Save the Chamorro Language

The Chamorro language is a threatened language with 18,000 speakers in North America. The overall number of speakers in 1990 was 35,000, but in 2010 the total number decreased to 25,000. The Chamorro language belongs to the group of western Austronesian languages, including the languages of Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Palau. It originates from over 5,000 years ago. The culture is rich with unique dances, apparel, and cuisines. One of the core values of the culture is unity, mainly caring for others and working together as a community. The social values are highly respect-based and include social traditions, such as kissing the hands of the elderly. Since the amount of Chamorro speakers has declined rapidly over the past 30 years, efforts have been made to teach the language both through classes and through speaking it at home. As the amount of speakers has decreased the number of classes, DVDs, and websites teaching the Chamorro language has increased. (http://mvguam.com/local/news/28512-saving-the-chamorro-language.html)


 A traditional Chamorro dance--song and dance are major aspects of the Chamorro culture. (Picture source: http://tasithoughts.com/2008/10/13/tao-tao-tano-people-of-the-land-guam-culture-in-dance/)

http://ns.gov.gu/language.html 
http://ns.gov.gu/culture.html

Symbols

Above is the symbol for chaos and confusion.  is the symbol for the sun, but can also represent spirit.  is the symbol for earth, but can represent physical matter. By placing the matter over the mind and spirit, chaos is created. When the symbol is flipped upside-down, it represents perfection. Because the symbols that make up this symbol have multiple meanings, it could be considered ambiguous. Since the symbol for spirit can also represent the sun, and the symbol for matter can represent earth, the symbol for chaos looks as though it relates to the earth's orbit around the sun. A problem of knowledge would be misinterpreting the overall symbol due to limited knowledge of the symbols it is composed of.

Above is the symbol for perfection; it is the reflection of chaos. Meaning that when the mind is placed above physical matter, all is right and balanced.

WOK-global views

 "...Learning additional languages enhances the learning of the 'mother tongue' as well as broadening a student's worldview." 
It is true that learning addition languages strengthens a student's understanding of their first language. When learning a second language the student often learns rules about language that can be applied to their own. By learning how a language is put together a student is able to take what they have learned and apply their knowledge to their own "mother tongue".  This knowledge is also used to broaden overall understanding of culture and language. 

Alex and Ray have multiple qualities that support language learning. Both were introduced to language at a young age and through traveling were able to immerse themselves in language. They are both social people, which makes it easier for them to be to be exposed to languages. Their minds are able to recognize patterns easily, especially in sounds.

When it comes to spoken language, I find that I am more of an auditory learner. I learn best by hearing a word or phrase  repeatedly and mimicking it back. When I took French I found that the only way I could pronounce the words correctly was to disregard the spelling and listen to another person say the word. For example, I knew that "goodbye" in French was pronounced "or-ev-wa" before I even took the class. But when I learned that the word was spelled "au revoir" I began to mispronounce the word slightly because I was focused on how I thought it should sound based on the spelling. When it comes to Latin, however, I am a visual learner and I learn through writing. This is mostly because Latin is a dead language and so the pronunciation of the words is not as important as the spelling. Even so, I find that the pronunciation of Latin words is much easier to sound out than French. 

There are pros and cons to both language uniformity and language diversity. Although language uniformity would allow for the entire human race to communicate through one language, culture and individuality would be lost (not to mention that converting the entire world to one language would most likely be impossible). Although language diversity allows for individual culture, it can make communication difficult and ideas can be lost in translation. During the class debate I spoke in favor of language diversity. I said that varying languages and cultures are what make humans unique. I pointed out that there are some ideas and emotions that can only be expressed in certain languages and therefore get lost in translation. The solution to this, however, is not to eliminate these languages, but to learn them. Although language uniformity and language diversity both have advantages and disadvantages, language diversity is a better option. 

Skepticism, Evasive Agnosticism, & Narrow-mindedness

Skepticism is reluctance to accept conclusion as true. There is skepticism as a permanent attitude, which is unhelpful, and then also skepticism in fitting situations where the information given in insufficient. There is also the moderate and extreme skeptic. The extreme believes that there is no truth and the moderate believes that humans are not capable of understanding it. Agnosticism is when a person believes they do not know enough to come to a conclusion and therefore does not deem a statement true or false. Evasive agnosticism is when a person claims to not have enough knowledge to come to a conclusion when they actually do. Narrow mindedness is when a person refuses to consider certain options because they do not fit with their prejudiced assumptions. For example, if a person were to refuse to listen to a band because they were classified as a country group. This person had previously decided they hated all country music because they heard a few country songs they didn't like and is refusing to listen to this band even if it was a separate sub-genre of country.

Logical Fallacy: Gambler's Fallacy

Gambler's Fallacy
The gambler's fallacy is the idea that since something does not follow what is expected to occur, it must end soon. This fallacy comes from people having a false understanding of probability. When flipping a coin there is a 50% chance of landing on heads, and a 50% chance of landing on tails. Say that a coin was flipped 10 times and landed of heads each time, it seems more likely that in the next 10 flips the coin will land on tails. This, however, is false. When a coin is flipped it is not being affected by any of the flips before it; the chance is still 50/50.
Video with more on coin toss probablity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf4ZmWc_jmA


Appeal to Authority: