The Snowflake Forum

2007 Edition

A dialog, forum, editorial page of the

Blueberry Brain Institute

Including titles, commentary, and abstracts for the coming
2007 Winter Chaos Conference
March 29 – April 2, 2007

The Puerto Rico Athenaeum, San Juan & the Arecibo Observatory , Arecibo

Puerto Rico

The Blueberry Brain Institute is joined this year by the following co-sponsors:

Co-auspiciado por el (co-sponsored by the) Proyecto de Destrezas de Pensamiento; el Departamento de Ciencias Físicas;
y el Decanato de la Facultad de Estudios Generales del Recinto de Río Piedras de la Universidad de Puerto Rico.

Links to individual contributions:

Eva Linguistic Chaos 17^th Century Caribbean	Jerry Logics of Synthetic Symbol Systems (cancelled)	Neil Evolution in Language & Life	Roulette Evolution and Long-Term Memories	Ivy Self-Organization & Meaningful Information	Carlos The Ecology of Education	Matthijs Organizational Change
Micah Interference in L2 production	Dan In Memoriam	Martin Arts for Critical Thinking	Myriam Leadership Management Complexity	Bob Implexi Mundi	Ricardo Education & Climate	Angel Developmental Theories & Education
Daniel Pseudoscience & Education	Kathleen Evolution of Consciousness	Eva Teaching English	Jaoquin Teaching Science	Panel Education & Development	Luís Teaching Ethics	Fred Multifractals, EEG, & Cognition

Ivelisse Lazzarini

Ivelisse Lazzarini, OTD, OTR/L,
Creighton University
School of Pharmacy & Health Professions
Dept. of Occupational Therapy
Omaha, NE 68178

Learning: The Self-Organization and Nature of Meaningful Information

The quest for understanding the self-organization and meaning making of social systems necessitates a metaphorical overhaul of our illusions and assumptions of power and control. Instead of viewing social systems as Newtonian-like controlled machines whose dynamics need to be predicted, uncovered, and controlled, we must understand social systems as self-organizing entities whose properties emerge from interactions among agents

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Roulette William Smith, Ph.D.

Institute for Postgraduate Interdisciplinary Studies

Palo Alto, CA 94306-0846 USA

najms@Postgraduate-Interdisciplinary-Studies.org

Here are links to a short bio and a longer bio, both of which are fascinating reading. I’ll put other people’s bio’s on if they wish.

Short bio with picture

Longer bio, including some of his school projects

On the Biogenesis, Development and Evolution of Common Sense and Spirituality:

Implications for Critical Reasoning in the Sciences, Religions and Society

Roulette Wm. Smith, Ph.D.

Insititute for Postgraduate Interdisciplinary Studies

P. O. Box 60846

Palo alto, California 94306-0846 USA

E-Mail: najms@humanized-technologies.com

Abstract

Three seemingly disparate research interests reached remarkably confluent during the past five years. In 1979, I proposed that DNA is the likely repository of long-term memories in living systems (LTM; Smith, 1979). That report focused on roles of slowly infectious pathogens (e.g., lentiviruses and prions) in dementia, ‘immune dementia’ (e.g., HIV/AIDS), and evolution. A second set of reports explored aberrations in common sense in a cohort of elementary school children, and, ostensibly, the association between ‘aberrant’ common sense and transmissible negativism ‘psychoviruses’ (TN; Smith, 1987; Smith, 1988). Then, after reports of two human genome projects revealed tht the human proteome (i.e., gene-coding region of the genome) comprises approximately 1.2% of the human genome, (Nature, Feb. 15, 2001, 409; Science, Feb. 16, 2001, 291, 5507)I undertook an exploration of implications of the ‘DNA as LTM’ hypothesis for LTM I brain and evolution (Smith, 2003; Smith, 2006). These reports noted that crude measures of nurturance could be reflected in changing Guanine*Cytosine :: Adenine*Thymidine rations in selected regions in brain , and particularly in non-proteomic regions of the genome.

This presentation focuses on implications of the ‘DNA as LTM’ hypothesis for molecular and biological aspects of common sense and spirituality. If common sense is defined a core nurturance and mental speciation, and if spirituality is defined as mental speciation beyond common sense, we then consider the following questions: How ‘common’ are sense and spirituality? Is there an underlying molecular basis for either or both? Are there common changes in DNA associated with common sense and/or spirituality? If so, are those changes likely to be reflected in proteomic or non-proteomic regions of the genome? Because TN is implicated in ‘aberrant’ common sense, what factors contribute to alterations in common sense?

In addition, we explore themes emerging from an analysis of the notion of common sense in more than 40 languages. We also provide preliminary results from a study of the evolutionary impact of World War II on common sense among Germans and Holocaust survivors in the USA and Israel. These data and the TN data implicate war and trauma as factors contributing to divergences in common sense, thereby revealing concrete consequences of peace.

We conclude our report with analyses of broad implications of research on common sense and spirituality. Among these topics are: critical reasoning; common sense in science in contrast to “scientific methods;” similarities and differences in sciences and religions; and general social and evolutionary implications (e.g., for curriculum and instruction; economics; political science; disease and public health; and, systems research and chaos theory).

References

Smith, R. W. (1979). Long-Term Memories: Where Does the 'Buck' Stop? —

Toward a Testable Theory of Debugging the Molecular Basis of Long-Term

Memories in Living Organisms. Abstracts, Seventh Meeting of the

International Society for Neurochemistry [Jerusalem, ISRAEL — September

2-6], p. 590.

Smith, R. W. (1987). The National Impact of Negativistic Leadership: A Need for

National Caveats Emptor. In Abstracts, 1987 Annual Meeting of the Western

Political Science Association [Anaheim, CA — March 26-28], p. 28.

Smith, R. W. (1988). Transmissible Negativism and Its Possible Relation to

Irrational Behavior and Poor Common Sense. Presented to the XXIV

International Congress of Psychology [Sidney, AUSTRALIA — August 28 -

September 2].

Smith, R. Wm. (2003). Revisiting the Molecular Biology, Genetics and Genomics

of Long-Term Memory in Living Systems. Abstracts, XIX International

Congress of Genetics [Melbourne, AUSTRALIA – July 6-11], Abstract

#5.C.0802, p. 133.

Smith, R. Wm. (2006). Evolution and Long-Term Memories in Living Systems:

Using molecular biology to resolve three great debates … Lamarck versus

Darwin, Nature versus Nurture, and The Central Dogma. Webcast

Presentation to the San Francisco Tesla Society

(<www.sftesla.org/Newsletters/newslett2006.htm>) [San Francisco, CA –

February 12].

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Dan Miller, Clinical Psychologist, Brooklyn, In Memorium

Dan	Dan on the edge of chaos

Reconstructing the Functions and Architecture of Consciousness: With Psychology, Science & Homeodynamics

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Jerry Chandler, WESS (Washington Evolutionary Systems Society)
 

 

On the Systems of Logics of Synthetic Symbol Systems

Jerry LR Chandler

Research Professor

Krasnow Institute for Advanced Studies

George Mason University

Fairfax, Virginia

Jerry_LR_Chandler @ Mac.com

703-790-1651

Of the many forms of human communication, the symbols used in written messages play a special role in psychological, social and cultural evolution. Synthetic symbol systems express human values (emotional, ethical and epistemological) in grammatical forms.

The logics of various symbol systems will be approached from the necessity to construct systems of cues and codes that can be interpreted by recipients of the intentional messages. The focus will be on the potential for commutative diagrams among alphabetic, mathematical, chemical and genetic codes. 

Alternative Abstract

In this paper, I introduce the elements of a meta-symbol system for associating symbolic logics in four linguistic domains, those of natural language, mathematics, chemistry, and biology, in order to show the unique and shared features among them. This meta-symbolic system should prove generalizable to all linguistic and scientific domains. The logical goal is to separate the mechanisms of pairings of symbols used in constructing messages such that the presuppositions of the statements are unambiguous. It is desirable that the architecture of the graphic structure of the meta symbol brings to mind a distinguishing feature of the symbolic logic. With these goals in mind, I designed a suitable architecture for each abstract meta-symbol such that a form of a logical distinction is innate in the structure.

Key Words: Meta-symbols, Logic, Mechanisms of Symbolic Pairings, Associations.

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Myriam C. Melga

Astra Zeneca

Leadership…Management…Complexity

Much has been written about the self-organizing dynamics of managing institutions comprise of ever changing human minds. However, in times when the concepts of merging, changing, replacing, regrouping, remodeling, shuffling, and the piloting of new ideas is part of the everyday vocabulary viewed as seemingly inconsequential, how do managers keep up with the changing landscape at hand? How can managers afford those with distinct learning pathways and less flexible basins accept the overwhelming variations in managerial propositions lacking the understanding of the concepts expressed by complexity. In this presentation, I would like to propose and discuss some of the present and immediate situations faced by those managing change when suddenly change is habit!

Ivy writes: Myriam is originally from Panama (many 'winds' ago), she is an Executive leading Clinical Trials in Astra Zeneca [international pharmaceutical company] and a family member. She attended a seminar with Eoyang about 3 years ago and is interested in continuing learning the dynamics of leadership/management. I have invited her to participate in our gathering and put together a discussion/presentation regarding Management and Change.

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Kathleen Wall

Evolution of Consciousness

Psychospiritual Integration and Transformation (PSIT): An integration of psychologicaland spiritual growth

Psychospiritual Integration and Transformation (PSIT) integrates psychotherapy and spiritual practice. The evolution of consciousness is the theoretical foundation. Integral Yoga (Sri Aurobindo and The Mother) provides the basis for spiritual evolution, complemented by Jean Gebser’s socio-historical theory of the “Structures of Consciousness.” Integral Yoga and Psychosynthesis (Assagioli) provide clinically essential approaches to transforming the ego-centered personality and providing for unique expressions of transpersonal consciousness. Theory, practice, research and professional education of (PSIT) will be presented.

Biography: Kathleen Wall, Ph.D. Associate Professor the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, board member of American Psychological Association Div. 32 (Humanistic Psychology), a licensed psychologist, she was the founding Executive Director of the Mental Health Resource Center, Jacksonville, Florida, and the Director of Counseling Services at San Jos’e State University, Ca. She is currently conducting research on the integration of spirituality in psychotherapy and spirituality and health to add to the evidence base on transpersonal psychotherapy. She co-authored with Gary Ferguson, Lights of Passage: Rites and Rituals for the Problems and Pleasures of Modern Life and Rites of Passage: Celebrating Life's Changes (1998) translated into French (2005) and with Olga Luchakov Evolution of consciousness in response to terrorist attacks: Towards a transpersonal theory of cultural transformation, The Humanistic Psychologist, 30 (3) Fall, 2002 252-273. She is in private practice of PSIT. kwall@sbcglobal.net 800-910-2345.

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 Bob Porter (abstract: philosophy and practice of science)
 

Bob Porter, Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Tampa, Florida; Clinical Psychologist and Outpatient Therapist, Directions for Mental Health, Clearwater, Florida; Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of New Orleans.

rjporter@mindspring.com, www.mindspring.com/~rjporter

IxM

Introducing Implexi Mundi: Collaborative Internet — Worlds of Complexity

Bob Porter,  Michael Pilling, & Fred Abraham

Bob is announcing the embryonic Implexi Mundi, a Wikipedia of Dynamics and Complexity created by Bob, and by Michael, a Wiki guru (Michael will participate on-line, and Fred Abraham, Terry Marks Tarlow, and Grant Brenner. Bob writes:

Michael will contribute some material he has developed in the past.  I will massage it into a coherent presentation < 40 min.  bob and Fred can ad-lib specifics of Implexit Mundi (IxM?).  Hopefully we may be able to make it actually available for people to play with at the conference site and, of course, have it accessible via the web for participants afterwards.  I am hoping people will be interested in making contributions/comments re their and other's presentations at IxM. We are hoping Michael can actually be present via internet or speaker phone. 

There are two articles so far in IxM, by Terry and Fred. IxM invites your participation with comments and edits for improvements and new contributions.

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Martin Gardiner

Arts for Critical Thinking

I wanted to mention to you that in my talk I would like to focus on a book I am writing.  Part I (about 150 pages) is finished and we (a nonprofit called Arts for Critical Thinking (ACT) is in the process of publishing it. It presents lessons linking arts training to training in every major topic in both math and language arts in Elementary School. Nothing at this level of detail is yet around, as far as I know. Part I contains some essays and 42 lesson plans intended for the classroom teacher. Each lesson is about 20 minutes long so that it can be easily integrated with other curriculum. Though the focus is on the arts, this gives me an opportunity to also reexamine how language arts and math skill and understanding can be promoted with training similar to what I also advocate for music and visual arts. I can send you more information if you wish.  As you might expect, I am building on Dewey, but with more focus on specific topics, and research and theory about how the brain organizes what it does pressing in from the background.

You might want to think about writing some lessons for more advanced students I can see us beginning to publish lessons by different authors under their names. Right now we are focused on Elementary Grades, but going to later grades is certainly in our planning too.

Fred’s response: I don’t know if I can pull it off, but I have some embryonic ideas that potentially could contribute to Martin’s book. These arise from my experiences with special teaching projects in elementary and middle schools in Vermont and the Philippines (where I hope to resume them soon). In Stowe Middle School I used computer programming, logic, and mathematical reasoning (early dialect of Basic) as part of a program to instill both scientific curiosity and critical thinking. One year this was done in collaboration with the art teacher, and some of the programming (other methods as well) involved making artistic images; it went on display in the local art museum along with an annual student art show. In the Philippines, at Silliman High School, we did art, and in the elementary school (grades 4-6) we did similar programs. As much of the computer work was based on Logo, it has a music tool, and I loosed the students on that. I emphasized not learning basic elements of music, with which they were not familiar, but just let them create sound as they liked, ad lib via programming, so to speak. The creativity was fantastic, not being bound by usual rules (an idea that in some respects goes back to Galileo’s dad). (click my blueberry home page just below, then synergistic dynamics and Silliman menu items).

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Carlos Torre Yale and Southern Connecticut

Carlos at Snowflake 2004	Kai y Carlos, Puerto Rico, horsing around

The Ecology of Education: A Look at Shared Accountability

Carlos Antonio Torre

carlos.torre@yale.edu

2765 Yale Station

New Haven, CT 06520

203 668-9940

(Bio)

Carlos Antonio Torre earned three degrees at Harvard University: an Ed.M. in Human Development; a Certificate of Advance Studies in Administration, Planning and Social Policy; and a Doctorate of Education. He is, currently, Professor of Education at Southern Connecticut State University; former President of the New Haven, Connecticut Board of Education (member: 1993-2003 also 2006 to the present); and a Fellow at Yale University, where he served for seven years as Assistant Dean of the College and a member of the Psychology faculty.

Dr. Torre is an elected member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico and was awarded the Academy’s Medal of the Academician. Other awards include: the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences’ first award for "humanitarian, ground-breaking contributions to the understanding of the mind through the application of dynamical science perspectives to educational psychology"; the Connecticut Association of Latin Americans in Higher Education (CALAHE) award "for contributions made toward the improvement of educational opportunities for Hispanics in higher education"; and others.

Through the use of Recurrence Quantification Analysis, Dr. Torre's research seeks to identify characteristic patterns in the autonomic nervous system associated with particular emotions, (i.e., the emotions children experience as they learn). His publications include: articles on non-linear dynamics applied to education; a book-length research monograph on the triadic nature of the mind and university students’ quality of thinking; chapters on educators “Eugenio Maria de Hostos and “Michael Apple”; an edited volume on Puerto Rican Migration; and a book in-progress on the “Ecology of Education.

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Matthijs Koopmans, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation

'Dynamical systems, organizational change and organizational outcomes: Perspectives from philanthropy.'

I'd like to talk about my experiences at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, where I am currently employed. The foundation supports youth organizations, particularly by helping them strengthen their organizational infrastructure and growing of their service capacity. Nonlinear dynamical systems models are highly relevant, and underutilized in this area of work. The kind of change we hope our grantees will accomplish with our help is qualitative and nonlinear in nature, and it requires a systemic engagement with grantee organizations, which is analogous to the way family therapists engage with families.

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Fred Blueberry Brain Institute, Waterbury Center, VT, USA & Department of Psychology, Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Philippines

Priscilla at Cork, 2004, Philippine songs	Fred circa 2004, Wagner Tuba

An Inquiry/Review by Frederick David Abraham on

“Human electroencephalograms seen as fractal time series: Mathematical analysis and visualization”, by Vladimir Kulish, Alexei Sourin, Olga Sourina (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), Computers in Biology and Medicine, 36, (2006), 291-302.

Abstract

Terry Marks-Tarlow mentioned this article on CHAOPSYC, the discussion list server at UVM owned by David Houston, Bob Porter, and me and shared with the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences (and open to all who observe proper netiquette). I inquired about this paper because I wondered if the brain measures that she mentioned might have the temporal-spatial resolution necessary to answer the kinds of questions on cognition with which she was concerned. The article offers innovational data-analytical and graphic methods. This review represents my inquiry into the issues involved. It was a challenge due to my mathematical limitations, and should be considered as raising questions, not as an authoritative critique. I suggest ways to develop its usefulness based on my own ideas and on those of Sprott.

Both the multifractal statistical and the EEG-visualization parts of this paper are highly innovative and useful. As research reporting they are incomplete due to the paper being mainly a methodological paper. There is some detail missing which I presume it due mainly to editorial policies of the journal regarding space availability. I was unfamiliar with both aspects of the paper, and found the review/inquiry a valuable learning experience, and present my investigation of it as a motivation to others that might be interested in developing or using such tools. To my thinking, this paper is highly sophisticated and valuable. My review can be viewed at my blueberry site.

Cyborgs, Cyberspace, Cybersexuality and the
Evolution of Everyday Creativity

Everyday creativity lives at the fractal imbrications of the individual and culture, which are evolving in some very rapid ways. Advances in science and technology drive much of this evolution. Some of these advances are in computer systems (cyberspace); some are in the hybridization of the human body with robotics (cyborgs); and some are in communications, artificial intelligence, cloning, genetic manipulation, stem cell research, pharmaceutical and molecular manipulation, nanotechnology, and so on. This evolution influences the programs of emancipation suggested by postmodern social theory and philosophical hermeneutics. Cybersexuality is a prime example.

This evolution also involves two very fundamental human motivations, those for optimizing knowledge and for optimizing stability. The quests for truth and for stability are at once two sides of the same tapestry, sometimes in competition with each other, and sometimes synergistic, but always interactive, playing in the same attractor. Creativity lies in exploring where and how to weave within these fractal imbrications. And creativity requires instability.

Let us have an unstable discussion concerning some aspects of this evolution. Please be ready to offer your favorite science fiction work as an example of issues raised. My paper can be found by returning to blueberry-brain home page (click just below), and selecting chaophilosophy, then Cybersexuality.

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Neill Edwards
 

 

Evolution of Language: or

The Escape from Perceived Chaos.

Abstract.

Over the centuries—nay, millennia, human beings and many other species have been trying to develop means of communicating with others of their kind and—more recently - with some other species, ranging from dogs to SETI. Much research has attempted to trace backwards the development of language towards a ‘proto-language’ which some linguist believe to be the earliest form of human communication. It seems that before that time, perhaps 100,000 years ago, we merely communicated by inarticulate grunts, growls and inevitably by the use of the fist. So perhaps it may construed that at earliest times language was an attempt of sorts, for people to move from lingual chaos towards some rational way to recognize, describe and manipulate the world around them. Eventually, languages became more distinct and separate – so much so that there are some 6000 or more separate tongues in the world today.

We proudly think that our language is rational, logical and that it can be used to delineate almost anything. Similarly, mathematicians might think the same – perhaps with greater reason. But mathematics is only able to describe things, real and virtual in a way that is emotionally detached, cold—and sometimes almost inhuman. Human beings are far more complex than any mathematical formula—indeed, since such formulae have to have been created by humans, they necessarily are less than their creator. Humans involve feelings and emotion—mental states that psychologists and psychiatrists attempt to understand. But there are many areas of human behavior, beliefs etc., that have yet to be addressed in any methodical way. And perhaps there are some areas of the mind that will never be reduced to any form of simplistic understanding.

Which is the point at which we often turn to poetry. Poems are considered by some to be the most charged of all forms of written communication and they are used in every language of which I am aware – except perhaps, mathematics, although there is at least one song written about the adoption of New Math in schools. But poetry, which covers many different areas of life, includes most emotional conditions. Much of the simpler forms end up as popular songs—and even some of the most serious work has been set to music. It has been said that when prose fails, poetry begins.

But the most difficult and often the most complex verse (although by no mean s he longest) seems to occur with the major transitions in life – birth and death (the Taxes mentioned in the subtitle are what we all have to do in the meantime). Birth and Death.

Birth, I know little about. Any mother will automatically know more. That said however, one could consider that the growth of a child, from silence to incoherence to eventual coherence and sensibility—or for that matter, sensitivity—mirrors in some small way the development of the human race over the last half million years.

Poetry about a birth would seem almost nonsensical—except of course in the hands of Handel, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven; as well as many others. But still their work is about a single babe, whose history—if such it be—is well known; and whose terminus is also known. When it comes to the birth of a child in these modern times, we cannot predict or project in other than the vaguest of terms how that child will grow and how he or she will then face life; which direction will it take?

Death on the other hand is more approachable, recognized by all. And in different societies across the globe, many rituals have grown up—ostensibly to honor the dead, to mitigate the grief of relatives and friends—but for other purposes as well. And when we construct something to say about the dead, we are able to mix information about their lives, achievements, failures with other built-in messages of things we would like to see done or changed. And perhaps most of all, to reinforce where needed the commitment to continue life, regardless of these unfortunate circumstances.

 I include some examples of poems that seem to me to explore these points., together with some short annotations relates to their meaning and implications.
 

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Daniel R. Altschuler

daniel@naic.edu

Short biography

Daniel was born in Montevideo, Uruguay the son of German immigrants. He was raised speaking German at home and Spanish in the streets. In due course he obtained a bachelors degree in Engineering from Duke University in North Carolina. He then completed his Ph.D in Physics at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, and followed this with postdoctoral studies at the University of Maryland. His research was centered on the study of active galactic nuclei and hydrogen in galaxies utilizing various radiotelescopes.

In 1981 he joined the physics faculty of the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras and in 1989 joined the staff of the Arecibo Observatory of which he became director in 1991, a position he held until 2003. In 1997, the Angel Ramos Visitor and Educational facility was inaugurated at the Observatory, a results of his efforts to raise funds and promote the project, which has by now been visited by over one million persons. He was the author of approximately 50% of the text of public exhibits at the facility, and editor of all bilingual texts.

His concern for the very poor understanding of science by a large sector of the population, the increasing isolation of science and scientists from political, social, and cultural matters has resulted in several books that consider these issues.

Children of the Stars - Our Origin Evolution and Destiny (Cambridge University Press, 2002), was selected by the Library of Science Book Club (February 2003) and a review in the New York Times said in part: “"...a slim, elegant and richly illustrated book for the general reader that somehow manages to convey the most important concepts of virtually all the scientific disciplines-astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, evolutionary theory, geology." The Spanish edition, Hijos de las Estrellas, (Akal, Madrid) was awarded a second prize by the Institute of Puerto Rican Literature in 2002. The Italian translation was published in 2005, L'Universo e l'origine della vita (Milano, Mondadori), and a German edition will be published in 2007.

Ciencia, Pseudociencia y Educación (with co-authors Joaquín Medín and Edwin Núñez) was Published in 2005, (Editorial Callejón Puerto Rico). (second edition 2007) and Mokita en blanco y negro: un documento diatribico contemporáneo was published in 2006 (Editorial Foca Madrid).

His articles in the local press have also been recognized by the Institute of Puerto Rican Literature with two prizes for journalism. In 2005 he was named president of the science section of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño and in 2006 he was awarded the Cátedra UNESCO at the Universidad de Valencia. Patronat SUD-NORD, where he taught a course called cosmic ecology.

Daniel lives with his wife Celia in Hatillo, Puerto Rico, where his garden planted with exotic fruit trees, is a source of great pride. He enjoys soccer, tennis, the sea, and music from salsa to Sibelius.
 

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Eva de Lourdes Edwards

Eva de Lourdes Edwards, PhD

Director

Student Support Services Program

College of General Studies

University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras

PO Box 23323

San Juan, PR 00931-3323

Email: eedwards@ uprrp.edu

Linguistic Chaos in the 17^th Century Caribbean

The Clash of European & Amerindian Languages in the Years following Columbus & the Ensuing Lingual Chaos Leading Eventually to the Demise of Some Languages & the Enrichment of Others

The Columbian exchange takes place soon after 1492. Traders, slaves, indentured servants and others sail through the Caribbean and later travel North and South. By the mid 1600s, Caribbean and European/African nautical terms and accompanying merchandise, integrate to make new words, and by extension new visions of worlds on both sides of the Atlantic. This multi-language, bi-directional maritime linguistic voyage takes place within two generations.

Exquemelin sails the St. John past Barbados and the islands in between. The Buccaneers of America, published in 1678 in Dutch, provides the first of four languages of this Caribbean Rosetta stone. Within 8 years, a best seller by 17^th century standards, it is translated to Spanish (1681), English (1684) and French (1686). The intended audience of the book was the European of Europe. Words derived from Amerindian languages, ancient American foods and methods of preparation required minimal or no explanations because they had already been assimilated into European languages and cultures.

The premise is that in less than 176 years the creolization of 4 European languages had already taken place. Nautical terms are selected because they are generally an area steeped in tradition, and changes happen slower than on land. For example, a nautical mile has been the same length for hundreds of years, while the statutory mile changed length at the whim of kings. Yet, after 1492, all 4 navies used hammocks for their shipboard berths, derived from a word and custom of Carib Arawak origin.

Brief Biography:

Eva de Lourdes Edwards is presently director of the Student Support Services Program and a professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico. She teaches the course Computer Assisted Academic English Writing to first year university students. She also teaches graduate on-line courses at Fairfield University in Connecticut, the most recent being, Linguistics for Teachers. She has a PhD in applied linguistics from the University of Connecticut, under Curriculum and Instruction, in the School of Education. As a Yale University fellow, she participated in research on ancient America studies, where she published a curriculum unit on Cultural Aspects of Spanish in America, for the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

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Micah Corum

University of Puerto Rico- Rio Piedras

Interference in L2 production:

Problems with transference and generalization strategies

Second language learners (SLLs) use transfer techniques when trying to comprehend how a target language grammar works. Because all languages appear to be subject to universal constraints, any given target language will share grammatical principles with every of other language; these are the set principles that govern Universal Grammar (Gass and Selinker 2001). Hence, because all languages share some properties and syntactical notions with other languages, it may serve the SLL to generalize the application of some syntactical rules to a target language when building the interlanguage grammar.

In this paper, I focus on the linguistic transfer of rules from Spanish to English. Specifically, I examine transfer of rules related to the syntax of interrogative sentences containing embedded wh-questions. I hope to provide answers to the following: why do Spanish speakers of English fail to move the verb to be to final-position when producing an utterance that contains an embedded wh-question? I discuss parametric settings and language transfer which help to explain why this frequent grammatical error recurs in the production of English by fluent second language learners. I will apply the notions of overgeneralization and transference to the unsatisfactory syntactical formations that Spanish SLLs of English tend to produce in sentences requiring the movement of to be to post-subject position in embedded wh-questions.

Parameters vary in languages concerning when and where inversion will occur. That is, in a certain parameter setting of a language, subject-verb inversion either will or will not occur; furthermore, the parameter will govern where inversion may occur with relation to the other constituents. For example, to produce a simple wh-question, both Spanish and English require the inversion of the verb to be to phrase-initial position; this inversion technique satisfies the grammar. In the case of embedded questions, however, English differs from Spanish concerning the syntactical order of the verb and the subject. More specifically, in English the use of the verb to be in a question involving locality does not call for inversion when that question is contained in the sentence as an embedded clause; inverting the verb will generate ungrammaticality and, thus, will not satisfy the grammar. The following example illustrates the syntactic structure affecting parametric variation in verb (mis)placement that this paper will examine:

(1) *Do you know where is my car?

A Spanish SLL of English who, albeit, speaks the language fluently will produce this error in his speech because of A) overgeneralization, B) transference, or C) both.

Works Cited

Flynn, Suzanne. “Government Binding: parameter-setting in Second Language

Acquisition.” Linguistics and Language Pedagogy: The State of the Art. J Atlas ED. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 1991. 529-47.

Gass, Susan and Larry Selinker. Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course.

2nd ED. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001.
 
 

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Ricardo Morales
Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad de Puerto Rico
CV
 
Education and Climate: Initiative to bridge research and education into a sustainable weather network
 

Dr. Ricardo J. Morales De Jesús-1

Mr. Manuel S. Sanfiorenzo de Orbeta-2

Mr. Fernando Carrillo Hernaiz-3

1-Physical Sciences Department

2-Geography Department

3-Education in Mathematics

University of Puerto Rico – Río Piedras Campus

P.O. Box 23323, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-3323

rjmorales@uprrp.edu

The island of Puerto Rico, located in the Caribbean region, can be suitable scenario for cutting edge meteorology and climatology research of tropical marine environments. Puerto Rico is an island with an area of 100 miles long by 35 miles wide. It has a wide variety of micro climates that are subjected to extreme atmospheric disturbances, mostly hurricanes. There is availability of research institutions of higher education. Also, several research groups concerned with interdisciplinary interests on climate and climate change. The convergence of interests provides scientific expertise in several fields, for example the Caribbean Climate Studies group can be highlighted. A growing need of high quality meteorological data is evident from the growing needs of modeling and validation of remote sensed data.

The above mentioned conditions make the study of the meteorology and climatology of Puerto Rico a challenge and a desired goal. Also the topics of weather and climate have been identified as a common ground were research scientists, educators, alumni, teachers and students from Puerto Rico can share research activities with mutual benefit. An outreach initiative, named Education and Climate, was developed to provide a virtual learning environment and database for the education and research communities to share. We envision the possibility of a shared administration of a research quality network of weather stations.

The Puerto Rico Weather Network was designed with fourteen weather stations in the eastern part of Puerto Rico. The implementation of the network of sensors was the most challenging part, but our goal was to provide reliability, high precision and quality data in educational context. The ten schools in the network were the corner stone to build the educational and scientific framework. Several teacher training initiatives were implemented to strengthen the project. Our project links research and education, with activities centered on the contribution of the teachers and their students.
 

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Panel
Human Development, Dynamical Systems, and Education
Project for the Development of Thinking Skills
University of Puerto Rico

A critique and reconstruction from a dynamical system perspective of developmental theories and of their implications for educational practices
Angel R. Villarini Jusino

Understanding and teaching English as non vernacular language from a dynamical system perspective
Eva de Lourdes Edwards

Understanding and Teaching Science from a dynamical systems perspective
Joaquin Medin

Understanding and teaching ethics from a dynamical systems perspective
Luís Pio Sánchez.

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update: March 21, 2007