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Colby College

Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner Colby saw the institution renamed again to Colby University before settling on its current title, reflecting its liberal arts college curriculum, in 1899. Approximately 2,000 students from more than 60 countries are enrolled annually. The college offers 54 major fields of study and 30 minors.

Located in central Maine, the 714-acre Neo-Georgian campus sits atop Mayflower Hill and overlooks downtown Waterville and the Kennebec River Valley. Along with fellow Maine institutions Bates College and Bowdoin College, Colby competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium.

19th century
On February 27, 1813, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, led by Baptists, adopted a petition to establish the Maine Literary and Theological Institution. It was moved to Waterville, Maine, and used 179 acres of land donated by citizens. In 1818, trustees assigned the institution to Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin and classes began in a vacant Waterville home. After Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820, the first Maine legislature affirmed the Massachusetts charter for the institution, but made significant changes. Students could no longer be denied admission based on religion, the institution was prohibited from applying a religious test when selecting board members, and the trustees now had the authority to grant degrees. The Maine Literary and Theological Institution was renamed Waterville College on February 5, 1821, and four years later, the theological department was discontinued. In 1828 the trustees decided to turn the somewhat informal preparatory department of the college into a separate school named Waterville Academy (most recently called the Coburn Classical Institute).

In 1833, Rev. Rufus Babcock became Colby's second president, and students formed the nation's first college-based anti-slavery society. In 1845, the college's first Greek Society was formed, a chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon, which was followed by chapters of Zeta Psi in 1850 and Delta Upsilon in 1852.

During the Civil War, many young men were called away from school to join the fight; from Waterville College, Richard C. Shannon, Henry C. Merriam, and Benjamin Butler. Twenty-seven Waterville College students perished in the war, and more than 100 men from the town. In the years following the war, as was the case at many American colleges, Waterville College was left with few students remaining to pay the bills and a depleted endowment. The college was on the verge of closing.

On August 9, 1865, prominent Baptist philanthropist Gardner Colby attended Waterville College's commencement dinner, and unbeknownst to anyone in attendance except college president James Tift Champlin, announced a matching $50,000 donation to the college; two years later the college was named after him. Trustees of the college voted to construct a library and chapel to honor the Colby men who died in the war, called the Memorial Hall; it was dedicated at the commencement of 1869. The college remained isolated from neighboring Bates College, and Bowdoin College due to its location in Waterville, coupled with socio-economic and political differences. At the 1871 commencement, a Martin Milmore sculpture based on the Lion of Lucerne was added as the centerpiece of the building.

In the fall of 1871, Colby University was the first all-male college in New England to accept female students. The national Sigma Kappa sorority was founded at Colby in 1874 by the college's first five female students. However the college resegregated them in 1890. One of the buildings is named after the first woman to attend, Mary Caffrey Low, who was the valedictorian of the class of 1875. In 1874, based on the success of its partnership with the Coburn Classical Institute, Colby created relationships with Hebron Academy and Houlton Academy (most recently known as Ricker College). In 1893, the Higgins Classical Institute was also deeded to Colby - the last preparatory school that the university would acquire. Students published the first issue of The Colby Echo in 1877. On January 25, 1899, Colby president Nathaniel Butler Jr. '73, renamed the "university" Colby College.

20th century
In 1920, Colby celebrated its centennial, marking not the date of the original charter (1813), but the date of its charter from the new State of Maine in 1820.

In June 1929, Franklin W. Johnson was appointed president of the college. That same year saw the public release of the Maine Higher Education Survey Report, which gave Colby's campus a less than desirable review. Criticisms included a cramped location on just 28 acres located between the Kennebec River and the Maine Central Railroad Company tracks through Waterville, an aging physical plant, proximity to the unpleasant odors of a pulp mill, and the soot of the railroad. Using the report as justification, President Johnson presented a proposal to the Trustees on June 14, 1929, to move the college to a more adequate location. The campaign to raise funds for the move was immediately complicated by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, and competing offers for the college's contemplated location emerged. Most notably, William H. Gannett offered a site in Augusta, a financially attractive option for the college, but a troublesome prospect for the town of Waterville. Ultimately, a joint effort between Waterville citizens and the college raised more than $100,000 to purchase 600 acres near the outskirts of the city on Mayflower Hill, and the deed was presented to the college on April 12, 1931.

Mayflower Hill
In 1937, according to master plans drawn up by Jens Fredrick Larson, construction broke ground on Lorimer Chapel, the first building on the new Mayflower Hill campus. In 1956, the Maine State Highway Commission diverted the proposed path of Interstate 95 to swing clear of the new campus to the west, and in 1961, Parade magazine called the 24-mile section of I-95 from Augusta to Waterville "America's finest example of a 'driver's road' for scenery, speed, and safety." The college began competing athletically with Bowdoin and Bates in the 1940s, and officially joined the two colleges in the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium in 1965, after the University of Maine increased enrollment and moved to another athletic conference. The consortium became an athletic rivalry and academic exchange program.

21st century

William D. Adams was the President of Colby from 2000 to 2014. Major accomplishments included conducting the largest capital campaign in the history of Maine, which raised $376 million; a new strategic plan for the college; accepting a major gift for the Colby College Museum of Art – the Lunder Collection of American Art – and the construction of a new wing for the museum to house it in 2013; expansion onto the "Colby Green" with the construction of the Diamond Building in 2007 and the Davis Science Building in 2014. In 2014, a documentary was created depicting a wide range of student experiences, including academic climate, social gatherings, athletics, and graduate outlooks, called Colby Life. On July 1, 2014, David Greene took office as the new president of the college.

Academics

Students choose from courses in 54 major fields and have flexibility in designing independent study programs, electing special majors, and participating in internships and study-abroad programs. Colby emphasizes project-based learning. Colby's most popular majors, by 2021 graduates, were econometrics and quantitative economics (62); political science and government (62); computer science (34); psychology (32); environmental science (30); biology and biological sciences (29); and neuroscience (29). Volunteer programs and service learning take many students into the surrounding community. Colby employs 216 instructional faculty members, approximately 90% whom hold a doctorate or other terminal degree.

More than two-thirds of Colby's students spend time studying off-campus before they graduate. The college recognizes credits earned at over 200 off-campus programs in more than 60 countries. Additionally, studies at four programs locations are recognized for inclusion in students calculated grade-point averages: the International Center for French Studies at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France; the St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium in Saint Petersburg, Russia; the University of Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain; and the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

Colby also participates in engineering dual-degree programs with the Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University, and the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. The programs vary in length and requirements. The Dartmouth College program, which is on a 2–1–1–1 schedule, is the more popular one.

For the class of 2027, Colby College admitted 6% of applicants, accepting 1,142 out of nearly 17,800 applicants. This represents a 12.3 percentage point decrease from the acceptance rate for the class of 2020, which was 18.7%, due in part to the college's decision to waive certain admissions requirements, such as the supplemental essay, and by increasing financial aid commitments.

Rankings
The 2024 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report rates it the 25th best liberal arts college (tied with the University of Richmond overall in the U.S.), 8th for "Best Value," tied at 7th for "Most Innovative" and tied at 36th for "Best Undergraduate Teaching" among liberal arts colleges. Washington Monthly ranked the college 37th in 2019 among 214 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. Forbes in 2019 rated Colby 75th overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking of 650 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges, and 32nd among liberal arts colleges. Kiplinger's Personal Finance places Colby at 46th in its 2019 ranking of 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States. Colby College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

In 2016, Niche gave the college an "A+" for academics, administration, food, campus quality and diversity, a "B" for campus housing, health & safety, and athletics, and a "C+" for local city, and off-campus housing. In Niche's official rankings, the college placed 16th for liberal arts and 46th overall. Colby was ranked 29th in the country by Parchment. Colby was also named one of "25 New Ivies" by Newsweek, named to the list of the top ten environmental programs by the 2010 Fiske Guide, and ranked 13th by the 2011 Sierra Club rankings of "America's coolest schools."

Campus

Colby's 714-acre campus is situated on Mayflower Hill overlooking Waterville, Maine, located along the Kennebec River Valley in Central Maine. Most of Colby's buildings are designed in the Georgian Revival style. The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement organizes Colby's engagement in the local community. The center also organizes Colby's civic engagement programs. The college earned a top-25 listing on the Peace Corps' "ranking of colleges that produce the most volunteers."

Colby is a residential college and almost all students live on campus.

In February 2022, the college announced the acquisition of Allen and Benner islands, adjacent private islands four miles southwest of Port Clyde in the Gulf of Maine, from the Up East Foundation and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

Libraries
Colby's three libraries—Miller Library, the Bixler Art and Music Library, and the Olin Science Library—have a collection of more than 900,000 books, journals, microfilms, music scores, sound recordings, videos/DVDs, and manuscripts.

Colby College Museum of Art

The college's Museum of Art was founded in 1959 with the building of the Mayflower Hill Campus. Admission is free to the museum, which serves both as a teaching resource for Colby College and as an active cultural institution for the residents of Maine and visitors to the state. It is notable for an entire wing dedicated to works by American painter Alex Katz, a particularly strong collection of American art, and its major outdoor sculptures by Richard Serra and Sol LeWitt. The museum is part of the Bixler Art and Music Center, a building named in honor of President J. Seelye Bixler (1942–1960) in recognition of his visionary support for the arts at Colby. The most recent addition to the museum was the Alfond-Lunder wing, opened in 2013 to display the recently donated Lunder Collection of American Art. The gallery space in the museum now exceeds 38,000 square feet, surpassing the Portland Museum of Art and making it the largest art museum in Maine.

Sustainability
In the fall of 2009, Colby launched Green Colby to highlight Colby's environmental policies, including its carbon footprint, conservation, student-led initiatives. The school has signed a number of official agreements to reduce its environmental impact, including the Maine Governor's Carbon Challenge and the American College and University President's Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). As of April 2013, Colby became the fourth institution of higher education to achieve campus carbon neutrality.

All of the school's electricity comes from renewable sources, including hydro and biomass, with 10 percent of campus electricity provided by an on-campus cogeneration turbine. The college has stated that all new buildings will comply with a minimum LEED silver standard, and renovated buildings will also include green features. The dining halls make an effort to purchase local and organic foods, and the elimination of trays has saved 79,000 gallons of water and 50 tons of food waste annually. Colby also has a composting program which processes more than 100 tons of food and yard waste annually. On the College Sustainability Report Card 2009 Colby earned a B; Colby's grade was brought down by its lack of endowment transparency and shareholder engagement.

Student life

Colby's 2,000 students, evenly divided between men and women, come from every state and more than 60 countries. Colby students are listed as 67.2% white, 10.2% unknown race, 24% of its students being ALANA (Asian, Latino, African American, etc.) and 7% being international.

Colby's was one of the five original schools to partner with the Shelby Davis Scholarship program for graduates from the United World Colleges, dramatically increasing the international student population. Colby also participates in the Posse Foundation for multicultural scholars.

The college hosts myriad student-run organizations. The Student Government Association (SGA) advises and interacts with the college administration on issues ranging from policies and procedures to class presidents and dorm heads; it is also responsible for allocating funding to other student-run organizations.

Athletics
The Colby Mules compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III, the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), and the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium. The three schools compete vigorously in athletics, most notably in football and the Chase Regatta. There are 16 varsity teams for women, 15 for men, and one co-ed team. The official school colors are blue and gray. Approximately one-third of the student population participates in one or more of 32 intercollegiate varsity sports. Colby also offers club sports and an intramural sports program called I-Play. As of 2013, five graduates have qualified for the Olympic Games. Colby holds nine national titles in the NESCAC.

The Harold Alfond Athletic Center is the center of athletic life at Colby, and home to the Colby Mules. It contains the Wadsworth Gymnasium, with a capacity of 2,600 people, the Alfond Rink with 1,750 seats, the Colby swimming pool, The Dunaway Squash Courts, the Boulos Family Fitness Center, and a field house with a four-lane, 220-yard track, and athletic offices.

Fraternities
In 1984, following an investigation of campus life commissioned by the Board of Trustees, a decision was made to withdraw recognition from Colby's Greek system as it was seen to be "exclusionary by nature."

Notable alumni
Alumni, now numbering more than 25,000, are represented in all 50 states and 75 foreign countries. Alumni remain engaged with the college through alumni programs, affinity groups, and a directory and related services online, all offered by the Office of Alumni Relations.

Colby alumni include Governors Lot M. Morrill (ex-1869), Harris M. Plaisted (1881–1883), Nelson Dingley, Jr. (1874–1876), Llewellyn Powers (1901–1908), Benjamin Butler (1883–1884), Marcellus Stearns (1874–1877), and George A. Ramsdell (1897–1899).

Other notable alumni include: Harvard Professor, President Emeritus of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, and White House Consultant Gregory Ciottone (1987), former Barclays Chief Executive Officer Robert Diamond (1973), U.S. Senator from Florida (1969–1974) Edward Gurney (1935), abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy (1826), Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and U.S. State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack (1986), mathematician and founding member of the Institute for Advanced Study Marston Morse (1914), President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Eric S. Rosengren (1979), former White House Chief of Staff Pete Rouse (1968), author Doris Kearns Goodwin (1964), pathologist and author Stephen Sternberg (1941), and academic and author of the Spenser detective novels Robert B. Parker (1954), Pulitzer-Prize winning author Gregory White Smith (1973), political analyst Amy Walter (1991), Political Director of ABC News, former house editor for the Cook Political Report, Editor in Chief of The Hotline, and NFL General Manager Eric DeCosta of the Baltimore Ravens (1993).

Presidents of Colby
The Administration is made up of the president, officers, a board of trustees with faculty and student representation, and a board of overseers. Since the founding of the college in 1813, 20 presidents have served, with Colby alumni having served as four Presidents of the college: Albion Woodbury Small, class of 1876, President from 1889 to 1892; Nathaniel Butler Jr., class of 1873, President from 1896 to 1901; Arthur J. Roberts, class of 1890, President from 1908 to 1927; and Franklin W. Johnson, class of 1891, President from 1929 to 1942. David Greene currently serves in the role since 2014.

Seal and motto
"Lux Mentis Scientia," meaning "knowledge is the light of the mind," is the college's motto. The college was originally authorized to have a seal by its founding charter, granted by the Massachusetts General Court in 1813. Presently, the seal figures prominently on college diplomas as well as other official communications and merchandise.

History and Revisions
The history of the seal tracks both the history of the school, which began under the name Maine Literary and Theological Institution, and sigillography generally. The earliest known seal came while the school was called Colby University. It featured a sun in splendour with eight straight rays above the school's Latin motto. Surrounding the center are the words "Sigillum Universitatis Colbianae," meaning "the seal of Colby College," and two crossed olive branch with five leaves each. In 1899 the "university" was renamed Colby College, and a new seal was created with minor artistic changes to reflect the school's new name.

In 1936, President Franklin W. Johnson commissioned William Addison Dwiggins to design a seal to replace the one then existing, specifying only that it used the same motto as the first and retain the sun as the central theme. The cost of the design was $50. The face on the sun was removed and the lettering and its positioning was changed.

In 2002, the college contracted with design firm Corey McPherson Nash for updates to its entire visual identity system, including the seal. The current seal is set in Perpetua typeface around a sunburst. The seal is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark under registration number 2773337. A special seal was developed for the college's bicentennial celebration in 2013.

Alma mater
Colby's alma mater is "Hail, Colby, Hail." The lyrics to the song were written by Karl R. Kennison of the class of 1906. It is sung to the tune of "O Canada." In 1979, the second line was changed from "thy sons from far and near" to "thy people far and near."

title: Colby College


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Bobcat

The bobcat (Lynx rufus), also known as the red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus Lynx. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, due to its wide distribution and large population. Although it has been hunted extensively both for sport and fur, populations have proven stable, though declining in some areas.

It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or "bobbed") tail, from which it derives its name. It reaches a total length (including the tail) of up to 125 cm. It is an adaptable predator inhabiting wooded areas, semidesert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to extirpation by coyotes and domestic animals. Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Prey selection depends on location and habitat, season, and abundance. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. It uses several methods to mark its territorial boundaries, including claw marks and deposits of urine or feces. The bobcat breeds from winter into spring and has a gestation period of about two months.

Two subspecies are recognized: one east of the Great Plains, and the other west of the Great Plains. It is featured in some stories of the indigenous peoples of North and Central America, and in the folklore of European-descended inhabitants of the Americas.

Taxonomy and evolution

Felis rufa was the scientific name proposed by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1777. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the following zoological specimens were described:

 * Lynx floridanus proposed by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1817 was a greyish lynx with yellowish brown spots from Florida.
 * Lynx fasciatus also proposed by Rafinesque in 1817 was a reddish brown lynx with a thick fur from the northwest coast.
 * Lynx baileyi proposed by Clinton Hart Merriam in 1890 was a female lynx that was shot in the San Francisco Mountains.
 * Lynx texensis proposed by Joel Asaph Allen in 1895 to replace the earlier name Lynx rufus var. maculatus.
 * Lynx gigas proposed by Outram Bangs in 1897 was a skin of an adult male lynx shot near Bear River, Nova Scotia.
 * Lynx rufus eremicus and Lynx rufus californicus proposed by Edgar Alexander Mearns in 1898 were skins and skulls of two adult lynxes killed in San Diego County, California.
 * Lynx rufus peninsularis proposed by Oldfield Thomas in 1898 was a skull and a pale rufous skin of a male lynx from Baja California Peninsula.
 * Lynx fasciatus pallescens proposed by Merriam in 1899, was a skin of a gray lynx that was killed near Trout Lake, Washington.
 * Lynx ruffus escuinapae proposed by Allen in 1903 was a skull and a pale rufous skin of an adult female from Escuinapa Municipality in Mexico.

 * Lynx rufus superiorensis by Randolph Lee Peterson and Stuart C. Downing in 1952 was a skeleton and skin of a male lynx killed near Port Arthur, Ontario.
 * Lynx rufus oaxacensis proposed by George Goodwin in 1963 was based on three skulls and six skins of lynxes killed in the Mexican Tehuantepec District.

The validity of these subspecies was challenged in 1981 because of the minor differences between specimens from the various geographic regions in North America.

Since the revision of cat taxonomy in 2017, only two subspecies are recognized as valid taxa:
 * L. r. rufus – east of the Great Plains
 * L. r. fasciatus – west of the Great Plains

Phylogeny
The genus Lynx shares a clade with the genera Puma, Prionailurus and Felis dated to ; Lynx diverged approximately.

The bobcat is thought to have evolved from the Eurasian lynx (L. lynx), which crossed into North America by way of the Bering Land Bridge during the Pleistocene, with progenitors arriving as early as 2.6 million years ago. It first appeared during the Irvingtonian stage around. The first bobcat wave moved into the southern portion of North America, which was soon cut off from the north by glaciers; the population evolved into the modern bobcat around 20,000 years ago. A second population arrived from Asia and settled in the north, developing into the modern Canada lynx (L. canadensis). Hybridization between the bobcat and the Canada lynx may sometimes occur. The populations east and west of the Great Plains were probably separated during Pleistocene interglacial periods due to the aridification of the region.

Description

The bobcat resembles other species of the midsize genus Lynx, but is on average the smallest of the four. Its coat is variable, though generally tan to grayish-brown, with black streaks on the body and dark bars on the forelegs and tail. Its spotted patterning acts as camouflage. The ears are black-tipped and pointed, with short, black tufts. Generally, an off-white color is seen on the lips, chin, and underparts. Bobcats in the desert regions of the southwest have the lightest-colored coats, while those in the northern, forested regions are darkest. Kittens are born well-furred and already have their spots. A few melanistic bobcats have been sighted and captured in Florida, USA and New Brunswick, Canada. They appear black, but may still exhibit a spot pattern.

The face appears wide due to ruffs of extended hair beneath the ears. Bobcat eyes are yellow with round, black pupils. The nose of the bobcat is pinkish-red, and it has a base color of gray or yellowish- or brownish-red on its face, sides, and back. The pupils widen during nocturnal activity to maximize light reception. The bobcat has sharp hearing and vision, and a good sense of smell. It is an excellent climber and swims when it needs to, but normally avoids water.

The adult bobcat is 47.5 - 125 cm long from the head to the base of its distinctive stubby tail, averaging 82.7 cm; the tail is 9 to 20 cm long. Its "bobbed" appearance gives the species its name. An adult stands about 30 to 60 cm at the shoulders.

Adult males can range in weight from 6.4 - 18.3 kg, with an average of 9.6 kg; females at 4 - 15.3 kg, with an average of 6.8 kg. The largest bobcat accurately measured on record weighed 22.2 kg, although unverified reports have them reaching 27 kg. Furthermore, a June 20, 2012, report of a New Hampshire roadkill specimen listed the animal's weight at 27 kg. The largest-bodied bobcats were recorded in eastern Canada and northern New England, and the smallest in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Consistent with Bergmann's rule, the bobcat is larger in its northern range and in open habitats. A morphological size comparison study in the eastern United States found a divergence in the location of the largest male and female specimens, suggesting differing selection constraints for the sexes. Skeletal muscles make up 58.5 % of the bobcat's body weight. At birth, it weighs 9+1/2 - 12 oz and is about 10 in in length. At the age of one year, it weighs about 10 lb.

Tracks

Bobcat tracks show four toes without claw marks, due to their retractile claws. The tracks range in size from 1 - 3 in; the average is about 1+3/4 in. When walking or trotting, the tracks are spaced roughly 8 to 18 in apart. The bobcat can make great strides when running, often from 4 - 8 ft.

Like all cats, the bobcat 'directly registers', meaning its hind prints usually fall exactly on top of its fore prints. Bobcat tracks can be generally distinguished from feral or house cat tracks by their larger size: about 2 sqin versus 1+1/2 sqin.

Distribution and habitat

The bobcat is an adaptable species. It prefers woodlands—deciduous, coniferous, or mixed—but does not depend exclusively on the deep forest. It ranges from the humid swamps of Florida to desert lands of Texas or rugged mountain areas. It makes its home near agricultural areas, if rocky ledges, swamps, or forested tracts are present; its spotted coat serves as camouflage. The population of the bobcat depends primarily on the population of its prey; other principal factors in the selection of habitat type include protection from severe weather, availability of resting and den sites, dense cover for hunting and escape, and freedom from disturbance.

The bobcat's range does not seem to be limited by human populations, but by availability of suitable habitat; only large, intensively cultivated tracts are unsuitable for the species. The animal may appear in back yards in "urban edge" environments, where human development intersects with natural habitats. If chased by a dog, it usually climbs up a tree.

The historical range of the bobcat was from southern Canada, throughout the United States, and as far south as the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and it still persists across much of this area. In the 20th century, it was thought to have lost territory in the US Midwest and parts of the Northeast, including southern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota, and much of Missouri, mostly due to habitat changes from modern agricultural practices. While thought to no longer exist in western New York and Pennsylvania, multiple confirmed sightings of bobcats (including dead specimens) have been recently reported in New York's Southern Tier and in central New York, and a bobcat was captured in 2018 on a tourist boat in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In addition, bobcat sightings have been confirmed in northern Indiana, and one was killed near Albion, Michigan, in 2008. In early March 2010, a bobcat was sighted (and later captured by animal control authorities) in a parking garage in downtown Houston. By 2010, bobcats appear to have recolonized many states, occurring in every state in the contiguous 48 except Delaware.

The bobcat population in Canada is limited due to both snow depth and the presence of the Canada lynx. The bobcat does not tolerate deep snow, and waits out heavy storms in sheltered areas; it lacks the large, padded feet of the Canada lynx and cannot support its weight on snow as efficiently. The bobcat is not entirely at a disadvantage where its range meets that of the larger felid: displacement of the Canada lynx by the aggressive bobcat has been observed where they interact in Nova Scotia, while the clearing of coniferous forests for agriculture has led to a northward retreat of the Canada lynx's range to the advantage of the bobcat. In northern and central Mexico, the cat is found in dry scrubland and forests of pine and oak; its range ends at the tropical southern portion of the country.

Behavior and ecology
The bobcat is crepuscular, and is active mostly during twilight. It keeps on the move from three hours before sunset until about midnight, and then again from before dawn until three hours after sunrise. Each night, it moves from 2 to 7 mi along its habitual route. This behavior may vary seasonally, as bobcats become more diurnal during fall and winter in response to the activity of their prey, which are more active during the day in colder weather.

Social structure and home range

Bobcat activities are confined to well-defined territories, which vary in size depending on the sex and the distribution of prey. The home range is marked with feces, urine scent, and by clawing prominent trees in the area. In its territory, the bobcat has numerous places of shelter, usually a main den, and several auxiliary shelters on the outer extent of its range, such as hollow logs, brush piles, thickets, or under rock ledges. Its den smells strongly of the bobcat. The sizes of bobcats' home ranges vary significantly from 0.23 - 126 sqmi. One study in Kansas found resident males to have ranges of roughly 8 sqmi, and females less than half that area. Transient bobcats were found to have home ranges of 22 sqmi and less well-defined home ranges. Kittens had the smallest range at about 3 sqmi. Dispersal from the natal range is most pronounced with males.

Reports on seasonal variation in range size have been equivocal. One study found a large variation in male range sizes, from 16 sqmi in summer up to 40 sqmi in winter. Another found that female bobcats, especially those which were reproductively active, expanded their home range in winter, but that males merely shifted their range without expanding it, which was consistent with numerous earlier studies. Other research in various American states has shown little or no seasonal variation.

Like most felines, the bobcat is largely solitary, but ranges often overlap. Unusual for cats, males are more tolerant of overlap, while females rarely wander into others' ranges. Given their smaller range sizes, two or more females may reside within a male's home range. When multiple territories overlap, a dominance hierarchy is often established, resulting in the exclusion of some transients from favored areas.

In line with widely differing estimates of home range size, population density figures diverge from one to 38 bobcats per 10 sqmi in one survey. The average is estimated at one bobcat per 5 sqmi. A link has been observed between population density and sex ratio. An unhunted population in California had a sex ratio of 2.1 males per female. When the density decreased, the sex ratio skewed to 0.86 males per female. Another study observed a similar ratio, and suggested the males may be better able to cope with the increased competition, and this helped limit reproduction until various factors lowered the density.

Hunting and diet

The bobcat is able to survive for long periods without food, but eats heavily when prey is abundant. During lean periods, it often preys on larger animals, which it can kill and return to feed on later. The bobcat hunts by stalking its prey and then ambushing with a short chase or pounce. Its preference is for mammals weighing about 1+1/2 - 12+1/2 lb. Its main prey varies by region: in the eastern United States, it is the eastern cottontail and New England cottontail, and in the north, it is the snowshoe hare. When these prey species exist together, as in New England, they are the primary food sources of the bobcat. In the far south, the rabbits and hares are sometimes replaced by cotton rats as the primary food source. Birds up to the size of an adult trumpeter swan are also taken in ambushes while nesting, along with their fledglings and eggs. The bobcat is an opportunistic predator that, unlike the more specialized Canada lynx, readily varies its prey selection. Diet diversification positively correlates to a decline in numbers of the bobcat's principal prey; the abundance of its main prey species is the main determinant of overall diet.

The bobcat hunts animals of different sizes, and adjusts its hunting techniques accordingly. It hunts in areas abundant in prey and waits lying or crouching for victims to wander close. It then pounces and grabs the prey with its sharp, retractable claws. For slightly larger animals, such as geese, ducks, rabbits and hares, it stalks from cover and waits until prey comes within 20 to 35 ft before rushing in to attack. Less commonly, it feeds on larger animals, such as young ungulates, and other carnivores, such as primarily female fishers, gray foxes, American minks, American martens, skunks, raccoons, small dogs and domestic cats. It also hunts rodents such as squirrels, moles, muskrats, mice, but also birds, small sharks, and insects. Bobcats occasional hunt livestock and poultry. While larger species, such as cattle and horses, are not known to be attacked, bobcats do present a threat to smaller ruminants such as pigs, sheep and goats. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, bobcats killed 11,100 sheep in 2004, comprising 4.9% of all sheep predator deaths. However, some amount of bobcat predation may be misidentified, as bobcats have been known to scavenge on the remains of livestock kills by other animals.

It has been known to kill deer or pronghorn, and sometimes to hunt elk in western North America, especially in winter when smaller prey is scarce, or when deer populations become more abundant. One study in the Everglades showed a large majority of kills (33 of 39) were fawns. In Yellowstone a large number of kills (15 of 20) were elk calves, but prey up to eight times the bobcat's weight could be successfully taken. It stalks the deer, often when the deer is lying down, then rushes in and grabs it by the neck before biting the throat, base of the skull, or chest. On the rare occasions a bobcat kills a deer, it eats its fill and then buries the carcass under snow or leaves, often returning to it several times to feed.

The bobcat prey base overlaps with that of other midsized predators of a similar ecological niche. Research in Maine has shown little evidence of competitive relationships between the bobcat and coyote or red fox; separation distances and territory overlap appeared random among simultaneously monitored animals. However, other studies have found bobcat populations may decrease in areas with high coyote populations, with the more social inclination of the canid giving them a possible competitive advantage. With the Canada lynx, however, the interspecific relationship affects distribution patterns; competitive exclusion by the bobcat is likely to have prevented any further southward expansion of the range of its felid relative.

Reproduction and life cycle

The average lifespan of the bobcat is seven years but rarely exceeds 10 years. The oldest wild bobcat on record was 16 years old, and the oldest captive bobcat lived to be 32.

Bobcats generally begin breeding by their second summer, though females may start as early as their first year. Sperm production begins each year by September or October, and the male is fertile into the summer. A dominant male travels with a female and mates with her several times, generally from winter until early spring; this varies by location, but most mating takes place during February and March. The pair may undertake a number of different behaviors, including bumping, chasing, and ambushing. Other males may be in attendance, but remain uninvolved. Once the male recognizes the female is receptive, he grasps her in the typical felid neck grip and mates with her. The female may later go on to mate with other males, and males generally mate with several females. During courtship, the bobcat's vocalizations include screaming and hissing. Research in Texas revealed that establishing a home range is necessary for breeding; studied animals without a home range had no identified offspring. The female has an estrous cycle of 44 days, with the estrus lasting five to ten days. Bobcats remain reproductively active throughout their lives.

The female raises the young alone. One to six, but usually two to four, kittens are born in April or May, after roughly 60 to 70 days of gestation. Sometimes, a second litter is born as late as September. The female generally gives birth in an enclosed space, usually a small cave or hollow log. The young open their eyes by the ninth or tenth day. They start exploring their surroundings at four weeks and are weaned at about two months. Within three to five months, they begin to travel with their mother. They hunt by themselves by fall of their first year, and usually disperse shortly thereafter. In Michigan, however, they have been observed staying with their mother as late as the next spring.

Predators

The adult bobcat has relatively few predators. However rarely, it may be killed in interspecific conflict by several larger predators or fall prey to them. Cougars and gray wolves can kill adult bobcats, a behavior repeatedly observed in Yellowstone National Park. Coyotes have killed adult bobcats and kittens. At least one confirmed observation of a bobcat and an American black bear (Ursus americanus) fighting over a carcass is confirmed. Like other Lynx species, bobcats probably avoid encounters with bears, in part because they are likely to lose kills to them or may rarely be attacked by them. Bobcat remains have occasionally been found in the resting sites of male fishers. American alligators (Alligator mississippensis) have been filmed opportunistically preying on adult bobcats in the southeast United States. Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) have been reportedly observed preying on bobcats.

Kittens may be taken by several predators, including great horned owls, eagles, foxes, and bears, and other adult male bobcats. When prey populations are not abundant, fewer kittens are likely to reach adulthood.

Diseases, accidents, hunters, automobiles, and starvation are the other leading causes of death. Juveniles show high mortality shortly after leaving their mothers, while still perfecting their hunting techniques. One study of 15 bobcats showed yearly survival rates for both sexes averaged 0.62, in line with other research suggesting rates of 0.56 to 0.67. Cannibalism has been reported; kittens may be taken when prey levels are low, but this is very rare and does not much influence the population.

The bobcat may have external parasites, mostly ticks and fleas, and often carries the parasites of its prey, especially those of rabbits and squirrels. Internal parasites (endoparasites) are especially common in bobcats. One study found an average infection rate of 52% from Toxoplasma gondii, but with great regional variation. One mite in particular, Lynxacarus morlani, has to date been found only on the bobcat. Parasites' and diseases' role in the mortality of the bobcat is still unclear, but they may account for greater mortality than starvation, accidents, and predation.

Conservation

It is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which means it is not considered threatened with extinction, but that international trade must be closely monitored. The animal is regulated in all three of its range countries, and is found in a number of protected areas of the United States, its principal territory. Estimates from the US Fish and Wildlife Service placed bobcat numbers between 700,000 and 1,500,000 in the US in 1988, with increased range and population density suggesting even greater numbers in subsequent years; for these reasons, the U.S. has petitioned CITES to remove the cat from Appendix II. Populations in Canada and Mexico remain stable and healthy. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List, noting it is relatively widespread and abundant, but information from southern Mexico is poor.

The species is considered endangered in Ohio, Indiana, and New Jersey. It was removed from the threatened list of Illinois in 1999 and of Iowa in 2003. In Pennsylvania, limited hunting and trapping are once again allowed, after having been banned from 1970 to 1999. The bobcat also suffered population decline in New Jersey at the turn of the 19th century, mainly because of commercial and agricultural developments causing habitat fragmentation; by 1972, the bobcat was given full legal protection, and was listed as endangered in the state in 1991. The Mexican bobcat L. r. escuinipae was for a time considered endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, but was delisted in 2005. Between 2003 and 2011, a reduction in bobcat sightings in the Everglades by 87.5% has been attributed to predation by the invasive Burmese python.

The bobcat has long been valued both for fur and sport; it has been hunted and trapped by humans, but has maintained a high population, even in the southern United States, where it is extensively hunted. In the 1970s and 1980s, an unprecedented rise in price for bobcat fur caused further interest in hunting, but by the early 1990s, prices had dropped significantly. Regulated hunting still continues, with half of mortality of some populations being attributed to this cause. As a result, the rate of bobcat deaths is skewed in winter, when hunting season is generally open.

Urbanization can result in the fragmentation of contiguous natural landscapes into patchy habitat within an urban area. Animals that live in these fragmented areas often have reduced movement between the habitat patches, which can lead to reduced gene flow and pathogen transmission between patches. Animals such as the bobcat are particularly sensitive to fragmentation because of their large home ranges. A study in coastal Southern California has shown bobcat populations are affected by urbanization, creation of roads, and other developments. The populations may not be declining as much as predicted, but instead the connectivity of different populations is affected. This leads to a decrease in natural genetic diversity among bobcat populations. For bobcats, preserving open space in sufficient quantities and quality is necessary for population viability. Educating local residents about the animals is critical, as well, for conservation in urban areas.

In bobcats using urban habitats in California, the use of rodenticides has been linked to both secondary poisoning by consuming poisoned rats and mice, and to increased rates of severe mite infestation (known as notoedric mange), as an animal with a poison-weakened immune system is less capable of fighting off mange. Liver autopsies in California bobcats that have succumbed to notoedric mange have revealed chronic rodenticide exposure. Alternative rodent control measures such as vegetation control and use of traps have been suggested to alleviate this issue.

Importance in human culture
Stories featuring the bobcat, in many variations, are found in some Indigenous cultures of North America, with parallels in South America. A story from the Nez Perce, for instance, depicts the bobcat and coyote as opposed, antithetical beings. However, another version represents them with equality and identicality. Claude Lévi-Strauss argues that the former concept, that of twins representing opposites, is an inherent theme in New World mythologies, but that they are not equally balanced figures, representing an open-ended dualism rather than the symmetric duality of Old World cultures. The latter notion then, Lévi-Strauss suggests, is the result of regular contact between Europeans and native cultures. Additionally, the version found in the Nez Perce story is of much greater complexity, while the version of equality seems to have lost the tale's original meaning. In a Shawnee tale, the bobcat is outwitted by a rabbit, which gives rise to its spots. After trapping the rabbit in a tree, the bobcat is persuaded to build a fire, only to have the embers scattered on its fur, leaving it singed with dark brown spots. The Mohave people believed dreaming habitually of beings or objects would afford them their characteristics as supernatural powers. Dreaming of two deities, cougar and lynx, they thought, would grant them the superior hunting skills of other tribes. European-descended inhabitants of the Americas also admired the cat, both for its ferocity and its grace, and in the United States, it "rests prominently in the anthology of ... national folklore."

Grave artifacts from dirt domes excavated in the 1980s along the Illinois River revealed a complete skeleton of a young bobcat along with a collar made of bone pendants and shell beads that had been buried by the Hopewell culture. The type and place of burial indicate a tamed and cherished pet or possible spiritual significance. The Hopewell normally buried their dogs, so the bones were initially identified as remains of a puppy, but dogs were usually buried close to the village and not in the mounds themselves. This is the only wild cat decorated burial on the archaeological record.

An inhabitant of Appalachia, Lynx rufus is immortalized (along with university founder Rufus Putnam) at Ohio University through its popular college mascot, Rufus the Bobcat.

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

title: Bobcat


text:
Talk:Stress (linguistics)

Confounding of different types of stress
I only skimmed this article, but it appears to discuss a mixture of stress within a sentence and stress within a word. These need to be clearly distinguished, discussed separately, and cross-referenced. Thomas.Hedden (talk) 02:50, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Evidence?
The article says

(Much literature emphasizes the importance of pitch changes and pitch motions on stressed syllables, but experimental support for this idea is weak. However, most experiments do not directly address the pitch of speech, which is a subjective perceived quantity. Experiments typically measure the speech fundamental frequency which is objectively measurable, and strongly correlated with pitch, but not quite the same thing.)

Is there any reference for this? Why is it in parentheses? Jirka6 03:33, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

stress mark
Thanks for the help with italics. Does anyone know how to put in stress marks and syllable marks such as you would find in a dictionary? That would clarify this article immensely.

Ah. like the ' and the same but lower down. I'm not sure we can do these. I wonder if ' is any good. I can't see it anywhere on Special characters -- Tarquin 18:21 Jan 20, 2003 (UTC) ... ... having seen the save version, ' seems fine. :-) -- t

 * Hi.
 * The symbol for primary stress mark is < ˈ > (decimal: #712, hex: #02C8) called Modifier Letter Vertical Line.

 * Secondary stress mark is < ˌ > (decimal: #716, hex: #02CC) called Modifier Letter Low Vertical Line.

 * But, if you are only concerned with primary stress, I think you could substitute Apostrophe < ' > (decimal: #39, hex: #0027) for Modifier Letter Vertical Line since it looks rather similar & is less problematically displayed on the Web. (Apostrophe is not to be confused with Left Single Quotation Mark < ‘ > or Right Single Quotation Mark < ’ >.)

 * IPA also mentions a symbol for "extra strong stress" (I dont see a specially created character for this one) which could be represented by Quotation < " > (html: ", decimal: #34, hex: #0022).

 * - Ish ishwar 21:41, 2005 Feb 6 (UTC)

record example
Is the record/record example valid? Don't the two words actually use different phonemes, aparnt from vocal stress?

Perhaps a com'-pound, to com-pound' would be better examples. English also has a system where unstressed vowels are apt to change phonemes, especially to become schwas. Perhaps a link to Initial-stress-derived_noun would be useful too.

 * Hi.

 * No, record and record have the same phonemes. There are phonological rules that affect vowels in unstressed syllables creating different allophones.

 * If you want an example with vowels that dont change so much, try import (noun) ['ɪmport] vs. import (verb) [ɪm'port]

 * - Ish ishwar 21:49, 2005 Feb 6 (UTC)

IPA mark
Would somebody please put in something about the IPA mark for stress. I've never understood it.

 * The IPA has two marks, one for primary stress (which looks like an apostrophe, ') and the other for secondary stress (which is the same, only lowered/subscripted). These marks are placed before the stressed syllable (not after, and not before the stressed vowel). IIRC, in SAMPA these are rendered as double quotes (") and percent sign (%), but mostly I've seen apostrophe and comma, respectively.

 * It'd be nice to see signed and dated comments over here. You can add your username and current date/time using four tildes ( ~ ) in the edit box. They'll be converted automatically. -Pablo D. Flores 14:21, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

my comments
Hi.

 * Not all stress is lexical stress. So, the Vocal stress article should not redirect here.
 * Since this is an English encyclopedia, I think that English stress should be explained in more detail to give readers a better background. Stress in English has acoustic correlates in mostly pitch and duration although occassionally amplitude (auditorily equivalent to loudness) is also involved.
 * Discuss the linguistic functions of stress.

Peace - Ish ishwar 21:57, 2005 Feb 6 (UTC)

 * After looking this up in my Penguin Dictionary of Language, I have to agree with Ish. Would anyone mind if we moved this to a more appropriate title? Stress (linguistics) seems much more appropriate.
 * Peter Isotalo 22:33, May 9, 2005 (UTC)

 * Agree. "Vocal stress" misses the mark; "Stress (linguistics)" follows a simple unambiguous format (which should be used in other articles, BTW). --Pablo D. Flores 10:26, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Moved and fixed secondary redirects.
 * Peter Isotalo 08:23, May 15, 2005 (UTC)

There's still something amiss. Linguistic Accent consists of three parts, stress, tone and length. By calling the article about Speech-Accent "Accent (Linguistics)", and redirecting stress (phonology) to stress (linguistics), we have a major problem here. The article now called Stress (linguistics) is only about stress on syllables. You can also stress words and word groups, or even whole sentences.

How about a hierarchy like this:

Accent disambiguation
 * Accent (language) - the Article now called Accent (linguistics)
 * Accent (linguistics)
 * Stress (linguistics) (one method of accenting a linguistic unit)
 * Tone (linguistics) (one method of accenting a linguistic unit)
 * Length (phonetics) (one method of accenting a linguistic unit)
 * Word accent (can use stress, tone, length for accenting a syllable in a word)
 * Sentence accent (can use stress, tone, length for accenting a word in a sentence)

the main problem is, that in english research stress and accent are often confused because of english being a stress accent language. But there are other types like pitch accent languages. --Trickstar 14:58, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree that we need to be more careful distinguishing the two meanings of "accent", but I don't think Accent (language) vs. Accent (linguistics) is the way to go. Both terms are used in linguistics to describe phenomena in languages. I'd recommend Accent (sociolinguistics) for the article now called Accent (linguistics) and Prosodic phonology for a general article on the different types of prosodic accent and the different prosodic categories that can be stressed. --Angr/undefined 16:38, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

 * That'd be fine by me. --Trickstar 19:28, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Problem with IPA characters
It looks like many of the IPA symbols are broken. I'd love to fix it but I'm not particularly familiar with wikipedia's IPA commands

--Delgiudc 19:32, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I fixed some idiosyncratic transcriptions to be more standard, but I can't find any broken characters. Can you be more specific? Angr (t • c) 19:54, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

They are all appearing correctly now. Before, both firefox and IE displayed the code (with slashes and such) rather than the actual phonetic symbol. I tried viewing the article on two different machines and found the same result. But now they seem to be working fine. Not sure if it was something you did but thanks for looking into it.
 * I didn't do anything. Must have been something at your end, though it's weird it would be that way on two different browsers on two different machines. Angr (t • c) 21:12, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

added pro-ject/proj-ect example
I also think the intralink to hyphenation algorithm is a bonus, because stress plays out in that sphere in interesting ways. Gaa. I just read the external link and it suggest re/cord and rec/ord though my first dictionary had them both as re/cord. Is this a general property of a weak interior consonant binding to the stressed syllable when the stress varies by part of speech? I have the feeling over-emphasizing pronunciation under my breath that stressed syllables are somewhat lengthened as well which would bear on syllabification even if a stressed consonant was too ambiguous to detect. MaxEnt 02:02, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Stress timed languages etc
I think that this section should be updated. While I agree that `stress timed language' is a handy term, it is unfortunately experimentally disproved, and I know no phonlogist who believes in stress-timed languages (vs. syllable and mora timed lgs). Many non-phonologists do, of course Jasy jatere 10:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Notation - portuguese tilde
Tilde (~) in Portuguese language IS NOT a mark of stress for nasal vowels. It is simply a "nasalisation" mark for a given vowel. The source of confusion is the fact that most syllables with nasalized vowels are in fact stressed. There are, however, counter-examples where stressed syllable is not the nasalized one: "bênção" (blessing), "órfão" (orfan), etc. Therefore, I am correcting this mistake.

I am also rephrasing the bit about when to use the diacritics or not. All multi-syllable words in Portuguese have one stressed syllable. Instead of using diacritics in every single word, Portuguese language uses them only in "unexpected" pronunciations, i.e., a uncommon pronunciation of given pattern of letters on a word. For instance, the majority of words ending in "o" are stressed on the penult syllable, hence this stress is not marked ("bolo", "engodo", "gordo", etc); the few cases where the stressed syllable is the last, the diacritic is used ("xodó", "gogó", "bangô", etc).

Of course, this rule is not so robust, as diacritics are required in all words ended on "x", "ps" or "n" whose stressed syllable is the penult. Trouble is, there is no word ending in "x", "ps" ora "n" whose stress is on the last syllable. Go figure... hawck (talk) 16:56, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Question
I just had a question that I still don't quite understand: what is the purpose of secondary stress? Rengai-Laran (talk) 03:03, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

The antepaenultima rule
I am surprised that the antepaenultima rule in the English language is not mentioned in wikipedia. As a Swede I started to learn English when I was 10 years, and one of the most important rules we had to learn was the antepaenultima rule, it means that in English the stress is always on the third wowel from the end. The latin word antepaenultima means the one that comes before the one before the last, i.e. the third from the end. If the word is shorter than three wowels the stress is on the first wowel. This rule creates problems when words which are not originally English are pronounced by native English speakers. For example the word kilometer. It consists of two words written together, ki'lo and me'ter. But pronounced by native English speakers it becomes kilo'meter, thus destroying the melody of both ki'lo and me'ter. So it would be better to teach native English speakers to pronounce kilometer as two words, like ki'lo-me'ter. Roger491127 (talk) 21:17, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Stress marks on examples
I recently reverted an edit changing acute accent marking English stress to the IPA symbol. I personally find using an acute accent more intuitive, and I suspect readers who are used to reading the usual non-IPA dictionary pronunciations will be confused by the convention of placing the IPA symbol before rather than after the stressed syllable. But either way, there are two or three ways of marking stress in the same set of examples, and I'm not even sure the ways of marking stress that are used are those that are most common in the languages to which the examples belong. There's another consideration: whether we should make the stress marking accessible (WP:ACCESS) and how to do so. I'm not sure how to solve any of these problems. — Eru·tuon 19:56, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Surely there is an issue of consistency here, as you imply. The info-box at at the head of the article shows the IPA symbols for stress. Elsewhere stress is indicated by acute accents, or bold type, or italic type, or capitals. I personally don't like the change to the old acute accent convention, and feel it should have been discussed here first. But is it impossible for WP to agree on a single way of marking stress (and its different levels) within the area of linguistics articles?RoachPeter (talk) 22:30, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I think if we're going to use IPA, we should use IPA. It's too confusing for people otherwise.  In this case, there's no purpose to transcribing in IPA, and I think people are familiar enough with respelling techniques that they should be okay.  — kwami (talk) 07:21, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

Phonetic realization
Someone has just deleted a para on phonetic factors in the realization of stress. I don't want to argue that this is excellent stuff, but surely some justification should be given for deleting it. I suggest it should be reinstated. RoachPeter (talk) 16:33, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
 * The deletion was made by an IP user and it looked like a common vandalization. I have just reverted it. --Jotamar (talk) 21:55, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

From the StressTyp2 database it appears no known language lacks lexical stress entirely.
The last sentence of the second paragraph of the introduction says: "However, some languages are considered to lack lexical stress entirely". I don't believe this is true; from my reading of various linguisticians' work on stress (e.g. ), some languages have only primary stress and not secondary stress, and some languages have only secondary stress and not primary stress, but all known languages which have two-or-more-syllable words and have actually been studied and published about, have at least one or another kind of stress. Whoever contributed that sentence didn't include an example language and didn't include a sample linguistician who thought that language didn't have any kind of lexical stress. If some authority does in fact consider that some language with two-or-more-syllable words completely lacks any kind of lexical stress, I hope someone will include references to that here. Eldin raigmore (talk) 01:57, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
 * I think French is an example of a language without lexical stress. Stress is on the final syllable of a phrase, not on individual words. The transcriptions on Wikipedia reflect this (see Help:IPA for French). — Eru·tuon 06:20, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

@Erutuon; I'm not sure French is an example, but thanks; your information would satisfy the "which languages" part of my request. I still want to know "who says" and have a citation. Eldin raigmore (talk) 17:01, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Merger discussion
I realize this issue has been addressed sporadically in the past, but I think it merits a fuller discussion. It seems to be that the potentially misleading article title Accent (phonetics) contains content brief enough that we can merge it elsewhere, or differentiate its parts. On a quick look, it seems that most of the information would work well here, under Stress (linguistics). Part of my concern is how Accent (phonetics) and Accent (sociolinguistics) could be easily conflated. To lay readers, it is not obvious the difference between "Accent" in the sociolinguistic sense versus the phonetic sense. Wolfdog (talk) 03:24, 16 August 2016 (UTC)

"Tonic"
It is not correct to label just any stressed syllable as tonic. The term is (at least in the case of English) reserved for the primary-stressed syllable which carries or initiates a pitch movement. It is used in this way by Halliday and Crystal, among others. "Tonic stllable" is equivalent to "nuclear syllable". RoachPeter (talk) 18:22, 8 January 2017 (UTC)

Accent and stress
I am suggesting a change to this article for anyone familiar with it to implement. It doesn't clearly explain the difference between accent and stress. Abercrombie explains accent as the lexical prominence on a syllable without referring to any phonetic realization. Stress is a possible phonetic realization of accent. This distinction is not made clear in the article. A more detailed explanation can be found on pages 4-7 of the book Word Stress: Theoretical and Typological Issues.--Megaman en m (talk) 14:20, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

 * I agree. The main problem lies in the fact that there is no article "Accent (phonetics)" (anymore). Probably because of its meagre content and lack of sources, it was turned into a redirect to this article, as if stress were the one and only type of accent, which is of course incorrect. Just as incorrect as the opening subject in the lead "...stress or accent...". If you go to the DAB-page "Accent", things look a bit better, since there you find both stress and pitch accent listed, however oddly skewed (actually it looked better before). Things could be fixed by restating the lead in the following way:

 * — "In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress is a kind of phonetic accent which gives relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word, or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence."

 * In such a way, it becomes clear that stress is just one possible realization of accent. Ideally, "phonetic accent" should be linked to an explanatory article ( phonetic accent ), but that article needs to be resurrected and thoroughly rewritten. –Austronesier (talk) 20:24, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Merge sections on stress and vowel reduction?
Any reason that the § Stress and vowel reduction needs to be separate from § Phonemic stress (specifically, the paragraph beginning "In many languages with lexical stress, it is connected with alternations in vowels and/or consonants, which means...") ? It seems that both give examples of the same thing. (photographer [fəˈtɒɡrəfər] / photograph [ˈfoʊtəˌgræf] and за́мок [ˈzamək] / замо́к [zɐˈmok]). —  AjaxSmack 00:39, 31 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I think that the section Stress and vowel reduction is intended as an expansion of what is advanced in the previous section. Rather than merging the sections, it makes more sense to enlarge the second one. --Jotamar (talk) 18:59, 2 September 2022 (UTC)

A note on tone
The linked usage of tone here refers to final changes in a language like Chinese. That's NOT what the text implies. That's the wrong tone. 58.85.127.108 (talk) 21:56, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

"Saloon" and "Cartoon" have the same stress pattern.
In the second "Levels of stress" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(linguistics)#Levels_of_stress), the word examples "saloon" and "cartoon" have the exact same stress pattern (including "secondary stress"), contrary to what the example is saying, and is therefore untrue. This must  be changed/edited/swapped out for a better example because this will obviously confuse those who don't understand secondary stress completely (like me), and having contradictions like these obviously don't help readers understand the concept of secondary stress in this particular section.

Text in Wikip. article: "For example, saloon and cartoon both have the main stress on the last syllable, but whereas cartoon also has a secondary stress on the first syllable, saloon does not.[citation needed]"

Opposing fact (comparison of two words in Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Dictionary.com: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cartoon, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/saloon , https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cartoon , https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saloon Languagelover3000 (talk) 04:08, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Since the statement has been challenged with a Cn tag for a whole year, I'll just delete it. --Jotamar (talk) 22:27, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Stress (linguistics)


text:
Umpire

An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.

The term derives from the Old French nonper, non, "not" and per, "equal": "one who is requested to act as arbiter of a dispute between two people" (as evidenced in cricket, where dismissal decisions can only be made on appeal). Noumper shows up around 1350 before undergoing a linguistic shift known as false splitting. It was written in 1426–1427 as a noounpier; the n was lost with the a indefinite article becoming an. The earliest version without the n shows up as owmpere, a variant spelling in Middle English, circa 1440. The leading n became permanently attached to the article, changing it to an Oumper around 1475.

The word was applied to the officials of many sports including baseball, association football (where it has been superseded by assistant-referee) and cricket (which still uses it).

Field hockey
An umpire in field hockey is a person with the authority to make decisions on a hockey field in accordance with the laws of the game. Each match is controlled by two such umpires, where it is typical for umpires to aid one another and correct each other when necessary.

Cricket
In cricket, dismissal decisions can only be made on appeal by the players. Otherwise, on-field decisions, relevant to the rules and scoring and of the game, are handled by two on-field umpires, although an off-field third umpire may help with certain decisions. At the international level, the match referee is an off-field official who makes judgements concerning the reputable conduct of the game and hands out penalties for breaches of the ICC Cricket Code of Conduct.

Baseball and softball
In baseball and softball, there is commonly a head umpire (also known as a plate umpire) who is in charge of calling balls and strikes from behind the plate, who is assisted by one, two, three, or five field umpires who make calls on their specific bases (or with five umpires the bases and the outfield). On any question, all umpires are equal

Football (Australian rules)
An umpire is an official in the sport of Australian rules football. Games are overseen by one to four field umpires, two to four boundary umpires, and two goal umpires.

Lawn bowls
A lawn bowls match is presided over by a bowls umpire or technical official. In games where single players compete, a marker is required to direct play and assist players with questions relating to the position of their bowls.

Netball
In the game of Netball the match at hand is Presided over by 2 umpires, typically female, with a comprehensive knowledge of the rules. There are also 2 timekeepers and 2 scorekeepers who inform the umpires, and players of time remaining, and scores.

Rowing
In a regatta an umpire is the on-the-water official appointed to enforce the rules of racing and to ensure safety. In some cases an umpire may be designated specifically as starter, or otherwise the umpire starts the race from a launch and follows it to its end, ensuring that crews follow their proper course. If no infringements occur, the result is decided by a judge or judges on the waterside who determine the finish order of the crews.

Sailing
In match race and team racing an "umpire" is an on-the-water referee appointed to directly enforce the Racing Rules of Sailing. An umpire is also used in fleet racing to enforce Racing Rule 42 which limits the use of kinetics to drive the boat rather than the wind. Umpires are rarely present during sailing races as decisions are normally referred to a jury-style protest committee after the race.

Tennis
In tennis an umpire is an on-court official, while a referee is an off-court official.

title: Umpire


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Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the right to have an abortion as established by the "essential holding" of Roe v. Wade (1973) and issued as its "key judgment" the restoration of the undue burden standard when evaluating state-imposed restrictions on that right. Both the essential holding of Roe and the key judgment of Casey were overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022, with its landmark decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

The case arose from a challenge to five provisions of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982; among the provisions were requirements for a waiting period, spousal notice, and (for minors) parental consent prior to undergoing an abortion procedure. In a plurality opinion jointly written by associate justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and David Souter, the Supreme Court upheld the "essential holding" of Roe, which was that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution protected a woman's right to have an abortion prior to fetal viability.

The Court overturned the Roe trimester framework in favor of a viability analysis, thereby allowing states to implement abortion restrictions that apply during the first trimester of pregnancy. In its "key judgment," the Court overturned Roe strict scrutiny standard of review of a state's abortion restrictions with the undue burden standard, under which abortion restrictions would be unconstitutional when they were enacted for "the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus." Applying this new standard of review, the Court upheld four provisions of the Pennsylvania law, but invalidated the requirement of spousal notification. Four justices wrote or joined opinions arguing that Roe v. Wade should have been struck down, while two justices wrote opinions favoring the preservation of the higher standard of review for abortion restrictions.

Background
In Casey, the plaintiffs challenged five provisions of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982 authored by state Rep. Stephen F. Freind, arguing that the provisions were unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. The Court in Roe was the first to establish abortion as a fundamental right protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The majority in Roe further held that women have a privacy interest protecting their right to abortion embedded in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The five provisions at issue in Casey are summarized below.
 * § 3205's informed consent — a woman seeking abortion had to give her informed consent prior to the procedure. The doctor had to provide her with specific information at least 24 hours before the procedure was to take place, including information about how the abortion could be detrimental to her health and about the availability of information about the fetus.
 * § 3209's spousal notice — a married woman seeking abortion had to sign a statement declaring that she had notified her husband prior to undergoing the procedure, unless certain exceptions applied.
 * § 3206's parental consent — minors had to get the informed consent of at least one parent or guardian prior to the abortion procedure. Alternatively, minors could seek judicial bypass in lieu of consent.
 * § 3203's medical emergency definition — defining a medical emergency as "[t]hat condition, which, on the basis of the physician's good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."
 * §§ 3207(b), 3214(a), and 3214(f)'s reporting requirements — certain reporting and record keeping mandates were imposed on facilities providing abortion services.

The case was a seminal one in the history of abortion decisions in the United States. It was the first case to provide an opportunity to overturn Roe since two liberal U.S. Associate Justices, William J. Brennan Jr. and Thurgood Marshall, had been replaced with the George H. W. Bush-appointed Justices David Souter and Clarence Thomas. Both were viewed, in comparison to their predecessors, as ostensible conservatives. This left the Court with eight Republican-appointed justices, five of whom had been appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan or Bush, both of whom were well known for their opposition to Roe. Finally, the only remaining Democratic appointee was Justice Byron White, who had been one of the two dissenters from the original Roe decision. At this point, only two of the Justices were obvious supporters of Roe v. Wade: Harry Blackmun, the author of Roe, and John Paul Stevens, who had joined opinions specifically reaffirming Roe in City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health and Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists.

The case was argued by American Civil Liberties Union attorney Kathryn Kolbert for Planned Parenthood, with Linda J. Wharton serving as Co-Lead Counsel. Pennsylvania Attorney General, Ernie Preate, argued the case for the state. Upon reaching the Supreme Court, the United States joined the case as an amicus curiae, and U.S. Solicitor General, Ken Starr of the Bush Administration, defended the Act in part by urging the Court to overturn Roe as having been wrongly decided.

District Court's ruling
The plaintiffs were five abortion clinics, a class of physicians who provided abortion services, and one physician representing himself independently. They filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to enjoin the state from enforcing the five provisions and have them declared facially unconstitutional. The District Court, after a three-day bench trial, held that all the provisions were unconstitutional and entered a permanent injunction against Pennsylvania's enforcement of them.

Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part, upholding all of the regulations except for the husband notification requirement. The Third Circuit concluded that the husband notification was unduly burdensome because it potentially exposed married women to spousal abuse, violence, and economic duress at the hands of their husbands. Then-Circuit Judge Samuel Alito sat on that three-judge appellate panel and dissented from the court's invalidation of that requirement. Thirty-one years later, as a Supreme Court Justice, Alito wrote the opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe and Casey.

Supreme Court's consideration
At the conference of the Justices two days after oral argument, Souter defied expectations, joining Justices Stevens, Blackmun, and Sandra Day O'Connor, who had all dissented three years earlier in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services with regard to that plurality's suggested reconsideration and narrowing of Roe. This resulted in a precarious five-Justice majority consisting of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Byron White, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas that favored upholding all five contested abortion restrictions and overturning Roe; however, Kennedy changed his mind shortly thereafter, and joined with fellow Reagan-Bush justices O'Connor and Souter to write a plurality opinion that would reaffirm Roe.

Supreme Court's opinions
Except for the three opening sections of the O'Connor–Kennedy–Souter opinion, Casey was a divided judgment, as no other sections of any opinion were joined by a majority of justices. The plurality opinion jointly written by Justices O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter was recognized as the principal opinion.

O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter plurality opinion
In the 1992 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the authors of the plurality opinion abandoned Roe's strict trimester framework but maintained its central holding that women have a right to have an abortion before viability. Roe had held that statutes regulating abortion must be subject to "strict scrutiny"—the traditional Supreme Court test for impositions upon fundamental Constitutional rights. Casey instead re-adopted the lower, undue burden standard for evaluating state abortion restrictions, but re-emphasized the right to abortion as grounded in the general sense of liberty and privacy protected under the constitution. The authors of the plurality opinion likewise noted the U.S. government's previous challenges to Roe v. Wade and expounded on the concept of "liberty."

Upholding the "essential holding" in Roe
The plurality opinion stated that it was upholding what it called the "essential holding" of Roe. The essential holding consisted of three parts: (1) Women had the right to have an abortion prior to viability and to do so without undue interference from the State; (2) the State could restrict the abortion procedure post-viability, so long as the law contained exceptions for pregnancies which endangered the woman's life or health; and (3) the State had legitimate interests from the outset of the pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the life of the fetus that may become a child. The plurality asserted that the fundamental right to abortion was grounded in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the plurality reiterated what the Court said in Eisenstadt v. Baird: "If the right of privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child."

Stare decisis analysis
The plurality's opinion included a thorough discussion on the doctrine of stare decisis (respect of precedent), and provided a clear explanation for why the doctrine had to be applied in Casey with regards to Roe. The authors of the plurality opinion emphasized that stare decisis had to apply in Casey because the Roe rule had not been proven intolerable; the rule had become subject "to a kind of reliance that would lend a special hardship to the consequences of overruling and add inequity to the cost of repudiation"; the law had not developed in such a way around the rule that left the rule "no more than a remnant of abandoned doctrine"; and the facts had not changed, nor viewed differently, to "rob the old rule of significant application or justification." The plurality acknowledged that it was important for the Court to stand by prior decisions, even those decisions some found unpopular, unless there was a change in the fundamental reasoning underpinning the previous decision. The authors of the plurality opinion, making a special note of the precedential value of Roe v. Wade, and specifically how women's lives were changed by that decision, stated, "The sum of the precedential enquiry to this point shows Roe's underpinnings unweakened in any way affecting its central holding. While it has engendered disapproval, it has not been unworkable. An entire generation has come of age free to assume Roe's concept of liberty in defining the capacity of women to act in society, and to make reproductive decisions; no erosion of principle going to liberty or personal autonomy has left Roe's central holding a doctrinal remnant." The authors of the plurality opinion also acknowledged the need for predictability and consistency in judicial decision making. For example,"Where, in the performance of its judicial duties, the Court decides a case in such a way as to resolve the sort of intensely divisive controversy reflected in Roe and those rare, comparable cases, its decision has a dimension that the resolution of the normal case does not carry. It is the dimension present whenever the Court's interpretation of the Constitution calls the contending sides of a national controversy to end their national division by accepting a common mandate rooted in the Constitution.'" The plurality went on to analyze past judgments refusing to apply the doctrine of stare decisis, such as Brown v. Board of Education. There, the authors of the plurality opinion explained, society's rejection of the "Separate but Equal" concept was a legitimate reason for the Brown v. Board of Education court's rejection of the Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine. Emphasizing the lack of need to overrule the essential holding of Roe, and the Court's need to not be seen as overruling a prior decision merely because the individual members of the Court had changed, the authors of the plurality opinion stated, "Because neither the factual underpinnings of Roe's central holding nor our understanding of it has changed (and because no other indication of weakened precedent has been shown), the Court could not pretend to be reexamining the prior law with any justification beyond a present doctrinal disposition to come out differently from the Court of 1973." The plurality further emphasized that the Court would lack legitimacy if it frequently changed its Constitutional decisions, stating, "The Court must take care to speak and act in ways that allow people to accept its decisions on the terms the Court claims for them, as grounded truly in principle, not as compromises with social and political pressures having, as such, no bearing on the principled choices that the Court is obliged to make." Since the O'Connor-Kennedy-Souter plurality overruled some portions of Roe v. Wade despite its emphasis on stare decisis, Chief Justice Rehnquist in dissent argued that this section was entirely obiter dicta. All these opening sections were joined by Justices Blackmun and Stevens for the majority. The remainder of the decision did not command a majority, but at least two other Justices concurred in judgment on each of the remaining points.

Viability of the fetus
Although it upheld the "essential holding" in Roe, and recognized that women had some constitutional liberty to terminate their pregnancies, the O'Connor–Kennedy–Souter plurality overturned the Roe trimester framework in favor of a viability analysis. The Roe trimester framework completely forbade states from regulating abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted regulations designed to protect a woman's health in the second trimester, and permitted prohibitions on abortion during the third trimester (when the fetus becomes viable) under the justification of fetal protection, and so long as the life or health of the mother was not at risk. The plurality found that continuing advancements in medical technology had proven that a fetus could be considered viable at 23 or 24 weeks rather than at the 28 weeks previously understood by the Court in Roe. The plurality thus redrew the line of increasing state interest at viability because of increasing medical accuracy about when fetus viability takes place. Likewise, the authors of the plurality opinion felt that fetus viability was "more workable" than the trimester framework. Under this new fetus viability framework, the plurality held that at the point of viability and subsequent to viability, the state could promote its interest in the "potentiality of human life" by regulating, or possibly proscribing, abortion "except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother." Prior to fetus viability, the plurality held, the State can show concern for fetal development, but it cannot pose an undue burden on a woman's fundamental right to abortion. The plurality reasoned that the new pre- and post-viability line would still uphold the essential holding of Roe, which recognized both the woman's constitutionally protected liberty, and the State's "important and legitimate interest in potential life."

Undue burden standard

In replacing the trimester framework with the viability framework, the plurality also replaced the strict scrutiny analysis under Roe, with the "undue burden" standard previously developed by O'Connor in her dissent in Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health. According to the dissenters in Akron, the Undue Burden standard had been the governing rule in Roe's first decade. A legal restriction posing an undue burden is one that has "the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus." An undue burden is found even where a statute purports to further the interest of potential life or another valid state interest, if it places a substantial obstacle in the path of access to abortion. The Supreme Court in the 2016 case Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt clarified what the 'undue burden' test requires: "Casey requires courts to consider the burdens a law imposes on abortion access together with the benefits those laws confer." The Supreme Court further clarified in the 2020 June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer with respect to the undue burden standard: "[T]his standard requires courts independently to review the legislative findings upon which an abortion-related statute rests and to weigh the law's "asserted benefits against the burdens" it imposes on abortion access. 579 U.S., at ___(slip op., at 21) (citing Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U. S. 124, 165 (2007))." In Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt the court described the undue burden standard in its overall context with these words:

"We begin with the standard, as described in Casey. We recognize that the 'State has a legitimate interest in seeing to it that abortion, like any other medical procedure, is performed under circumstances that insure maximum safety for the patient.' Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113, 150 (1973). But, we added, 'a statute which, while furthering [a] valid state interest, has the effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman's choice cannot be considered a permissible means of serving its legitimate ends.' Casey, 505 U. S., at 877 (plurality opinion). Moreover, '[u]nnecessary health regulations that have the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion impose an undue burden on the right.' Id., at 878."

In applying the new undue burden standard, the plurality overruled City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 462 U.S. 416 (1983) and Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 476 U.S. 747 (1986), each of which applied "strict scrutiny" to abortion restrictions.

Applying this new standard to the challenged Pennsylvania Act, the plurality struck down the spousal notice requirement, finding that for many women, the statutory provision would impose a substantial obstacle in their path to receive an abortion. The plurality recognized that the provision gave too much power to husbands over their wives ("a spousal notice requirement enables the husband to wield an effective veto over his wife's decision"), and could worsen situations of spousal and child abuse. In finding the provision unconstitutional, the authors of the plurality opinion clarified that the focus of the undue burden test is on the group "for whom the law is a restriction, not the group for whom the law is irrelevant." Otherwise stated, courts should not focus on what portion of the population is affected by the legislation, but rather on the population the law would restrict. The plurality upheld the remaining contested regulations – the State's informed consent and 24-hour waiting period, parental consent requirements, reporting requirements, and the "medical emergencies" definition – holding that none constituted an undue burden.

Notably, when the authors of the plurality discuss the right to privacy in the joint opinion, it is all within the context of a quotation or paraphrase from Roe or other previous cases. The authors of the plurality opinion do not, however, explicitly or implicitly state that they do not believe in a right to privacy, or that they do not support the use of privacy in Roe to justify the fundamental right to abortion. Justice Blackmun would not agree with an implication asserting otherwise, stating "[t]he Court today reaffirms the long recognized rights of privacy and bodily integrity."

Key judgment
Chief Justice John Roberts's concurrence in the 2020 June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo case noted the key outcomes in Casey: "The several restrictions that did not impose a substantial obstacle were constitutional, while the restriction that did impose a substantial obstacle was unconstitutional." Before an abortion regulation can be struck down as unconstitutional there must be a determination that this regulation imposes a substantial obstacle in light of the undue burden standard explained in the section above. In Casey "the justices imposed a new standard to determine the validity of laws restricting abortions. The new standard asks whether a state abortion regulation has the purpose or effect of imposing an "undue burden", which is defined as a "substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability." The key judgment of Casey can be summed up as follows: "Under Casey, abortion regulations are valid so long as they do not pose a substantial obstacle and meet the threshold requirement of being "reasonably related" to a "legitimate purpose." Id., at 878; id., at 882 (joint opinion)."

Concurrence/dissents
Justices Harry Blackmun and John Paul Stevens, who both joined the plurality in part, also each filed opinions concurring in the Court's judgment in part and dissenting in part. Chief Justice William Rehnquist filed an opinion concurring in the Court's judgment in part and dissenting in part, which was joined by Justices Byron White, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas, none of whom joined any part of the plurality. Justice Scalia also filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, which was also joined by Rehnquist, White, and Thomas.

Rehnquist and Scalia, joined by White and Thomas
Rehnquist and Scalia each joined the plurality in upholding the parental consent, informed consent, and waiting period laws. However, they dissented from the plurality's decision to uphold Roe v. Wade and strike down the spousal notification law, contending that Roe was incorrectly decided. In his opinion, Chief Justice Rehnquist questioned the fundamental right to an abortion, the "right to privacy", and the strict scrutiny application in Roe. He also questioned the new "undue burden" analysis under the plurality opinion, instead deciding that the proper analysis for the regulation of abortions was rational-basis.

In his opinion, Justice Scalia also argued for a rational-basis approach, finding that the Pennsylvania statute in its entirety was constitutional. He argued that abortion was not a "protected" liberty, and as such, the abortion liberty could be intruded upon by the State. To this end, Justice Scalia concluded this was so because an abortion right was not in the Constitution, and "longstanding traditions of American society" have allowed abortion to be legally proscribed. Rehnquist and Scalia joined each other's concurrence/dissents. White and Thomas, who did not write their own opinions, joined in both.

Stevens and Blackmun
Justices Blackmun and Stevens wrote opinions in which they approved of the plurality's preservation of Roe and rejection of the spousal notification law. They did not agree with the plurality's decision to uphold the other three laws at issue.

Justice Stevens concurred in part and dissented in part. Justice Stevens joined the plurality's preservation of Roe and rejection of the spousal notification law, but under his interpretation of the undue burden standard ("[a] burden may be 'undue' either because the burden is too severe or because it lacks a legitimate rational justification"), he would have found the information requirements in §§ 3205(a)(2)(i)–(iii) and § 3205(a)(1)(ii), and the 24-hour waiting period in §§ 3205(a)(1)–(2) unconstitutional. Instead of applying an undue burden analysis, Justice Stevens would have preferred to apply the analyses in Akron and Thornburgh, two cases that had applied a strict scrutiny analysis, to reach the same conclusions. Justice Stevens also placed great emphasis on the fact that women had a right to bodily integrity, and a constitutionally protected liberty interest to decide matters of the "highest privacy and the most personal nature." As such, Justice Stevens felt that a State should not be permitted to attempt to "persuade the woman to choose childbirth over abortion"; he felt this was too coercive and violated the woman's decisional autonomy.

Justice Blackmun concurred in part, concurred in the judgment in part, and dissented in part. He joined the plurality's preservation of Roe – of which he wrote the majority – and he, too, rejected the spousal notification law. Justice Blackmun, however, argued for a woman's right to privacy and insisted, as he did in Roe, that all non-de-minimis abortion regulations were subject to strict scrutiny. Using such an analysis, Justice Blackmun argued that the content-based counseling, the 24-hour waiting period, informed parental consent, and the reporting regulations were unconstitutional. He also dissented from the plurality's undue burden test, and instead found his trimester framework "administrable" and "far less manipulable". Blackmun even went further in his opinion than Stevens, sharply attacking and criticizing the anti-Roe bloc of the Court.

Supreme Court's holdings overturned
In May 2022, Politico obtained a leaked initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito suggesting that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Casey along with Roe in a pending final decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. On June 24, 2022, the final opinion was issued, with the Court overturning the "essential opinion" in Roe, criticizing the Casey Court's failure to address the deficiencies of the Roe decision and overturning the "key judgment" in Casey.

The dissenting opinion disputed the majority's opinion that the "undue burden" standard was not workable, and criticized the majority for overturning precedent, holding that their reasoning was not sufficient to overrule Roe and Casey, which they described as a precedent about precedent, and warned that by the same reasoning many other rights would be under threat.

title: Planned Parenthood v. Casey