Dear Editor,

The inherent value of being an independent thinker, one that is free from the influences of preconceived cognitive biases, is incalculable. Relying on one’s autonomy to process the world we inhabit inevitably results in us becoming able to exercise our heavily endowed capacities for a highly autonomous existence. To mold or shape the totality of our earthly experiences independent of and free from the impact of pre designed societal roles and conventions serves to extricate us from the fetters of the socialisation processes and conditioning which many of us ever so often unconsciously submit to.

Being able to resist the ever so present urge which viscerally pokes us to trade in our individuality for guidance from without activates and keeps in motion our often untapped capacities for relying on self. Constantly resisting we set in motion our facility for self-reliance which instantaneously consults the economy of our individuality, constantly withdrawing from its reservoir the intangible internal resources needed for the preservation of our agency, thus reinforcing our immunity from rigid conformity. Becoming susceptible to contamination and contagion from the singular and boring consciousness of the collective dangerously enables unhealthy encroachment on the innocent mental spaces that were once available and fertile for the development of and employment of our sense of autonomy.

This highly individuated project of becoming separated from the ways of the collective can span an entire lifetime during the course of which we will be subjected to fierce resistance from its foe – the dull, stagnant, unimaginative, thoughtless and dependent herd. Unavoidably, following the commencement of this secernate enterprise forces of conformity and nonconformity, orthodoxy and unorthodoxy, are now engaged in an internal conflict to assert each other’s superiority and dominance. For those who are acutely aware of this inwardly directed struggle, the battle is won even before it is actually waged, as a conscious choice is made in the nascent stages of this contest to remove oneself from the state of mental dependency which perpetually characterizes the unthinking masses.

It becomes a tragedy of epic proportions for the huge chunk of individuals whose faculties regrettably have now become a homogeneous mass of uniformity easily recognizable to each other. The tragic loss of this vast store of innocent human capacities that were once available and in service of independent self regulation has now succumbed to a highly regimented and predictable communal existence. A mechanical state of being now ensues inhabiting souls whose spiritless and lifeless existence desires nothing else save for the continuation of a sustained recurring nature populated with perspective less and thoughtless conformities. Sadly, there remains no inherent creative human equity in this automated mental mode of being, as any sense of one’s authenticity and separation from the blunt uninspiring herd is now conspicuously non-existent.

In this robotic disposition nothing new or fresh proceeds from within the confines of one’s cranium. Neural pathways after being bombarded with persistently tedious stimuli become incapable of being stimulated when presented with unorthodox views or ways of perceiving or thinking differently about the world. One’s sense of the possibility of becoming autonomous becomes the only antidote to undo or reverse this imposed mental monotony which invariably results in cognitive indolence. Even if one periodically aligned oneself with the modus operandi of the confirming sect, consciously suspending one’s faculty for independent thought and momentarily regurgitating and spewing the common utterances of the collective, it is still imperative that we seek to discontinue the perpetuation of this impoverished mental state. As voluntarily prolonging the inactivity of our frontal lobe will eventually relieve us of a defining feature of what essentially makes us human-our capacity for independent thought.

Earnestly fostering a culture of self directed thought in the early stages of one’s mortal lifespan is an important undertaking primarily because it disallows an inauthentic way of being from dominating our earthly vacation. An original planetary existence enables the proliferation of unique perspectives which is essential for resolving problems and challenges we have hitherto imposed upon ourselves. It is counterproductive to keep employing uninterested structured, inflexible and regimented thought systems that continue to reproduce and perpetuate mass invariability of thought. Our efforts to assert the contents of our subjectivity which excitingly and enthusiastically awaits moments to distinguish its capacity for self directed thought and expression ought to be profusely encouraged.

Orlando Patterson

The long-awaited transition from the Netherlands Antillean guilder to the Caribbean guilder is finally happening at the end of March. Originally, this new joint currency for Curaçao and St. Maarten was supposed to be introduced on October 10, 2010, the date when the Netherlands Antilles ceased to exist, giving way to the new CAS and BES entities. Now, 15 years later, the switch is finally taking place.

Dear Editor,

To begin, the study of Linguistics Science will help multilingual students and speakers develop a chosen career in the field of linguistics and phonetics. Linguistics science provides information concerning the historical development and structure of language.

This article provides vital information about linguistics science and phonology to students and speakers of Other Languages. The bilingual, multilingual, and general English speakers will find it necessary in the study of modern languages.

Linguistics – The science of language, or the study of language, including, speech, sounds, language structure, history, historical relationship and language forms. Phonology is the study of the system of sounds used in language. It includes the study of stress, rhythm and intonation, Phonology comes from the Greek (phoneme=sound).

A linguist is a person who studies the history and structure of language, or a person who speaks different languages or two languages well. The field of linguistics and phonetics dates back to the 4^th-6^th century B.C. Phonetics – the study of speech sounds, the means by which they are produced, and the manner in which they are perceived. Linguistics and phonetics are related to anatomy and physiology, neurology, antropology, physics and music. The classification of speech, sight and touch are essential in teaching foreign languages, correcting mistakes of children, and for teaching the deaf and blind to learn and perceived accordingly.

Linguistics dialects were made possible by construction of linguistics atlases by the Germans and French in 1875, 1902, and 1910 established that a phonetic law was a best statement of historical fact explaining the social, economic, and historical changes in the study of linguistics. Aitchison, Jean, in the book “Teach Yourself Linguistics”, sixth edition 2003, stated linguistics is the systemic of language, and tries to answer four important questions: What is language? How does language work? How does human language differ from animal communication? How does a child learn to speak? According to Aitchison, linguistics look first at the spoken word, which preceded the written everywhere in the world.

Dr. Rhoda Arrindell, a local linguist, in her book “Language, Culture and Identity”, explained spoken linguistics to include a national dialect of local cultural ancestors’ expressions for mother tongue usage.

John Duns Scotus (C.1266-C.1308) linguist, philosopher, theologist, teacher and scholar. He links the study of theology with the study of linguistics and fights against classical learning relating to ancient Greek and Roman influence on language, literature, and culture. The word “dunce” came from John Duns. His followers were called Duns men who were educated, smart, and brilliant. Today, the word dunce is misused in the English language and applied to any opponent of education to mean a dull ignorant person, or a learner slower than others.

Historical Linguistics and the English Language: During the 8^th-11^th Century AD, Vikings were Scandinavian sea pirates and traders. They invaded and settled in parts of North-Western Europe. England was one of those parts. The Danes-Scandinavian branch of the Vikings spread their territory and established the United Danish Kingdom in 1397-1523 in parts of Europe. They also brought their own words and symbols with them into the old English Language. When the Germans conquered England many years ago, Germanic became the mother language of England. Old English words were the Anglo-Saxon language of England. The Germans introduced their own symbols with pronunciation of words and letters of the alphabet into the English language. Examples include Germanic-Scandinavian words transfer from old English into modern English are words such as skill, window, leg, birth and glitter are just a few.

When the French Normans invade England in 1066, they also brought many French words into the English language. Many French words from old English days are still used in modern English language. Examples include: help, royal, clothes, dress, aid and kingly, and many others.

The Netherlands also made their own contribution to old words used today in modern English such as boom, deck, easel, stoop, freight and etch. Today, most modern English vocabulary are taken from the Greek and Latin. Examples include: biology (GK) bios means life and logos = study; psychology (GK) psche means soul or the mind; phonology (GK) phone means sounds; lingua (L) meaning language; navalis (L) meaning navy; datum (L) meaning data. The meaning of many English words can be easily recognized and identified by prefixes and suffixes, please see the above examples.

Slang and Phrases of Native Speakers: Slang – Words highly informal of a particular social group of people, or words and phrases that are used in everyday informal speech but which are not regarded as standard English. P.S. They should not be used in formal business communication. Examples are: I haven’t a clue – to mean I don’t know; rip-off – to mean steal; paps – to mean an elderly person; wheels – to mean a car; bloke or chap – to mean a man; dosh or dough – to mean money; you done know – to mean you know; spliff – to mean Cannabis, joint, cigarette; undocumented – to mean no legal residence.

Idioms are also slang dialects. They are mostly colloquial or local language. They usually understand locally by social groups. Examples include: countries within the Kingdom – for part of the Netherlands group; sells like hot bread – for fast selling items; a piece of cake – easy to understand; petite monnaie – for small money (Haitian dialect); Curaçao local Papimento – basta-bon for I am feeling all right; mi-ta-bon for I’m feeling alright; Dominica local creole – papa bondieu for oh my God; St. Lucian creole –toute le monde for everyone; Jamaican local dialect – tel im for tell him (they hardly pronounced the (h); Antiguan local dialect – nam for eating; puppa for father, gal for girl in other Caribbean territories; etc.

Jargons are specialized vocabulary or trade talk. Laypeople will understand the meaning of Jargons in words or phrases that follow: Data – information assumed; database – set of data held in a computer; interface – meeting between; quantum leap – big advance; death-trap – very dangerous; debt – money; equity – shares; build – save; plagiarize – copy other people’s work; path – career.

Homophones: homophones are words that sounds the same but have different spellings and meaning. They cause many problems to foreign students, and other speakers of English, both in spoken and written language. Examples are: bean, bin, been, being; to, too, two; bear, beer, bare; cheer, chair; counsel, council; principal, principle; licence, license; dependent, dependant; practice, practise; desert, dessert; ensure, insure; naval, navel; straight, strait; storey, story; its, it’s; who, whose; continual, continous; credible, credulous; affect, effect; flair, flare.

Irregular Plural Forms or Nouns that create difficulties amongst foreign learners:

child children; man men; foot feet; mouse mice; goose geese; tooth teeth; louse lice; woman women; ox oxen; eye eyes; hand hands; sheep sheep; ewe ewe; hoof hooves; half halves; wolf wolves; knife knives; thief thieves; elf elves; roof roofs rooves; life lives; scarf scarfs, scarves; wife wives; turf turves; salmon salmon; swine swine; cod cod; deer deer; squid squid; lobster lobster.

Words ending in (f) or (fe), the (f) and (fe) are dropped to form plural.

Practical and Theoretical Phonetics:

The phoneme concept (1935), W.F. Waddel define phoneme as a group of sounds which have, in sense, no significant differences. Some sounds may be distinctive in meaning in one language and not in another. In English a phoneme is the smallest unit sound. The study of phonetics is a vital part of linguistics. The English alphabet consists of 26 letters from A to Z, 19 consonants, b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v x z, and 5 vowels, a e i o u. The w and y are consonant letters when they come before a vowel and y is a vowel when comes after a consonant letter. However, consonants are letters that don’t start with a vowel sound.

Syllable – A word or part of a word which contains one vowel sound, for example, meat has one syllable and meatball has two syllables. Hate has one syllable and hateful has two syllables. A student learner of English can use the list of words below to guide s/he into knowing the different sounds: Heat-heatless; town-townhall; neat-neatness; mat-mattress; beg-beggar; bread-breadpan; meat-meatless.

Vowel – A sound that you make with your lips and teeth open. One of the sounds represented in English by the letters a,e,i,o,u, and sometimes by the y sound.

Consonant – A sound that you make by partly stopping the air as it comes through your mouth, e.g. the letters that represent consonants sound. See the 19 consonants of the English alphabet above.

Phoneme – the smallest segment of sounds which can distinguish two words. For example, take two words pin and bin. These words only different at the beginning letter sounds because pin begins with /p/ and bin begins with /b/. This is the smallest segment sounds by which these words could be different and remain distinctive. Smaller division is not possible because English doesn’t sub-divide /p/ and /b/ sounds. Words such as pen and pin are only different in the vowel sounds. This is the smallest segment by which these two words are different. There are no English language sounds halfway between /e/ and /i/ sounds. However, /p/, /b/, /e/, /i/ are phonemes of English language. Phoneme symbols are usually put into slanted brackets or slashes. Please see above! Pair words such as pin and bin, pen and pin which are different by one phoneme are refer to as minimal pairs. More practice can be done with beginning word sounds such as bill and pill, and vowel sounds bell and bill.

Schwa- The Schwa is an up-side down /e/, like a 6 turns backwards between two slashes, or slanted brackets. It is the most common English sounds. It’s also a short verson of a small letter /e/ between two slashes or slanted brackets. It is a very short sound at the beginning of some words, e.g. energetic, abstract, obstruct, airplane, aeroplane, ago, attend, ever, evergreen, and elf. The schwa can be also stressed in a final position in words such as teacher, murderer, conquer, signature, doer, encyclopedia, counselor, computer, gardener, creditor, counter, colour, zephyr, beer and amateur.

Evaluative comments

The English language went through many changes. From the old days of the Viking, Normans, Anglo-Saxon, Latin and Greek, it survived to become the world leading language today. Modern English has introduced new lexical content and phrases that will make the language more profound to native and foreign speakers. The English language gets its super recognition from the translation of the Holy Bible by King James 1. No other language will ever defeat this purpose as the world greatest language. Linguistics and phonetics provided a vast amount of knowledge and communication to native speakers and foreign learners to make language distinctive and easy to learn.

Conclusion

Finally, to conclude this article I would like everyone to read and enjoy this report, in addition make linguistics science a chosen career in the near future.

Joseph Harvey

Dear Editor,

There has been a lot of discussion in “The Daily Herald” regarding a few issues plaguing St. Maarten that have simple solutions or at least partial solutions that could be instituted quickly and with little difficulty.

Problem – vehicles that have excessively tinted windows.

Solution – have the vehicle inspection station do a test to determine if the tint is too dark. If it is, fail the vehicle and make the owner bring it back in a condition that will pass. This inspection occurs every two years and is required to get updated licensing. More controls should happen to enforce any offenses seen between inspections and fines levied.

Problem – traffic is getting worse and will deter tourists from returning to visit the island. We need to acknowledge that there are too many cars on the road, it is too easy to import one and there is no central control over ownership.

Solution – while we are waiting for a comprehensive traffic study to be done by UNOPS, which will likely take a long time, we need to limit the import of new vehicles to the island. This can be accomplished by establishing a small import duty that is used to fund the removal of a vehicle for every new one allowed in. There are many abandoned vehicles taking up valuable parking spaces and making the country unsightly, that should be removed. This duty tax would create a fund to do so and would simultaneously keep the balance of vehicles at status quo. Any excess funds could also be used for ameliorating the proliferation of potholes on the roads.

A central titling system should be established where an owner gets title to a vehicle and when sold has to transfer the registered title to the new owner. Initially, this can be done at the same time as an owner getting new plates for their vehicle. Subsequently, upon importation of new vehicles to the country, an SXM title is issued. This would allow the government to know who last owned a vehicle and be able to charge that owner for removal, if abandoned. The titling and registration of vehicles will also have a positive impact on diminishing the rate of occurrence of sales of stolen vehicles to unsuspecting buyers.

Problem – curtailing the use of single use plastics.

Solution – most residents are using reusable bags for their grocery shopping and will likely get used to taking those bags into other stores, as they keep some in their vehicles. Tourists, on the other hand, do not have reusable bags readily available. Rental cars could have a bag or two in the trunk. Hotel rooms, timeshares and condo rentals should also have some in their properties.

All retail establishments should charge a nominal fee for each bag, paper, or plastic that they give a customer. That charge, less an administration fee to cover the turnover tax and cost of the bag, should be turned over to the government to fund a separate fund used to beautify the country. New public trash receptacles (hopefully designed to allow recycling) should be placed along the roadsides in heavily trafficked areas, by both vehicles and pedestrians. The fund would also be used for periodic trash cleanup and beautification.

Encourage communities to establish a neighborhood watch and adopt a one-day-a-quarter cleanup of their own neighborhoods, to include children, which will have the effect of creating buy-in to good stewardship of the environment at an early age.

These suggestions are relatively simple partial solutions to much discussed problems. The implementation of a vehicle import duty and or a titling fee and a bag tax are a bit more complicated, but it is not rocket science.

R. Paul Speece

Simpson Bay