope may be enclosed in a much larger outer glass bulb, which provides several advantages if small size is not required:

 * the outer jacket will be at a much lower, safer, temperature, protecting objects or people that might touch it
 * the hot-running inner envelope is protected from contamination, and the bulb may be handled without damaging it
 * surroundings are protected from possible shattering of the inner capsule
 * the jacket may filter out UV radiation
 * when a halogen bulb is used to replace a normal incandescent in a fitting, the larger jacket makes it mechanically similar to the bulb replaced
 * the inner and outer envelope can be at different pressures, reducing heat dissipation by conduction or convection in order to optimize the trade-off between luminous efficacy and lifetime

Form factors
Halogen lamps are available in a series of different shapes and sizes, and are designated according to a coding system that specifies the diameter of the bulb as well as whether or not the bulb has a built-in infrared-transparent dichroic reflector. Many such lamps have designations that begin with the letter "T" to indicate that they are "tubular" followed by a number indicating the diameter of the tube in eighths of an inch: a T3 bulb, then is a tubular halogen bulb that is 3/8 in in diameter. The designation MR means "Multifaceted Reflector", with the number following this still corresponding to eighths of an inch in diameter of the overall bulb. If a lamp has a "G" code, this will mean the lamp is a bipin shape and the number following the G will indicate the distance in millimeters between the pins, usually either 4, 6.35 or 10; if the G is followed by a letter "Y", then the lamp's pins are thicker than normal— thus, a G6.35 has pins that are 1 mm in diameter but a GY6.35 has pins that are 1.3 mm in diameter. If there is a "C" code, this represents the number of coils in the filament. The length (sometimes also referred to as "height") of any two-ended cylindrical bulb must be specified separately from its form factor code, usually in millimeters, as must the lamp's voltage and wattage— hence, T3 120 V 150 W 118 mm means a double-ended tube-shaped bulb with a diameter of 3/8 in that operates at 120 V and is 150 W and that is also 118 mm long.

An R7S is a double ended, Recessed Single Contact (RSC) linear halogen lamp, usually measuring a length of either 118 mm or 78 mm. Some less common lengths are 189 mm, 254 mm and 331 mm. These lamps have a T3 shape on an RSC/R7S base. These can also be known as J type and T type lamps.

Applications
Halogen headlamps are used in many automobiles. Halogen floodlights for outdoor lighting systems as well as for watercraft are also manufactured for commercial and recreational use. They are now also used in desktop lamps.

Tungsten-halogen lamps are frequently used as a near-infrared light source in Infrared spectroscopy.

Halogen lamps were used on the Times Square Ball from 1999 to 2006. However, from 2007 onward, the halogen lamps were replaced with LEDs, due to the much longer lifespan, about ten times longer for LED over incandescent. The 'New Year' numerals that light up when the Times Square Ball reaches the base used halogen lighting for the last time for the 2009 ball drop.

Heating
Halogen lamps are the heating-elements in halogen ovens, infrared heaters and ceramic cooktops.

Low wattage halogen lamp arrays are widely used by monitor lizard keepers. Two or three small halogen lamps can produce all the heat needed in an enclosure and are recognized by the animals as sources of heat preventing curious individuals from attempting to touch them. Halogen lamps' thick glass lenses are safe to use inside high humidity reptile enclosures.

Banks of powerful tubular halogen lamps were used to simulate the heat of re-entry of space vehicles.

General lighting

Fixed-mount lamps are used in indoor and outdoor flood lighting, although improvements in LED systems are displacing halogen lamps. Round spotlights with built-in multifaceted reflector lamps are widely used in residential and commercial lighting. Tubular halogen lamps provide a large quantity of light from a small source and so can be used to produce powerful flood lamps for architectural lighting effects, or for lighting large areas outdoors.

Low voltage lamps use the GU5.3 and similar bi-pin bases, whereas mains voltage lamps use the same caps as normal mains tungsten filament lamps, or a special GU10/GZ10 base. The GU10/GZ10 bases are shaped to prevent dichroic reflector lamps being used in luminaires intended for aluminised reflector lamps, which could cause overheating of the fitting. Higher efficiency LED versions of all of these lamps are now available.

Tubular lamps with electrical contacts at each end are now being used in standalone lamps and household fixtures. These come in various lengths and power ratings (50–300 W). More powerful lamps are used as portable work lights, with bulbs rated 250 or 500 watts.

Stage lighting
Tungsten halogen lamps are used in the majority of theatrical and studio (film and television) fixtures, including Ellipsoidal reflector spotlights, Source Four, and Fresnels. PAR Cans are also predominantly tungsten halogen.

Specialized
Projection lamps are used in motion-picture and slide projectors for homes and small office or school use. The compact size of the halogen lamp permits a reasonable size for portable projectors, although heat-absorbing filters must be placed between the lamp and the film to prevent melting. Halogen lamps are sometimes used for inspection lights and microscope stage illuminators. Halogen lamps were used for early flat-screen LCD backlighting, but other types of lamps such as CCFL and now LED are used.

Disposal
Halogen lamps do not contain any mercury. General Electric says that their quartz halogen lamps would not be classified as hazardous waste.

title: Halogen lamp


text:
The Sound Pattern of English

The Sound Pattern of English (frequently referred to as SPE) is a 1968 work on phonology (a branch of linguistics) by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle. In spite of its title, it presents not only a view of the phonology of English, but also contains discussions of a large variety of phonological phenomena of many other languages. The index lists about 100 such languages. It has been very influential in both the field of phonology and in the analysis of the English language. Chomsky and Halle present a view of phonology as a linguistic subsystem, separate from other components of the grammar, that transforms an underlying phonemic sequence according to rules and produces as its output the phonetic form that is uttered by a speaker. The theory fits with the rest of Chomsky's early theories of language in the sense that it is transformational; as such it serves as a landmark in Chomsky's theories by adding a clearly articulated theory of phonology to his previous work which focused on syntax.

Overview
The Sound Pattern of English has had some influence on subsequent work. Derivatives of the theory have made modifications by changing the inventory of segmental features, considering some to be absent rather than having a positive or negative value, or adding complexity to the linear, segmental structure assumed by Chomsky and Halle. Its treatment of phonology as rules that operate on features, as well as its particular feature scheme, survive in various altered forms in many current theories of phonology. Some major successor theories include autosegmental phonology, lexical phonology and optimality theory.

Chomsky and Halle represent speech sounds as bundles of plus-or-minus valued features (e.g. vocalic, high, back, anterior, nasal, etc.) The phonological component of each lexical entry is considered to be a linear sequence of these feature bundles. A number of context-sensitive rules transform the underlying form of a sequence of words into the final phonetic form that is uttered by the speaker. These rules are allowed access to the tree structure that the syntax is said to output. This access allows rules that apply, for example, only at the end of a word, or only at the end of a noun phrase.

The influence of SPE has led to rules of the form given in SPE, A→B / [precontext _ postcontext], often being called "SPE-style rules" or "SPE-type rules".

Editions

 * 1968: Chomsky, Noam and Halle, Morris. The Sound Pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.

Related works

 * Goyvaerts, Didier L. and Pullum, Geoffrey K. (eds.) (1975) Essays on the Sound Pattern of English. Ghent: Editions Story-Scientia.
 * Halle, Morris and Mohanan, K. P. (1985) "Segmental phonology of Modern English". Linguistic Inquiry; 16, 57–116.
 * Hayes, Bruce (1982) "Extrametricality and English stress". Linguistic Inquiry; 13, 227–76.
 * Ross, John Robert (1972) "A reanalysis of English word stress". In: Contributions to Generative Phonology, ed. Michael Brame, pp. 229–323. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
 * Stampe, David (1973) "On chapter nine". In: Issues in Phonological Theory, ed. Kenstowicz, Michael and Charles W. Kisseberth, pp. 44–52. The Hague: Mouton.

title: The Sound Pattern of English


text:
The Smiths

The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the songwriting partnership. The Smiths are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerge from 1980s British independent music.

The Smiths signed to the independent label Rough Trade Records in 1983 and released their first album, The Smiths, in 1984. Their focus on a guitar, bass and drum sound, fusing 1960s rock and post-punk, was a rejection of the synth-pop sound predominant at the time. Several Smiths singles reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, and all their studio albums reached the top five of the UK Albums Chart, including the number-one album Meat Is Murder (1985). From that time, they bolstered their sound with the use of keyboards while retaining the guitar as the lead instrument. They achieved mainstream success in Europe with The Queen Is Dead (1986) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987), which both entered the top 20 of the European Albums Chart. In 1986, the band briefly became a five-piece with the addition of guitarist Craig Gannon.

Internal tensions led to the Smiths' breakup in 1987, followed by public lawsuits over royalties. The members each said that the band would never reunite and refused all offers to do so.

1982: Formation and early performances
In May 1982, Johnny Marr and his friend Steve Pomfret went to the home of Steven Morrissey in Stretford to invite him to form a band. Marr and Morrissey had met at a Patti Smith gig at Manchester's Apollo Theatre on 31 August 1978, when Marr was 14 and Morrissey was 19. They bonded through their love of poetry and literature. A fan of the New York Dolls, Marr had been impressed that Morrissey had written a book on the band and was inspired to turn up on his doorstep following the example of Jerry Leiber, who had formed his working partnership with Mike Stoller after turning up at Stoller's door. According to Morrissey: "We got on absolutely famously. We were very similar in drive." The two found that they were fans of many of the same bands. When Marr looked through Morrissey's singles collection, he found the Monochrome Set, a band they both admired. The next day, Morrissey phoned Marr to confirm that he would be interested in forming a band with him.

A few days later, Morrissey and Marr held their first rehearsal in Marr's rented attic room in Bowdon. Morrissey provided the lyrics for "Don't Blow Your Own Horn", the first song that they worked on; however, they decided against retaining the song, with Marr commenting that "neither of us liked it very much". The next song that they worked on was "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", which again was based on lyrics produced by Morrissey. Marr based the tempo on the Patti Smith song "Kimberly", and they recorded it on Marr's TEAC three-track cassette recorder. The third track that the duo worked on was "Suffer Little Children". Alongside these original compositions, Morrissey suggested that the band produce a cover of "I Want a Boy for My Birthday", a song by the 1960s American girl band the Cookies; although he had never heard of the song before, Marr agreed, enjoying the subversive element of having a male vocalist sing it, and the song was recorded on his TEAC machine.

By late 1982, Morrissey had chosen the band name the Smiths. He said later that "it was the most ordinary name and I thought it was time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces". Around the time of the band's formation, Morrissey decided that he would be publicly known only by his surname, with Marr referring to him as "Mozzer" or "Moz". In 1983, he forbade those around him from using the name "Steven", which he despised.

After remaining with the band for several rehearsals, Pomfret departed acrimoniously. He was replaced by the bass player Dale Hibbert, who worked at Manchester's Decibel Studios, where Marr had met him while recording Freak Party's demo. Through Hibbert, the Smiths recorded their first demo at Decibel one night in August 1982. Aided by drummer Simon Wolstencroft, whom Marr had worked with in Freak Party, the band recorded both "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "Suffer Little Children". Wolstencroft was not interested in joining the band, so following auditions Mike Joyce joined; he later revealed that he was under the influence of magic mushrooms during his audition. Meanwhile, Morrissey took the demo recording to Factory Records, but Factory's Tony Wilson was not interested.

In October 1982, the Smiths gave their first public performance as a support act for Blue Rondo à la Turk during a student music and fashion show, "An Evening of Pure Pleasure", at Manchester's Ritz. During the performance, they played both their own compositions and "I Want a Boy for My Birthday". Morrissey had organised the gig's aesthetic; the band came onstage to Klaus Nomi's version of Henry Purcell's "The Cold Song" playing through the venue's sound system before his friend James Maker stepped onstage to introduce the band. Maker remained onstage during the performance, relating that "I was given a pair of maracas – an optional extra – and carte blanche. There were no instructions – I think it was generally accepted I would improvise... I was there to drink red wine, make extraneous hand gestures and keep well within the tight, chalked circle that Morrissey had drawn around me." Hibbert was allegedly unhappy with what he perceived as the band's "gay" aesthetic; in turn, Morrissey and Marr were unhappy with his bass playing, so he was replaced by Marr's old schoolfriend Andy Rourke. Hibbert denies that he objected to the band being perceived as gay, and said he was not sure why he was asked to leave.

In December 1982, the Smiths recorded their second demo, at the Drone Studios in Chorlton-cum-Hardy; the tracks recorded were "What Difference Does It Make?", "Handsome Devil" and "Miserable Lie". This was used as their audition tape for the record company EMI, who turned the band down. The band continued to practice, this time at the upstairs of the Portland Street Crazy Face Clothing company, a space secured by their new manager Joe Moss. By Christmas, they had created four new songs: "These Things Take Time", "What Do You See in Him?", "Jeane" and "A Matter of Opinion", the last of which they soon scrapped. Their next gig was Manchester's Manhattan in late January 1983, and although Maker would again appear as a go-go dancer, this was the last time that he did so. In early February, they performed their third gig, at the Haçienda.

1983–1984: Rough Trade, "Hand in Glove", and first album
Marr and Rourke visited London to hand a cassette of their recordings to Geoff Travis of the independent record label Rough Trade Records. Travis agreed to cut their song "Hand in Glove" as a single. For the cover, Morrissey insisted on a homoerotic photograph by Jim French which he had found in Margaret Walters' The Nude Male. The single was released in May 1983, and sold well for the next 18 months, but did not chart in the UK Top 40. Among the audience at the Smiths' second London concert, at the University of London Union, was John Walters, the producer of John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show: he invited the band to record a session for the programme. Peel said: "You couldn't immediately tell what records they'd been listening to. That's fairly unusual, very rare indeed... It was that aspect of the Smiths that I found most impressive." Following this radio exposure, the Smiths gained their first interviews, in the music magazines NME and Sounds.

Travis travelled to Manchester to meet the band at their Crazy Face rehearsal space and sign a record contract with Rough Trade. Morrissey and Marr signed it on behalf of the band, and there was no discussion of how earnings would be divided. Travis brought in Troy Tate of the Teardrop Explodes, and under his supervision the band recorded their first album, at the Elephant Studios in Wapping, East London. Rough Trade were unhappy with the album and Tate's production, insisting the band rerecord it with a new producer, John Porter. The singles "This Charming Man" and "What Difference Does It Make?" reached numbers 25 and 12 on the UK Singles Chart. Aided by praise from the music press and a series of studio sessions for Peel and David Jensen at BBC Radio 1, the Smiths began to build a dedicated fanbase.

The Smiths generated controversy when Garry Bushell of The Sun tabloid alleged their B-side "Handsome Devil" was an endorsement of paedophilia. The band denied this, with Morrissey stating the song "has nothing to do with children, and certainly nothing to do with child-molesting". In February 1984, the Smiths released their debut album, The Smiths, which reached number two on the UK Albums Chart. "Reel Around the Fountain" and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" met with controversy, with some tabloid newspapers alleging the songs were suggestive of paedophilia, a claim strongly denied by the group. In March 1984, the Smiths performed on Channel 4 music program The Tube.

The album was followed the same year by the non-album singles "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and "William, It Was Really Nothing", which featured "How Soon Is Now?" on its B-side. Securing the band's first top ten placing, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" was also significant for marking the beginning of engineer and producer Stephen Street's long-term working relationship with the band.

More controversy followed when "Suffer Little Children", the B-side to "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", touched on the theme of the Moors murders. This caused an uproar after the grandfather of one of the murdered children heard the song on a pub jukebox and felt the band was trying to commercialise the murders. After meeting with Morrissey, he accepted that the song was a sincere exploration of the impact of the murders. Morrissey subsequently established a friendship with Ann West, the mother of victim Lesley Ann Downey, who is mentioned by name in the song.

The year ended with the release of the compilation album Hatful of Hollow. This collected singles, B-sides and tracks recorded throughout the previous year for the Peel and Jensen radio shows.

1985–1986: Meat Is Murder and The Queen Is Dead
Early in 1985, the Smiths released their second studio album, Meat Is Murder. It was more strident and political than its predecessor, including the pro-vegetarian title track (Morrissey forbade the rest of the group from being photographed eating meat), the light-hearted republicanism of "Nowhere Fast", and the anti-corporal punishment "The Headmaster Ritual" and "Barbarism Begins at Home". The band had also grown more diverse musically, with Marr adding rockabilly riffs to "Rusholme Ruffians" and Rourke playing a funk bass solo on "Barbarism Begins at Home". The album was preceded by the re-release of the B-side "How Soon Is Now?" as a single, and although that song was not on the original LP, it has been added to subsequent releases. Meat Is Murder was the band's only album (barring compilations) to reach number one in the UK charts.

Morrissey brought a political stance to many of his interviews, courting further controversy. Among his targets were the Thatcher government, the British monarchy and the famine relief project Band Aid. Morrissey famously quipped of the last, "One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England" ("torture" being a reference to the music that resulted from the project). The subsequent single-only release "Shakespeare's Sister" reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart, although the only single taken from the album, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", was less successful, barely making the top 50. In 1985, the Smiths completed lengthy tours of the UK and the US.

The Smiths' third studio album, The Queen Is Dead, was released in June 1986, following its singles "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" and "Bigmouth Strikes Again". Marr added ersatz strings with keyboards on several tracks such as "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" and "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side". The Queen Is Dead reached number two in the UK charts.

A legal dispute with Rough Trade had delayed the album by almost seven months (it had been completed in November 1985), and Marr was beginning to feel the stress of the band's exhausting touring and recording schedule. He later told NME, "'Worse for wear' wasn't the half of it: I was extremely ill. By the time the tour actually finished it was all getting a little bit ... dangerous. I was just drinking more than I could handle." Rourke was fired from the band in early 1986 due to his use of heroin. He allegedly received notice of his dismissal via a Post-it Note stuck to the windscreen of his car. It read, "Andy – you have left the Smiths. Goodbye and good luck, Morrissey." Morrissey denied this.

Rourke was replaced on bass by Craig Gannon (formerly a member of Scottish new wave band Aztec Camera), but was then reinstated two weeks later. Gannon stayed in the band, switching to rhythm guitar. This five-piece recorded the singles "Panic" and "Ask" (the latter with Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals) which reached numbers 11 and 14 respectively on the UK Singles Chart, and toured the UK.

An arrest on drug possession charges almost led to Rourke being replaced by Guy Pratt for the band's North American tour later that year. Rourke's work visa came through just before departure. While the shows were successful, heavy drinking and drug use by crew and band members other than Morrissey took a toll on the group, along with ineffective management and lingering disputes with Rough Trade (whom the band was seriously considering leaving for EMI) and their American label Sire Records (who Morrissey felt did not do enough to promote the Smiths). After a date in St. Petersburg, Florida, he and Marr cancelled the remaining four shows, including a grand finale at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. After the following UK tour ended in October 1986, Gannon left the band. During his time with the Smiths, Gannon played on seven studio tracks ("Panic" and "Ask", their B-sides "The Draize Train" and "Golden Lights", as well as "Half a Person" and "London", both of which were released as B-sides the following year, and "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby", which first appeared on the compilation album The World Won't Listen also the following year). On 12 December 1986 the band performed their last concert, an anti-apartheid benefit at Brixton Academy, London.

As they had been severed from the contract with Rough Trade records they sought a new deal with a major label. Marr told NME in early 1987, "Every single label came to see us. It was small-talk, bribes, the whole number. I really enjoyed it." The band signed with EMI, which drew criticism from their fanbase and elements of the music press.

1987: Strangeways, Here We Come and breakup
In early 1987, "Shoplifters of the World Unite" reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. It was followed by a second compilation album, The World Won't Listen. The title was Morrissey's comment on his frustration with the band's lack of mainstream recognition; it reached number two in the charts. This was followed by the single "Sheila Take a Bow", the band's second (and last during the band's lifetime) UK top-10 hit. Another compilation album, Louder Than Bombs, was released in the US in March 1987, with a UK release following two months later. The Smiths' fourth studio album, Strangeways, Here We Come, opened with a piano introduction as Marr wanted to get away from the Smiths' sound. Marr also played keyboards for the other tracks. The first song, "A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours", features no guitar.

Despite their continued success, tensions emerged within the band. Marr was exhausted and took a break in June 1987, which he felt was negatively perceived by his bandmates. In July, he left the group because he erroneously believed an NME article titled "Smiths to Split" was planted by Morrissey. The article, written by Danny Kelly, alleged that Morrissey disliked Marr working with other musicians and that Marr and Morrissey's personal relationship had reached a breaking point. Marr contacted NME to explain that he had not left the band due to personal tensions but because he wanted wider musical scope. The former Easterhouse guitarist Ivor Perry was brought in to replace Marr. The band recorded material with him which was never completed, including an early version of "Bengali in Platforms", later released on Morrissey's debut solo album, Viva Hate (1988). Perry was uncomfortable, saying "it was like they wanted another Johnny Marr"; according to Perry, the sessions ended with Morrissey running out of the studio.

By the time Strangeways, Here We Come was released in September, the Smiths had split. The breakdown has been primarily attributed to Morrissey's irritation with Marr's work with other artists and Marr's frustration with Morrissey's musical inflexibility. Marr particularly hated Morrissey's obsession with covering 1960s pop artists such as Twinkle and Cilla Black, saying in 1992: "That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs." In a 1989 interview, Morrissey cited the lack of a managerial figure and business problems as reasons for the split.

Strangeways, Here We Come reached number two in the UK in October 1987, and was the Smiths' most successful album in the US, reaching number 55 on the Billboard 200. Morrissey and Marr name it as their favourite Smiths album. Two further singles from Strangeways were released with live, session and demo tracks as B-sides. The following year, the live album Rank, recorded in 1986 when Craig Gannon was still in the band, reached number 2 in the UK and entered in the European 100 Albums chart at number 9.

1989: Royalties dispute
Morrissey and Marr each took 40% of the Smiths' recording and performance royalties, allowing 10 per cent each to Joyce and Rourke. As Joyce's barrister later argued in court, Joyce and Rourke were treated as session musicians, "as readily replaceable as the parts in a lawnmower". In March 1989, Joyce and Rourke started legal proceedings against Morrissey and Marr. They argued that they were equal partners in the Smiths and were each entitled to a 25 per cent share of the band's profits on all activities other than songwriting and publishing. Rourke, who was in debt, settled quickly for a lump sum of £83,000 and 10 per cent of royalties, renouncing all further claims.

Joyce continued with the action, which reached the High Court of Justice (Chancery Division) in December 1996. Morrissey and Marr had accepted the previous year that Joyce and Rourke were partners, but whether Joyce was entitled to a quarter of profits "arising out of the activities (other than songwriting or publishing)" of the Smiths remained contentious. Joyce's barrister, Nigel Davis, said that Joyce did not realise he was receiving only 10% of the profits until after the band split.

Morrissey and Marr – who were represented separately at the trial – insisted that the royalty split had been explained to Rourke and Joyce, though they were no longer sure when. Additionally, this agreement was only discussed verbally and it was never legally written on paper, something Marr came to regret. He said in 2004 that although he had no regrets in breaking up the Smiths, he wished the band had signed legal documents "from the word go" to avoid the later financial disagreements. As Marr's counsel, Robert Englehart, said, "Some 13 years on it is extremely difficult to pinpoint the moment when the 40:40:10:10 profit split came into being ... But Morrissey and Marr acted throughout on the basis that they would be getting 40 percent each of the net profits from the Smiths' earnings."

After a seven-day hearing, Judge Weeks found in favour of Joyce, ordering that he receive around £1 million in back-royalties and 25 per cent henceforth. The judge also gave character assessments; Joyce and Rourke (who gave evidence in Joyce's support) impressed him as straightforward and honest, whereas Morrissey "appeared devious, truculent and unreliable where his own interests were at stake" and Marr was "willing to embroider his evidence to a point where he became less credible". The judge also said that Marr was "probably the more intelligent of the four", and that Rourke and Joyce were "unintellectual". Morrissey said in an interview eight months later:

"The court case was a potted history of the life of the Smiths. Mike, talking constantly and saying nothing. Andy, unable to remember his own name. Johnny, trying to please everyone and consequently pleasing no one. And Morrissey under the scorching spotlight in the dock being drilled. 'How dare you be successful?' 'How dare you move on?' To me, the Smiths were a beautiful thing and Johnny left it, and Mike has destroyed it."

Asked some time before the trial whether he thought Rourke and Joyce had been short-changed, Morrissey responded: "They were lucky. If they'd had another singer they'd never have got further than Salford Shopping Centre." Morrissey's counsel, Ian Mill, conceded that Morrissey's attitude "betrayed a degree of arrogance". Morrissey appealed against the verdict; the appeal was heard by the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) in November 1998 and dismissed. Inspired by Joyce's success, Rourke sought legal advice on his own options. He was declared bankrupt in 1999.

In November 2005, Joyce told Marc Riley on BBC Radio 6 Music that financial hardship had reduced him to selling rare Smiths recordings on eBay. By way of illustration, Riley played part of an unfinished instrumental known as the "Click Track" (or "Cowbell Track"). Morrissey responded with a statement three days later revealing that Joyce had received £215,000 each from Marr and Morrissey in 1997, along with Marr's final backpayment of £260,000 in 2001. Morrissey failed to make his final payment because, he said, he was overseas in 2001 and did not receive the paperwork. Joyce obtained a default judgement against Morrissey, revised his outstanding claim to £688,000 and secured orders garnishing much of his income. This was a source of grievance to Morrissey, who estimated that Joyce had cost him at least £1,515,000 in recovered royalties and legal fees up to 30 November 2005.

Solo careers
Following the group's split, Morrissey began work on a solo recording, collaborating with producer Stephen Street and fellow Mancunian Vini Reilly, guitarist for the Durutti Column. The resulting album, Viva Hate (a reference to the end of the Smiths), was released in March 1988, reaching number one in the UK charts. In the following years, he invited several singers for backing vocals on several songs such as Suggs of Madness on "Piccadilly Palare" and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders on "My Love Life". He recorded a duet with Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees, "Interlude" which was released under the banner of both artists. He also collaborated with arranger Ennio Morricone on "Dear God Please Help Me". At the beginning of the 90s, he enjoyed a new popularity in North America, following his first tour as Morrissey. Morrissey continues to perform and record as a solo artist and had released 13 studio albums as of 2020.

Marr returned in 1989 with New Order's Bernard Sumner and Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant in the supergroup Electronic. Electronic released three albums over the next decade. Marr was also a member of the The, recording two albums with them between 1989 and 1993. He has worked as a session musician and writing collaborator with artists including the Pretenders, Bryan Ferry, Pet Shop Boys, Billy Bragg, Black Grape, Talking Heads, Modest Mouse, Crowded House and Beck.

In 2000, he started another band, Johnny Marr + the Healers, which released only one album, Boomslang (2003), to moderate success, then split up shortly afterwards. He later worked as a guest musician on the Oasis album Heathen Chemistry (2002). In 2006, he began work with Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock on songs that eventually featured on the band's 2007 release, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. Modest Mouse subsequently announced that Marr was a fully fledged member and the reformed line-up toured extensively in 2006–07. In January 2008, it was reported that Marr had taken part in a week-long songwriting session at Moolah Rouge recording studio in Stockport with Wakefield indie group the Cribs. Marr's association with the band lasted three years and included an appearance on its fourth album, Ignore the Ignorant (2009). His departure was announced in April 2011. He recorded three solo albums, The Messenger (2013), Playland (2014) and Call the Comet (2018). In addition to his activities as a musician and songwriter, Marr produced Marion's second album, The Program (1998) and Haven's debut album, Between the Senses (2002).

Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce continued to work together. They toured with Sinéad O'Connor in the first half of 1988; Rourke also appeared on her 1990 album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. Still in 1988, they were recruited (with Craig Gannon) to the Adult Net, but left the band soon afterwards. In 1988 and 1989, they recorded singles with Morrissey. In 1998, they toured and recorded with Aziz Ibrahim (the Stone Roses). In 2001 they formed Specter with Jason Specter and others. The band played in the United Kingdom and the United States, but did not prosper. In the same year they recorded demos with Paul Arthurs (Oasis), Aziz Ibrahim and Rowetta Idah (Happy Mondays) under the name Moondog One, but the project went no further. Towards the end of 2001, they played together in the veteran Manchester band Jeep. In 2005, they played with Vinny Peculiar, recording the single "Two Fat Lovers" (Joyce also appeared on the 2006 album The Fall and Rise of Vinny Peculiar). In 2007 they released the documentary DVD Inside the Smiths, a memoir of their time with the band, notable for the absence of Marr, Morrissey and their music.

Joyce recorded with Suede (1990); toured and recorded with Buzzcocks (1990–91); toured with Julian Cope (1992); toured with John Lydon and Public Image Ltd (1992); recorded with P.P. Arnold (1995); toured and recorded with Pete Wylie (1996–98); toured with Vinny Peculiar and Paul Arthurs (2007); and toured with Autokat (2008–09). He presented the Alternative Therapy radio show on Revolution 96.2 FM until the station changed format in 2008, later reviving it on Manchester Radio Online and Tin Can Media. He hosts The Coalition Chart Show on East Village Radio, which streams from New York.

Rourke played and recorded with the Pretenders (featuring on Last of the Independents, 1994); Badly Drawn Boy (with whom he played for two years); Proud Mary (featuring on Love and Light, 2004); and Ian Brown (featuring on The World Is Yours, 2007). In 2007, he formed Freebass with fellow bassists Peter Hook (New Order and Joy Division) and Mani (the Stone Roses and Primal Scream). Rourke co-founded the Manchester v Cancer concert series, later known as Versus Cancer, to raise money for cancer research. He concentrated on his radio career, beginning with a Saturday-evening show on XFM Manchester. He was a regular on East Village Radio, where his colleagues include Joyce. Rourke relocated to New York in early 2009. There, he formed Jetlag, a "DJ and audio production outfit", with Olé Koretsky. In April 2014, the Cranberries vocalist Dolores O'Riordan joined the group and they changed their name to D.A.R.K.

Reunion speculation
Marr and Morrissey have repeatedly said that they will not reunite the band. In 2006, Morrissey declared, "I would rather eat my own testicles than reform the Smiths, and that's saying something for a vegetarian." When asked why in another interview the same year, he responded, "I feel as if I've worked very hard since the demise of the Smiths and the others haven't, so why hand them attention that they haven't earned? We are not friends, we don't see each other. Why on earth would we be on a stage together?" In a February 2009 interview on BBC Radio 2, he said, "People always ask me about reunions and I can't imagine why [...] the past seems like a distant place, and I'm pleased with that." In 2002, Joyce said he was not interested in reforming as he felt the Smiths had run its course.

In November 2004, VH1 screened a Backstage Pass Special episode of Bands Reunited showing host Aamer Haleem trying and failing to corner Morrissey before a show at the Apollo Theater. In March 2006, Morrissey said the Smiths had declined a $5 million offer to perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, saying, "Money doesn't come into it ... It was a fantastic journey. And then it ended. I didn't feel we should have ended. I wanted to continue. [Marr] wanted to end it. And that was that."

In August 2007, it was widely reported that Morrissey had that summer declined an offer of $75 million – nearly £40 million at the time – from a "consortium of promoters" to reunite with Marr for a fifty-date world tour under the Smiths' name in 2008 and 2009. NME gave Morrissey as its source for the story. Rolling Stone cited his publicist. The offer was also reported at true-to-you.net, an unofficial fan site tacitly supported by Morrissey. It was later described as a hoax, although it is unclear who was hoaxing whom. In October, Marr said on BBC Radio 5 Live: "Stranger things have happened so, you know, who knows? ... It's no biggie. Maybe we will in 10 or 15 years' time when we all need to for whatever reasons, but right now Morrissey is doing his thing and I'm doing mine."

In 2008, Marr resumed contact with Morrissey and Rourke while remastering the band's catalogue. That September, Morrissey and Marr met in Manchester and discussed the possibility of reforming the band. The two kept in contact over the next four days and decided to exclude Joyce from any prospective reunion and to wait until after Marr completed his commitments to the Cribs. Communication between the two abruptly ended while Marr was touring in Mexico with the Cribs and the topic of a reunion was never brought up again. Marr said that he did not hear from Morrissey again until a brief email correspondence in December 2010. In June 2009, Marr told an interviewer on London's XFM, "I think we were offered 50 million dollars for three ... possibly five shows." He said that the chances of a reunion were "nothing to do with money" and that the reasons were "really abstract".

In January 2006, Marr and the Healers played at Rourke's Manchester v Cancer benefit concert, where Marr performed "How Soon Is Now?" with Rourke. Marr and Rourke also performed "How Soon Is Now?" at the Lollapallooza Brazil festival in 2014. Rourke died of pancreatic cancer on 19 May 2023, aged 59.

Musical style
Morrissey and Marr dictated the musical direction of the Smiths. Marr said in 1990 that it "was a 50/50 thing between Morrissey and me. We were completely in sync about which way we should go for each record". The Smiths' "non-rhythm-and-blues, whiter-than-white fusion of 1960s rock and post-punk was a repudiation of contemporary dance pop", and the band purposely rejected synthesisers and dance music. From their second album Meat Is Murder, Marr embellished their songs with keyboards.

Marr's jangly guitar-playing was influenced by Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, Neil Young's work with Crazy Horse, George Harrison (with the Beatles), James Honeyman-Scott of the Pretenders, and Bert Jansch of Pentangle. Marr often used a capo to tune his guitar up a full step to F-sharp to accommodate Morrissey's vocal range and also used open tunings. Citing producer Phil Spector as an influence, Marr said, "I like the idea of records, even those with plenty of space, that sound 'symphonic'. I like the idea of all the players merging into one atmosphere". Marr's other favourite guitarists are James Williamson of the Stooges, Rory Gallagher, Pete Townshend of the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan of T. Rex, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, and John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees. In a 2007 interview for the BBC, Marr said that with the Smiths his goal was to "pare down" his style and avoid rock guitar clichés. Marr forbade himself from using power chords, distortion, lengthy solos, or "big rock chord changes", instead relying on sophisticated arpeggios to create his signature chiming guitar work for the band. Occasionally, Marr would disobey his own rules, such as his use of an overdrive pedal in "London".

Morrissey's role was to create vocal melodies and lyrics. Morrissey's songwriting was influenced by punk rock and post-punk bands such as New York Dolls, the Cramps, the Specials and the Cult, along with 1960s girl groups and singers such as Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithfull and Timi Yuro. Morrissey's lyrics, while superficially depressing, were often full of mordant humour; John Peel remarked that the Smiths were one of the few bands capable of making him laugh out loud. Influenced by his childhood interest in the social realism of 1960s "kitchen sink" television plays, Morrissey wrote about ordinary people and their experiences with despair, rejection and death. While "songs such as 'Still Ill' sealed his role as spokesman for disaffected youth", Morrissey's "manic-depressive rants" and his woe-is-me' posture inspired some hostile critics to dismiss the Smiths as 'miserabilists. Julian Stringer characterised the Smiths as "one of Britain's most overtly political groups", while in his study of their work, Andrew Warnes termed them "the most anti-capitalist of bands".

Imagery
The group's cover artwork had a distinctive visual style and often featured images of film and pop stars, usually in duotone. Design was by Morrissey and Rough Trade art coordinator Jo Slee. The covers of singles rarely featured any text other than the band name and the band itself did not appear on the cover of any UK release. (Morrissey did, however, appear on an alternative cover for "What Difference Does It Make?", mimicking the pose of the original subject, actor Terence Stamp, after the latter objected to his picture being used.) The choice of cover subjects reflected Morrissey's interest in film stars (Stamp, Alain Delon, Jean Marais, Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro, James Dean); figures from sixties British popular culture (Viv Nicholson, Pat Phoenix, Yootha Joyce, Shelagh Delaney); and anonymous images from old films and magazines.

The Smiths dressed mainly in ordinary clothes – jeans and plain shirts – in keeping with the back-to-basics, guitar-and-drums style of the music. This contrasted with the exotic high-fashion image cultivated by New Romantic pop groups such as Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran and highlighted in magazines such as The Face and i-D. In 1986, when the Smiths performed on the British music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test, Morrissey wore a fake hearing-aid to support a hearing-impaired fan who was ashamed of using one, and also frequently wore thick-rimmed NHS-style glasses. Morrissey also would often wave gladioli flowers onstage.

As frontman of the Smiths, Morrissey subverted many of the norms that were associated with pop and rock music. The band's aesthetic simplicity was a reaction to the excess personified by the New Romantics, and while Morrissey adopted an androgynous appearance like the New Romantics or earlier glam rockers, his was far more subtle and understated. According to one commentator, "he was bookish; he wore NHS spectacles and a hearing aid on stage; he was celibate. Worst of all, he was sincere", with his music being "so intoxicatingly melancholic, so dangerously thoughtful, so seductively funny that it lured its listeners... into a relationship with him and his music instead of the world."

Legacy
The Smiths have been widely influential. Ian Youngs of BBC News described them as "the band that inspired deeper devotion than any British group since the Beatles". Marr's guitar playing "was a huge building block for more Manchester legends that followed the Smiths", including the Stone Roses, whose guitarist John Squire said Marr was an influence. The Oasis songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher also cited the Smiths as an influence, especially Marr, saying that "when the Jam split, the Smiths started, and I totally went for them." The Smiths were an early influence on Radiohead, and in 2001 Marr said Radiohead were the act that had "come closest to the genuine influence of the Smiths".

Alex Turner of the English rock band Arctic Monkeys cited the Smiths as a formative influence,. The Canadian artist the Weeknd listed the Smiths as an inspiration during the making of his third studio album, Starboy The American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley was a fan of the Smiths and Morrissey. Buckley often covered Smiths songs such as "I Know it's Over" and "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side". Morrissey expressed admiration for Buckley's work, listing his album Grace as his 12th-favourite album in 2010.

In Q, Simon Goddard argued in 2007 that the Smiths were "the one truly vital voice of the '80s" and "the most influential British guitar group of the decade". He continued: "As the first indie outsiders to achieve mainstream success on their own terms (their second album proper, 1985's Meat Is Murder, made Number 1 in the UK), they elevated rock's standard four-piece formula to new heights of magic and poetry. Their legacy can be traced down through the Stone Roses, Oasis and the Libertines to today's crop of artful young guitar bands."

In Uncut, Simon Reynolds wrote: "Once upon a time, a band from the North came with a sound so fresh and vigorous it took the nation by storm. The sound was rock, but crucially it was pop, too: concise, punchy, melodic, shiny without being 'plastic'. The singer was a true original, delivering a blend of sensitivity and strength, defiance and tenderness, via a regionally inflected voice. The young man's lips spilled forth words that were realistic without being dour, full of sly humour and beautifully observed detail. Most recognised their debut album as a landmark, an instant classic."

The "Britpop movement pre-empted by the Stone Roses and spearheaded by groups like Oasis, Suede and Blur drew heavily from Morrissey's portrayal of and nostalgia for a bleak urban England of the past." Blur formed as a result of seeing the Smiths on The South Bank Show in 1987. Yet even while leading bands from the Britpop movement were influenced by the Smiths, they were at odds with the "basic anti-establishment philosophies of Morrissey and the Smiths", since Britpop "was an entirely commercial construct". Mark Simpson suggested that "the whole point of Britpop was to airbrush Morrissey out of the picture ... Morrissey had to become an 'unperson' so that the Nineties and its centrally-planned and coordinated pop economy could happen."

''Teezo Touchdown included them in a Counter Culture playlist on Spotify. Rolling Stone'' included four Smiths albums on its 2012 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and included "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "How Soon Is Now?" on its 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Morrissey is included in its 2010 list of the greatest singers. In 2014 and 2015, the Smiths were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Members
Principal members
 * Morrissey – lead vocals, percussion (1982–1987)
 * Johnny Marr – guitars, piano, keyboards, harmonica (1982–1987)
 * Andy Rourke – bass (1982–1986, 1986–1987; died 2023)
 * Mike Joyce – drums, percussion (1982–1987)

Other members Session and touring members
 * Steven Pomfret – guitars (1982)
 * Dale Hibbert – bass (1982)
 * James Maker – dancing, maracas, backing vocals (1982–1983)
 * Craig Gannon – guitars, bass (1986)
 * Ivor Perry – guitars (1987)
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums (1982)
 * Guy Pratt – bass (1986)

Discography

 * The Smiths (1984)
 * Meat Is Murder (1985)
 * The Queen Is Dead (1986)
 * Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)

title: The Smiths


text:
441

Year 441 (CDXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Seleucus without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1194 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 441 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Byzantium

 * Chrysaphius, chief minister, persuades Emperor Theodosius II at Constantinople to dismiss his sister Pulcheria, for her policy of exiling the Jews, and destroying their synagogues.
 * Theodosius II sends the Eastern imperial fleet, under the command of the Romano-Goth Areobindus, into Sicilian waters, taking the Vandals by surprise.
 * Pulcheria leaves for the seaport Hebdomon (Turkey), and becomes a nun to support Nestorianism in the Holy Land (Palestine).
 * The Huns, led by Attila, attack Constanţa (modern Romania), one of the few remaining Roman forts on the northern bank of the Danube, and designated as a secure trading post. On a crowded market day, the Huns take the town by surprise and slaughter the garrison.

Europe

 * German Saxons establish themselves at the mouth of the Thames River. After a period of peace, Vortimer (son of king Vortigern), defeats the Saxons in four battles in Kent (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).
 * King Hermeric dies after a two-year illness; he is succeeded by his son Rechila, who becomes sole ruler over the Suebic Kingdom of Galicia.
 * Rechila invades Baetica and conquers the capital Seville. The Romans are driven from the Iberian Peninsula with the exception of the Levante.
 * November 8 – The first Council of Orange is convened under the guidance of Hilary of Arles in Orange (France).

Persia

 * King Yazdegerd II of Persia signs a peace treaty after a short war with the Eastern Roman Empire. Theodosius II sends his commander, Anatolius, to conclude his terms and promise not to build any new fortifications along the border territories.

Religion

 * Domnus II succeeds his uncle John as Patriarch of Antioch.

Births

 * Shen Yue, Chinese historian and statesman (d. 513)

Deaths

 * Hermeric, king of the Suebi
 * John, Patriarch of Antioch

title: 441


text:
941

Year 941 (CMXLI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Byzantine Empire

 * May – September – Rus'–Byzantine War: The Rus' and their allies, the Pechenegs, under the Varangian prince Igor I of Kiev, cross the Black Sea with an invasion fleet of 1,000 ships (40,000 men) and disembark on the northern coast of Asia Minor. While the Byzantine fleet is engaged against the Arabs in the Mediterranean, the Rus' forces reach the gates of Constantinople. Emperor Romanos I organizes the defense of the capital and assembles 15 old ships (equipped with throwers of Greek fire) under the chamberlain (protovestiarios) Theophanes. The Byzantines repel the Rus' fleet (nearly annihilating the entire fleet) but can not prevent the invaders from pillaging the hinterland of Constantinople, venturing as far south as Nicomedia (modern-day İzmit). In September, John Kourkouas and Bardas Phokas ("the Elder"), two leading generals, destroy the Rus' forces in Thrace. Igor manages, with only a handful of boats, to escape to the Caspian Sea.

Europe

 * Spring – Henry I, duke of Bavaria, plots to assassinate his brother, King Otto I, at the royal palace in Quedlinburg (modern Saxony-Anhalt), but the conspiracy is discovered and Henry is put in captivity in Ingelheim. He is released after doing penance at Christmas.
 * Fall – Hugh of Provence, king of Italy, leads a fourth expedition to Rome to dislodge Alberic II. He proceeds to Lazio, preparing a campaign to capture the papal capital. Again the attacks fail and Hugh retreats to Milan.
 * Olaf Guthfrithson, a Norse-Irish chieftain, is killed while raiding an ancient Anglian church at Tyninghame (Northern Northumbria). He is succeeded by his cousin Olaf Sigtryggsson as ruler of Jórvik (modern Yorkshire).

Middle East

 * March 9 – The famed Green Dome of the Palace of the Golden Gate at Baghdad collapses, amidst heavy rainfall.

Religion

 * Oda ("the Good") is appointed archbishop of Canterbury in England after the death of Wulfhelm.
 * Kaminarimon, the eight-pillared gate to the Sensō-ji Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, is erected.

Births

 * Brian Boru, High King of Ireland (approximate date) (d. 1014)
 * Ibn Furak, Muslim imam, jurist and theologian (d. 1015)
 * Lê Hoàn, emperor of the Early Lê Dynasty (Vietnam) (d.1005)
 * Lothair III, king of the West Frankish Kingdom (d. 986)

Deaths

 * January 5 – Zhang Yanhan, Chinese chancellor (b. 884)
 * February 12 – Wulfhelm, archbishop of Canterbury
 * April 21 – Bajkam, Turkish military commander
 * Abu Bakr Muhammad, Muslim governor
 * Fujiwara no Sumitomo, Japanese nobleman
 * Gurgen II, prince of Tao-Klarjeti (Georgia)
 * Jayavarman IV, Angkorian king (Cambodia)
 * Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni, Persian scholar (b. 864)
 * Olaf Guthfrithson, Viking leader and king
 * Órlaith íngen Cennétig, Irish queen
 * Qian Yuanguan, king of Wuyue (b. 887)
 * Rudaki ("Adam of Poets"), Persian poet (b. 858)
 * Wang Dingbao, Chinese chancellor (b. 870)
 * Zhao Sun, Chinese official and chancellor

title: 941


text:
Thespis

Thespis (Θέσπις; fl. 6th century BC) was an Ancient Greek poet. He was born in the ancient city of Icarius (present-day Dionysos, Greece). According to certain Ancient Greek sources and especially Aristotle, he was the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character in a play (instead of speaking as himself). In other sources, he is said to have introduced the first principal actor in addition to the chorus. He is often called the "Inventor of Tragedy".

Thespis was a singer of dithyrambs (songs about stories from mythology with choric refrains). He is credited with introducing a new style in which one singer or actor performed the words of individual characters in the stories, distinguishing between the characters with the aid of different masks.

This new style was called tragedy, and Thespis was the most popular exponent of it. Eventually, in 534 BC competitions to find the best tragedy were instituted at the City Dionysia in Athens, and Thespis won the first documented competition. Capitalising on his success, Thespis also invented theatrical touring; he would tour various cities while carrying his costumes, masks and other props in a horse-drawn wagon.

Alleged works
Titles of some plays have been attributed to Thespis. But most modern scholars, following the suggestion of Diogenes Laërtius, consider them to be forgeries, some forged by the philosopher Heraclides Ponticus, others produced rather later, in the Common Era:
 * Contest of Pelias and Phorbas
 * Hiereis (Priests)
 * Hemitheoi (Demigods)
 * Pentheus

Fragments (probably spurious) in A Nauck, Tragicorum graecorum fragmenta (1887).

Legacy
It is implied that Thespis invented acting in the Western world, and that prior to his performances, no one had ever assumed the resemblance of another person for the purpose of storytelling. In fact, Thespis is the first known actor in written plays. He may thus have had a substantial role in changing the way stories were told and inventing theatre as we know it today. In homage to Thespis, actors in the English-speaking part of the world have been referred to as thespians.

Thespis was the title character in an 1871 comic opera by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, the first collaboration between the two men, although the musical score has mostly been lost. The story involves Thespis and his troupe of actors temporarily replacing the gods of Olympus, while the latter come down to earth to "mingle" with humanity. The actors do a bad job of it, and the gods return angrily to resume their rightful roles.

A branch of the National Theatre of Greece expressly instituted in 1939 to tour the country is named "The Wagon of Thespis" (Greek: Άρμα Θέσπιδος, Árma Théspidos) in his honour.

title: Thespis