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Ternopil Oblast

Ternopil Oblast (Тернопільська область), also referred to as Ternopilshchyna (Тернопільщина) or Ternopillia (Тернопілля), is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret, a tributary of the Dniester. Population:

One of the natural wonders of the region are its cave complexes. Although Ternopil Oblast is among the smallest regions in Ukraine, over 100 caves have been discovered there. Scientists believe these are only 20% of all possible caves in the region. The biggest cave is Optymistychna Cave. Measuring 267 km in total length, it is the longest cave in Eurasia and the fifth-longest in the world. Twenty percent of the land in the region is chernozem soil.

Among its attractions, Ternopil Oblast has 34 castles. By at least one account, the most prominent is the Zbarazh Castle with fortifications that expand over 16 ha and was the center of a 17th-century standoff between troops of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the army of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Dniester Canyon passes through the oblast; it is considered one of the wonders of Ukraine, stretching for 250 km.

Geography
The oblast is located in Western Ukraine and has an area of 13800 km2. It is situated at the western part of the Podilian Upland, which is known for its rocky terrain. Among noticeable mountains there are the Kremenets Mountains. The oblast is also famous for its caves.

One of the major rivers in the country Dniester forms southern and southwestern borders of Ternopil Oblast with the adjacent Chernivtsi Oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Its tributaries that flow through the oblast include Zbruch, Seret, and Strypa among just a few of them. The Seret River (not to be confused with Siret nor Seret) is a left tributary of the Dniester flowing through the oblast administrative center, i.e. Ternopil.

Ternopil Oblast is one of two oblasts in West Ukraine that do not have an international border. It is surrounded by five other oblasts of Ukraine: Chernivtsi Oblast – to the south, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast – to the southwest, Lviv Oblast – to the northwest, Rivne Oblast – to the north, and Khmelnytskyi Oblast – to the east.

History
Historic administrative affiliation of the area:
 * 1199–1253: Principality of Galicia-Volhynia
 * 1253–1434: Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia
 * 1434–1569: Kingdom of Poland: Ruthenian Voivodeship, Podolian Voivodeship / Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Ziemia wołyńska
 * 1566–1569: Kingdom of Poland: Ruthenian Voivodship, Podolskie Voivodship / Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Volyn Voivodship
 * 1569–1672: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown (Małopolska): Ruthenian Voivodeship, Volyn Voivodeship, Podolskie Voivodeship
 * 1672–1699: Poland-Lithuania, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Małopolska province: Ruthenian Voivodeship, Volyn Voivodeship / Ottoman Empire: Podolia Eyalet
 * 1699–1772: Poland-Lithuania, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Małopolska province: Ruthenian Voivodeship, Volyn Voivodeship, Podolskie Voivodeship
 * 1772–1795: Habsburg monarchy: Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (Austrian Partition) / Poland-Lithuania, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Lesser Poland Province: Volhynia Voivodship
 * 1795–1804: Habsburg Monarchy: Galicia and Lodomeria, East Galicia (Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: Volhynia Governorate (Russian Partition)
 * 1804–1809: Austrian Empire: Galicia and Lodomeria, East Galicia (Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: Volyn Governorate (Russian Partition)
 * 1809–1815: Austrian Empire: Galicia and Lodomeria (Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: Volyn Governorate (Russian Partition), Tarnopolsky Krai (formerly of the Austrian Partition)
 * 1815–1867: Austrian Empire: Galicia and Lodomeria (Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: Volyn Governorate (Russian Partition)
 * 1867–November 1918: Austria-Hungary: Galicia and Lodomeria (Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: Volhynia Governorate (Russian Partition)
 * November 1918–July 1919 - West Ukrainian People's Republic (de facto)
 * 1919 (de facto; 1923 de jure)–1945: Rzeczpospolita Polska: Tarnopol Voivodeship, Volyn Voivodeship
 * 1944 (de facto; 1945 de jure)–1991: USSR, Ukrainian SSR: Ternopil region
 * since 1991: Ukraine: Ternopil region

From the 12th century the area belonged to Galicia–Volhynia until Galicia–Volhynia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century.

In 1569 Poland and Lithuania united into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

From the First Partition of Poland in 1772 until the end of World War I the area which would become Ternopil Oblast was mostly part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, a possession of the Habsburg Monarchy, Austrian Empire and finally Austria-Hungary. In Ukraine today, there are three oblasts (provinces) that largely formed the eastern part of Galicia and Lodomeria until 1918. Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast was entirely contained in the kingdom, as was the vast majority of Lviv Oblast (only a few small areas and villages near Sokal were not). The southern and central parts of Ternopil Oblast were within the kingdom while the northern parts (pre-2020 raions: Kremenets, Shumsk, Lanivtsi and the northern half of Zbarazh; post-2020: Kremenets Raion and small parts of Ternopil Raion) remained with Poland Lithuania; from 1795 (Third Partition) they belonged to the Russian Volhynian Governorate (specifically the Kremenetsky Uyezd). During the Napoleonic wars the area around Ternopil was annexed by Russia in the 1809 Treaty of Schönbrunn becoming the Tarnopolsky Krai; it was ceded back to Austria in 1815 (Congress of Vienna). The Tarnopolsky Krai roughly covered the eastern two-thirds of the post-2022 Ternopil Raion and the Chortkiv Raion up to the Strypa; in pre-2020 terms it corresponded with the cities of Ternopil and Chortkiv and the Borshchiv, Chortkiv, Husiatyn, Pidvolochysk, Terebovlia, Ternopil and Zalishchyky raions, the southern half of Zbarazh raion, the eastern and northern parts of Buchach raion and some eastern parts of Zboriv and Kozova raions.

From 1917 the formerly Russian part came under the Ukrainian People's Republic (Ukrainian State April–December 1918; also claimed by the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets/Ukrainian Soviet Republic December 1917–April 1918 and the Ukrainian SSR from March 1919); from 1918 the formerly Austrian part was controlled by the West Ukrainian People's Republic (nominally part of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 22 January 1919) but ultimately the whole area fell to the Second Polish Republic in 1921 following the Ukrainian War of Independence, Polish–Ukrainian War and Polish–Soviet War. The formerly Austrian parts became part of the Tarnopol Voivodeship, while the formerly Russian parts became part of the Volhynian Voivodeship, specifically the Krzemieniec county. The southern pre-2020 raions of Ternopil Oblast were partially coterminous with Galicia and Lodomeria's districts/counties and Interwar Poland's counties.

The oblast was created during the Second World War when both Nazi Germany and later the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Due to the Polish national policy in the area (Pacification action), many people favored the Soviet invasion of Eastern Galicia at first. However, soon thereafter, the Soviet security agencies started a witch hunt among nationally oriented members of Ukrainian resistance who emigrated to Poland after the Soviet-Ukrainian War as well as other reasons. Many of local population were exiled to Siberia regardless of their ethnic background. On December 4, 1939, the voivodeship division in the West Ukraine was abolished and replaced with the existing Soviet administrative division oblast. Ternopil Oblast (originally Tarnopol Oblast) was established based mostly on the Tarnopol Voivodeship and southern portions of the Volhynian Voivodeship.

During the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany, Ternopil became an object of fierce fighting between Soviet and German forces because of its importance as a rail transportation hub. During German occupation, the region (except for its Volhynian portion) became part of the District of Galicia and transferred to administration by the General Government. After the war, a destroyed residential section of Ternopil, near the river, was turned into an artificial lake rather than being rebuilt. Additionally, upon annexation to the Soviet Union's Ukrainian SSR, most ethnic Poles in the region were forcibly relocated to Poland, whose national borders had shifted far to the west. The area of the former Polish voivodeship was expanded by adding territory in the north, though the westernmost parts were transferred to the Lviv oblast. After 1945 Soviet authorities also encouraged ethnic Russians to settle in territories newly annexed to the Soviet Union, including the Ternopil oblast, though western Ukraine remained considerably less Russian than eastern Ukraine.

As Ukraine achieved independence in the 1990s, western Ukraine remained the heartland of Ukrainian political and cultural nationalism, and the political affiliations of Ternopil voters reflected that viewpoint. In the first elections after independence, the People's Movement of Ukraine was the leading party in the oblast. A majority of oblast voters supported the Ukrainian nationalist-oriented Electoral Bloc Yuliya Tymoshenko in the 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Over 88% of voters supported Yulia Tymoshenko of the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election.

By 2005, the population of the oblast had grown to roughly 225,000, consisting primarily of ethnic Ukrainians with a large Russian or Russian-speaking minority. The city of Ternopil has important institutions of higher education, including two teacher's colleges, an international medical school with instruction in English, and one of three economics institutes in Ukraine.

The religion of the majority is Ukrainian Greek Catholic, though there is a notable Orthodox presence and a small Protestant minority. Many churches which were closed or destroyed under Soviet rule have rebuilt since independence. The local Jewish community, which was very large before 1939, disappeared in the Holocaust and was not reestablished after 1945. There are no active synagogues in the oblast and only a few isolated individuals affiliating with the Jewish faith.

Points of interest
The oblast is known for its castles and fortresses. Due to the underfunding of the state program for the preservation of cultural heritage, many of objects of historical significance are in poor condition. The following historic-cultural sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
 * Verteba Cave, a cave in Borshchiv Raion
 * Bohyt, a hill near Zbruch River where was found the Zbruch idol (Husiatyn Raion)
 * Buchach Ratusha, a former town hall in Buchach
 * Pochaiv Lavra, located in the city of Pochaiv, one of the biggest holy places of Christian Orthodox in Ukraine
 * Zarvanytsia Spiritual Center, a big holy place of Greek Catholics of Podillia (Terebovlia Raion)
 * Vyshnivets Palace, a princely palace in Vyshnivets (Zbarazh Raion)
 * Camp UPA, a museum of Ukrainian resistance movement in Shumsk Raion
 * Dzhuryn Waterfall
 * Castles of Ternopil Region (Ternopil Castle, Berezhany Castle, Zbarazh Castle, and others)

National composition
The population is predominantly Ukrainophone and about 98% consider themselves Ukrainians. Among the biggest minorities are Poles and Russians who combine 1.6% of the total population. Most of the population is bilingual and the Ukrainian language is accepted in daily communications. The estimated population is

In historical comparison, before World War II national composition was very different and according to the 1931 Polish Census Ukrainians were a slight majority in the Tarnopol Voivodeship at 54.8%, while there was almost no Russians. On the other hand, the Polish and Jewish population decreased drastically from 36.6% and 8.4% respectively.

Age structure

 * 0-14 years: 15.7% (male 86,309/female 81,940)
 * 15-64 years: 69.0% (male 360,305/female 381,271)
 * 65 years and over: 15.3% (male 53,364/female 110,887) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 38.6 years
 * male: 35.8 years
 * female: 41.4 years (2013 official)

Economy and transportation
The economy is predominantly agriculturally oriented. Among industries, there is a well developed food industry particularly sugar production, alcohol, and dairy (such as butter). There is also number of factories such as "Vatra" (lighting equipment), Ternopil Harvester Plant, "Orion" (radio communication) among a few.

Ternopil Oblast has an adequate network of highways, while the city of Ternopil is located at the intersection of main European corridors along the E50 and E85 highways. There is a small airport in Ternopil (Ternopil Airport) which however mostly is used for charter flights. There is a well developed railroad network which is a part of the Lviv Railways. Water transportation is very limited and mostly along the Dniester River.

Subdivisions

After 18 July 2020

Before 18 July 2020 Before the 2020 administrative reform, Ternopil Oblast was administratively subdivided into 17 raions (districts), as well as 1 city (municipality) which is directly subordinate to the oblast government: Ternopil, the administrative center of the oblast. The average area of a raion was around 808 km2, the biggest one was Terebovlia Raion covering 1130 km2 and the smallest one - Pidhaitsi Raion with 496 km2. The average population number was around 50.6 thousands which is just below the national average.

Notable people
In town of Buchach was born a Nobel Prize recipient, writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon. The prize was given for works about fate of Galician Jews. Agnon worked for a Lviv newspaper, but after refusal to serve in the army he moved to Mandatory Palestine. In Ukraine he published over 70 of his early works.
 * Petro Gadz, entrepreneur and politician
 * Mike Mazurki, American professional athlete and actor 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) in height
 * Lee Strasberg, American theatre director and actor

title: Ternopil Oblast


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Vinnytsia Oblast

Vinnytsia Oblast (Вінницька область, ), also referred to as Vinnychchyna (Вінниччина), is an oblast in central Ukraine. Its administrative center is Vinnytsia. The oblast has a population of

History
Vinnytsia Oblast, first established on February 27, 1932, originally comprised raions (regions) of the following former okruhas of Ukraine (districts of Soviet Ukraine):
 * Uman Okruha
 * Berdychiv Okruha
 * Vinnytsia Okruha
 * Mohyliv Okruha
 * Tulchyn Okruha
 * Shepetivka Okruha
 * Proskuriv Okruha
 * Kamianets Okruha

In 1935 bordering territories of the oblast were transformed into Soviet border districts: Shepetivka Okrug, Proskuriv Okrug, and Kamianets Okrug. In 1937 the Kamianets Oblast, based on the border districts, was formed (it later became Khmelnytsky Oblast).

During World War II the occupying Axis powers split the territory of Vinnytsia Oblast between the General District Shitomir (Zhytomyr in Reichskommissariat Ukraine) and the Transnistria Governorate of the Kingdom of Romania. In October 1941 the Romanians established a concentration camp in the oblast, it detained mostly Jews.

Geography
The oblast is located in the historic regions of Podolia and Right-bank Ukraine and borders seven other administrative oblasts of Ukraine. Along the southwest of the oblast the Dniester river passes. A 202 km long section of the state border with Moldova.

The Vinnytsia oblast has appreciable mineral deposits and other exploitable raw materials. There are 1,159 deposits and other various mineral resources, tens of peat deposits, unique deposits of granite and kaolin, garnet and fluorite that have been explored. The raw kaolin deposits are the world largest, containing 800 million tons. Furthermore, a number of medicinal mineral springs have been found in the oblast, with health benefits comparable to the radon springs found in the town of Khmilnyk.

The unique decorative qualities of Vinnytsia's granites, sorbites, vinnytsites, and charnockites are used to manufacture stone, facing slabs, window sills, monuments, etc. Three granite deposits (consisting of 10 million cubic metres; 13 million cubic yards) have been explored and are mined, and experimental mining is carried out in eight other deposits. Multiple enterprises have been utilizing these resources for more than a century.

The Vinnytsia oblast is the only oblast of Ukraine containing large pelicanite resources (39 deposits with the total inferred resources of about 170 million tons).

The lignite, commonly known as brown coal, found in Vinnytsia is similar in quality to the well-known lignite of Dniprobas and can be used for energy purposes utilizing the semi-coking and hydrogenation methods. Three lignite deposits in the oblast, containing about 50 million tons, have been preliminarily explored and an additional three deposits are in the exploration stage.

The building materials industry widely uses local sand and gravel. There are five sand deposits, all of which are exploited, of which one is used for silicate bricks, three for building mortars and one for ballast.

The town of Khmilnyk in Vinnytsia is home to a popular radon mineral spring, whose therapeutic properties have been ascertained and utilized for numerous health benefits. Also 21 table water springs have been prospected, ten of which have been certified and at five filling has already been arranged ("Rehina", "Kniazhna", "Shumylivska", "Podilska" and "Rosiana"). Also, "Myrhorodska" type mineral water has been found. It is probable that there are many more radon deposits in the oblast that, once found, can be exploited.

Bauxite, the ore used aluminum manufacturing, has recently been discovered in Podolia. Geologists estimate that this deposit contains about 3 million tons of ore.

Historical sites
The old historical castles in Bar attract a big number of domestic visitors and foreign tourists every year, including:
 * St. Pokrovsky Orthodox Church;
 * St. Anna Roman Catholic Cathedral;
 * St. Pokrovsky Monastery;
 * Old Fortress.

The city of Bar is a popular tourist location because it is where the mathematician Viktor Bunyakovsky was born.

The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
 * The Villa of Mykola Pyrogov
 * Nemyriv Scythian settlement
 * Ancient Slavic cave temple (Bushi relief)

The Podillya's folk icon-painting tradition is well known in Ukraine. Its manifestation are long home iconostases painted on canvas in the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th cc. Red, green and yellow colours are prevailing, the faces of the saints depicted are a little bit long, their eyes are almond-like. On these iconostases, the most worshipped family saints were painted. The collections of Podillya's folk iconostases are possessed by Vynnytsya Art Museum and The Museum of Ukrainian Home Icons in the Radomysl Castle.

There are several palaces in the province, the most notable in Tulchyn, Voronovytsia, Khmilnyk, Nemyriv and Cherniatyn.

Industry
The oblast's industrial potential is represented by such enterprises as the Ladyzhyn thermal power station, associations "Zhovten", "Infrakon", "Maiak", "Krystal", "Vinnytsia Bearing Works", "Khimprom", tens of processing and light industry enterprises. In all about 400 enterprises of various industrial sectors are functioning in the oblast. The largest of them are situated in the oblast capital.

The Vinnytsia oblast has 12.7% of the industrial production potential, 2% of the cost of fixed production assets and 2.6% of the industrial output.

The oblast has a multisectoral industrial complex, where leading places are held by the food industry, machine building and metalworking.

Over 400 industrial enterprises of 13 industrial sectors are functioning in the oblast. Main of them are food industry (57.5%), electric power industry (15.6%), machine building and metalworking (9.4%), chemical and petrochemical industry (5.7). Microbiology and medicine are developing.

72 machine building enterprises are specialized in manufacture of products in 12 industrial sectors, the main of which are electrical engineering, machine tool and toolmaking, instrument engineering, bearing, tractor and farm machinery industries. The Vinnytsia oblast's machine building products include metal cutting tools, pumps, rolling bearings, water, gas and heat flow meters, electric motors, electric spindles, computer facilities, production equipment for processing industries, farm machinery for plant growing and animal husbandry, integrated circuits, semiconductor and vacuum electronic devices, high economy luminescent lamps, stereoanagraphs, scales, automobile lifters, mills, milking equipment, etc.

The share of consumer goods output in the oblast in their total production in Ukraine is of 5.7% (1996). They are manufactured by 359 enterprises.

The oblast specializes in production of foodstuffs. The total output of consumer goods in 1996 made 81.1%, domestic and recreational purpose goods 9.0% and light industry products 6.4%.

In the output of consumer foodstuffs in 1996 the Vinnytsia oblast was the second and of non food goods took the 11th place among the oblasts of Ukraine.

Main positions in the structure of production of domestic and recreational goods are held by products manufactured at enterprises of the machine building complex, chemical and defense industries: complex domestic facilities, small mechanization means for household plots and small holdings, domestic chemistry goods.

Among the light industry enterprises is of great use concluding agreements with foreign firms to manufacture goods from the raw material supplied by the customer of the products. Cooperation with firms of Germany, USA, Slovakia, Czech, Hungary, India and others has been established. In 1996 the Vinnytsia joint-stock company "Podillia", public joint stock company "Khmilnyk Garment Factory 'Lileia'", Vinnytsia public joint stock company "Volodarka", joint stock company "Tulchin Garment Factory" and others worked on raw materials supplied by the foreign firm's customers.

The electric power generating capacity of power plants at the oblast's territory is 10,523,400 kWh per year. At present, they are under loaded. The electric power generation in 1996 produced 3,548 kWh, while its consumption in the same year was 5,041,000 kWh.

The oblast has 39 sugar factories and 13 distilleries. A quite good base for processing sunflower seeds and groats crops has been formed.

Agriculture
The total farmland area is 19,605 square kilometres (7570 sq. mi.); of them, arable lands occupy 16,940 km² (6540 sq. mi.), and perennial plantations, 512 km² (198 sq. mi.).

As of 1 January 1997 in the oblast there were functioning 749 collective agricultural enterprises, 56 state farms of all systems, 25 inter farm agricultural enterprises, and 818 private (peasant's) farms.

Agricultural enterprises of all forms of ownership are primarily specialized in growing of cereal crops and sugar beets, the animal husbandry, meat and milk production. In the overall structure of sown areas, winter wheat crops occupy 18%, barley 14% and sugar beets 10%.

In 1996 the oblast produced 7% of grain, 14.3% of sugar beets, 7.5% of fruits and berries, 6.1% of meat in live weight, 5.4% of milk and 4.0% of eggs of their total production in Ukraine.

Transport and Communications
Three trunk pipelines cross the oblast's territory: Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhhorod, "Soiuz" and Dashava-Kyiv. 3,299.8 km (2050 miles) of gas distributing networks are in service. It was planned to put 261 km of gas networks in operation in 1997.

Foreign Economic Relations
In 1996 enterprises and organizations of the oblast executed foreign trade operations with partners from 73 countries of the world. The total foreign trade volume for this period made $397,500,000, including export ($280,900,000) and import ($116,600,000), which resulted in positive balance ($164,300,000).

The oblast's foreign trade with CIS and Baltic countries in this time reached 58.2% of the total foreign trade turnover. The largest export deliveries are to the Russian Federation (42.6%), Belarus (5.4%), Belgium (7.2%) and Germany (7.45%).

No considerable changes have taken place in the structure of commodity exports. As before, leading in this field are the food industry (47.5%), light industry (14.18%), machine building (10.96%), chemical industry (5.09%) and agriculture (6.36%).

Enterprises of the Vinnytsia oblast seek to import urgently needed products which are in short supply. Main items of import in 1996 were mineral fertilizers (2.68%), petroleum products (10.27%), equipment (11.63%), surface transport facilities (3.82%), inorganic chemistry products, electrical machines, fabrics and yarn.

Taking into account main lines of production, considerable quantities of farm machinery and equipment for processing and building materials industries are brought to its territory. Owing to this agricultural enterprises of the oblast managed in 1996 to perform a full range of fieldwork and obtained a good harvest of cereal and industrial crops.

At the same time large quantities of products that are not in demand of population as well as goods manufactured in sufficient quantities by the oblast's enterprises are brought to the oblast. Moreover, a considerable amount of valuable raw leather is brought out on so called "tolling" terms in exchange of poor quality semi manufactures, footwear, leather jackets, etc.

Of special concern is the fact that enterprises of the oblast are steeply reducing import of the equipment, spare parts, completing items, while import of alcoholic drinks, juices, and other low grade consumer goods is rising. As shown by calculations, the oblast, having a considerable export/import potential, has real opportunities through an effective use of the foreign trade to increase revenues both of the local and of the state budget and to provide itself with the necessary "critical" products.

The oblast's enterprises seek to attract foreign investments for increasing the output of products. Since 1991 till December 1997 about 300 joint enterprises with foreign investments amounting to $23,300,000 were established in the Vinnytsia oblast. Enterprises and citizens from 41 countries of the world participated in organization of the enterprises. The largest amount of investments came from the United States, Germany, Poland, Israel and some other countries.

Oblast is one of the founding members of Euroregion Dniester.

Subdivisions

The Vinnytsia Oblast was founded on February 27, 1932, its area makes 4.5% of the state's territory. Administratively the oblast's territory is divided into 6 districts (raions). The oblast has 17 cities, 30 towns and 1,467 villages.

Age

 * Overall
 * 0-14 years: 14.9% (male 124,640/female 117,422)
 * 15-64 years: 68.1% (male 531,953/female 571,923)
 * 65 years and over: 17.0% (male 88,770/female 185,245) (2013 official)

 * Median
 * total: 40.4 years
 * male: 37.1 years
 * female: 43.5 years (2013 official)

Nomenclature
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Vinnytsia is the center of the Vinnyts'ka oblast' (Vinnytsia Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna" or "chyna", as is the case with the Vinnytsia Oblast, Vinnychchyna.

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

title: Vinnytsia Oblast


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Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Zaporizhzhia Oblast (Запорізька область), commonly referred to as Zaporizhzhia (Запоріжжя), is an oblast (region) in south-east Ukraine. Its administrative centre is Zaporizhzhia. The oblast covers an area of 27,183 km2, and has a population of

This oblast is an important part of Ukraine's industry and agriculture. Most of the area of the oblast has been under Russian military occupation since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including all of the coast, although the capital and the majority of the population remains under Ukrainian administration.

On 30 September 2022, Russia declared it had annexed the Donetsk (Donetsk People's Republic), Luhansk (Luhansk People's Republic), Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, despite having failed to occupy all of these Ukrainian territories. However, the disputed referendums and subsequent annexations are not internationally recognized.

To the south, Zaporizhzhia Oblast covers roughly 150 km of coastline of the Sea of Azov, as part of a coastal region known as Pryazovia, also including the coastal regions of Kherson Oblast and Donetsk Oblast, to the west and east, respectively.

Geography
The area of the oblast is 27,183 km2; its population (estimated as of 1 January 2013) was 1,785,243.

Donetsk Oblast is located within the regions of Zaporizhzhia (northern part) and Pryazovia (southern part).

Cities
The largest cities by priority:

 * 1) Zaporizhzhia
 * 2) Melitopol – under Russian occupation
 * 3) Berdiansk – under Russian occupation
 * 4) Enerhodar (location of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant) – under Russian occupation
 * 5) Tokmak – under Russian occupation
 * 6) Polohy – under Russian occupation
 * 7) Dniprorudne – under Russian occupation
 * 8) Vilniansk
 * 9) Orikhiv
 * 10) Huliaipole
 * 11) Vasylivka – under Russian occupation

Relief
Zaporizhzhia Oblast is characterized by a flat landscape. Soils are mostly chernozem. Knowledge of the relief of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast today is especially important because of the problem of land reclamation and its more intensive use.

The territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast as a whole has a flat topography, but there are markedly elevated and depressed areas, which differ in shape, origin, and age.

The highest central-eastern part of the oblast is the Azov Upland. It extends to the east and to the territory of Donetsk Oblast, where it meets the Donetsk ridge. In the south, between the Azov Upland and the Sea of Azov, is the western part of the Azov coastal plain, which flows into the Black Sea west of the Molochna River. The northeastern end of the coastal plain merges with the Zaporizhzhia inner plain, which borders the southeastern outskirts of the Dnieper Upland. Thus, the territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast consists of two distinct geomorphological parts: the outskirts of the Azov and Dnipro uplands, which structurally correspond to the southeastern part of the Ukrainian crystalline massif and the outskirts of the coastal Priazov and Black Sea plains, which are located within the Black Sea basin.

History
The area corresponding approximately to the modern Zaporizhzhia Oblast—according to Herodotus—was called in antiquity as the land of Gerrhos. This area was the burial place of the kings of the "Royal Scythians".

Historically, at various times, the territory was ruled either entirely or partly by Scythia, Old Great Bulgaria, Khazars, the Mongol Empire, Lithuania, the Crimean Khanate, Poland, and Russia. Khortytsia, former fortress of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, is located in the province. In 1917–1920 the territory passed subsequently between the Bolsheviks, Ukrainians, White Russians, Makhnovists, the Bolsheviks once again, White Russians once again, and eventually fell to the Bolsheviks in late 1920.

The modern Zaporizhzhia Oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on 10 January 1939 out of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. During the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum, 90.66% of votes in the oblast were in favor of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.

Russian invasion
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian armed forces occupied the southern part of the oblast, defeating the Ukrainian armed forces at Melitopol and at Enerhodar. Ukrainian forces conducted an attack that destroyed a Russian ship and damaged two others in the port of Berdiansk. the northern parts of the oblast, including its capital city, Zaporizhzhia, are controlled by Ukraine.

On 4–5 July 2022 during the international Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2022) hosted in the Swiss city Lugano, the Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden pledged to support the rebuilding of Zaporizhzhia region.

On 23–27 September 2022, the Russian Federation held a referendum in the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts for "independence and subsequent entry into the Russian Federation". These referendums are recognized by most states to be staged and against international law. On 29 September 2022, the Russian Federation recognized Zaporizhzhia Oblast as an independent state. On 30 September, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast and three other Ukrainian territories, and signed "accession decrees" that are widely considered to be illegal. At that time, Russia was only in control of about 70% of the province as a whole. The United Nations General Assembly subsequently passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it described as an "attempted illegal annexation" and demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw".

Points of interest
The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
 * Kamyana Mohyla, prehistoric "Stone Tomb" site (museum-preserve)
 * Khortytsia, island in the River Dnieper
 * Dnieper Hydroelectric Station

Subdivisions

Following the reforms of 2020, the oblast is divided into five new raions, which is reduced from 25. The system of municipalities (cities of regional significance) that were directly subordinate to the oblast government was discontinued. All populated places were subordinated to raion (district) government.

Russian occupation
Since March of 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation control bigger portion of the Zaporizhia Oblast. The city of Melitopol is serving as a temporary administration center for the occupied territories. Frontlines stretch through Vasylivka and Polohy raions and just north of both cities of Vasylivka and Polohy.

Demographics
According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of the oblast was 1,929,171. Some 70.8% considered themselves Ukrainians, while 24.7% were Russians, the rest nationalities were Bulgarians (1.4%), Belarusians (0.7%), and others (1.6%). Almost half the population (48.2%) considered the Russian language their native.

Age structure

 * 0–14 years: 13.5% (male 124,285/female 116,613)
 * 15–64 years: 70.7% (male 598,849/female 662,838)
 * 65 years and over: 15.8% (male 91,051/female 190,818) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 41.2 years
 * male: 37.5 years
 * female: 44.8 years (2013 official)

Education

679 daytime and 11 evening state schools plus 6 daytime schools that are non-budget supported secondary schools involved 271,400 pupils in 2001. 22 classical schools, 8 lyceums, a Sichovy collegium and 54 education-breeding complex bodies aren't out of reach to gifted children. New style 38 complex kindergarten-schools work too.

Over 60,000 children develop their talents through out-of-school institutions. They attend 30 creative centres, 6 science-technical stations and four young naturalists' stations, five tourist clubs, three training flotillas, 11 children's sports clubs and 20 sports schools. The extra-scholastic education system has such a unique body as the Small Academy of Science. Boys and girls work there in six main disciplines: physics-mathematics, chemistry-biology, history-geography, philology, industrial and information technologies. The Small Academy young members maintain close friendly relations with scientists of big institutes and universities. 26 youngsters became winners of the All-Ukrainian Academy contest, so the Zaporizhzhia oblast team gained the 1st place.

325 secondary schools, five classical schools, a collegium, and three comprehensive schools use the Ukrainian language. Nevertheless, the minorities have a free choice—193 schools are Russian, a large Jewish school «Alef» works in Zaporizhzhia and smaller ones exist in other points, a Ukrainian-Bulgarian Lyceum is in Primorsky district. The Greek, Czech, Bulgarian languages are very popular in Yakimivsky, Berdyansky, Priazovsky and Melitopole rural districts. One may learn Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Polish, Tatar and other languages attending option courses anywhere.

Specialists keep on looking for an adaptive school model. 26 institutions develop the humanization process using new teaching technologies. The Khortitsky multi-profile teaching-rehabilitation centre has worked out methods for complete support of sanatorium-boarding-schools' children. Berdiansk is the town where a regional boarding school for orphans works out active socialization programs.

42 institutions provide vocational education. This system distributes well-trained workers to regional industries and businesses. The list of specialties includes over 100 names. Vocational schools give courses for improving qualifications in cooperation with unemployment centres. More than 1,500 jobless persons get new professions every year due to it.

The higher education system is the most flexible and advanced. Today, 25 state-controlled technical colleges have I-II class rank and 8 higher institutions have III-IV class certificates. These are the university and the Zaporizhzhia Politechnic, the Medical University and the Institute of Law with Ministry of Internal Affairs in Zaporizhzhia City, the Pedagogical University, the Agricultural Academy in Melitopol and the Pedagogical Institute in Berdiansk. There are also five higher-education private bodies—the Institute of Economics and Information Technologies, the State and Municipal Government Institute and the others. Over 65,000 people are students in this oblast. There are 212 Doctors of Science and 1,420 Candidates of Science among their lecturers. The city of Zaporizhzhia is one of the biggest centres for foreigners' education in Ukraine.

The International Astronomical Union named two minor planets 5936 Khadzhinov and 19082 Vikchernov in honor of Ukrainians from Zaporizhizhia Oblast who made a significant contribution in science and education.

Gross regional product
The volume of the gross regional product (GRP) of the oblast in 2016 amounted to ₴104,323 million (9th place among the regions). The total contribution of the oblast to the GRP of Ukraine was 4.4%.

The index of the physical volume of gross regional product in the previous year's prices was 99.7%.

The amount of gross value added (GVA) in 2016 amounted to ₴82,054 million (9th place among the oblasts).

The total contribution of the oblast to the GVA of Ukraine amounted to 4.1% in 2016.

The index of physical volume of gross value added in previous year's prices was 99.8%.

The main types of economic activity that form the GVA of the oblast are:

 * Industry (including the supply of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning): 41%
 * Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries: 13.9%
 * Wholesale and retail trade: 10.4%
 * Real estate transactions: 6%

title: Zaporizhzhia Oblast


text:
Osier

Osier may refer to:

 * Willow or osiers, a genus of deciduous trees and shrubs
 * Common osier (Salix viminalis), a species of willow
 * Red osier (Cornus sericea), a species of flowering plant
 * Osier, Colorado, an unincorporated community along the Rio de Los Pinos river in Colorado
 * Osier, Michigan, a ghost town
 * Faith Osier, African immunologist
 * Ivan Osier (1888–1965), Danish Olympic medalist

title: Osier


text:
Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon is a biblical expression, though the identity of the plant referred to is unclear and is disputed among biblical scholars. It has become a common name for several different species of flowering plants that are valued in different parts of the world. In neither case does it refer to actual roses. The name's varied colloquial application has been used as an example of the lack of precision of common names, which can potentially cause confusion. "Rose of Sharon" has become a frequently used catch phrase in poetry and lyrics.

Biblical origins
The name "Rose of Sharon" first appears in Hebrew in the Tanakh. In the Shir Hashirim ('Song of Songs') 2:1, the speaker (the beloved) says, "I am the rose of Sharon, a rose of the valley". The Hebrew phrase was translated by the editors of the King James Version (KJV) as "rose of Sharon"; however, previous translations had rendered it simply as "the flower of the field" (Septuagint ἐγὼ ἄνθος τοῦ πεδίου, Vulgate ego flos campi, Wycliffe "a flower of the field"). Contrariwise, the Hebrew word occurs two times in the scriptures: in the Song, and in Isaiah 35:1, which reads, "the desert shall bloom like the rose." The word is translated "rose" in the KJV, but is rendered variously as "lily" (Septuagint κρίνον, Vulgate lilium, Wycliffe "lily"), "jonquil" (Jerusalem Bible) and "crocus" (RSV).

Varying scholars have suggested that the biblical "rose of Sharon" may be one of the following plants:
 * A crocus: "a kind of crocus growing as a lily among the brambles" ("Sharon", Harper's Bible Dictionary) or a crocus that grows in the coastal plain of Sharon (New Oxford Annotated Bible);
 * A tulip: "a bright red tulip-like flower[...] today prolific in the hills of Sharon" "rose", Harper's Bible Dictionary);
 * Tulipa agenensis, the Sharon tulip, a species of tulip suggested by a few botanists, or;
 * Tulipa montana
 * A lily: Lilium candidum, more commonly known as the Madonna lily, a species of lily suggested by some botanists, though likely in reference to the lilies of the valley mentioned in the second part of Song of Solomon 2:1.
 * Narcissus ("rose", Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature)

According to an annotation of Song of Solomon 2:1 by the translation committee of the New Revised Standard Version, "rose of Sharon" is a mistranslation of a more general Hebrew word for crocus.

Etymologists have tentatively linked the biblical to the words, meaning 'bulb', and , which is understood as meaning either 'pungent' or 'splendid' (The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon).

A possible interpretation for the biblical reference is Pancratium maritimum, which blooms in the late summer just above the high-tide mark. The modern Hebrew name for this flower is חבצלת or חבצלת החוף ( or, coastal lily). Some identify this flower with the "rose of Sharon" mentioned in the Song of Songs, but not all scholars accept this.

Recently, some scholars have translated as 'a budding bulb' in consideration of the genealogical research of multilingual versions and lexicons.

Modern usage
The name "rose of Sharon" is also commonly applied to several horticultural plants, all originating outside the Levant and not likely to have been the plant from the Bible:

 * Hypericum calycinum, the usual plant known by this name in British English. It is an evergreen flowering shrub native to southeast Europe and southwest Asia.
 * Hibiscus syriacus, the usual plant known by this name in North America. It is a deciduous flowering shrub native to east Asia, and the national flower of South Korea (also known as "Mugunghwa" and "Althaea").
 * Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (var. 'Vulcan'), the national flower of Malaysia.

title: Rose of Sharon


text:
Talk:Combinatorial game theory

2004-2005
Having math on the same line as text doesn't render properly. I suggest that for simple expressions, math mode shouldn't be used and more complex ones should be on a separate line. -- Arvindn 12:31, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Agree. But actually the problem with the page goes deeper - that's a severe case of dry textbook style, there.

Charles Matthews 14:09, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Agree. It's a general problem with math articles (and this is a math topic). I'm not sure how one goes about solving it. You want the formalism to be there, for the people who are looking for it, and you also want a general discussion for people who are not mathematically literate -- a journalist, for example, should be able to get background here in case some mathematician makes news in CGT. How to arrange and intermix the two levels of presentation is a tricky conundrum.

There's another problem here, though, and that is that the article is very incomplete. The authors never get around to introducing the classic Berlekamp-Conway-Guy notation, and instead present the beginnings of the theory in their own notation, with the result that the beautiful heart of the theory, the mapping from games onto the real numbers, is completely missing.

I'd like to have more of a chat about this, to toss around ideas on how this material should be presented.

ACW 18:06, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Well, the CGT people have a long tradition of not being able to explain themselves properly (IMHO). This page is too mathsy by half. I probably tend towards Berlekamp's attitude, and am less interested in ONAG. I have had weary discussions with Bill Spight, elsewhere, about the foundations. Charles Matthews 19:39, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I think the ideal is a kind of two track description, so that the layman can read a fairly coherent explanation in plain English, while the mathematician can find the rigorous development as well. Maybe the two are interleaved, with an explanation up front that tells the lay reader than the stuff in small type (just brainstorming here) can be safely skipped. I can imagine a few ways of doing it.

Another thing that's troubling me is that the whole cluster of mathematical games articles could be better organized and more consistent ... more like they were articles from the same encyclopedia, if you get my meaning. I know the essence of True Wiki is little incremental changes without big Grand Plans, but I'm tempted to do a little Grand Planning here. You know, list the articles in the cluster, figure out what's missing, what should be moved, what are the expected reading paths, and so on. I'm too ambitious, right? ACW 02:15, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Lists are good. A list of 'combinatorial games' topics would be a useful start, and a way to discriminate between CGT proper and its environs. Charles Matthews 10:06, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I've just made some changes: (1) Most importantly, I've found and corrected what I think was an error (the author originally stated that C_fin is the smallest collection of games such that for every pair of H,K of elements there's a game G with L(G) = {H}, R(G) = {K}).

(2) I've explained what it means to 'play' these strange games.

(3) Using (2), I've added 'intuitive descriptions' of addition and negation of games.

(4) The author hadn't explained how to construct the set "P", so I worked out such a construction myself.

(Note that my only background in this theory came from actually reading the original page!)

I've modified your text a bit to speak of well-founded games, rather than finite non-loopy games. The distinction is a bit fine. For instance, consider the game G for which L(G)=R(G)=N, where N is the set of all nim-heaps. G is not finite, but it is well-founded. Conway calls these games "Enders".--Dan Hoey(because the signature feature seems to be malfunctioning)68.239.81.167 01:57, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

I see that what happened is I got logged out. Anyway, I've modified the definition of C_fin so that it covers all the well-founded collections of games. --Dan Hoey 02:18, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

I've fixed some problems with the definitions of well-founded games and C_fin. But what really needs to be done is to make this page more consistent with the Surreal numbers page. I've made a start by introducing the G = { L(G) | R(G) } notation. But the part about taking the quotient needs to be continued to talk about which games are numbers. Also something about the quotient being the greatest refinement that preserves outcomes of disjunctive sums. --Dan Hoey 15:22, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

This page lack of definiton of Combinatorial game theory (CGT). It is stated that is part of game theory, but not what is. In the formal definion it is not clear what a game is. Apart from mathemaical abstract aspect is not clear at all the correlation to real (normal) game AnyFile 13:31, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Added a paragraph to the introduction to illustrate the purpose of CGT, and added a couple of good reference books. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.92.70.130 (talk) 11:52, 3 June 2005 (UTC)

History
The history section used the term disjoint sum which I corrected to disjunctive sum (ONAG, p. 74). This should be described more completely, since it is the fundamental insight that makes CGT an advance over the diffuse theory that preceded it.

I must say that I am quite uncertain about the History section. The mathematics of CGT were presented in ONAG six years earlier than WW, and the latter extended the theory in fairly minor ways. I don't imagine that Conway cares to argue priority; in fact, he acknowledges Berlekamp and Guy as his sources for much of the material in ONAG. But saying that WW "pioneered" CGT and was preceded by ONAG with some of its content seems an odd sort of horsecart. --Dan Hoey 23:34, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I have discussed this with Elwyn Berlekamp, and I know how Conway works (he used to be a colleague). The lags in writing-up are true enough to the historical record. Charles Matthews 15:39, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Yes, the history is not so simple. Although I was not yet alive at the time much of this was going on, I have met all authors of WW and have some familiarity with their opinions on the subject.  You must remember that Winning Ways was in production for more than a decade, whereas ONAG was written (by Conway's own admission) in a week sometime in the middle of this period.  Conway notes in the preface to the second edition that Berlekamp threatened legal action in response to the book, and that he failed to acknowledge Richard Guy's contributions of diagrams and tables for the first edition.  I believe there is unanimity, however, that it was Conway who was responsible for the {L|R} notation and for the discovery of "surreal numbers".  He dislikes that name, by the way; these were not named by him but by Donald Knuth, who somehow managed to beat them all to general publication!  Only a University of Calgary research paper preceded Knuth in print, appearing under Conway's name, but written (apparently) largely by Guy.  Knuth stole some of Guy's jokes in this paper.
 * So, the whole thing is a bit of a mess. The point is, it is not right to say that Conway invented CGT.  One can say he invented the modern notation and first understood the concept of numbers, both of which are invaluable contributions to the subject, to be sure.  The partizan theory in general, however, is due largely to WW and its authors (which includes Conway) even if it was published later.  Of course, bits and pieces of this were floating about before then, and we can't overlook the importance of the impartial (Sprague-Grundy) theory, which was already well understood at this time.
 * I hope this helps future editors of this article. Someone should really do proper interviews of all these people while they are still alive to clear things up even further. -- 68.146.220.249 (talk) 00:31, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Confused about point that WW required "complete information" yet more modern notion seems to require "perfect information." Why the switch? what are the implications Um297zoa (talk) 07:37, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Simple English
Please take a look at the Simple English version of this page. Despite some errors, it is much better than this one. Rcaetano 15:23, 28 May 2005 (UTC)
 * I highly agree. Now that I've seen a "simple english" version of what this is, I've finally been able to figure out what the complex math notation is saying.  I used the simple english version as a guide to add a "Simpler Definitions" section under formal definitions, which I hope will help people out.  Needs some explanatory images of the tic-tac-toe boards I reference though... I'll see if I have the time to whip some up. Fieari 10:21, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

The Simple English page is wonderful! You might consider adding a link to it to this page, as it's a great introduction to this one. It gives a quick, easy overview, and this page adds more technical definitions and examples. Chocolatechipmuffin (talk) 15:51, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

There are a number of ways in which this article could be improved. The article could be organized and the topics introduced in a way similar to the article on surreal numbers. Some game other than tic-tac-toe ought to be used for an example, since tic-tac-toe is not played according to the normal rule, and does not break into independent components, like most games studied in Combinatorial Game Theory. Some other game, like nim or domineering might be a better example.

The example ought to introduce some of the common operations and definitions in Combinatorial Game Theory, such as the sum operator, inverse operator, bracket notation, and comparisons, and equivalent games. Sums and inverses could be demonstrated much better with some game other than tic tac toe. Contrary to what the current article seems to imply, these concepts can be given intuitive definitions that the layman can understand.

Additionally, the formal definitions below don't seem to correspond to any standard approach to combinatorial game theory, and the notation seems very obscure. The surreal numbers article has better definitions than this one, and it would make sense to copy these definitions into this article.

This article also has a lot of room for expansion. Information on further Combinatorial Game Theory topics could be introduced, such as canonical normal forms, numbers, nimbers, stopping values, thermography, infinitesimal games, all-small games, ordinal sums, norton products, and atomic weights (as well as a lot of other stuff that I don't know about). Most of this stuff is in On Numbers and Games, and there is probably a lot more stuff in Winning Ways. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 152.157.79.253 (talk • contribs).

 * Would you be able to suggest a textbook to reference? I haven't taken a class in this, I'm simply interested on a personal, almost hobby-like level, and to be honest, I can barely understand the current "Formal Definitions" at all.  I simply took the "Simple English" version of this page and added it in... which was the only way I really understood what was going on. Fieari 18:15, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Choice of Example Game
Using Tic-Tac-Toe as an example seems like a poor choice. This is not a typical sort of game that is analyzed in CGT, and it does not fit into the framework of the theory very well. For example, tic-tac-toe games can end in draws, although nonloopy games in CGT always end in one player winning. Also, it does not make much sense to add tic-tac-toe positions together, so the operation of addition cannot easily be demonstrated.

A better choice would be a game such as hackenbush, domineering, or nim, which are actually played under the Normal Rule. Positions in these games could be used to demonstrate some of the basic operations in CGT, such as addition and negation, in terms that the layman could understand. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.72.242.202 (talk) 19:55, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Mathematical Presentation
The formal mathematical description in this article is vary confusing, even to someone who knows a lot about CGT, since it is completely unorthodox. The article on Surreal Numbers has a much better approach, that could be the model for this article, as the construction of Surreal Numbers is almost the same as the construction of the class of games. In general, this article should probably adopt the same notation and conventions as On Numbers and Games, or Winning Ways. Someone who has read these books should rewrite most of this article in a more orthodox notation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.72.242.202 (talk) 20:01, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Errors
In the tic-tac-toe example, the "star" scenario is described as

XUL_OUR_XCC_OCR_XLC_OLL_XCL_OUC = {{ | } | { | }}

I believe this is incorrect and that the correct game states are actually

XUL_OUR_XCC_OCR_XLC_OLL_XCL_OUC = {XLR | OLR}

XUL_OUR_XCC_OCR_XLC_OLL_XCL_OUC_XLR = {{ | } | { | }}

This seems more logical to me. 83.226.180.17 (talk) 13:46, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

"Formal Definitions", etc.: Suggestions
I've been watching this article for some time, hoping that it would be improved.

Of the books cited as sources, I own Winning Ways and ONAG. Not even ONAG features the formalism of this article. Therefore, I conclude that said formalism is pulled out of the air, i.e. original research. As has been pointed out above, it uses extremely unorthodox notation, which makes it very hard to understand. You will not see the notation  in ONAG, nor will you see the "0 element" defined to be unique. In fact, ONAG and WW make reference to "zero games," which are just those in which the second player wins with best play. In WW, the position {-2|2} is considered a zero game, whereas in the article it is not connected with the number zero in any way. This is unfortunate. Furthermore, the set P defined in the article is just the set of all zero games. Another problem with the formal portion of the article is that it provides little or no explanations of any of the steps taken.

Equally disconcerting is what is not mentioned in the article. There is no mention of "thermography," for example -- an important topic. The game * is mentioned briefly, but only in the informal section. The ideas of fuzzy, positive, negative, and zero games are not mentioned. The games {0|*} and {*|0} (up and down) are not included; nor is the idea of atomic weight of a game. Finally, the treatement of nimbers is far too brief.

I would try to be bold and fix this myself, but I am certain I would do a poor job. Although I am familiar with CGT, I do not have an intimate knowledge of it. Also, I don't have enough time to do this well.

--N Shar 05:33, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

I am eliminating the "Formal Definitions" section. As it stands, the formalism is entirely inappropriate to this page...it is introduced in a way appropriate to a Bourbaki volume, not an encyclopedia. If we are to include mathematical formalism in this page, we need to introduce it purposefully and with discussion that makes the relevance of the definitions apparent to the reader. Currently, even to a reader with a fair amount of mathematical background and some patience, the material is close to useless. Cazort (talk) 03:36, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

The current state of the article makes no sense whatsoever. A sum is defined, but this definition is quite hard to find from the place where + is used for the first time. Since sum is defined, one could guess what multiplication by a natural number would mean; however, most of discussion is in terms of notions =, which are in no way defined. As a result, 2/3 of the article may be safely replaced by one sentence: “Trust me, one can do a lot of interesting things with these thingies.” --76.218.120.86 (talk) 08:02, 4 March 2012 (UTC)ilyaz

Changes in progress
I'm about to start working on rewriting this article. If you disagree with some change I make, please don't just revert -- also comment here. I'd really appreciate the input. Anyone else is welcome to join in, of course. --N Shar 02:11, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Adversarial search
Artificial intelligence research (from the 1950s onward) developed a number of strategies (such as minimax, alpha-beta pruning, etc.) for winning two person games, referred to in AI textbooks as adversarial search. Should this article include a section on these algorithms? Should the articles that refer to these algorithms be included in the category ? Is this the same field of study? CharlesGillingham (talk) 11:01, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

 * It seems like a related field to me. AI research tends to deal in heuristic methods for winning games. By contrast, combinatorial game theorists seek to understand the entire structure of a game in detail. I would tend to say that heuristic methods deserve a mention in the article, as they are an important technique used to study two-player games, but probably they shouldn't take over the article, as they are more engineering than mathematics. --N Shar (talk · contribs) 05:47, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

 * I think Category:Game artificial intelligence, where these articles already are categorized, is a better place. There are connections between game search algorithms and combinatorial game theory, but they're really not the same thing. The game AI category should probably be included as a subcategory of one of the game theory categories, and I'll go do that, but since it includes games such as poker that are not really combinatorial in nature, I think the main game theory category would be a better place for that. —David Eppstein (talk) 05:52, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

 * Do you have an opinion on whether they should be mentioned or described in the article? I wasn't sure what to say about this. I kind of think they should be mentioned (at least very briefly), but nevertheless I have an uncomfortable worry, somewhere in the back of my mind, that it would be "polluting" the mathematics. --N Shar (talk · contribs) 06:12, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

 * Techniques like alpha-beta search and CGT don't mix very well. In alpha-beta search, one generally only searches partway to the end of a game, using numerical scores that have some heuristic intention but no precise mathematical definition beyond the scoring function they are computed by. In computer game programming, when one can search all the way to the end of the game, the scores that are used are instead simple win-loss-draw values, no longer susceptible to more complicated alpha-beta cutoffs. In CGT, on the other hand, the value of a position is well-defined mathematically, generally requires searching out to the end of the game to compute, and can't generally be handled by alpha-beta because not all values are comparable with each other. So while there's some connection, I think it's too tenuous (and would likely require too much original research) to say much about it. —David Eppstein (talk) 06:53, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

 * Okay, it sounds like this is a different subject and should be left alone. Thanks, everyone. (The real problem I was having is that the lead article in (game artificial intelligence) does not connect at all with the articles in the category. It's about non-player characters in role-playing games. I now think the solution is to write a survey article about games and AI, and to retitle the existing article.)  CharlesGillingham (talk) 04:06, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Checkers solved
Not long ago, checkers was solved. I don't know enough about CGT to decide exactly how this should fit in the article, but at least it alters the bit about checkers not being solved.Cretog8 (talk) 13:07, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Contributions?
Ok, so what exactly are the contributions of this field to the study of games, other than having come up with a name for itself? Neither extensive-form games/backward induction nor alpha-beta pruning (and similar algorithms) are mentioned here, and they obviously apply to the very same type of games. Tijfo098 (talk) 12:21, 21 March 2011 (UTC)
 * It is about defining algebraic values in generalized number systems that mathematically represent the possible outcomes of a game position. It is especially relevant to games such as nim or go or amazons in which the position tends to get split into several independent pieces and at each move a player can choose to move in only one of those pieces — then the mathematical value of the overall game can be calculated as a sum of the values of the separate pieces. —David Eppstein (talk) 13:55, 21 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I take it you haven't improved the lead because of COI or something (I saw the EL at the bottom). I see now that the contributions are in the unique analysis methods of the game tree. What is less clear to me is if constraint logic and the game complexity results are considered part of this or not. I'll do my best to summarize the stuff in the lead after I grok it at least "from the helicopter". Tijfo098 (talk) 23:42, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Scoring Play Combinatorial Game Theory
Should we include a separate section on Fraser Stewart's new theory for Scoring Play Combinatorial Games? This is new theory that was done in a PhD thesis and his papers are currently under review for Games of No Chance 5, but the thesis has been examined and has passed so is it ok to write a section about that now? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.2.128.176 (talk) 11:59, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
 * This sort of material is prohibited by Wikipedia policy for a number of good reasons. You will notice a conspicuous absence of millions of other dissertations like this one. Of course, WP can make exceptions for dissertations which have become famous over time, but this is not such a case. Rschwieb (talk) 02:16, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

 * Probably because the vast number of PhD theses consist of pointless drivel that's why. If there are "millions of other" theses like that one then I'd like to know where all these great mathematicians are.  Care to show me all the other PhD theses that introduce their own brand new mathematical theory?  Thought not, they don't exist.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.2.119.2 (talk) 20:12, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

 * Well it's good that you see that we can't admit a thesis automatically, and if you'd just apply that objective conclusion to this situation, you will understand why it's not a good idea to admit that thesis here. Time will tell if this thesis is drivel. It is not a WP editor's place (and even more certainly not the place of someone close to the author of the thesis!) to decide how important or reliable a certain thesis is. A thesis that is introducing a brand new theory is especially suspect as a resource, because there is so little material on the subject matter. Please help keep Wikipedia encyclopedic! Rschwieb (talk) 13:41, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Big improvements; congratulations to all editors
I haven't been looking at this article for about six years; in the intervening time it has improved enormously. The idiosyncratic notation is all gone, replaced by the much more standard Berlekamp/Conway/Guy notation. This is outstanding work, and the current structure makes it possible to see ways to improve it still more. I'm going to thing about it for a while and then make a stab at it, but I just wanted to give credit where it's due. Wikipedia at its best, my friends.ACW (talk) 01:20, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

n-player CGT ?
Is formal CGT really limited to two players? There has to be a theory or category that includes combinatorial n-player games as well, at least as a theoretical possibility even if there is no active research in that direction. It is strange if one has to resort to general (non-perfect information) game theory in order to have more than two players. I think the possibility of more than two players needs to be commented in the article.

Chinese checkers is an example of a perfect-information strategy game for up to 6 players.

Anders Hallström 85.230.254.123 (talk) 13:01, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Zero-sum?
It is not clearly stated whether combinatorial games are by definition zero-sum. All the examples are zero-sum games. What is the answer? References? In "Introducing Game Theory and its Applications By Elliott Mendelson" it is part of the definition (p.9 item 5). I'm not sure if this is the standard definition. Experts? sattath (talk) 18:58, 4 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Combinatorial games have a winner and a loser. They do not have a utility value. They are not part of the classical game theory in which zero-sum games are defined. Additionally, in the classical game theory, players both move simultaneously, and randomization is important, while in combinatorial game theory one player moves at a time and the optimal strategies are deterministic. So your question is meaningless. —David Eppstein (talk) 19:18, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

emphasis
The body of this article (though not the introduction) currently deals only with the Berlekamp-Conway-Guy style of combinatorial games (focusing on games where the winner is determined by who moves last, for example). Ideally the article should be reworked so that positional games can be discussed on the same level. Currently the introduction gives the general (in my view, correct) view of a combinatorial game (a game of complete information) but then, in the body, the presentation is based entirely on the Berkekamp-Conway-Guy style.

Otherwise, in its current form, I would suggest the article be renamed to something like "Additive theory of Combinatorial Games" or something like that.

Thoughts? Wpegden (talk) 18:39, 9 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Note that the title of the article is already Combinatorial game THEORY, not combinatorial games more broadly. So I think the emphasis on the theory of this sort of games, rather than positional games as a whole, is appropriate. —David Eppstein (talk) 21:14, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

 * Right, but the emphasis is currently only on the BCG-style THEORY of combinatorial games (tending to have an additive structure) and ignores the THEORY of positional games... this is what I think should be corrected. Wpegden (talk) 17:01, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 01:54, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

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Emphasis of Summing Games
From what I understand by reading various articles on the subject, what makes combinatorial game theory special is it's emphasis on combining games using the disjoint sum. Without understanding this many of the choices used in the theory to describe games seem very odd. The concept is mentioned and stated as being important, but it's not explained why it is important, and the subject itself is not linked to. I suggest this article be revised to better emphasize the rule of the disjoint sum. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.187.83.26 (talk) 05:58, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
 * You did see the part in the History section of the article (the first section after the lead) where it says
 * One of the most important concepts in the theory of combinatorial games is that of the sum of two games, which is a game where each player may choose to move either in one game or the other at any point in the game, and a player wins when his opponent has no move in either game. This way of combining games leads to a rich and powerful mathematical structure.
 * John Conway states in ONAG that the inspiration for the theory of partisan games was based on his observation of the play in go endgames, which can often be decomposed into sums of simpler endgames isolated from each other in different parts of the board.
 * Right? In what way do the parts about rich structure and play in go endgames not explain why this is important? —David Eppstein (talk) 07:30, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Combinatorial game theory


text:
Bathtub hoax

The bathtub hoax was a famous hoax perpetrated by the American journalist H. L. Mencken involving the publication of a fictitious history of the bathtub.

Content of hoax
On December 28, 1917, an article titled "A Neglected Anniversary" by H. L. Mencken was published in the New York Evening Mail. Mencken claimed that the actual anniversary of the first American bathtub, the alleged 75th, had gone unnoticed the previous week. This was supposedly in spite of the fact that the Public Health Service of Washington, D.C., had prepared for celebrations several months prior, which were ultimately quashed by the intervening enactment of Prohibition in that city.

The article claimed that the bathtub had been invented by Lord John Russell of England in 1828, and that Cincinnatian Adam Thompson became acquainted with it during business trips there in the 1830s. Thompson allegedly went back to Cincinnati and took the first bath in the United States on December 20, 1842. The invention purportedly aroused great controversy in Cincinnati, with detractors claiming that its expensive nature was undemocratic and local doctors claiming it was dangerous. This debate was said to have spread across the nation, with an ordinance banning bathing between November and March supposedly narrowly failing in Philadelphia and a similar ordinance allegedly being effective in Boston between 1845 and 1862. After Brooklynite John F. Simpson was claimed to have invented the zinc tub in 1847, the price of bathtubs was said to have plummeted and much of the criticism against them was said to have abated. Around the same time, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was claimed to have campaigned for the bathtub against remaining medical opposition in Boston; the American Medical Association supposedly granted sanction to the practice in 1850, followed by practitioners of homeopathy in 1853.

According to the article, then-Vice President Millard Fillmore visited the Thompson bathtub in March 1850 and having bathed in it became a proponent of bathtubs. Upon his accession to the presidency in July of that year, Fillmore was said to have ordered the construction of a bathtub in the White House, which allegedly refueled the controversy of providing the president with indulgences not enjoyed by George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. Nevertheless, the effect of the bathtub's installation was said to have obliterated any remaining opposition, such that it was said that every hotel in New York had a bathtub by 1860. Fillmore's bathtub was said to have remained in operation until the first administration of Grover Cleveland, when it was supposedly replaced by a bathtub that was still in operation at the time of the article's publication.

Legacy
Mencken grew concerned of people taking his article seriously, comparing it in acceptance to the Norman conquest.

In 1949 Mencken wrote: The success of this idle hoax, done in time of war, when more serious writing was impossible, vastly astonished me. It was taken gravely by a great many other newspapers, and presently made its way into medical literature and into standard reference books. It had, of course, no truth in it whatsoever, and I more than once confessed publicly that it was only a jocosity ... Scarcely a month goes by that I do not find the substance of it reprinted, not as foolishness but as fact, and not only in newspapers but in official documents and other works of the highest pretensions.

Fillmore's birthplace of Moravia, New York, has annual "Fillmore Days" where people race in modified bathtubs. After a 20-year hiatus the Fillmore Days were revived in 2019.

title: Bathtub hoax


text:
National Council of Slovakia

The National Council of the Slovak Republic (Národná rada Slovenskej republiky, abbreviated to NR SR) is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation with seats distributed via largest remainder method with Hagenbach-Bischoff quota every four years.

Slovakia's parliament has been called the 'National Council' since 1 October 1992. From 1969 to 1992, its predecessor, the parliament of the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia, was called the Slovak National Council (Slovenská národná rada).

The National Council approves domestic legislation, constitutional laws, and the annual budget. Its consent is required to ratify international treaties, and is responsible for approving military operations. It also elects individuals to some positions in the executive and judiciary, as specified by law.

The parliament building is in Bratislava, Slovakia's capital, next to Bratislava Castle in Alexander Dubček Square.

Functions
The 150-seat unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic is Slovakia's sole constitutional and legislative body. It considers and approves the constitution, constitutional amendments, and other legislation. It approves the state budget. It elects some officials specified by law, as well as justices of the Constitutional Court and the prosecutor general. Prior to their ratification, the parliament also should approve all important international treaties. Moreover, it gives consent for dispatching of military forces outside of Slovakia's territory and for the presence of foreign military forces on the territory of the Slovak Republic.

Decision-making
The parliament may vote only if a majority of all its members (76) are present. To pass a decision, the approval of a simple majority of all MPs present is required. Almost all legal acts can be adopted by this relative majority. An absolute majority (76 votes) is required to pass a vote of no-confidence in the cabinet or its members, or to elect and recall the Council's speaker or the deputy speakers. A qualified majority of 3/5 of all deputies (at least 90 votes) is required for the adoption of a constitution or a constitutional statute.

Committees of the National Council
Standing committees and current leadership are listed below.

Speakers
The current speaker of the Slovak National Council is Peter Pellegrini.

Structure of former legislatures
The length of the bars underneath represents each party's electoral performance. The difference in the total width of the bars is due to the election threshold of 5%; this threshold prevents a varying number of small parties from entering the National Council (most notably, after the 1994 election).

Elections
Members of the parliament are elected directly for a 4-year term, under the proportional system. Although the suffrage is universal, only a citizen who has the right to vote, has attained 18 years of age and has permanent residency in the Slovak Republic is eligible to be elected. Similarly to the Netherlands and Israel, the whole country forms one multi-member constituency. The election threshold is 5%. Voters may indicate their preferences within the semi-open list. Parliamentary elections were last held in 2023.

Latest election
2023 Slovak Parliamentary Election

Members (1990–present)

 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 1990–92
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 1992–94
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 1994–98
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 1998–2002
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 2002–06
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 2006–10
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 2010–12
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 2012–2016
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 2016–2020
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 2020–2023
 * List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 2023–2027

Buildings
The main parliament building is situated next to the Bratislava Castle on the castle hill. The building is insufficiently large to accommodate all officials and representatives. This is because it its construction started in 1986 during the Czechoslovak period as a building for the Federal Parliament, which usually met in Prague. The secondary parliament building, the Zhupa house, which was the main building until 1994, is situated at Župné square next to the Trinitarian Church below the castle hill in Bratislava.

title: National Council of Slovakia


text:
Gabriel Thomson

Gabriel Francis Marshall Thomson (born 27 October 1986) is an English actor, best known for his role as Michael Harper in the British situation comedy series My Family.

Career
Thomson began his acting career at the age of four, performing in plays with a company called the Goliards while his family holidayed in Devon. At the age of five, he gave his first TV performance in an advert for Frosties which he later said he'd "rather forget." In 1995, he appeared in a television version of The Bible: Joseph. He followed this up with a small role in another television mini-series called Painted Lady.

It was in 1999 that Thomson secured his first major acting role, playing Young Pip in a BBC adaption of Great Expectations. It was through his role on Painted Lady that he was cast in Great Expectations, as the casting director of Painted Lady thought he would be perfect as Pip. The same year, Thomson made his big screen debut as he had replaced Jonathan Taylor Thomas' live-action and voice role as Pinocchio in The New Adventures of Pinocchio.

From 2000 until 2011, Thomson played Michael Harper in the British BBC sitcom My Family, starring alongside Robert Lindsay, Zoë Wanamaker, Daniela Denby-Ashe and Kris Marshall. He is the only one out of the Harper children to have appeared in every series as Daniela Denby-Ashe left the series in 2002, later returning in 2004 and Kris Marshall left the series in 2005. He is also remembered for acting alongside Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and Ed Harris in the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates as Soviet spy Sasha Filippov.

He was at one time rumoured to play Harry Potter in the series of films based on the popular books by J.K. Rowling; however, just days later Warner Brothers announced that the part was to be portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe.

Thomson portrayed Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing with the British Shakespeare Company on their 2009 tour of the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Norway and the Czech Republic.

Also starred in the British film 13Hrs. In 2010, Gabriel joined the cast of GB Theatre Company, playing Orlando in As You Like It and Dr Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor. The tour included the Republic of Ireland, Norway, the Czech Republic and the UK.

Gabriel also starred in the film, The Lost Choices, released by Metrodome in the UK on 14 September 2015.

On 20 August 2015, Thomson had announced on his Facebook page that he was leaving acting to return to university, and on 15 September the Daily Mirror reported that he was to attend King's College in London for three years to study for a degree in philosophy, with the aim of becoming a human rights lawyer.

In 2017 he returned to acting

Personal life
Thomson attended Elliott School in Putney.

title: Gabriel Thomson


text:
Transcarpathia (disambiguation)

Transcarpathia is the historical region around present-day Zakarpattia Oblast, southwest of a portion of the Carpathian Mountains.

Transcarpathia may also refer to:

Place

 * Ukrainian Transcarpathia or Transcarpathian Ukraine, designation for a Ukrainian region beyond the Carpathian Mountains, including:
 * Ukrainian Transcarpathia (1918–1919), short-lived unification project and claim of the West Ukrainian People's Republic
 * Ukrainian Transcarpathia (1938–1939), an autonomous region, and in 1939 a short-lived unrecognized republic known as "Carpathian Ukraine"
 * Transcarpathian Oblast (or Zakarpattia Oblast), an administrative unit of Ukraine, covering the Ukrainian Transcarpathian region

Other

 * Transcarpathian Academy of Arts, in Uzhhorod, Ukraine
 * Transkarpatia, the fifth album by the Polish symphonic black metal band Darzamat

title: Transcarpathia (disambiguation)


text:
Wyandot language

Wyandot (also Wyandotte, Wendat, Quendat or Huron) is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known as Wyandot or Wyandotte, descended from the Tionontati. It is considered a sister to the Wendat language, spoken by descendants of the Huron-Wendat Confederacy. It was last spoken, before its revival, by members located primarily in Oklahoma, United States, and Quebec, Canada. Linguists have traditionally considered Wyandot as a dialect or modern form of Wendat.

Wyandot essentially died out as a spoken language with the death of the last native speaker in 1972, though there are now attempts at revitalization:
 * The Wyandotte Nation is offering Wyandot language classes in the Wyandotte Public Schools grades K–4, at the Wyandotte Nation's preschool "Turtle-Tots" program in Oklahoma and has created online language lessons for self-study.
 * The Huron-Wendat Nation of Quebec is offering adult and children's classes in the Wendat language at its village school in Wendake.

Relationship to Wendat
Although linguistics have equated with or seen as a dialect of the Iroquoian Wendat (Huron), Wyandot became so differentiated as to be considered a distinct language. This change appears to have happened sometime between the mid-18th century, when the Jesuit missionary Pierre Potier (1708–1781) documented the Petun dialect of Wendat in Canada, and the mid-nineteenth century. By the time the ethnographer Marius Barbeau made his transcriptions of the Wyandot language in Wyandotte, Oklahoma, in 1911–1912, it had diverged enough to be considered a separate language.

Significant differences between Wendat and Wyandot in diachronic phonology, pronominal prefixes, and lexicon challenge the traditional view that Wyandot is modern Wendat. History suggests the roots of this language are complex; the ancestors of the Wyandot were refugees from various Huronian tribes who banded together to form one tribe. After being displaced from their ancestral home in Canada on Georgian Bay, the group traveled south, first to Ohio and later to Kansas and Oklahoma. As many members of this group were Petun, some scholars have suggested that Wyandot is more influenced by Petun than by its descent from Wendat.

The work of Barbeau was used by linguist Craig Kopris to reconstruct Wyandot; he developed a grammar and dictionary of the language. This work represents the most comprehensive research done on the Wyandot language as spoken in Oklahoma just prior to its extinction (or its "dormancy" as modern tribal members refer to it).

Consonants
The phonemic inventory of the consonants is written by using the orthography used by Kopris in his analysis, which was based on Barbeau's transcriptions. The orthographic symbol is written in angled brackets where it differs from the IPA. Kopris listed places of articulation for the consonants but noted that the distinction had not been made by Barbeau.

is placed in parentheses because it appears as an allophone of in nearly all cases, but that cannot always explain its presence. The presence of a single voiced stop,, contrasting with the voiceless stop , makes Wyandot unusual among Iroquoian languages, as it is the only one with a phonemic voicing distinction. The sound is pronounced as  rather than, according to researchers who phonetically transcribed directly from fluent speakers and described it as "corresponding to the English r" and as "the smooth English sound, never vibrant." The Wyandot and  are both cognate with  in other Northern Iroquoian languages. Although the two largely appear to be in free variation, they clearly contrast in some cases (as in the minimal pairs da that, the, who and na now, then. The ambiguity of the relationship between and  seems to indicate that the two are in the process of a phonemic split that was not yet complete by the early 20th century.

Another unique feature of Wyandot is the presence of the voiced fricative, creating an - contrast, but there is no corresponding - contrast. The phoneme also has no voiced counterpart.

Consonants may appear in clusters. Word-initial consonant clusters can be up to three consonants long, medial clusters up to four consonants long, and final clusters up to two consonants long.

Vowels
Barbeau's original transcriptions contained great detail and a complex system of diacritics, resulting in 64 different vowel characters. By eliminating allophones, Kopris found six phonemes, in addition to the marginal phoneme.

Other analysis of the same Barbeau data suggests that vowel length is contrastive in Wyandot, like in other Iroquoian languages.

Phonototactics
A Wyandot syllable consists of a vowel as the nucleus, a coda, and an optional onset. Onset clusters of two consonants are possible, with a single triconsonantal cluster occurring only in the first syllable of a word. Codas may consist of up to two consonants. This gives a maximal Wyandot syllable structure of CCCVCC, where C represent a consonant, and V represents a vowel.

Orthography
Wyandot is written in the Latin script, with the additional character $⟨ʔ⟩$ representing a glottal stop. The majority of characters represent their IPA values, with a few exceptions. The fricatives /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are indicated with a hachek, as $⟨š⟩$ and $⟨ž⟩$, and nasal vowels are indicated by a nasal hook (e.g., $⟨ę⟩$, $⟨ǫ⟩$). A colon $⟨:⟩$ indicates a long vowel (e.g., $⟨ę:⟩$). As in the IPA, a raised $⟨ⁿ⟩$ indicates prenasalization of stops (e.g., $⟨ⁿd⟩$, $⟨ⁿg⟩$). Some allophones of consonants are explicitly indicated (e.g. $⟨m⟩$, $⟨g⟩$).

Wendat use a similar orthography, with some differences. Although based on the 17th-century orthography of the Jesuit missionaries, the current orthography no longer uses the Greek letters θ for, χ for , ͺ for , or ȣ (or 8) for and. Pre-nasalization of stops is indicated by $⟨n⟩$ (e.g., $⟨nd⟩$). Nasal vowels are indicated as in French by $⟨n⟩$ (e.g., $⟨en⟩$, $⟨on⟩$). To disambiguate nasal vowels from oral vowels followed by /n/, the latter have diaeresis over the vowel (e.g., $⟨ën⟩$, $⟨ön⟩$). Glottal stops are written with an apostrophe. The fricative /ʃ/ is written as $⟨ch⟩$. Consonantal allophones are not explicitly indicated.

Sample vocabulary

 * Seten - Stop, used on road signs (with arrêt) in some Huron reserves, such as Wendake in Quebec.
 * Skat - One
 * Tindee - Two
 * Shenk - Three
 * Anduak - Four
 * Weeish - Five
 * Sandustee - Water
 * Kanata - Village
 * "änen'enh" [a-NEN'-enh] - Mother

Wyandot and Wendat today
Citizens of the Wyandotte Nation, whose headquarters is in Wyandotte, Oklahoma, are promoting the study of Wyandot as a second language among its people as part of a cultural revival. Since 2005, Richard Zane Smith of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas (an unrecognized non-profit organization that identifies as a Native American tribe) has been volunteering and teaching in the Wyandotte schools with the aid of the linguist Kopris.

Linguistic work is also being done on the closely related Wendat. The anthropologist known as John Steckley was reported in 2007 as being "the sole speaker" (non-native) of Wendat. Several Wendat scholars have master's degrees in Wendat language and have been active as linguists in the Wendat community in Quebec. In Wendake, Quebec, the First Nations people are working on a revival of Wendat language and culture. The language is being introduced in adult classes and into the village primary school. The Wendat linguist Megan Lukaniec has been instrumental in helping to create curriculum, infrastructure, and materials for Wendat language programs.

The Wyandot language is used in the television series Barkskins.

title: Wyandot language


text:
D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat

D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat is the first studio album by Danish pop duo Junior Senior. Originally released in March 2002 in Denmark, an altered edition became available later in the year for the rest of continental Europe, and in 2003, the album was released in both the UK and US. It is most widely known for the song "Move Your Feet", the duo's first and most successful single. The United States release of the album received the Parental Advisory rating on its release.

The album received positive reviews from music critics upon release. Based on 18 reviews, Metacritic calculated an average score of 79 for D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat, with the summary, "This party album from the Danish band Junior Senior has garnered attention throughout Europe with its mix of garage rock, pop and disco."

Pitchfork placed the album at number 36 on their Top 50 Albums of 2003 list.

Release history
The album was first released on 4 March 2002 in Denmark by the independent Crunchy Frog Records. Universal Music Group acquired the licenses to release the album in Europe outside of Denmark. In the UK, the album was released through Universal's Mercury Records on 10 March 2003. For North America, the duo asked labels to "pony up a high six-figure advance and make a strong marketing commitment." After a bidding war, Junior Senior made a deal with Atlantic Records, who planned for a 29 July release, but was pushed back to 5 August.

At one point, "Move Your Feet" was the most played song on Danish radio and made the charts in thirteen countries including Australia, France and Denmark. The follow-up EP "Rhythm Bandits" was much less successful, but briefly appeared on the charts in the United Kingdom and Australia.

D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat was rated among the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone, NME, Pitchfork, Entertainment Weekly and Blender. San Francisco's Sunday Chronicle named "Move Your Feet" as the single of the year, declaring it "the best song ever".

Later editions of the album feature a slightly longer remix of "Rhythm Bandits", an alternate mix of "Boy Meets Girl" and, depending on the edition, either a shorter or longer take of "Shake Me Baby" (which was titled "Just Shake It Brother" on the original Danish edition).

Use in media
The third single, "Shake Your Coconuts", can be found on the Looney Tunes: Back in Action, soundtrack alongside "Move Your Feet", and as background menu music in the video game Worms 3D.

The song "White Trash" was used in an advert for Popworld, a UK television show. The dance that accompanied it achieved some cult status and was mimicked many times on YouTube.

The song "Good Girl, Bad Boy" can be heard in the film She's the Man when Viola arrives at the private school masquerading as her brother.

The song "C'mon" can be heard in the 2002 video game The Getaway when Sparky tortures a Chinese man with an electric wire. The song is also featured in the American version of the TV series Queer as Folk in the episode "Stand Up for Ourselves".

"Move Your Feet" was also featured in the 2004 comedy film White Chicks and the 2008 comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The song "Shake Me Baby" was featured as the opening and closing theme for Chilean TV show Cabra chica gritona.

The song "Rhythm Bandits" was featured on the soundtrack for FIFA 2004.

Track listing
All tracks by Jesper Mortensen except where noted.

 "Coconuts" (movie edit) (Laursen, Mortensen) – 2:40  "Move Your Feet" (live) – 4:04  "Cocodub" – 2:29  "Rhythm Bandits" (original version) – 2:32  "Move Your Feet" (live) – 4:02
 * 1) "Go Junior, Go Senior" (Jeppe Laursen, Mortensen) – 2:56
 * 2) "Rhythm Bandits" – 2:48 (The original version on the Danish album runs 2:32)
 * 3) "Move Your Feet" – 3:01
 * 4) "Chicks and Dicks" – 2:32
 * 5) "Shake Your Coconuts" (Laursen, Mortensen) – 2:26
 * 6) "Boy Meets Girl" – 3:46
 * 7) "C'mon" – 3:11
 * 8) "Good Girl, Bad Boy" – 2:37
 * 9) "Shake Me Baby" – 3:12 (An alternate recording of this, "Just Shake It Brother", is on the original Danish edition)
 * 10) "Dynamite" – 2:56
 * 11) "White Trash" – 3:01
 * Standard US and special UK edition bonus tracks
 * Japanese bonus tracks

Personnel

 * Patrik Bartosch – organ
 * Ditte Bringøe – vocals
 * Morten Bue – mastering
 * Delta Lab Strings – strings
 * Eggstone – engineer, mixing
 * Henry Hall – harmonica
 * Neja Hertzum – background vocals
 * Signe Marie Jacobsen – background vocals
 * Lulu Jensen – background vocals
 * Helena Josefsson – vocals
 * Mette Juel – background vocals
 * Anna Køster – background vocals
 * Allan Lauridsen – drums
 * Jeppe "Senior" Laursen – vocals, handclapping
 * Filip Den Etniske Hendrix Nikolîc – bass
 * Jesper "Junior" Mortensen – vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, producer, engineer, editing, mixing
 * Per Sunding – engineer, mixing
 * Fabian Svensson – photography
 * Thomas Troelsen – bass, drums, keyboards, vocals, background vocals, producer, engineer, mixing, guest appearance
 * Lars I Lommen Vognstrup – vocals, background vocals
 * Sara Wölck – background vocals
 * Yebo – synthesizer

title: D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat