Sinitic languages See Chinese languages
sinkhole or sink or doline \d9-'le-n3\ Depression formed as under¬ lying limestone bedrock is dissolved by groundwater. Sinkholes vary greatly in area and depth and may be very large. The two main varieties are those caused by the collapse of a cavern roof, and those caused by the gradual dissolving of rock under a soil mantle. Collapsed sinkholes generally have steep rock sides and may receive streams that then flow underground. Soil-mantled sinkholes are generally shallower; they may become clogged with clay and hold a small lake.
Sinkiang See Xinjiang
sinking fund Fund set aside by a corporation or government agency for the purpose of periodically redeeming bonds, debentures, and preferred stocks. The fund is accumulated from earnings, and payments into the fund may be based on either a fixed percentage of the outstanding debt or a fixed percentage of profits. Sinking funds are administered separately from the corporation’s working funds by a trust company or trustee. The purpose of a sinking fund is to assure investors that provision has been made for the repayment of bonds at maturity.
Sinn Fein Vshin-'fanV Irish "We Alone" Nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded by Arthur Griffith and others in 1902, and its policy involved passive resistance to the British, withholding of taxes, and establishing an Irish ruling council. The party had little impact until after the Easter Rising, when the demand of its leader Eamon de Valera for a united, republican Ireland won the party 73 out of 105 seats in the 1918 election. Its power diminished after 1926, when de Valera founded Fianna Fail, which absorbed most of Sinn Fein’s membership. The party contin¬ ued as the political arm of the Irish Republican Army, actively supporting Irish unification. Under the leadership of Gerry Adams in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Sinn Fein participated in the peace talks on North¬ ern Ireland and became one of the leading Roman Catholic parties in Northern Ireland.
Sino-French War (1883 -85) Conflict between China and France over Vietnam. It revealed the inadequacy of China’s modernization efforts and aroused nationalistic sentiment in southern China. In 1880, when France began to extend its presence in Vietnam northward from the three south-
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1758 I Sino-Japanese War ► Sippar
ern provinces it controlled, China sent in troops and engaged in limited battles. The governor-general, Li Hongzhang, negotiated an agreement whereby northern Vietnam would be a joint protectorate, but a hard-line government faction in China rejected it. The French defeated Chinese reinforcements in 1883, and the new settlement was more strongly in France’s favour. This, too, was rejected in China; after further hostilities, the new Chinese fleet of 11 steamers was destroyed, as was a large ship¬ yard at Fuzhou. In 1885 China signed a peace treaty accepting the settle¬ ment of 1883.
Sino-Japanese War Either of two conflicts between China and Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first (1894-95), over Korea, marked the emergence of Japan as a world power and demonstrated the weakness of China. Though Korea had long been China’s most important client state, Japan became interested in it for its natural resources and its stra¬ tegic location. After Japan opened Korea to foreign trade in 1875, ten¬ sions between radical, pro-Japanese Koreans, who favoured modernization, and conservative Korean government officials, who were supported by China, brought China and Japan into conflict. Foreign observers predicted an easy victory for the more massive Chinese forces, but Japan scored overwhelming victories on both land and sea. In the Treaty of Shimonoseki, China recognized the independence of Korea and ceded Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the Liaodong Peninsula (the last of which Japan was later forced to return) to Japan. The second conflict (1937—45) denotes the period of China’s resistance to Japan’s aggression in Chinese territory after Japan had established itself in Manchuria; it ended with Japan’s defeat in World War II. See also Manchukuo; Marco Polo Bridge Incident; Nanjing Massacre; Tonghak Uprising.
Sino-Tibetan \,sI-no-t3-'be-t3n\ languages Superfamily of lan¬ guages whose two branches are the Sinitic, or Chinese, languages and the Tibeto-Burman family, an assemblage of several hundred very diverse languages spoken by some 65 million people from northern Pakistan east to Vietnam and from the Tibetan Plateau south to the Malay Peninsula. They include Tibetan, Burmese, Karen, and many other languages of Nepal, India, Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh, China, and Thailand. Tibetan and Burmese are the only Tibeto-Burman languages with long literary traditions. Burmese is written in an adaptation of the Mon script (see Mon -Khmer ianguages).
sinter Mineral deposit with a porous or vesicular texture (having small cavities). Siliceous sinter is a deposit of opaline or amorphous silica that occurs as an incrustation around hot springs and geysers and sometimes forms conical mounds (geyser cones) or terraces. Calcareous sinter, some¬ times called tufa, calcareous tufa, or calc-tufa, is a deposit of calcium car¬ bonate.
sintering Welding together of small particles of metal by applying heat at temperatures below the melting point. The process is used to form complex shapes, to produce alloys, and to allow work on metals with very high melting points. Sintering is also used in the preliminary molding of ceramic or glass powders into forms that can then be permanently fixed by firing. See also powder metallurgy.
sinus Body cavity or hollow. The paranasal sinuses, which are known commonly simply as the sinuses, are any of four sets of cavities in the bones adjoining the nose: maxillary, the largest, between the eye socket and the palate and upper jaw; frontal, just above and between the eye
The paranasal sinuses.
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sockets; ethmoid, consisting of 3-18 thin-walled cavities between the nasal cavities and the eye sockets; and sphenoid, behind the nasal cavity. All are absent or small at birth, enlarge gradually until puberty, and then grow rapidly. They affect the sound of the voice and may help to warm inhaled air. Their lining produces mucus, which drains into the nasal cav¬ ity. Blockage of their outlets by swelling (from allergy or infection; see sinusitis), polyps, or structural problems hampers breathing through the nose and can lead to serious infection. Severe obstruction may require surgery, which must be done with extreme care to avoid harm to nearby brain structures or the eyes.
sinusitis \,sl-n3-'si-t9s\ Inflammation of the sinuses. Acute sinusitis, usu¬ ally due to infections such as the common cold, causes localized pain and tenderness, nasal obstruction and discharge, and malaise. Nose drops or inhalations containing drugs that contract blood vessels help drain the sinuses. Antibiotics may be used for bacterial infections. Chronic sinusi¬ tis, with frequent colds, pus, obstructed breathing, loss of sense of smell, and sometimes headache, may follow repeated or untreated acute attacks, particularly with impaired breathing or drainage. If antibiotic therapy or repeated lavage (rinsing out) does not help, surgery to open passages for drainage may be needed.
Siouan Ysii-onV languages Family of North American Indian lan¬ guages, spoken mainly west of the Mississippi River in the 17th and 18th centuries. The principal languages and language groups at this time were Winnebago in Wisconsin, Chiwere (Iowa, Oto, and Missouri) in Iowa and northern Missouri, Dhegiha (Ponca, Omaha, Kansa, Osage, Quapaw) in an area extending from eastern Nebraska to Arkansas, Sioux or Dakota (a range of dialects including Santee or Dakota proper in Minnesota, Teton or Lakota in North and South Dakota, and Assiniboine in Canada), Hidatsa and Mandan on the middle Missouri River, and Crow in Wyoming and Montana. Separated from the main body of Siouan languages were the now-extinct languages Tufelo and Biloxi, near the Gulf of Mexico, and the distantly related Catawba, once spoken in South Carolina. The extant Siouan languages are now spoken mainly or solely by older adults.