Batak

Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The term is used to include the Alas, Kluet, Singkil, Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, Angkola, and Mandailing which are distinct but related groups with distinct - albeit related - languages and customs (adat).

In North Sumatra, Toba people typically assert their identity as 'Batak', while other 'Batak' may explicitly reject that label, preferring instead to identify as specifically 'Mandailing' and 'Karo' people.

Prehistory

Linguistic and archaeological evidence indicates that Austronesian speakers first reached Sumatra from Taiwan and the Philippines through Borneo and/or Java about 2,500 years ago, and the Batak probably descended from these settlers. While the archaeology of southern Sumatra testifies to the existence of neolithic settlers, it seems that the northern part of Sumatra was settled by agriculturalists at a considerably later stage.

Although the Batak are often considered to be isolated peoples thanks to their location inland, away from the influence of seafaring European colonials, there is evidence that they have been involved in trade with other neighbouring kingdoms for a millennium or more.

Batak alphabet

The Batak script, natively known as surat Batak, surat na sapulu sia (the nineteen letters), or si-sia-sia, is an abugida used to write the Austronesian Batak languages spoken by several million people on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The script may derived from the Kawi and Pallava script, ultimately derived from the Brahmi script of India, or from the hypothetical Proto-Sumatran script influenced by Pallava.

History

In most Batak communities, only the priests, or datu were able to use the Batak script, and used it mainly for magical texts and calendars. After the arrival of Europeans in the Batak lands, first German missionaries and, from 1878 onwards, the Dutch, the Batak script was, alongside the Roman script, taught in the schools, and teaching and religious materials were printed in the Batak script. Soon after the first World War the missionaries decided to discontinue printing books in the Batak script. The script soon fell out of use and is now only used for ornamental purposes.

Batak (Unicode block)

Batak is a Unicode block containing characters for writing the Batak dialects of Karo, Mandailing, Pakpak, Simalungun, and Toba.

References

Community (ecology)

In ecology, a community or biocoenosis is an assemblage or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area and in a particular time. The term community has a variety of uses. In its simplest form it refers to groups of organisms in a specific place or time, for example, "the fish community of Lake Ontario before industrialization".

Community ecology or synecology is the study of the interactions between species in communities on many spatial and temporal scales, including the distribution, structure, abundance, demography, and interactions between coexisting populations. The primary focus of community ecology is on the interactions between populations as determined by specific genotypic and phenotypic characteristics. Community ecology has its origin in European plant sociology. Modern community ecology examines patterns such as variation in species richness, equitability, productivity and food web structure (see community structure); it also examines processes such as predator-prey population dynamics, succession, and community assembly.

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The third season of the television comedy series Community premiered on September 22, 2011 and concluded on May 17, 2012 on NBC. The season consists of 22 episodes and aired on Thursdays at 8:00 pm ET as part of the network's "Comedy Night Done Right" programming block.

Cast

Starring

Episodes

Note: The episode listing below is how they appear on the season 3 DVD, and not their original broadcast order. Episodes 3 and 4, and 11 and 12 were switched around in their original broadcast, but appear in production and chronological order on the DVD set.

Production

Community (season 4)

The fourth season of the television comedy series Community premiered on February 7, 2013 and concluded on May 9, 2013. The season consists of 13 episodes and aired on NBC on Thursdays at 8:00 pm ET as part of the network's "Comedy Night Done Right" programming block.

The season marked the departure of showrunner Dan Harmon and overall received mixed reviews from critics. In the series's fifth season, Harmon returned as showrunner.

Cast

Starring

Episodes

Production

The series was renewed for a fourth season of 13 episodes on May 10, 2012. Season 4 began shooting in August 2012.