Village

A village is a human settlement commonly found in rural areas. It is usually larger than a hamlet (place) and smaller than a town or city. Villages have been the normal unit of community living in most areas of the world throughout its history, up until the Industrial revolution and the ongoing process of urbanization. In many U.S. states, a village is a type of municipal government (see below). ==Traditional villages== Although many types and organizational patterns of village life have existed, the typical village was small, consisting of perhaps 5 to 30 families. Homes were situated together for sociability and defense, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed. ==England== In England the main historical distinction between a hamlet and a village is that the latter will have a church, and will therefore usually have been the worship centre of a parish. A village was traditionally distinguished from a town in that a village lacked a regular agricultural market, although today such markets are uncommon even in settlements which clearly are towns. ===The largest village in England=== There are regular claims by various settlements to be the largest village in England. This is, in effect, a meaningless accolade as there is no legal meaning to the term "village" in England, and so anyone may refer to any place as a village with no disadvantage. Many settlements are described as both a town and a village by different people. Furthermore, settlements have a tendency to become larger and, when they do, many residents tend to prefer to think of their home as a village rather than a town, and institutions such as a village green or village hall will tend to retain the name that they were given when the settlement was smaller. For these reasons it is most unlikely that any definitive answer to the question could ever be obtained. Places for which this claim has been made include *Barnt Green in Worcestershire *Bayston Hill in Shropshire *Bembridge on the Isle of Wight *Birchington in Kent *Braunton in Devon *Cranleigh in Surrey *Cottingham, Yorkshire in the East Riding of Yorkshire *Haddenham, Buckinghamshire in Buckinghamshire *Horsforth in West Yorkshire *Kidlington in Oxfordshire *Ruskington in Lincolnshire *Street, Somerset in Somerset *Wendover in Buckinghamshire ==United States== ===Incorporated villages=== In twenty U.S. states, the term "village" refers to a specific form of incorporated municipal government, similar to a city but with less authority and geographic scope. However, this is a generality; in many states, there are villages that are an order of magnitude larger than the smallest cities in the state. The distinction is not necessarily based on population, but on the relative powers granted to the different types of municipalities and correspondingly, different obligations to provide specific services to residents. ====New York state==== In New York state, a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village is an incorporated area, usually, but not always, within a single Political subdivisions of New York State#Town. Residents pay both town and village taxes and may vote in town elections as well. The town and village may be coterminous. There are many villages which span the boundaries of more than one town, and some villages even straddle county borders. While there is no limit to the population of a village (Hempstead (village), New York, the state's largest village, boasts 55,000 residents, making it more populous than many of the state's cities), they may not exceed five square miles in area. ====Ohio==== Villages in Ohio are almost always legally separate from any townships that they may have been incorporated from (there are exceptions, such as Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where the township includes the entirety of the village). They have no area limitations, but must reincorporate as cities if they grow to over 5,000 in population. They have the same home-rule rights as cities with less of the responsibilities. Unlike cities, they have the option of being either a "statutory village" and running their governments according to state law (with a six-member council serving four-year terms and a mayor who votes only to break ties) or being a "charter village" and writing a charter to run their government as they see fit. ===Unincorporated villages=== In many states, the term "village" is used to refer to a relatively small unincorporated community, similar to a Political subdivisions of New York State#Hamlet in New York state. This informal usage may be found even in states that have villages as an incorporated municipality, although such usage might be considered incorrect and confusing. ==See also== *Village green *Ville Villages bn:গ্রাম vi:L�ng

Village

==American villages?== The term ''village'' seems to have a purely legal connotation in the USA. Is it fair to say (and worth saying) ''small town'' is the vernacular term in the US (and Australia?) for what in Britain (and Europe generally?) would be commonly called a ''village''? User:Joestynes 08:48, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC) :Well, it's not quite so easy. "Village" is a specific type of political entity in many states (I'm really not sure about how many though). In some states "town" is also a specific type of political entity. In most (perhaps all) states, city is also a political entity. However, in informal speech, a person could use any of the terms in ways that do not necessarily correspond with the official political status. For instance, any place that is relatively densely populated might be referred to as a city or a town by someone living in a nearby rural area (as in "I'm going into the city/into town to buy some groceries.") This can be confusing because the actual political status does not strictly correspond to population--while relative population density is more likely to affect which term is used in informal speech. There are villages that are an order of magnitude larger than the smallest cities--and they may be referred to informally as cities. The political status generally refers to the specific powers of municipal government that it is empowered to exercise. In general, cities have the greatest authority to act independently. Villages have a lesser degree of independent authority and often share some responsibility with other local governmental entities (such as the county or township). But back to your question, in my experience, people might use "small town" to describe where they live to someone not familiar with the area. Amongst people familiar with the area, they be more likely to just say "town" (as in the "going into town" example above)--specifying "small town" in that context would sound decidedly odd. To be honest, I've not heard anyone use "village" in a context other than when refering to a specific village, as in "the Village of Homer"--and this usually in a newspaper or formal speech. In informal speech, people would likely simply refer to "Homer". OK, drawing my rambling to a close now--I'd have to say that "town" is the most commonly used generic reference to populated areas outside of densely populated urban areas. "City" is also often used generically to refer to more densely populated areas--but either can be used interchangeably in many contexts. I've not heard "village" used generically in this way--but I've lived my entire life in the U.S. midwest and usage may differ in other regions of the U.S. User:Bkonrad 13:41, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC) ==Distinguishing English and Welsh Towns from villages== I had always thought that in England and Wales (possibly also Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, although I am not sure about these as they are under separate national or legal systems) a town was different to a village as it had a charter (hence why so many villages ecist that are bigger than towns). They may also have been historically distinguished by having a market as mentioned, but can anyone clarify the need, or not, for a town to have a charter in England & Wales? == Incorrect usage == I stand by my addition of "but it is considered incorrect and misleading". If a state has municiplaities designated as villages, it is just plain wrong to apply the terminology to any areas that are not officially villages. In New York, for example, we have the term "hamlets", to describe village-like communities (i.e., sections of towns) that do not have their own government. As to Wikipedia being descriptivist rather than presriptivist, I think it is important that while we describe how language is used, it is also imporatnat that we point out how it is misused and abused (or shall we start declaring that nucyoolar is a proper pronunciation just because there are a lot of misguided people who use it). User:Nricardo 14:14, Dec 13, 2004 (UTC) :There's a difference between formal and informal usage. If someone says they're going to run into the village to get some milk, when there is no "official" village there--are you going to go "tsk, tsk, that is considered incorrect and misleading"? I'd hope not. The point is that state legislatures do not have the authority to dictate language usage. They can decide what terms describe incorporated municipalities in that state, but that is not a bar from anyone else using the terms in ways that may not precisely comport with the state legislature's usage. As for "nucyoolar", I think a good dictionary would include some indication that that pronunciation is used by some. For example, check out [http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entries/49/n0184900.html]. In any case, perhaps we can include some additional note here about how such usage may be confusing in states where there are incorporated villages, without a chiding tone. User:Bkonrad≠User talk:Bkonrad 14:54, Dec 13, 2004 (UTC)

See other meanings of words starting from letter:

V