"She sells seashells at the sea shore"...

To You Forever

2010-08-09T20:55:00.002+01:00

The lockets that connect,

The heartss that meet,

The trust that inspires,

And the love that never dies.

A spirit of yourself,

Comes upon your own self,

As you make your own life,

The path continues to grow.

Forever and ever,

I will be with you,

No matter what happens,

Or what people do,

Our connection,

Will never be destroyed.

Celine DaSilva

Quadrilha

2010-01-16T02:54:00.003Z

João amava Teresa que amava Raimundo

que amava Maria que amava Joaquim que amava Lili

que não amava ninguém.

João foi para os Estados Unidos, Teresa para o convento,

Raimundo morreu de desatre, Maria ficou para tia,

Joaquim suicidou-se e Lili casou com J. Pinto Fernandes

que não tinha entrado na história.

Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Antologia Poética, 2ª ed., Lisboa, Dom Quixote, 2002

2010-01-12T08:29:00.003Z

to my most admirable and all my friends. . .. . small things bring Big treasures

Numa tarde de sol, lia-se uma história. Quando a dado momento surgiu a questão:

- 'O que é para ti uma história?

O polidor pedia à sua pedra preciosa para lhe escrever uma composição a responder à pergunta que surgiu. A pedra com todo seu encanto aprontou-se para escrever, mas antes, e por iniciativa própria, pediu ao polidor se podia escrever em verso. O polidor surpreendido deu-lhe autorização de imediato para escrever conforme lhe apetecesse. Assim, o resultado foi o seguinte:

O que é para ti uma história?
Era uma vez. . .
uma história em Português,
que rima uma só vez.
O que é para ti uma história?
Uma história para mim é:
Abrir asas para a imaginação,
cantar com um cão
um bocadinho da minha vida.
Eu gosto de imaginar,
gosto de cantar.
Dançar,
e até rimar.
Eu gosto de viver,
gosto de conviver,
gosto de escrever:
O que é para ti uma história?
Eu gosto de imaginar,
gosto de fazer canções,
gosto de brincar,
e até de desenhar.
Eu gosto de inventar histórias,
gosto de rimar poesias,
gosto de me divertir,
e até de cozinhar.

Catarina Colaço, 6º A - Escola Básica Integrada e Secundária Jean Piaget

2010-01-10T04:53:00.002Z

"O poeta, por definição, transfigura, dá à circunstância um valor universal e permanente, tende a impersonalizar sentimentos e emoções."

Jacinto do Prado Coelho, Problemática da História Literária

2010-01-10T04:46:00.002Z

"No conto tudo precisa de ser apontado num risco leve e sóbrio: das figuras deve-se ver apenas a linha flagrante e definadora que revela e fixa uma personalidade; dos sentimentos apenas o que caiba num olhar ou numa dessas palavras que escapa dos lábios e traz todo o ser; da paisagem somente os longes numa cor unida."

Eça de Queirós, Prefácio de Azulejos do Conde de Arnoso

Viagem

2010-01-10T01:53:00.003Z

Aparelhei o barco da ilusão

E reforçei a fé do marinheiro.

Era longe o meu sonho, e traiçoeiro

O mar. . .

(Só nos é concedida

Esta vida

Que temos;

E é nela que é preciso

Procurar

O velho paraíso

Que perdemos.)

Prestes, larguei a vela

E disse adeus ao cais, à paz tolhida.

Desmedida,

A revolta imensidão

Transforma dia a dia a embarcação

Numa errante e alada sepultura. . .

Mas corto as ondas sem desanimar.

Em qualquer aventura,

O que importa é partir, não é chegar.

Miguel Torga, Câmara Ardente

Teaching English (Grammar) in Schools

2010-01-02T03:59:00.005Z

'We know that grammar is important and that is why it is a compulsory part of the national curriculum'

(Dept. for Schools in England, May 2008)

NEWS GOLDEN translation II

2009-12-02T04:46:00.004Z

Vamos eleger 7 Maravilhas Naturais

A New 7 Wonders Portugal® arrancou em Novembro com uma iniciativa que visa eleger em 2010 as “7 Maravilhas Naturais de Portugal®”, antecipando desta forma a campanha mundial para eleger as “7 Maravilhas da Natureza®”, em 2011.
Sendo 2010 o Ano Internacional da Biodiversidade, este projecto vem reforçar a consciência ambientalista que cresce a nível global e pretende ser uma referência no contributo para a sustentabilidade ambiental no nosso país.
O projecto, que conta com o Alto Patrocínio do Governo Regional dos Açores, que se associa como palco para a Declaração Oficial das “7 Maravilhas Naturais de Portugal®” em Setembro de 2010, será o maior evento na área da sustentabilidade no nosso país e servirá como laboratório de uma iniciativa global que visa a preservação do ambiente.

May we elect Seven Natural Wonders

In November the New 7 Wonders Portugal began an initiative to elect in 2010 the “7 Natural Wonders of Portugal”, this way anticipating the worldwide campaign to elect the “7 Wonders of Nature”, in 2011.
Moreover, 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, this project reinforces the environmental awareness that grows at a global level, and intends to be a referential contribution for the environmental sustainability of our country.
This project, that relies on the High Sponsorship of the Regional Government of the Azores, which associates itself as the stage for the Official Declaration of the “7 Natural Wonders of Portugal”, in September 2010. It will be the prime event concerning the sustainability of our country, suiting afterwards as a laboratory of a worldwide initiative aiming the preservation of the environment.

jorge orfão

NEWS GOLDEN translation I

2009-11-30T04:46:00.002Z

Portugal recomendado como “destino obrigatório” em 2010

O guia “Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2010”, uma referência entre os principais guias de turismo internacionais, colocou Portugal como um dos destinos de visita obrigatória em 2010.
Entre os argumentos apresentados, o guia refere o país como uma sociedade de grandes tradições, com festas religiosas e populares, percorrida por uma vaga de modernidade que contamina as cidades, onde a revitalização urbana tem vindo a permitir que boutiques, galerias de arte e cafés surjam em edifícios antes degradados.
Portugal é ainda referido como estando comprometido com o desenvolvimento sustentável e na vanguarda da inovação, ao investir fortemente na energia limpa e participando na produção de veículos não poluentes.
Outra das transformações apontadas pelo guia diz respeito à gastronomia nacional, que levou nos últimos cinco anos, ao surgimento de restaurantes inovadores, onde se concebe e se serve o melhor da cozinha de fusão de nível internacional. Esta revolução estende-se também ao vinho, com os seus produtores a arrecadarem sucessivos reconhecimentos em concursos internacionais com os seus “vintages produzidos a partir de castas nativas”.
A finalizar, o guia sugere ao turista experiências que podem mesmo mudar a sua vida, tais como a prova dos vários Vinhos do Porto, um passeio pelas povoações graníticas nas remotas montanhas da Peneda-Gerês, ver um pôr-do-sol nos monumentos megalíticos junto a Évora ou passar por Lisboa para provar o inconfundível pastel de Belém.

Portugal recommended as a ‘compulsory destination’ in 2010

“Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2010”, a reference amongst the main tourist international guides, placed Portugal as one of the compulsory destinations to be visited in 2010. After all the arguments presented, the guide refers to the country as a society with strong traditions, with religious and popular rites, followed by a wave of modernity that contaminates the cities, where the urban revitalization has been allowing boutiques, arte galleries and coffee shops open in buildings that before where degraded. Portugal is also seen as having a commitment with the sustainable development, and the innovation movement, highly investing on clean energy and participating in the production of ecologic vehicles. Another of the transformations pointed out by the guide concerns the national gastronomy, which during the last five years, raised innovation in restaurants, conceiving and serving high-class menu of international fusion cuisine. This huge turnaround also extends to the wine, with its producers grasping more and more international recognition in contests with their “vintages produced from the native grape varieties”.
To sum up, the guide suggests the tourist experiences that may change his/her life, for example, the tasting of various Port Wines, a stroll through the granitic villages on the remote mountains of Peneda-Gerês, watch the sunset at the megalithic monuments next to Évora, or a stop by Lisbon to taste the unmistakeable ‘pastel de Belém’.

jorge orfão

'As Praias de Agnès'

2009-10-25T20:24:00.003Z

IPJ Viseu - 3 de Novembro

'Les Plages D'Agnès', de Agnès Varda, França, 2008, 110'

Se abrissem as pessoas, encontrariam paisagens.

A mim, se me abrissem, encontrariam praias.

Agnès Varda

'Imagine All The People'

2009-10-15T00:24:00.006+01:00

The Beatles
Destination Hamburg, the Early years

"Este documentário sobre os Beatles, reune imagens sobre a mais famosa banda de todos os tempos, desde a sua formação inicial em Hamburgo, os momentos mais marcantes da carreira, até ascenderem ao estrelato mundial. (Em Inglês, sem legendas)".

FNAC Viseu-14/10/2009
Obrigado Amigos.

Aristotle

2009-07-23T17:49:00.005+01:00

Theory of Literature Exercise

Aristotle, considered to be one of the first literary critics, embraced the theory of literature in two main masterpieces that influenced the Western thinking during many centuries: “Rhetoric” and “Poetics”. During his time, writers argued that inspiration was believed to come from the Gods. But a problematic arose within this thought: if poets are inspired by the Gods, then they only write what the Gods tell them, so when poets claim that their work is no good, it is a sin to say that the Gods said no interesting things. Aristotle goes around this traditional thinking and treats literature as a noble and teachable art (‘art-teckne’). By this he also claims a matter of inspiration, but as human skills that can be improved and expanded.
Aristotle was one of Plato’s disciples and they both lived in a country with a rich literary culture, in which literature had a big role in the public life of the Polis(Greek political and social order). Poetry in ancient Greece was central to education. Homer’s poetry, for example, was central to common things from everyday life – how to behave, how to receive guests at your home, etc. Although both Aristotle and Plato agreed about the didactic function of literature, Aristotle comes in conflict with his master’s beliefs. Plato was opposed to poets: his idea of an ideal society/republic would be without poets. However, poetry was a major issue to education. He condemns poetry because the muses possess the poet. Poetry is a way of surrounding our minds to other forces. He compares the function of poetry to a ‘relationship’. Sometimes we love people who are not good to us and the only solution is to let them go. In Plato’s sense the same happens to poetry: it is not good for our minds, so we have to get rid of it. For Plato poetry is an art of imitation about things of life, though simple things just live, for example, chairs and tables, which are on their turn, only imitation of the ideal objects that are at other levels. In this way, poetry simply deals with imitations of imitations. Plato doesn’t make any distinction between imitation and real, whereas Aristotle says that imitation and the object imitated are separated. Aristotle defends, as well, that poetry is an imitative art, and that poets speak in the voices of others. He argues about the pleasure of the imitation itself within poetry, through such he points out to the representation. According to him, representation is something we have since childhood. Everyone enjoys it, that’s why we delight in looking at pictures. All the earliest forms of arts, like ancient paintings and drawings on rocks, seem to confirm the theory of imitation of Aristotle. These pictures represented successful real life facts meaning it was something they desired. This desire made such factual reality more likely possible. We delight ourselves looking at pictures because we can learn something with that representation and we prefer the picture to real things.
Imitation is seen by people as real representations of the real world. They are, in detail, accurate things from our lives. With this perspective Aristotle involves literature with an aesthetic dimension of representation: art can be naturally enjoyed. Aristotle’s “Poetics” revealed two forms of poetry: tragedy and comedy. Comedy, for instance, is a dramatic imitation of men worse than average; while tragedy imitates men slightly better than average. It is important to point out that only the portion of the book that focuses on tragedy has survived. Aristotle redefines three principles: mimesis (the representation), plot (the arrangement of poetry) and genre (literary kind), and centred on these three principles he gives us a definition of tragedy. According to him, tragedy is an imitation/representation using medium, object and manner, where pity and terror (the true catharsis) are the proper strong emotions natural of a tragedy. Aristotle presents six parts of a tragedy: plot, characters, diction, reasoning, spectacle, and song. Out of all six parts the plot is the most important and essential because without the plot there is no tragedy. The plot must be unit and complete in itself conceiving the construction of incidents and passage of time (beginning, middle, end). Therefore, the plot is not separable from the mimesis, the representation of a scene. The plot for Aristotle introduces ‘causation’, which is when one thing happens due to a cause and so on (cause-effect relationship). This way the unity of the plot depends on events that happen because of earlier causes. Poetry’s function is not to relate things that have happened but things that may happen, in function with probability or possibility. It has to do with causation. For Aristotle the presentation of the world as it is does not correspond to a detailed characterization of its surface. He claims that the ones who focus on the world are not realistic, but idealistic because the world is an illusion. The poet gives access to reality. History only gives access to the surface of the world. This means history only represents all the things that have happened through time. Historians deal with what happened in particular times. Poets don’t, they deal with single actions that give a direct access to universal truths believed by Aristotle to be the ‘good and the beautiful’. The poetic plot for Aristotle is the narrative form of the conception model of the universe. A poet is a composer of a plot, rather than verses. Through a variety of techniques, the plot needs to be imagined, and even more important constructed, imitating directly the ideals of the world.

The DuMMy Auxiliary

2009-06-25T18:19:00.003+01:00

Introduction to Modern English Exercise

The auxiliary verbs ‘be’, ‘have’, and ‘do’ are used with a main verb to form tenses, negatives, and questions. Charles Barber points out four syntactical main functions, through which he considers that auxiliaries are used before ‘not’ when a sentence is made negative; used before the subject of a sentence to form questions; used in echo-repetitions; when stressed used to assert emphasis to the truth of sentences’ ideological feature as a whole. The auxiliary ‘do’, is considered the ‘dummy auxiliary’, because according to Barber, ‘it performs the four main functions of an auxiliary, but empty of meaning’. This means that in verbal phrases ‘do’ is used when no other auxiliary is present.

The use of the auxiliary ‘do’ remotes back to Old English, not used as a dummy auxiliary rather had a causative sense. Barber explains, the causative sense in the sentence:

‘He did them a castle.’ as meaning in PdE ‘He caused a castle to be built.’

‘Do’ in the later case expresses cause, and doesn’t function as an auxiliary verb. This was mainly found in translations from the Latin, whereas by Shakespeare’s time its usage died completely, considered uncommon in Middle English. Barber argues that if we say 'he built a castle there', the verb tense ‘built’ already shows cause. In spoken language, people started to equate 'did build' with 'built', contributing for the development of the non-causative use of ‘do’.

Moreover, since the thirteenth century South-Western dialects, initially through poetry spreading rapidly to prose, the modern usage of ‘do’ most commonly grew. During the sixteenth century, ‘do’ becomes semantically an empty auxiliary, merely being a stylistic variant and appropriate mainly for negation. By the seventeenth century Scots-English influenced the southern General dialect. Terttu Nevalainen suggests that such dialect contact was due to the arrival of the Scottish court in London at the succession of King James in 1603, as such contributed for its present use of the auxiliary ‘do’.

To conclude, we know that in Present-day English (PdE) it is used to make negative and question forms from sentences that have a verb in the present simple or past simple. We can also use ‘do’ as a main verb with the auxiliary ‘do’, just as we can use the auxiliary ‘do’ with ‘have’ as a main verb. We only use ‘do’ in affirmative sentences for emphasis or contrast. We never use the auxiliary ‘do’ with ‘be’ except in the imperative.

Bibliography and References:

Elizabeth Mosier Translation

2009-03-10T17:43:00.009Z

My father and I are in the habit now of speaking through others: first Mother, then Boo, now Beulah.
"Beulah told me I'd find you in here," Dad says, opening the door just wide enough to stick his head into Boo's old room. He finds me standing on a ladder, holding the book he authored in one hand and, with the other, painting stars on the ceiling.
"It's supposed to be a surprise," I complain to the dog, playfully throwing the brush at her.
"Beulah hates surprises," Dad says, as the dog opens the door and leads the way in.
She's only seven years old. Boo would have been seventeen.
"What do you think?" I ask.
"It sure makes the room seem bigger," Dad says.
"I hope so." I say.
We still live in the same house Boo and I grew up in, where we shared a room until I moved out to the couch in the living room. The house was always too small but now, with just the two of us living here, the walls seem to swell.
"Come down and let me see what you've done."
I'm home from college for the spring semester. The last thing I wanted was to come back to Phoenix and my father. If anyone asks I say it is a very brief visit, just to clear out Boo's room.

Elizabeth Mosier, Insomnia

Eu e o meu pai temos agora o hábito de falar por intermédio dos outros: primeiro a mãe, depois o Boo, agora o Beulah.
“Beulah disse me que te encontraria aqui dentro,” diz o pai, abrindo a porta o suficiente para espreitar dentro do velho quarto de Boo. Ele encontra-me em cima do escadote, segurando o livro que ele escreveu numa mão e, com a outra, pintando estrelas no tecto.
“É suposto ser uma surpresa,” Resmungo eu com a cadela, atirando-lhe com a escova na brincadeira.
“Beulah detesta surpresas,” diz o pai, enquanto a cadela abre a porta e conduz o caminho para dentro.
Ela tem apenas sete anos de idade. Boo teria dezassete.
“O que pensas?” Perguntei eu.
“De certeza que faz o quarto parecer maior,” diz o pai.
“Eu espero que sim,” disse eu.
Nós ainda vivemos na mesma casa onde eu e o Boo crescemos, onde partilhávamos um quarto até eu ter mudado para o sofá da sala de estar. A casa foi sempre muito pequena mas agora, só com nós os dois a viver aqui, as paredes parecem ter crescido.
“Desce para baixo e deixa-me ver o que fizeste.”
Estou em casa durante o segundo semestre do colégio. A última coisa que eu queria era voltar para Phoenix e para o meu pai. Se alguém perguntar, eu digo que é uma visita muito breve, só para tirar as coisas do quarto do Boo.

Jorge Correia Orfão

Oscar Wilde Translation

2009-02-11T04:57:00.007Z

"I suppose you have heard the news, Basil?" said Lord Henry that evening, as Basil Hallward was shown into a little private room at the Bristol where dinner had been set for three.

"No, Harry", answered the artist, giving his hat and coat to the waiter. "What is it? Nothing about politics, I hope?" They don't intrest me. There is hardly a single person in the Government worth painting. (...).

"Dorian Gray is engaged to be married," said Lord Henry, watching him as he spoke.

Hallward started, and then frowned. "Dorian engaged to be married!" he cried. "Impossible!"

"It is perfectly true."

"To whom?"

"To some little actress or other."

"Dorian is far too wise not to do foolish things now and then, my dear Basil."

"Marriage is not really a thing that one can do now and then, Harry."

"Except in America", replied Lord Henry, calmly. "But I didn't say he was married. I said he was engaged to be married. There is a great difference. I have a distinct remembrance of being married but I have no recollection at all of being engaged. I am inclined to think I never was engaged."

"But think Dorian's birth, and position, and wealth. It would be absurd for him to marry so much beneath him."

"If you want to make him marry this girl tell him that, Basil. He is sure to do it, then. Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives."

"I hope the girl is good, Harry. I don't want to see Dorian tied to some vile creature, who might degrade his nature and ruin his intellect."

"Oh, she is better than good - she is beautiful," murmured Lord Henry, sipping a glass of Port. "Dorian says she is beautiful; and he is not often wrong about things of that kind. Your portrait of him has improved his appreciation of the personal appearance of other people. It has had that excellent effect, amongst others. We are going to see her tonight, if Dorian doesn't forget his appointment."

Adapted from Oscar Wilde, The Picture Of Dorian Gray

“Suponho que já ouviste a notícia, Basil?” disse Lord Henry naquele final de tarde, enquanto Basil Hallward era conduzido a uma salinha privada no Bristol, onde a mesa de jantar estava posta para três.
“Não, Harry”, respondeu o artista, dando o seu chapéu e casaco ao empregado de mesa. “O que é? Nada sobre políticas, espero?” Elas não me interessam. Não há sequer uma única pessoa no Governo que valha a pena pintar. (…).
“Dorian Gray está comprometido para casar,” disse Lord Henry, olhando para ele enquanto falava.
Hallward sobresaltou-se, e depois franziu. “Dorian Gray comprometido para casar!” suspirou ele. “Impossível!”
“É perfeitamente verdade.”
“Com quem?”
“Com uma actriz qualquer ou assim.”
“Dorian é demasiado esperto para não fazer tontices de vez em quando, meu querido Basil.”
“Casamento não é bem algo que se faça de vez em quando, Harry”
“Excepto na América”, respondeu Lord Henry, calmamente. “Mas eu não disse que ele estava casado. Eu disse que estava comprometido para casar. Há uma grande diferença. Eu tenho uma vaga ideia de estar casado, mas não tenho qualquer recordação em estar comprometido. Estou inclinado a pensar que eu nunca estive comprometido. “Mas pensa no nascimento, e na posição, e na saúde de Dorian. Seria um absurdo ele casar tão inferior a ele.”
“Se queres que ele case com esta rapariga diz-lhe isso, Basil. Ele fá-lo-á, então. Sempre que um homem faz algo completamente estúpido, advém sempre dos motivos mais nobres.”
“Eu espero que seja boa moça, Harry. Não quero ver o Dorian amarado a qualquer criatura baixa, quem poderá denegrir a natureza dele e arruinar a sua intelectualidade.”
“Oh, ela é a melhor das melhores – ela é linda,” murmurou Lord Henry, bebendo um pequeno gole do copo do Porto. “Dorian disse que ela é bonita; e ele normalmente não se engana acerca de assuntos desse género. O teu retrato dele tem melhorado a apreciação dele da aparência pessoal sobre as outras pessoas. Tem tido esse excelente efeito entre as pessoas. Nós vamos vê-la esta noite, caso o Dorian não se esqueça da sua marcação.”

Jorge Correia Orfão

Najat El Hachmi Review

2009-02-06T19:26:00.000Z

La novela L'últim patriarca, con la que Najat El Hachmi (Nador, Marruecos, 1979) ganó el XXVIII Premi de les Lletres Catalanes Ramon Llull 2008 [...] narra los enfrentamientos entre un inmigrantemarroquí y su hija adolescente por sus diferentes maneras de concebir eintegrarse en la realidad que les rodea en Cataluña.Según explicó El Hachmi el día en que ganó el premio, la obra refleja los"contrastes" entre padre e hija que se ven "amplificados" por el cambio cultural que han sufrido al pasar de vivir en Marruecos a hacerlo en una capital comarcal catalana. La hija no sólo "se tiene que enfrentar" a su padre -que tiene "un peso específico" en su vida-, sino que intenta encontrar su "libertad personal" y su "lugar en el mundo".El protagonista, Mimoun Driouch, es un inmigrante marroquí que pasó de seralbañil a pequeño constructor en una capital de comarca y que, tras distanciarse durante años de su familia, pide el reagrupamiento familiar para vivir con su esposa e hijos en Cataluña. Su "doble moral" la sufre su hija -cuyo nombre no se cita en ningún momento- cuando llega a la adolescencia.

Stella Gibbons Translation

2008-12-06T15:59:00.010Z

Flora felt extremely sleepy all of a sudden. She decided to go and sit by the fire in her room and read until mealtime. So she told Mr Mybug she hoped he would have a pleasant walk. She added that Rennet had had a fairly boring life, on the whole, and that she would probably appreciate a little fun.
Mr Mybug said he quite understood. He also attempted to take Flora's hand, but she did not let him.
"We're friends, aren't we?" he asked.
"Certainly," said Flora, pleasantly. She did not inform him that she was not in the habit of thinking of persons whom she had known for five weeks as her friends.
"We might dine together in London some time?"
"That would be delightful," agreed Flora, thinking how nasty and boring it would be.
"There's a quality in you..." said Mr Mybug. "I should like to write a novel about you and call it Virginal."
"Do, if it passes the time for you," said Flora; and now I must go and write some letters. Good-bye."
On her way to her room, Flora passed Rennet coming downstairs, dressed to go out. She wondered how Rennet had managed to obtain permission from Aunt Ada Doom to do so, but Rennet did not wait to be questioned.

Stella Gibbons

Flora sentiu-se extremamente cansada de um momento para outro. Decidiu ir sentar-se ao lume no quarto dela e ler até à hora de jantar. Por isso, disse ao Sr. Mybug que esperava que ele tivesse um bom passeio. Ela adiantou que a Rennet tem tido, em geral, uma vida bastante aborrecida, e que provavelmente apreciaria um pouco de diversão.
O Sr. Mybug disse que até entendia. Tentou também pegar na mão de Flora, mas ela não o deixou.
“Nós somos amigos, não somos?” ele perguntou.
“Com certeza,” disse Flora, com todo o gosto. Ela não informou que não era hábito dela pensar das pessoas que conhece apenas há cinco semanas como suas amigas.
“Podíamos jantar juntos qualquer dia em Londres?”
“Isso seria uma delícia,” concordou a Flora, pensando o quanto nojento e enfadonho seria.
“Isso é uma qualidade em ti…” disse Sr. Mybug. “Eu gostaria de escrever um romance acerca de ti e chamá-lo Virginal.”
“Fá-lo. Se isso lhe faz passar o tempo,” disse Flora; e agora terei que ir escrever umas cartas. Adeus.”
A caminho do quarto a Flora passou pela Rennet que descia, vestida para sair. Ela curiosamente pensava como teria ela conseguido obter a autorização da Tia Ada Doom para o fazer, mas a Rennet não esperou para ser questionada.

Jorge Orfão

El espíritu de la colmena, Víctor Erice (1973)

2008-12-02T19:01:00.000Z

Spanish National Cinema

2008-12-02T18:35:00.009Z

What do the setting and the mise-en-scène in El espíritu de la colmena/The Spirit of the Beehive (V. Erice, 1973) tell us about the political situation in the epoch in which the film was made?

Since early nineteenth century, studies on culture have been ambiguous across Europe. The notion of culture has relied a lot on world history and politics. Spain, because of Francoism, is a perfect example on how the development of its culture has been influenced by government power, being placed on a scale between reality and fiction. Spanish dictatorship kept the country closed up for many years because of censorship, that puts a stop to free expression of intellectuals such as filmmakers. The film El espíritu de la colmena, directed by Víctor Aras Erice with the collaboration of the producer Elías Querejera, is a remarkable portrait of that epoch of Spain: Franco after the Civil War, and the effects it had amongst the people of the country.

The film takes us back to the year 1940, the year right after the Spanish civil war. The director shows in a subtle artistic way his perspective of Spanish society during Franco’s dictatorship. The film was produced in 1973, when Franco was an old and weak man, about to hand over the government power to his allied, Almirante Carrero Blanco. Blanco was killed that same year by the ETA, which shocked the entire nation’s population. Political tensions were emerging around Spain, as well as the economy was on its lowest rates. Spain was definitely going through deep changes, while the people were starting to face the reality of their country. The film is built up in this context, Erice through the eyes of a child, Ana, played by Ana Torrent, shows what went on during the post-civil war years. The fact the film is introduced like a fairy tale, Erase una vez/ Once upon a time, and despite it can be seen as a way to mislead censorship, it invokes the idea of a story that should not be forgotten.

Slightly reporting back to a couple of the scenes from El espíritu de la colmena, we are likely to find symbolic features that characterize the post-civil war years in Spain. Such as the first scene of the mother, Teresa, who while the pueblo is enjoying the new and well announced film on screen in the village, she is writing a letter apparently addressed to a special loved man, which can lead us into doubt because during the whole of the film, the director tells us very little about the characters. What is interesting to point out is that she addresses this man in an uncomfortable nostalgic way, making us think that he had something to do with government matters, therefore, his distance is most probably due to the fact he went into exile to escape political imprisonment or even someone already held a prisoner in one of Franco’s concentration camps. She remits to the years of the civil war, talking about a great loss and about a morbid dark atmosphere spread around the country. Spain was going through years of economic repression and social exclusion, where the Regime ideology was to promote mass unification through issues on cultural nationalism. The idea of homogeneity was being encouraged in a country truly recognized by its rich cultural diversity. During this scene of the mother, we see the way she expresses herself while writing this letter. She has a melancholic attitude showing us her preoccupation on what was going on around at the moment, just as how the lack of information about what will happen provokes the sense of a quite fear. The authority had brought censorship to the country, enforcing silence in all communities using manipulative techniques. Another scene that tells us much about the people’s situation during these harsh years of indelicate violence is the first shot of the train, when the mother takes her letter to the mailbox. It is in my opinion, one of the most poetic moments of the film. The smoky environment of the railroad station, when the train stops, and the way Teresa stands watching the train leave, brings to our thoughts to true context during that epoch. As the train goes by, we see through Teresa’s eyes, the people who are travelling: these are Spanish representations of its natives. A better observation of this scene, can make us have a feeling, by the look of such representations that desperate, hopeless, restless, and tired emotions were being felt around the reality of Francoism.

Víctor Erice proves that he is part of a new generation in filmmaking, inspired by neo-realism, and the nouvelle vague movements to represent the authenticity of Spanishness through a firmly national cinema. This seems to be a possible explanation for the long-takes, and the fact that the majority of the scenes we encounter in the film are shot outdoors, just as the use of non-actors to play the narrative. It’s not accurate to consider that its not on purpose the director uses the real names of his characters. Moreover, the silent scenes, the sense of lost dialogues, in the same way, the faded and shadowed colours we see according to the set of lights used in all the mise-en-scene, clearly are metaphors of what was like living in Spain during the post-civil war years. Erice follows the politique des auteurs tradition, as a consequence of his studies at the Escuela Oficial de Cine, under the ideals of José María Garcia Escudero, who before had claimed that a new image of Spain should be produced in order to proceed with the country’s internationalization. It is notorious the urge to escape from the folkloric images of Spain transfigured in films like Berlanga’s Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall, in the same way, the urgent anxiety to construct a brighter perspective of Spanish identity. El espíritu de la colmena, which insights the representation of the nation to the nation, as its director once said, can well be identified with this new idea of Spanishness, when a closer look at its mise-en-scene is considered. The cinematographic technique used by the director proves to us that things are changing in respect of the construction of national identity.

Bibliography:

Graham, H. and Labanyi, J. (eds.) Spanish Cultural Studies: An Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jordan, B. (2002) Spanish Culture and Society: The Essential Glossary, London: Arnold Press.

Kinder, M. (1993) Blood Cinema: The Reconstruction of National Identity in Spain, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Ros, X de, (1999) “Innocence Lost: Sounds and Silence in El espíritu de la colmena’ Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 76, 1

Triana Toribio, N. (2003) Spanish National Cinema, London: Routledge.

2008-11-22T21:17:00.002Z

"A Linguagem do coração é universal, só é preciso sensibilidade para entendê-la"

Charles Pinot Duclos

Grace Metalious Translation

2008-11-20T18:57:00.013Z

David shrugged. "You won't like it, Allison. I'm sure you won't"

"Maybe not, David, but I've got to find out for myself. I want every experience that's offered me - or just about."

"I'm only thinking of you," David said. "Wait until they start ripping your book to pieces. You'll feel differently then. You won't be able to stand it. Nobody could."

"I don't have your sensitive, artistic soul," said Allison. "As far as I'm concerned, all I want for Samuel's Castle is another forty weeks on its lists. And after what they paid me for the picture rights, they can do anything they damned well please with it."

"I just don't want you to be hurt," said David quietly, and Allison was suddenly ashamed.

"I know it, David," she said contritely. "But I have to find out for myself."

"Let me hear from you," said David.

"Yes," said Allison. I'll 'phone you. With the studio paying my hotel bills, I'll be able to do it with a clear conscience."

David smiled. "You've changed a lot, Allison. But basically you're still the little girl from Peyton Place, still keeping your conscience clear. I don't think you could change that part of you if you submitted to surgery."

Grace Metalious

David encolheu os ombros. “Tu não vais gostar, Allison. Tenho a certeza que não.”
“Talvez não, David, mas eu tenho que descobrir isso por mim própria. Eu quero todas as experiências que me são oferecidas – ou quase todas.”
“Eu só estou a pensar em ti,” disse David. “Espera até eles começarem a rasgar o teu livro em pedaços. Depois irás sentir-te diferente. Não vais conseguir aguentá-lo. Ninguém consegue.”
“Eu não tenho a tua alma sensível e artística,” disse Allison. “No que me diz respeito, só estou interessada em ter o Samuel’s Castle mais quarenta semanas nas listas deles. E depois daquilo que me pagaram pelos direitos de autor, podem fazer o que raios quiserem com ele.”

"Eu só não quero que te magoes," disse David calmamente, e a Allison subitamente ficou envergonhada.

"Eu sei disso, David," ela disse pesarosamente. "Mas eu tenho que descobrir por mim própria."
“Vai dando notícias tuas,” disse David.
“Sim,” disse Allison. “Eu telefono-te. Com o estúdio a pagar as minhas contas do hotel, eu poderei fazê-lo de consciência tranquila.”
David sorriu. “Mudaste tanto, Allison. Mas basicamente ainda és a menina pequenina de Peyton Place, ainda a manter a consciência tranquila. Não me parece que conseguirias mudar essa parte de ti se te submetesses a cirurgia.”

Jorge Correia Orfão

D.H. Lawrence Translation

2008-11-20T18:35:00.006Z

There was a letter from Hilda on the breakfast tray. "Father is going to London this week, and I shall call for you on Thursday week, June 17th. You must be ready so that we can go at once. I don't want to waste time at Wragby, it's an awful place. I shall probably stay the night at Redford with the Colemans, I should be with your for lunch Thursady. Then we could start at tea-time, sand sleep perhaps in Grantham. It is no use our spending an evening with Clifford. If he hates you going, it would be no pleasure to him."

So! She was being pushed round on the chess board again. Clifford hated her going, but it was only because he didn't feel safe in her absence. Her presence, for some reason, made him feel safe, and free to do the things he was occupied with. He was a great deal at the pits, and wrestling in spirit with the almost hopeless problems of getting out his coal in the most economical fashion, and then selling it when he'd got it out. He knew he ought to find some way of using it, or converting it, so that he needn't sell it, or needn't have the chagrin of failing to sell it. But if he made electric power, could he sell that or use it? And to convert into oil was as yet too costly and too elaborate. To keep industry alive there must be more industry, like a madness.

D.H. Lawrence

Estava uma carta da Hilda na bandeja do pequeno-almoço. “Esta semana o pai vai a Londres, e eu chamarei por ti na Quinta-feira, 17 de Junho. Deverás de estar pronto para irmos logo. Não quero perder tempo no Wragby, é um sítio horrível. Eu provavelmente passarei a noite no Retford com a família Colemans, por isso deverei de estar contigo à hora de almoço de Quinta. Podemos depois começar à hora do chá, e talvez dormir em Grantham. Não há necessidade em fazer serão com o Clifford. Se a ele não lhe agrada que vás, não será nenhum prazer para ele.
Portanto! Estava ela a ser de novo empurrada às voltas na mesa de xadrez. Clifford detestava que ela fosse, mas simplesmente porque ele não se sentia seguro na sua ausência. Por qualquer motivo a presença dela fazia-o sentir seguro, e com o à vontade de fazer coisas que o ocupavam. Ele era de grande importância nas minas de carvão, e numa luta interior com os quase desesperados problemas em retirar o seu carvão na mais prestigiosa economia, e depois de retirado, vendê-lo. Ele sabia que tinha de encontrar qualquer forma para o usar, ou convertê-lo, para não precisar de vendê-lo, nem precisar de sentir a dor de fracassar em vendê-lo. Mas, se ele produzisse energia eléctrica, poderia ele vender isso ou usá-lo? E para converter em petróleo era até aqui demasiado dispendioso e demasiado elaborado. Para manter a indústria viva deverá de haver mais indústria, como uma loucura.

Jorge Correia Orfão

Estava uma carta da Hilda na bandeja do pequeno-almoço. “Esta semana o pai vai a Londres, e eu irei buscar-te na Quinta-feira a uma semana, 17 de Junho. Deverás de estar pronto para irmos logo. Não quero perder tempo no Wragby, é um sítio horrível. Eu provavelmente passarei a noite no Retford com a família Colemans, por isso deverei de estar contigo à hora de almoço de Quinta. Podemos depois partir à hora do chá, e talvez dormir em Grantham. Não há necessidade em fazer serão com o Clifford. Se a ele não lhe agrada que vás, não será nenhum prazer para ele.
Portanto! Estava ela a ser de novo empurrada às voltas na mesa de xadrez. Clifford detestava que ela fosse, mas simplesmente porque ele não se sentia seguro na sua ausência. Por qualquer motivo a presença dela fazia-o sentir seguro, e com o à vontade de fazer coisas que o ocupavam. Ele ia com frequência às minas de carvão, e numa luta interior com os quase desesperados problemas em retirar o seu carvão na mais prestigiosa economia, e depois de retirado, vendê-lo. Ele sabia que tinha de encontrar qualquer forma para o usar, ou convertê-lo, para não precisar de vendê-lo, nem precisar de sentir a dor de fracassar em vendê-lo. Mas, se ele produzisse energia eléctrica, poderia ele vender isso ou usá-lo? E para converter em petróleo era até aqui demasiado dispendioso e demasiado elaborado. Para manter a indústria viva deverá de haver mais indústria, como uma loucura.

Jorge Correia Orfão

(reviewed by: Hillary Owen)

"Language is a Virus From Outer Space", Laurie Anderson

2008-10-27T21:52:00.002Z

Simplesmente fantástico...this contemporary artist inspired by William S. Bourroughs

Trevor Huddleston's Translation

2008-10-21T19:52:00.011+01:00

Sophiatown was a slum. Those of us who have lived there would never wish to deny that. We have seen with our own eyes the heroism of so many of our Christian people in their environment. It would be treason to them to deny that Sophiatown was a slum. But slum conditions can be removed without the expropriation of a whole area. Indeed the greatest experts in town-planning would agree that only in the last resort should you uproot people from the place they know as home: for in such uprooting you destroy not only the fabric of their houses, you destroy a living organism - the community itself. Sophiatown, then, could have been replannned and rebuilt on the same site: a model African suburb. It could have been, but for the pressure of three things. First, the pressure of white opinion and the political force it represented; secondly, the existence of freehole tenure, and the treat of permanence which it implied; thirdly, that which underlies every event of any racial significance in South Africa: the assumption that white "civilisation" is threatened by the very existence of an African community in any way similar to itself. The African in the kraal is in his right place: so is the African kitchen. But the African in a "European" suburb, in "European" house which he himself owns and is proud of: he is a menace: he must be removed.

Trevor Huddleston

Sophiatown é um bairro de lata. Nós que vivemos lá nunca pensaríamos em negar isso. Temos constatado com os nossos próprios olhos o heroísmo do nosso próprio povo cristão inserido no meio ambiente deles. Seria uma deslealdade, eles negarem o facto que Sophiatown é uma “favela”. No entanto, as condições vividas neste tipo de bairros podem ser retiradas sem a expropriação dum bairro inteiro. Na verdade, os melhores profissionais em urbanismo estariam de acordo, só em última hipótese desenraizar os habitantes do bairro considerado o seu lar: pois tal desenraizamento destrói não só a essência das suas casas, como também se acaba com um organismo vivo – uma comunidade inteira. Sophiatown, portanto, poderia ser requalificada e reconstruída no mesmo sítio: um modelo suburbano Africano. Poderia ser, caso não levantasse a pressão a três pormenores: Primeiro, a pressão da opinião dos caucasianos e a força que representaria politicamente; segundo, a existência da propriedade ténue, e da ameaça de permanência que tal implicaria; terceiro, reforça qualquer evento racial significativo na América do Sul: a assumpção que a “civilização” do homem branco é ameaçada pela existência de quaisquer semelhanças com a comunidade africana. A condição de africano dentro de uma cabana está no lugar certo: tal como o africano dentro da cozinha. Mas o africano dentro de um subúrbio “europeu”, dentro de um lar “europeu”, propriedade dele próprio: ele torna-se uma ameaça: ele deverá ser removido.

Jorge Correia Orfão

Sophiatown é um bairro de lata. Nós que vivemos lá nunca pensaríamos em negar isso. Temos constatado com os nossos próprios olhos o heroísmo do nosso próprio povo cristão inserido no meio ambiente deles. Seria uma deslealdade pura, eles negarem o facto que Sophiatown fosse uma “favela”. No entanto, as condições vividas neste tipo de bairros podem ser retiradas sem a expropriação dum bairro inteiro. Na verdade, os melhores profissionais em urbanismo estariam de acordo, só em última hipótese desenraizar os habitantes do bairro considerado o seu lar: pois tal desenraizamento destrói não só a essência das suas casas, como também se acaba com um organismo vivo – uma comunidade inteira. Sophiatown, portanto, poderia ter sido requalificada e reconstruída no mesmo sítio: um modelo suburbano Africano. Poderia ter sido, caso não levantasse a pressão a três pormenores: Primeiro, a pressão da opinião dos caucasianos e a força que representaria politicamente; segundo, a existência da posse ténue, e da ameaça de permanência que tal implicaria; terceiro, subjaz qualquer evento racial significativo na África do Sul: a assumpção que a “civilização” do homem branco é ameaçada pela existência de quaisquer semelhanças com a comunidade africana. A condição de africano dentro de um curral está no lugar certo: tal como o africano dentro da cozinha. Mas o africano dentro de um subúrbio “europeu”, dentro de um lar “europeu”, propriedade dele próprio do qual se orgulha: ele torna-se uma ameaça: ele deverá ser removido.

Jorge Correia Orfão

(reviewed by: Hilary Owen)

Maria Ondina Braga's Translation

2008-10-15T02:03:00.023+01:00

"Há no meu bairro um relojoeiro, homem de idade, alto, magro, de cabeleira branca revoltada e bigodes crestados e pendentes.

Vejo todos os dias o vulto do relojoeiro, à luz da lâmpada, na cave da calçada que vira para o cemitério. Pergunto-lhe as horas. Resposta infalivel:

- Horas de viver!

Sorri um sorriso fechado pelo cachimbo ao canto da boca, carrega no botão de uma caixinha a seu lado, e a música irrompe.

- É bonito mas estou com pressa.

- Horas de viver! Oiça só até ao fim esta musiquinha. São violinos!

Às vezes cismo como será que ao relojoeiro não falta trabalho? Sítio tão afastado da estrada, ele sozinho, velho, e nem uma tabuleta a assinalar-lhe a arte. A verdade, contudo, é que nunca o vi desocupado. de manhã à noite de cabeça curvada, monóculo comprido, mãos quase tão brancas como os cabelos, leves e lentas, o homen disseca ventres de relógios minúsculos, retoca algarismos romanos em antigos quadrantes, atarraxa molas, equilibra pesos. E também nunca lhe vi clientes. Chego a fantasiar que ele trabalha para os mortos ou para os deuses. Mas, se os relógios medem tempo...

Misterioso o velhote. A Loja um museu. Por todo lado relógios: de cuco, despertadores, de parede, de pulso, de bolso, e até de sol, e até de areia. Todos, porém, parados e cobertos de pó."

Maria Ondina Braga

English Translation: dedicated to someone special, a special warm thank you to the Blue Prince

In my neighbourhood there is a watchmaker, he is an elder man, tall, slim, with a white twigged hair wig, and wiggled moustache.
Everyday, I see the watchmaker’s figure, in the light of the street lamps, down the end of the road that turns towards the cemetery. I ask him for time. He responds infallibly:
- It’s time to live!
I smiled a closed smile through the pipe at the corner of my mouth, the watchmaker presses the button of a small box that was next to him, and music pops up.
- It’s lovely but I am in a rush.
- It’s time to live! Just listen to this music till the end. Its violins!
Sometimes I wonder why the watchmaker always has work to do. It’s a place so distant from the road, all by himself, an old fellow, and not a single board sign indicating his art. However the truth is I never saw him unoccupied. From morning till dawn with his head curved down, long monocle, hands as white as his hair, light and slow, the man dissects the insides of tiny watches, retouches the roman numerals in ancient dials, anthraxes gadgets, and sorts out balances. And also I have never seen a client around. I find myself fantasizing that he works for the dead or for the gods. But, if clocks measure time…
Mysterious the old man. The store a museum. There are clocks everywhere:
cuckoo-clock, alarm clocks, wall clocks, wrist clocks, pocket clocks, and even sundial, and even sand clocks.
Yet , all of them, were still and covered with dust.

Jorge Correia Orfão

In my neighbourhood there is a watchmaker, he is a tall, thin elder man, with a white twigged hair, and a drooping moustache.
Everyday, I see the watchmaker’s figure, in the light of the street lamps, down in the cellar below the road that turns towards the cemetery. I ask him for the time. He responds infallibly:
- It’s time to live!
He smiles a closed smile through the pipe at the corner of his mouth, the watchmaker presses the button on a small box that is next to him, and music busts up.
- It’s lovely but I am in a rush.
- It’s time to live! Just listen to this music till the end. Its violins!
Sometimes I wonder how the watchmaker always has work to do. It’s a place so distant from the road, all by himself, an old fellow, and not a single sign board indicating his art. However the truth is I never saw him unoccupied. From morning till dawn with his head bent down, long monocle, hands as white as his hair, light and slow, the man dissects the insides of tiny watches, retouches the roman numerals on ancient dials, tightens springs, and balances weights. And also I have never seen a customer either. I find myself fantasizing that he works for the dead or for the gods. But, if clocks tell time…
Mysterious the old man. The store a museum. There are clocks everywhere: cuckoo-clocks, alarm clocks, wall clocks, wrist watches, pocket watches, and even sundials, and hour glasses. Yet, all of them were stopped and covered with dust.

Jorge Correia Orfão

(reviewed by:Hilary Owen)

"Bienvenido, Mr Marshall", Luis García Berlenga-1953

2008-10-12T22:36:00.002+01:00

SPANISH NATIONAL CINEMA

Word Sea

2008-09-01T16:48:00.006+01:00

Words...

Words are waves floating down the shore. They splash with the vibrations of the Cristal Mermaid. Rules the Fish Kindom and makes sure all Maritim Life is plausiable.

Basic Linguistic Facts

2008-08-27T18:16:00.007+01:00

Contrast the Alexandrian and the Stoic approach to language.
The Alexandrian tended to be empiricists, which has to do with observation and classification of data, and the Stoics were rationalists, that related the function and structure of language with the function and structure of the human mind. At the end, Alexandrian’s view prevailed and satisfied the needs of language at that time.

How did the Roman grammarian Varro develop the notion of word classes?
Varro did not only follow the Greek model of word classes, but went further more. He divided the Greek lexicon into inflected (productive) and non-inflected (sterile) words. Furthermore, he classified the inflected words into four classes by reference to case and tense:
N+C-T
V+T-C
P+C+T
Ad-C-T

Explain what the terms Sandi and Sutra.
Sandi is a term for sounds that occur in rapid/normal speech.
Sutra is a set of rules, in Panini’s case giving information about word formation.

What did the Indians accomplish with linguistics?
They were apologists of the observation of the context to better understand linguistics. Semantics, grammar, phonology and phonetics were topics that occurred in Indian linguistics, that were much more advanced in comparison to Europe.

How did the Greeks develop the notion of word classes?
Stoics developed Plato’s and Aristotle’s study of four word classes then five word classes, while the Alexandrians had eight word classes: noun, verb, participle, pronoun, preposition, adverb and conjunction.

Who was the first linguist?
Panini (Sanskrit grammarian)

How does the work of Johann Christoph Adelung illustrate the progress made in the 19th Century?
Adelung tried to organise languages according to genetic relation, but geographical proximity of language was more important at the time.

What nationality dominated in the 19th Century?
It was the German nationality because of the unification/relationship between language and national identity.

What was the problem of Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm’s Law?
Grimm’s Law tells us that sound changes are systematic and not sporadic. The problem is that this was said before by Rask, Grimm only translated it.

What was the importance of August Schleicher in linguistics?
Schleicher develops the genealogical tree model that makes us understand how languages developed and evolved. Also based on Darwin’s ideas of survival, he tells us that languages are like natural organisms: they grow, mature and die.

How did dialect studies undermind the neogrammarian’s position?
According to the neogrammarians, sound changes are regular, they always occur the same way with a regular frequency, but dialect contact makes sound changes unpredictable.

What did the West learn from China?
Chinese is an isolated language; a tone language with an idiographic writing.
Lexical items (words that can be defined)
Function words (don’t have fixed meaning)

What is Karl Verner’s Law and how did it contribute to the neogrammarian’s position?
Verner says that there must be an explanation to the exception of a rule. Neogrammarians don’t agree with this because for them there are only laws and no exceptions.

Present the modern objections to the genealogical tree model.
Modern linguists objected that dialects come in the latest stage, what seems to make them really recent, which is not true.

What was the importance of Van Name in linguistics?
Van Name compared all four lexical bases found in the Caribbean: French, Spanish, English and Dutch.

What was the importance of Hugo Schuchardt in linguistics?
Schuchardt compares the universalist point of view of Francisco Adolfo Coelho, which considered that the features of Creole languages are due to universal tendencies in second language learning by adults, with the substratist point of view of Adam that believes Creoles are based on languages spoken by those with less power.

What did the neogrammarians like in Ferdinand de Saussure’s article: “The Earliest System of Vowels”?
Saussure said that when a certain sound occurs next to a vowel, it is pronounced like a glide. Liquids, glides and nasals are then pronounced like consonants when they come after consonants, and like vowels when they come before vowels. Neogrammarians didn’t like irregularity.

“Cours de Linguistique Generale”, broad on scope, why?
Saussure realised he was far ahead from the other linguistics.

What is the relationship between Thought and Speech?
They are inseparable. Language is where sound and thought meet. One can not exist without the other.

How did Saussure describe the Sign?
It is made up of two contents: word and meaning.

What is the basic principle of structuralism?
It is the opposition/contrast. Contrasting basic terms used in a discipline to clarify their position in a larger scale.

Explain Saussure’s opposition of “langue” and “parole”.
Langue is the knowledge of a community (shared knowledge).
Parole is the individual use of that knowledge, which can be used differently, depending on the different conditions of life (different speech of the rich and the poor, etc.).

Why according to Saussure there has to be a distinction between synchronic and diachronic?
The sign depends on the system, so according to different systems, signs have different meanings.

How did Saussure change the focus of 20th Century linguistics?
He focused linguistics on synchronic states, not on diachronic sequences as usual.

What analogy did Saussure make on synchronic and diachronic states?
He says that someone who comes in the middle of a chess game is not in disadvantage when compared to the other who was already there because he gets the most important, the present moment.

Explain the importance of the University of Paris in linguistics.
Speculative grammars wanted to turn grammar into scientific methods, by this, they thought they could define word classes and that would be applicable to every language. They failed because you can not start by word classes but by phrases, more complex structures.

Explain the importance of the Renaissance in linguistics.
Opening up of the entire Europe; countries/areas come in contact and learn a lot of new things about other cultures; belief that all languages are different but none are better than the other; printing press is created and it makes people have more access to publications.

Explain the importance of the Port Royal School in linguistics.
They wanted to find out what was universal in all languages; they explained three levels of the human mind: conceiving; judging and reasoning; they succeeded but speculative grammars didn’t.

According to Joseph Scaliger, what are the four families of languages?
Romance (Deus); Germanic (Gott); Greek (Theos); Slavic (Bog)

Define the following terms:
Pidgin: Reduced language that results from extended contact between groups of people with no language in common. It develops when some means of common are necessary. (no native speakers; not a natural language; a language that emerges when two groups of people with no language in common have to find out a way of communicating).
Jargon: Simplified and reduced language based on an “ad-hoc” basis.
Koinezation: When languages in contact are closely related.
Creole: Has a jargon or a pidgin in its ancestry, it is spoken natively by an entire speech community, usually one whose ancestors were displaced geographically so that their ties with their language were partly broken. (Have native speakers; it is a natural language)

What was the first English based Creole?
Sranan, spoken in Surinan

What was the first Portuguese based Creole?
Malayo-Portuguese

What was the oldest record of Creole language?
Creole-French

What was the first Creole really studied by linguists?
Creole-Dutch

What was the earliest recorded Pidgin?
Pidgin-Arabic (spoken in Mauritania)

What are the three types of languages? Briefly explain each.
Isolating
Inflected
Agglutinated

What was Sir William Jones’ important discovery?
He discovered a historical relationship between Sanskrit and Latin, Greek and German.

What did Wilkins want to do to end war?
Create a universal language.

Explain the meaning of Lingua Franca.
Lingua Franca came upon with the Crusades; it was lexically based on the southern romance languages (Italian, etc.). It has two meanings: lexically based language in the southern romance languages and the language spoken between people with no other language in common, as if it was universal. E.g.: French: Lingua Franca of diplomacy; English is today’s universal language.

Explain the importance of William Greenfield in Creole studies.
He compared the grammar between Creole English and English, as well as, Creole Dutch and Dutch.

What important concept did Dirk Christiaan Hesseling introduce on his 1897 article on the origin of Afrikaans?
Netherlands had colonized South Africa (Dutch came to be known in South Africa). They needed slaves in South Africa and took them from Indonesia to South Africa. This made contact between Dutch and Malayo Portuguese (spoken in Indonesia). Hesseling introduced the concept of partial creolization.

How did John Reinecke’s doctorial dissertation change the study of Creole languages?
We have to study the social circumstances of languages.
Sociolinguistics: relationship between social setting and linguistic development.

Why was the phoneticians “Goal of one sound, one symbol” unattainable/unreachable?
It was unreachable because it led to too many symbols which were hard to remember. It was a very complicated system.

What solution did Henry Sweet (1877) suggest for the above problem?
Sweet with his “handbook of phonetics” made a distinction between sounds that depend on the environment (phones), and sounds that trigger a meaning itself (phonemes).

Why is Saussure’s usage of the terms:
Phoneme: phonetic segment
Phonologie: synchronic phonetics
Phonetique: diachronic evolution of sound
Confusing to the modern reader?
These terms were confusing for the modern reader because they had different terms.

How did Baudouin de Courtenay and Kruts use the terms:
Antrapophonics: analysis of sounds from an accustic point of view.
Psychophonetics: how people feel about what they hear.

How did Courtenay (1895) define the phoneme?
Phoneme: psychological equivalent of speech sound.

What group did Roman Osipovich Jakobson, Prince Nikolai Sergeyevich Trubetzkoy, and Kurts form in 1915?
The Moscow Linguistic Circle

Which earlier linguists influence the Moscow Linguistic Circle?
Saussure and Baudouin de Courtenay

What group did the three form ten years later?
The Linguistic Circle of Prague

What did Jakobson say as the task of phonology?
1st: He identified each language according to their phoneme.
2nd: He identified distinctive features to formulate general laws.
3rd: He identified historical change in phonological systems.
4th: He supported the acoustic basis rather then the articulatory basis.

How did Trubetzkoy distinguish between constant and suspensible oppositions of phonemes?
Constant: can occur in any environment. (P/b)
Suspensible: neutralized in certain environments. (Bund; Bunt)

How did Trubetzkoy and Jakobson disagree about the fundamental units of phonology?
For Trubetzkoy phonemes are the fundamental units of phonology, but for Jakobson the features are the fundamental units.

How did Jakobson use binarity to describe choices that are in fact multiple?
He tries to reduce everything to yes/no questions. Basically he reduces to +/- choices. (high vowels=+ high – low)

What is meant by Jakobson’s “one mouth” principle?
He meant the use of the same features for both vowels and consonants.

How did Jakobson relate child language acquisition aphasia and phonological universal?
The last sound a child learns are the first ones he/she looses.

How did Jakobson and the Prague School, in general differ from American descriptivists around 1950?
The Prague school was looking for theories and explanations, while Jakobson was more interested in other items.

Briefly contrast British versus the Continental European attitudes towards linguistics.
The British are insularity; they focus only on the British territory and emphasis on pragmatism rather than on the principal. The European concentrates on theory and practice of many languages.

What distinction did Henry Sweet between Narrow Romic and Broad Romic?
Narrow Romic (phonetic): present, as accurate as possible, all relevant facts to the production of sound; applicable to all languages.
Broad Romic (phonemic): particular to certain languages; only indicates distinctions of sounds which correspond to distinction of meaning.

What practical skills did Daniel Jones stress in the training of phoneticians?
Perceiving, transcribing, and reproducing.

What was the crisis in the phonological theory in the 1930’s?
It was difficult to perceive what a phoneme is, it was seen as a segment, but a segment could be either a vowel or a consonant. It is more complex: it has to do with juncture (the way they appear in words).

What distinction did Firth make between Phonematic Units and Prosody?
Phonematic Units: old segmental phonemes.
Prosody: elements capable of extension.

What two traditions of linguistic studies develop in the USA in the 19th Century?
The European tradition: students would go to Germany to study Whitney.
Non-linguistic tradition: the Indian languages were learned.

Who was the first American linguistic of distinction? Explain the subject of his work that received international recognition.
William Whitney. He focused in Sanskrit studies.

Why was Franz Boas a self-taught linguist?
Franz Boas got a PHD in geography, so in what concerned linguistics was the fact he had to go to the field and learn everything by himself.

What was Boas’ view of “primitive languages”?
Primitive languages are believed to be vague and instable, but it is not true according to Boas. He says sometimes people can’t speak languages properly and this is what leads to the misunderstandment.

What did Boas mean when he said that language was a “window on culture”?
When studying a culture, learning its language is a major help and source. There is an intrinsic relationship between language and culture. People are usually more conscious about their culture than their language.

Why did Boas prefer phonetic to phonemic transcription?
He preferred phonetic transcription because he was not a native speaker. He corrected the phonemic spelling to phonetic and told his students to do the same. Phonetic is easier for non-native speakers.

Describe the tradition that Boas established in American linguistics.
Descriptivist tradition: setting up procedures for analysing language; emphasis on the discovery procedures (specifying the operation). This tradition helps field workers.

What were Sapir’s principal contributions to linguistics?
He was interested in the psychological foundation of language.

What were Sapir’s views towards the relationship of Language and Thought?
Language shapes our perception of the world around us.

Sapir’s 1921 book discusses the system for classifying Language. What did he mean by the following terms:
Isolating: each concept is expressed in a separate word.
Agglutinating: distinct concepts are expressed by distinct non-overlapping parts of words.
Fusional
Symbolic

Briefly contrast the careers of Sapir and Bloomfield and their contributions to linguistic studies.
They were rivals because Sapir operated more on intuitions and insights, while Bloomfield worked on systematic investigating, collecting data first and then comes ups with a theory.

How did Daniel Jones deal with the suprasegmentals?
He just ignored them.

What was the logical positivist/behaviourist approach that influenced the way that Bloomfield tries to make linguistics more scientific?
This approach rejects introspection. There are only two kinds of meaningful utterances: either a logical preposition or a report of sense data. This approach reduces linguistics to more scientific methods – observation, collecting data and proving it. It only approves what can be proved.

What were the good and bad sides of logical positivism/behaviourism?
The bad side is that we also need insights, they can’t simply be rejected, and they just need to be proved. The good side is that both wanted to put emphasis on matters that could be proved and not single opinions. Interpersonally provable and not single opinions.

Why was Bloomfield’s behaviourist approach to semantics unsatisfactory?
People usually talk about things they are not seeing - “displaced speech”. Bloomfield didn’t take this into account, he tried to correct this failure with the term “displaced speech” (talking about things, which can’t be directly observed at the moment of conversation).

How did Robert Hall and Douglas Taylor disagree about the genetic affiliation of Creole Languages?
Hall classified creoles as dialects of their European lexical source languages; Taylor classified creoles as genetically distinct from the source language.

What was the Theory of Monogenesis?
This theory defended that many of the world’s pidgins and creoles could be traced to a common origin. (Relaxification: translation of word for word, from one language to another).

Describe the Decamp’s Model of the Creole Continuum.
Decamp first applied the word continuum to the gradation from the lexical source language (acrolet) to the Creole (basilect). In between we have the mesolect, with the abolition of slavery (for example in Jamaica), people tried to establish their varieties.

What is the relevance of the Continum Model to the history of American Black English?
There was the assumption that a certain variety, a Creole by contrast with other varieties can develop till it at last comes in contact with a major language (in the case of English) and becomes similar to it (American Black English). “Sranan – Jamaican English – American Black English”

What basic structuralist assumption did Chomsky, Halle and Lukoff violate in the 1956 paper on Accent and Juncture in English?
They violated the prohibition against mixing levels: This book reduced the four degrees of phonemic stress to one simple accented/unaccented distinction. This established a nonbiunique relation between phonemics and phonetics. Eg: English Teacher – if you stress that he is English, you stress English; if yu stress that he is a Teacher, you stress he is a Teacher.

What was Chomsky’s first contact with transformational syntax?
Zelling Harris: He proof read a book of Harris and introduced himself to syntax (structural relationships between sentences).

What two factors made Chomsky’s syntactic structures revolutionary?
He puts the syntax at the center of the theory, and before him, the center used to be phonology or morphology. This is quite revolutionary because before language was considered a more human attribute, and therefore difficult to study it scientifically.

What kind of grammar did Chomsky argue for in syntactic structures?
The finite state Grammar and the prose structure Grammar.

What distinction did Chomsky make between weak and strong Genetive Capacity?
If grammar has the capacity to generate all and only the sentences of a language, it is of strong generative capacity- If a grammar doesn’t have this capacity and is of no empirical interest, then it has a weak genetive capacity.

Dr. John Holm, English Linguistics 3 Course

Universidade de Coimbra

1941 USA

2008-08-03T23:13:00.006+01:00

The following chronology lists some important moments in the United States of America during the year 1941. By this time, Americans had come across the Great Depression and were living through the 2nd World War. People were making an effort to economize as much as possible because of the drastic worldwide happenings. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President in his third term leading the American government. He was the thirty-second President in which, he served from 1933 till 1945 four terms in office. This was a year when no Nobel Awards were attributed to any personality or organization. The worldwide background was dark with terrorism flourishing around the context of the population. All the detailed events are a result of an intense internet research. The chronology is organized by months from January till December of 1941. Such study pretends to present what was happening during that year. As a result, it is expected the understanding of social, political, economical and cultural features that occurred during that year.

January 2: The Andrew Sisters record Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy for Decca Records. The song was a success during the 2nd WW. Also in 1941, Lena Horne records for the first time the classic, Stormy Weather for Victor Records. The Andrew Sisters and Lena Horne were entertainers for the troops during the 2nd WW.

January 6: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses Congress with the Four Freedoms speech.

January 23: The national hero Charles Lindberg serves testimonial before The House Committee on Foreign Affairs, he recommended the United States to negotiate a neutrality pact with Germany.

January 27: Representatives of the Chief Military of Great Britain and of the United States join together secretly to define strategies of the North American participation in the 2nd WW.

February 4: Roy Plunkett receives a US patent for Tetrafluoroethylene Polymers. The patent was assigned to Plunkett's employer, Kinetic Chemicals, Inc., of Wilmington, Delaware and describes the polymer to be highly resistant to corrosive influences and oxidation. Dr. Roy J. Plunkett, the scientist whose accidental invention of Teflon changed the way Americans cook

March 11: President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act. This was a program that allowed the United States to supply the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and Allied nations with a big amount of war material.

April 7: U.S. Naval Operating Base establishes in Bermuda.

April 9: Agreement relating to the Defense of Greenland was signed by the U.S. Secretary of State and the Danish Minister to the U.S.

April 10: USS Niblack (DD-424) depth charges a German submarine off of Iceland in what is believed to be the first act of war between Germany and the U.S. Roosevelt declares the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to no longer be combat areas and open to U.S. shipping.

May 6: Pepper, a North American senator defends that Americans should occupy Azores and Cape Verdean.

May 12: U.S. Secretary of State presents with Japanese a peace proposal by Ambassador Nomura.

May 27: Roosevelt presents the necessity to occupy the Atlantic islands of Portugal.

May 24: Bob Dylan, American singer-music composer, author, poet and disc jokey was born.

June 14: United States freezes German and Italian assets in America.

June 16: U.S. State Department request all German consulates in the American territory to be closed.

June 19: Germany and Italy request closure of American consulates.

June 21: U.S. State Department requests all Italian consulates in American territory to be closed.

July 7: Roosevelt informs congress that American troops will occupy Iceland in accordance with an executive agreement with that country.
U.S. Navy takes all steps to maintain communications between the U.S. and Iceland.

July 17: General Francisco Franco presents a speech in which he defends the German national-socialism and the Italian fascism, attacking the demo-liberal regimes that were Great Britain and the United States.
U.S. establishes Naval Air Station and Naval Operating Base at Argentina, Newfoundland.

July 19: U.S. Naval Task Force is organized to support the defense of Iceland and escort convoys between Iceland and the United States.

July 26: The United States freezes all Japanese assets because of their aggressive attitude towards the colonial and neo-colonial interests.

July 28: Japan freezes U.S. assets.

Aug 1: The United States announces an oil embargo against aggressor states.

August 14: Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter. Both countries agree on the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live. The Atlantic Charter served as a foundation stone for the later establishment of the United Nations, setting several principles for the nations of the world, including the renunciation of all aggression, right to self-government, access to raw materials, freedom from want and fear, freedom of the seas, and disarmament of aggressor nations.

August 18: Roosevelt announces that the United States is ferrying combat aircraft to the British in the Near East.

September 7: German air attack in the Gulf of Suez sinks the U.S. merchant ship, Steel Seafarer.

September 11: U.S. Navy orders to attack any vessel threatening U.S. shipping or ships under American escort.

September 17: Eastbound British trans-Atlantic convoy was escorted for the first time by U.S. Navy.

September 26: U.S. Navy orders protection of all ships engaged in commerce in American defensive water by patrolling, covering, escorting and by reporting or destroying any German or Italian naval forces encountered.

October: The United States deposes Arnulfo Árias from Panama.
Árias was a leader of a dictatorial government with a fascist ideology. The new President of Panama, Adolfo de la Guardiã, compromises himself to restore a democratic regime.

October 1: Three day conference between U.S., Britain and Russia on aid to Russia concluded in Moscow.

October 3: The film, The Maltese Falcon, produced by Warner Brothers premiers in New York City.

October 17: U.S. Navy orders all American merchantment in Asiatic waters to be put in friendly ports.

October 19: A German U-boat torpedoes and sinks the U.S. merchant ship USS Lehigh off of West Africa.

October 23: The animated feature film, Dumbo is first released by RKO Productions.

October 31: The destroyer, USS Ruben James (DD-245) sinks after being torpedoed off of western Iceland. First U.S. Naval vessel lost to enemy action in World War II.

November: Conclusion of the reparations of the Presidents’ faces on the Mount Rushmore.

November 1: Department of the Navy is given jurisdiction over the Coast Guard for the duration of the national emergency.

November 10: First American escorted troop convoy, with more than 20,000 British troops, departs Halifax for the Far East.

November 17: Special Japanese envoy, Subaro Kurusu, meets with the Secretary of State in Washington. A Joint Resolution amends the Neutrality Act of 1939 to allow merchant ships to be armed and enter war zones.

November 21: Lend-Lease extended to Iceland.

November 23: Under an agreement with the Netherlands, the United States occupies Surinam, Dutch Guiana to protect bauxite mines.

November 26: Final proposals for readjustments of American-Japanese relations.

November 30: American proposals for settling Far Eastern crisis rejected by Japanese Foreign Minister Tojo.

December 2: First Naval Armed Guard crew received by U.S. merchant ship Dunboyne.

December 3: Sagadahoc, a U.S. merchant vessel, is torpedoed and sunk in southern Atlantic.

December 6: President Franklin Roosevelt makes a final appeal to the Emperor of Japan for peace. There is no reply. Late this same day, the U.S. code-breaking service begins intercepting a 14-part Japanese message and deciphers the first 13 parts, passing them on to the President and Secretary of State. The Americans believe a Japanese attack is imminent, most likely somewhere in Southeast Asia.

December 7: The last part of the Japanese message, stating that diplomatic relations with the United States are to be broken off, reaches Washington in the morning and is decoded at approximately 9 a.m. About an hour later, another Japanese message is intercepted. It instructs the Japanese embassy to deliver the main message to the Americans at 1 p.m. The Americans realize this time corresponds with early morning time in Pearl Harbor, which are several hours behind. The U.S. War Department then sends out an alert but uses a commercial telegraph because radio contact with Hawaii is temporarily broken. Delays prevent the alert from arriving at headquarters in Oahu until noontime (Hawaii Time) four hours after the attack has already begun.

December 7: Islands of Hawaii, near Oahu - The Japanese attacks force under the command of Admiral Nagumo, consisting of six carriers with 423 planes. At 6 a.m., the first attack wave of 183 Japanese planes takes off from the carriers located 230 miles north of Oahu and heads for the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor - At 7:02 a.m., two Army operators at Oahu's northern shore radar station detects the Japanese air attack approaching and contacts a junior officer who disregards their reports, thinking they are American B-17 planes which are expected from the U.S. west coast.
Near Oahu - At 7:15 a.m., a second attack wave of 167 planes takes off from the Japanese carriers and heads for Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor is not on high alert. Senior commanders think, based on available intelligence, there was no reason to believe an attack is imminent. Aircraft are therefore, left parked wingtip to wingtip on airfields, anti-aircraft guns are unmanned with many ammunition boxes kept locked in accordance with peacetime regulations. There also were no torpedo nets protecting the fleet anchorage. And since it is Sunday morning, many officers and crewmen were leisurely ashore.
At 7:53 a.m., the first Japanese assault wave, with 51 'Val' dive bombers, 40 'Kate' torpedo bombers, 50 high level bombers and 43 'Zero' fighters, commences the attack with flight commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, sounding the battle cry: "Tora! Tora! Tora!” (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!).
The Americans were taken completely by surprise. The first attack wave target airfields and battleships. The second wave target other ships and shipyard facilities. The air raid lasts until 9:45 a.m. Eight battleships are damaged, with five sunk. Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels are lost along with 188 aircraft. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and launch torpedoes.
Escaping damage from the attack are the prime targets, the three U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, Lexington, Enterprise and Saratoga, which were not in the port. Also escaping damage are the base fuel tanks.
The casualty list includes 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed, with 1,178 wounded. Included are 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing catastrophic explosions.
In Washington, various delays prevent the Japanese diplomats from presenting their war message to Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, until 2:30 p.m. (Washington Time) just as the first reports of the air raid at Pearl Harbor are being read by Hull.
News of the "sneak attack" is broadcast to the American public via radio bulletins, with many popular Sunday afternoon entertainment programs being interrupted. The news sends a shockwave across the nation and results in a tremendous influx of young volunteers into the U.S. armed forces. The attack also unites the nation behind the President and effectively ends isolationist sentiment in the country.

December 8: The United States and Britain declare war on Japan with President Roosevelt calling December 7, a date which will live in infamy.

December 11: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The European and Southeast Asian wars have now become a global conflict with the Axis powers; Japan, Germany and Italy united against America, Britain, France, and their Allies.

December 12: Naval Air Transport Service is established.

December 17: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz becomes the new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

December 22: U.S. troops under Brig. General J.F. Barnes arrive at Brisbane, Australia. Roosevelt and Churchill open discussions in Washington that lead to the establishment of Combined Chiefs of Staff. Japanese land in Lingayen Gulf area in the Philippines. Japanese patrol boats 32 and 33 are destroyed by Marine gunfire and deliberately run ashore at Wake Island.

December 23: American-British War Council, composed of Roosevelt, Churchill and Navy, military and civilian advisors meets for first time.

It is not surprising how the effects of World War 2 hit the United States of America during 1941. The world was in crisis and all societies were experiencing unstable moments. A simple chocolate like the famous M&M’s was related to the war. These Peanut Chocolate Candies were first introduced precisely in 1941 to American soldiers. Moreover, fashion wear was not considered a profitable business. People were going through a period of economization and did not invest on clothes. Mostly the fabricants were interested on the production of uniforms. Funny to say that besides the lack of production of daily wear, nylon stockings became very popular within women, practically replacing the traditional silk stocking. Nevertheless, good things came out as a reflection of the worldwide mess.
Cinema, for example turned into a highly productive industry. It was in 1941 that the Annual Academy Oscar Awards celebrated its 14th Anniversary. John Ford won Oscar for Best Directing with his film, How Green Was My Valley, winning likewise Best Motion Picture. Also, lots of famous European Artists escaped to the United States ending up expanding their works in American territory. Max Ernst serves as an example, a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet held prisoner in France, when the WW2 began, but in 1941 managed to escape to the United States. He was considered to be one of the chief representatives of Dadaism and Surrealism, side-by-side with A. Breton that also arrived to New York that same year. If we consider that Sport victories are in a certain way a nations’ pride, then we should refer some relevant champions in American Sports. In 1941, North American Cornelius Warmerdam hit world records in Pole vault and Lester Sterrs in a Los Angeles competition, also tops world records. In the same way, the New York Yankees win the world championship in baseball.
To sum up, all events during 1941 in the chronology presented are in some way related with the 2nd WW. Plenty of political affairs were happening around the country, while bombs broke the world apart. Pearl Harbor was a relevant issue in the United States, which metaphorically conducted the country to join the World War. Curiosity was that by 1941, employment had risen since the Great Depression, in other words there was a growing labor in all nations’ manufacturing centers, accelerating the Great Migration of African-American workers from the Southern states as well as, farmers and workers from rural areas and small towns. Domestic issues were no longer Roosevelt’s most urgent concern. The society was changing throughout the war, not only in the United States, but all around the world.

Proyecto Español Linguístico: Reglas de Acentuación d Castellano

2008-08-03T15:28:00.006+01:00

En la lengua castellana, la acentuación es más fácil de entender, pues hay solo un tipo de acento, lo que se denomina por la tilde. No significa lo mismo que lo que se llama por tilde en la lengua portuguesa, ni tampoco la que frecuentemente se usa para señalar la n del castellano. La ñ representa una letra del alfabeto español. Su función es distinguir la nasalización del la n, como hay en palabras como, niño. Por lo tanto, las reglas de acentuación en castellano son:

Las palabras agudas que acaban en vocal, -n y –s: cuando la carga acentual recae en la última sílaba se acentúan.
Las palabras llanas que no acaban en vocal, -n, y –s: cuando la carga acentual recae en la penúltima sílaba, se acentúan cuando terminan en consonante, excepto los vocablos que terminan en –n y –s.
Las palabras esdrújulas son acentuadas siempre: todos los vocablos en que la carga acentual recae en la antepenúltima sílaba.
Las palabras compuestas cuando convertidas en esdrújulas llevan el respectivo acento.
Los monosílabos nunca llevan acento, excepto cuando existen dos iguales en su forma pero que tienen distinta función gramatical: el (artículo) / él (pronombre); mi (adjetivo posesivo) / mí (pronombre personal); tu (adjetivo posesivo) / tú (pronombre personal); mas (conjunción) / más (adverbio); si (conjunción) / sí (afirmación o pronombre reflexivo); de (preposición) / dé (verbo dar); se (pronombre) / sé (verbo saber y ser); aun (adverbio de cantidad) / aún (adverbio de tiempo); te (pronombre); té (nombre).
Todos los pronombres interrogativos y exclamativos llevan siempre acento.
Los pronombres demostrativos llevan acento cuando pueden confundirse con los adjetivos demostrativos.
Los diptongos átonos nunca llevan acento.
Los diptongos pasan a ser hiatos cuando las dos vocales forman parte de sílabas distintas. Por lo tanto siempre que hay una vocal abierta a, e, o más una cerrada i o u, el acento recae en la vocal abierta; siempre que hay una cerrada más una abierta, el acento recae en la cerrada. Cuando tenemos dos vocales cerradas juntas, el acento recae en la segunda vocal y cuando tenemos dos vocales abiertas juntas, seguimos las reglas de acentuación normal.
Los triptongos llevan siempre acento en la vocal abierta.
Los adverbios de modo que son formados por adjetivo más –mente llevan acento en el adjetivo.
La palabra solo puede llevar acento cuando funciona como adverbio para evitar la confusión con solo adjetivo.

What Does the Fortune Cookie Say?!?

2008-08-02T19:41:00.003+01:00

É no silêncio que nos ouvimos melhor e é quase sempre, na solidão que conseguimos ver mais longe.

Mommie's Love Poem

2008-07-29T14:38:00.001+01:00

AMOR INCONDICIONAL

Amo dois amores no mundo
com muita dedicação,
um deles é mais profundo
que trago no coração.

Esses dois amores que amo são
o Pai e o meu filho,
amores do meu coração.

Maria da Encarnação Correia de Matos Cardoso

Proyecto Español Linguístico: Reglas de Acentuación d Portugués

2008-07-28T11:10:00.003+01:00

Los vocablos agudos que terminan en a abierta, e y o semiabiertos llevan el acento agudo.
Los que acaban en e y o semicerrados, seguidos o no de -s, llevan acento circunflejo.
Ej. jacaré, lês
Todas las palabras esdrújulas deben ser acentuadas gráficamente, reciben el acento agudo las que tienen en la antepenúltima sílaba las vocales a abierta, e u o semiabiertas, i o u; llevan acento circunflejo aquellas en que figuran en la sílaba predominante las vocales a, e, o semicerradas.
Ej. gótico, pêndula
Los vocablos llanos finalizados en i o u seguidos o no de -s, llevan acento agudo cuando en la sílaba tónica figuran a abierto, e u o semiabiertos, i o u.
Ej. lápis, júri
Se pone acento agudo en la i, y u tónicos que no forman diptongo con la vocal anterior.
Ej. aí, cafeína
Lleva acento agudo la u precedido de g o q y seguido de e o i.
Ej. argúi, averigúes
Los diptongos semiabiertos llevan acento agudo, cuando son tónicos.
Ej. chapéu, rouxinóis
Las palabras agudas terminadas en –em, ens llevan acento agudo en la e.
Ej. alguém, armazém
Lleva acento agudo en la a abierta, en la e u o semiabiertas y en la i o u de la penúltima sílaba de las palabras llanas que acaban en l, n, r, y, x; y el acento circunflejo en la a, e, u o semicerrados.
Ej. açúcar, afable, cânon
La sílaba tónica de los vocablos llanos acabados en diptongo oral llevan acento agudo o circunflejo. Ej. ágeis, variáveis, devêreis
El tilde sirve para indicar la nasalización y corresponde como acento tónico caso otro acento no figura en el vocablo.
Ej. capitães, coração, devorações
El acento llano señala las contracciones de la preposición a con el artículo a y con los pronombres demostrativos a, aquele, aquela, aqueles, aquelas, etc.
Ej. à, àquele

Proyecto Español Linguístico: Notaciones Léxicas/Acentuación Portuguesa

2008-07-21T21:35:00.005+01:00

En la lengua portuguesa hay que diferenciar los tipos de acentos, destinados a indicar la pronunciación exacta de las palabras. Entre todas las notaciones léxicas de la acentuación portuguesa, hay cuatro que son más importantes saber, que son el acento:

Agudo, empleado para señalar las vocales tónicas enceradas (i, u); las vocales tónicas abiertas y semiabiertas (a, e, o). Ej. baú, pálido
Llano, empleado para indicar la preposición a con la forma femenina del artículo a, as y con los pronombres demostrativos a, as, aquele, aqueles, aquilo. Ej. às, àquele
Circunflejo, empleado para indicar el timbre semicerrado de las vocales tónicas a, e, o. Ej. câmara, avô
Tilde, empleada sobre la a y la o para indicar la nasalidad de esas vocales. Ej. maçã, sermões

Early Morning Dedication

2008-07-14T05:59:00.002+01:00

Padieria Nao Precisa de Leite... Basta uma colher!

Proyecto Español Linguístico: Las Palabras

2008-07-13T05:36:00.005+01:00

Cuando pronunciamos lentamente una palabra, sentimos que no separamos un sonido del otro, pero dividimos la palabra en pequeños segmentos fónicos. A cada vocal o grupo de sonidos pronunciados en una sola expiración, damos el nombre de sílaba.

La sílaba puede ser formada:
Por una vocal, un diptongo o un triptongo.
Por una vocal, un diptongo o un triptongo acompañados de consonantes.

Podemos clasificar las palabras teniendo en cuenta, el número de sílabas.

Así tenemos las palabras:
Monosílabas: cuando están construidas por una sola sílaba.
Bisílabas: cuando están construidas por dos sílabas.
Trisílabas: cuando están construidas por tres sílabas.
Polisílabas: cuando están construidas por más de tres sílabas.

Las palabras se pueden clasificar también, según su acento tónico.

En ese sentido, las palabras con más de una silaba se califican en:
Agudas: cuando el acento recae en la ultima sílaba.
Llanas: cuando el acento recae en la penúltima sílaba.
Esdrújulas: cuando el acento recae en la antepenúltima sílaba.

Proyecto Español Linguístico

2008-06-22T20:43:00.009+01:00

La presentación que se sigue pone en practica conocimientos de la lingüística aplicada a la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras. El punto de investigación son los alumnos portugueses que aprenden el castellano como lengua extranjera. El objeto principal es entender las causas de los errores que ellos comenten, a fin de producir métodos de enseñanza (didácticos) para evitar los “malos hábitos”. Desde ha mucho que se trabaja en investigaciones del tipo. El nacimiento de la lingüística aplicada es algo histórico, relacionada con cuestiones socio-políticas. En el siglo XX, hube un cambio de actitud sobre la lingüística general. Con las guerras mundiales entre los años 40 y 50, se empieza a dar notable atención al aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras. Su función oral es valorada y va a influenciar el desarrollo de la lingüística aplicada. Los lingüísticos debido al espionaje, se preocupan con la lingüística en determinados espacios sociales, recorriendo a una planificación normativa de la lingüística.
Desde las teorías acerca del análisis contrastivo de Charles Fries (1945) que se hace tales tipos de investigaciones. Él presenta que para solucionar los problemas que ocurren en el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras, hay que “predecir” los errores cometidos por los aprendices. Así, los lingüísticos intentan encontrar diferencias y similitudes entre dos lenguas, produciendo dos tipos de conceptos cuando el alumno se encuentra en una fase de interlengua. Por un lado, se produce transferencia positiva, cuando hay similitudes entre la lengua materna y la lengua extranjera, por otro lado, se produce transferencia negativa, cuando hay una interferencia lingüística que impide el aprendizaje de la lengua meta. La teoría de Fries junta con las teorías estructuralistas de R. Lado (1957), por las cuales, no solo la comparación de las estructuras lingüísticas entre dos lenguas influyen el proceso de aprendizaje, pero también, se debe tener en cuenta la cultura que contextualiza la lengua meta. No obstante, la idea que existen universales lingüísticos, origina la versión débil de P. S. Corder sobre las concepciones del análisis contrastivo. Él critica la versión fuerte, en que dice que no se puede “predecir” todos los errores de una lengua. Pues, similitudes pueden no producir trasferencias positivas, ni tampoco las diferencias entre dos lenguas tienen que producir interferencias negativas. Simplemente, tales estudios sirven para entender cómo se desarrollan las lenguas, con el objetivo de encontrar similitudes universales que pueden ayudar a comprender los procesos del aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras.
Ya en los años 60, Chomsky, que es impulsado con las teorías generativas influenciadas por el desarrollo del conocimiento por varias etapas, que según Piaget, propone una observación de cómo funciona nuestra mente. Chomsky trabaja con basis a la observación de cómo adquieren los niños lenguas extranjeras. Los métodos tradicionales de trabajo en la lingüística aplicada se dedican a establecer una lista de errores, consideradas como interferencia negativa. Métodos que no buscaban las causas por lo cual los errores se habían producido. S. P. Corder contribuye para tal distancia lingüística con la publicación de un estudio sobre una nueva concepción acerca del error. Una concepción positiva en que, partiendo del análisis contrastivo, el error es inevitable y necesario para el aprendizaje. Así, el análisis de errores va a substituir el análisis contrastivo hasta que en los años 70, estudios comprobaran que el análisis de errores no es una substitución, y que en verdad es un complemento del análisis contrastivo. A partir de entonces, la preocupación va a ser la clasificación con algún rigor científico, tipos de errores que van a determinar la forma de aprender segundas lenguas.
Para intentar explicar un tipo de error que los alumnos portugueses pueden cometer, se hizo un análisis de errores de un conyunto de composiciones escritas por alumnos aprendiendo un mismo nivel del castellano. Una vez seleccionado un tipo de error, que podría ser del tipo gramatical, sintáctico, fónico, de grafema, de contenido léxico o funcional y comunicativo, se hizo un análisis contrastivo del las reglas gramaticales entre la lengua portuguesa y la lengua castellana. Después de entender las diferencias del uso gramatical, esperamos explicar los motivos por los cuales determinado error es frecuente entre los alumnos. Podemos considerar este estudio como un primer paso para encontrar métodos de enseñaza para ultrapasar determinado error.
El error escogido para éste ejercicio lingüístico, fue las diferencias de acentuación del portugués y del castellano. Así, el trabajo se va a centrar en tres partes fundamentales para la comprensión del objeto del estudio que se presenta.
1. Descripción Gramatical de Las Reglas de Acentuación (del portugués y del castellano)
2. Análisis Contrastivo del Los Errores de Acentuación
3. Conclusiones del Estudio

What Does the Fortune Cookie Say?!?

2008-06-16T06:53:00.001+01:00

Sometimes we feel lonely and submit ourselves to certain circumstances that make us feel lonelier than what we felt before. These circumstances turn us into sad human beings with little respect for ourselves, nor with self-stimulation to respect others. Moral pressure wrenches our souls that daily lives inside us. To minimize such pressure, there is a need to comprehend cultural features in self-contextualization. What you find turns the lonely feelings into self-substantial levels of mind.

Convites Nocturnos

2008-06-12T04:14:00.000+01:00

PAMR-Madrugador,...

Wine and Cheese?

SHALL We DANCE?

2008-06-12T03:47:00.001+01:00

Mr. Ineffably, "I'm looking at you, babe"!... Thanks

Wow! ... Starting any written essay with an interjection seems to be inappropriate, but it was the first word that came to mind after watching one of the ten Astaire-Rogers musical comedy films. Shall We Dance is the title of a remarkable movie, directed by Mark Sandrich, produced by Pandro S. Berman and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures in 1937. We can see how ballet was blended with modern dance and how the Gershwin brothers mixed jazz with classical music. Nevertheless, it is a delight to watch Fred Astaire, who plays Peter P. Peters (Petrov), joined together as dance-actors with Ginger Rogers that plays Linda Keene. All this combined with the Art Deco sceneries, takes us back to the late 30’s in the United States of America, where during 116 minutes we can enjoy some of what today are important American idioms in music, dance and art.
Astaire (Frederick Austerlitz) was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 10th, 1899. His parents enrolled him and his sister, Adele Astaire in a dance studio. At a very early age, the brother-sister partners were taken to New York for professional training. Their success grew gradually until they had to split because Adele decided to get married. Fred Astaire continued in showbiz, inheriting the title of the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. From all the different influences he had contact with, tap and other African-American rhythms seem to be more present in Astaire. There is a scene in the movie that shows his sympathy for African-American culture. It is in the ship, where Peter and Linda Keene are heading to the United States. During the trip, Peter comes across a group of Black engineer workers that are gathered and singing the song, “Slap That Bass.” They make musical tunes with their working tools in an Art-Deco inspired engine room. In my opinion, it is one of the high moments of Shall We Dance, because aside all the great melodies, we can encounter how races start to mix up. In 1930 Fred Astaire went to Hollywood in order to increase his career. He was signed by RKO, where he teamed up with his most famous partner, Ginger Rogers. Although she did everything he did, but backwards and in high heels, they were considered the most famous dancing duo in American cinema history.
Virginia Katherine McMath was born in Independence, Missouri, on July 16th, 1911. Her nickname, “Ginger,” originated from her younger cousin Helen, who pronounced “Virginia” as “Ginja.” Ginger was exposed to theatre because her mother wrote scripts for Hollywood, so her interest in being an actress arose while she was still a young girl. Her first contact with Fred was when she was hired to star on Broadway, in Girl Crazy by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin. Rogers signed with RKO after working for some time with Paramount Pictures. Side-by-side with Astaire, she played a role in Flying Down to Rio (1933), their first picture as partners. Since then, they have both achieved fame by becoming stage actors, dancers, and singers, as well as receiving academy awards for their well known American films.
The first portion of the story takes place in Paris, where “Petrov”, an American dancer who has won fame as a Russian ballet star with the help of his impresario, Jeffrey Baird, played by Edward Everett Horton. At the ballet school, while ballet dancers train their steps, Peter is in another room dancing with enthusiasm tap dance. Jeffrey approaches the dancer with irony towards the new forms of dance and music. He calls that jazz thing nonsense and doesn’t understand the modern ways of expression. Peter explains poetically to his manager’s confusion and it is with this scene, right in the beginning, that we feel the combination of the classic and the contemporary world. The story is introduced in an amusing way. During the 30’s the world was changing, new melodies, new tunes and new steps in dance entered the world of entertainment. These innovations provided some distraction for the people, especially for the American population since they had been living through the Great Depression.
The Great Depression also known as the Great Slump was a worldwide economic downturn which hit the States in 1929, when the stock market crashed. At the time, Herbert Hoover was President and was known to be a disaster in America’s government. Furthermore, in 1933 President F. Roosevelt replaced Hoover, who presented shortly the New Deal programs in order to restructure the economy. By the time, Shall We Dance was being released, the New Deal led to the Recession of 1937, the peak of the Great Depression. Although the main economic indicators had regained the levels of the late 1920’s, profits and employment declined widely until most of 1938. We may all agree that these tough moments in the United States were reasons for the growth of the cinema industry. On one hand, it brought distraction to the Americans, for instance who wouldn’t enjoy watching the top hat, white tie and tails of Astaire with the glamorous Rogers co-act comic love stories while they dance and sing. On the other hand, movie-making was a business that kept lots of people on a salary, like actors, directors, writers, stunt men and technicians.
In the above mentioned movie, we see a sort of contradiction between the rich and poor. On the scene when Linda Keene first appears, we see that she is unsatisfied with all the applauses of fame as well as, a kind of disgust towards all the wealth around her. One of the things she says on screen is: Rich, but money isn’t anything! Not only does this seem ironic because people were urged to set a standard on wealth, but it was also the golden age in Hollywood when the cinemas had great enrichment which targeted a big impact on its audience. The Golden Age began during the late 1920’s, lasting till the 1950’s, inaugurating with the movie, The Jazz Singer (1927). This period put an end with the silent era in American cinema, when theatres like, Warner Brothers, MGM, Paramount, Fox Films and RKO attained huge success. Throughout these years cinema was a part of people’s lives and Hollywood was known by everyone as the city where all the stars were celebrated. Names like Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Fey Wray, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are American idiom figures that play a relevant significance in the North American culture.
The way the romance between Peter P. Peters and Linda Keene flourishes proves us that love can be stronger than money. Peter acts like he is very wealthy to impress Miss Keene, but she despises the rich and famous. She seems to just want peace, as well as, someone that looks at her for what she is and not for what she does. Still in Paris, when they first meet in Miss Lin Keene’s hotel room, “Petrov” makes no impression on her. Moreover, he uses a Russian accent that intimidates the dancer. The first contact we see between both is quite funny. Lins's attitude towards the Russian imposter seems peculiar not only because of recent controversies, but also because the 2nd WW was shaping up, causing many to second guess foreigners. When Peter discovers that Linda Keene is going to return to New York, sailing on the Queen Anne, he decides to go along with her. Before he meets his former dance partner, Lady Denise, whom he did not wish to see so, he told Jeffrey to tell her that "Petrov" is married.
The rumour of Peter’s secret marriage outspreads from Denise to the ship newspapers. Since the passengers see Peter with Miss Lin often together, in the Queen Anne, they believe she is the secret wife. Gossip accompanies the journey as if the rumour was a passenger on the ship, arriving like everyone at the Big Apple. Meanwhile, Peter does all he can do to impress Linda Keene. He has the help of Arthur Miller, Linda’s manager, joined at a point with Jeffrey Baird. The couple’s impresarios want to prevent Linda from quitting her dancing career so she can marry Jim Montgomery, played by William Brisbane. The whole relationship between the characters is a hilarious adventure, where each tries to accomplish what they want, how they want it. All the misunderstandings, the pranks and the jokes carried out from Paris till New York, weren’t sufficient for Linda Keene to fall for Peter P. Peters. It is only at the production’s final number that Linda sees how much Peter is in love with her. They had agreed before in dancing together in the Metropolitan, but all the disagreements lead them to split apart. Peter is determined that the show must go on and arranges a special number, in which he sings and dances with a female chorus, each wearing a mask of Linda’s face. Miss Linda Keene is amused with “Petrov’s” idea and with his show, deciding then to finally join him on stage, dissolving herself in the middle of the dancers. This is the biggest moment of Shall We Dance, where we truly feel Broadway’s showbiz life. Peter dances magically, finding his way to unmask Linda and afterwards both dance a short final duet. No doubt that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers impress us in this movie, not only because of the way they act the love story, but likewise how they dance that Jazz thing, as Jeffrey said in the beginning of the picture.
On the whole, as we watch Shall We Dance, we are taken back to the 1930’s North America, when the country was the 3rd largest in population. By that time, people were living through the unpleasant Great Depression which in a certain way, lead to the appreciation of the popular culture. African and European music traditions were joined together originating what is called Jazz music, joining different races that contributed for the melting pot phenomenon. In the movie we have the pleasure to experience George and Ira Gershwin’s music and lyrics. Both are well-known in American musical history. The streets of Broadway and Hollywood turned into musical halls, while tap dance was becoming the modern dance moves. Astaire and Rogers exhibit that experience in Shall We Dance and in their whole movie collection. It was a period where cinema lived the Golden Age. The New Deal proposed by F. Roosevelt, did not help solve the high level of unemployment. Movie-making was a big investment that brought jobs for all sort of professionals. The condition of being poor and rich was lost in sense. People gave more importance to small things in life and tried to distract themselves amongst the country’s crisis. A time when buildings like the Chrysler and the City Hall where giving New York new architectural features. During the whole of the movie, we can admire those features, influence of the French Art Deco. The context that the movie shows is part of the United States History, its culture, its life and what we may consider today, American idioms. Therefore, to finish up this essay with the interjection as the beginning seems to be more appropriate… Wow!

PAMR-Madrugador

2008-05-18T06:02:00.000+01:00

Existem cores primárias e outras secundárias,
pelo menos é o que nos dizem desde muito novos na escolinha.
Assim, o azul,
o magenta e
o amarelo
encontram-se no grupo das cores primárias, que misturadas dão as cores secundárias, tais como o verde.
O nosso espaço circundante é preenchido pelas cores, sem elas tudo seria como uma folha de papel branca,
um espaço vazio,
o silêncio.
Na escura madrugada uma nova cor veio quebrar a monotonia da noite.
Assim, o dia começa sempre com novas tonalidades de cores!

The G-Smile, The Enchanting Wizard

2008-03-24T16:01:00.001Z

I tried to find a poem to describe

my feelings when you smile.

I didnt find no poem 'cause,

your smile has much more rhythm.

I dont have the touch to write poems,

but you make me rime inside.

When you dont feel like smiling,

remember your smile is a poem

that makes me smile.

For a Special Friend!...

2008-02-20T10:45:00.001Z

Tina Linda Força, your a wonderful woman!!

All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point—a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction; and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved.-Ch. 1

Virginia Wolf

The English Language- Part 2

2008-02-11T04:30:00.000Z

How Settlers and Immigrants Influenced the Development of American Language

During decades the English language has spread out across the world, gaining the status of a worldwide language. The truth is that the varieties of English as a mother tongue are quite a few and according to David Crystal each presents its own complex social history. The American English serves to illustrate how language can sometimes be like a virus that can contaminate a whole continent, as well as change in its own context. It all began during the end of the 16th century while people discovered this “New World”. On the question of Raleigh, I will begin my essay explaining how two patterns of settlement resulted in different linguistic consequences and how they were the key to the opened doors for an increasing number of immigrants, registering around a quarter million by the beginning of the 18th century.
After the mysterious lost of a first group of explorers that landed what is today called North Carolina, the first permanent English settlement established in Jamestown. These people called Virginians because of their queen-Queen Virginia grew in number as they occupied the coast and nearby islands like Bermuda and the Bahamas. David Crystal in “The English Language” (2002) believes the Virginians came mainly from the West Country and with them they brought the respective accent called “Zummerzet”. This accent is characterized by the voicing of the S sounds and the R pronounced after vowels. We can still witness such accent in Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay if we listen to any Tangerine speak proudly about their national identity. Not many years after the Virginians entered the continent another very large group of people with specific ideals came from mainly East Anglia and the surrounding countries, the Puritans. They first arrived on the Mayflower- the “Pilgrim Fathers” and right there in Plymouth, Massachusetts they wanted to find a new place to start and spread the word of God. In less than 30 years around 25,000 people had settled in the area as claims David Crystal. These two different ways of living and building up society caused large consequences in English language as they were mixed up. Around the 18th century it is noticeable a vase wave of Irish and Scots-Irish immigrants coming in America. The tales of the frontiersman David Crockett are a perfect example of the broad-accent they brought with them what is called “Sunbelt” accent and considered the most commonly associated with present day American speech. The “New World” grows based on a cosmopolitan character attracting immigrants from all over the world: The Spanish, the French, the Dutch, Germans and Blacks. Just as the 19th century breaks up the American Continent had implemented a multilingual culture, where many loan words took place such as the words, “chipmunk” from Indian languages, and “cookbook” from the German. As a result of the many social and cultural developments in American history, as we can picture in Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, we can also find plenty of coinages in the language. English Settlers and immigration bared a whole new continent and with it a whole new language: the American English.
After the language study researches of Noah Webster, author of “An American Dictionary of the English Language”, American English became an independent language with its own distinctiveness beyond British English. The influence of social communication and cinema in Britain and other English-speaking countries has contributed for a much wider use of American terms, specially used by the youth population. As a consequence David Crystal in his 2nd edition (2003), “Encyclopedia of the English Language” gives us the example of the UK chips equivalent to US French fries, different from US chips equivalent to UK crisps. Lexical distinctiveness, spelling, grammar, stress, and pronunciation differences, just as different cultural behaviours are relevant when we compare both varieties. Examples such as some noun phrases that present distinct features in word order like, US Hudson River and the US River Thames, gives us a clear idea how they differ from each other. There is a controversy between General American and Received Pronunciation that leads us up to the term “regional” variation. American English with this can be divided into three major geographical areas: the Northern, the Southern and the Midland. The progressive incoming of people into the continent since early 17th century is responsible for such language diversity. Nowadays we can always consult DARE-Dictionary of American Regional English, the official dictionary of the American Dialect Society.
I have shown that English is the more out-spreading language known, serving myself to exemplify this with one of its most predominant variety: the American English. Since early expeditions discovering new lands that people all over the world move around having contact with different group identities during their lives. Today we can easily identify one by its accent or dialect, as well as locate from where that person is from. Such a fact reveals that differences between languages are at a certain point so intense that it should be an inspiration for us language students. Usually grammars and dictionaries present the “common core” of words and structures which they contain and totally forget the different varieties of the language. It is our responsibility to assure that there is a lot more to deal with in language studies than the regular random Standard English.

Thinking About Culture

2008-02-11T04:12:00.000Z

The thought of a superior European culture is a blafant insult to the majesty of nature.

Raymond Williams

Após a reflexão sobre as várias definições de cultura apresentadas por Raymond Williams no seu ensaio, Keywords. A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1933), podemos considerar que a cultura é um fenómeno vulgar na sua orientação quotidiana. Todos partilhamos processos e padrões culturais comuns; no entanto, desenvolvemos simultaneamente a nossa cultura individual, própria de cada um. Neste sentido, para alguém se tornar parte de uma cultura terá que construir uma identidade. A questão da identidade torna-se relevante para os estudos culturais, uma vez que permite a ordenação e a estabilidade do sujeito. Assim, saber onde é o nosso lugar passa a ser um dos factores primordiais no que diz respeito à construção da identidade no mundo moderno.

Em 1619, deu-se o início da escravatura nos Estados Unidos da América, na colónia de Virgínia, que, durante séculos, alterou as vidas dos negros transportados do continente africano numa longa e aterrorizante travessia do Oceano Atlântico, denominada por “Middle Passage”. Considera-se hoje tal miséria e sofrimento humano um verdadeiro holocausto, caracterizado pela forma brutal como os homens que se conheciam como civilizados albergaram estas raças consideradas primitivas. Principalmente após a abolição da escravatura (1866), estas comunidades tiveram que trabalhar na reconstrução da sua identidade, roubada pelos exploradores em nome do cristianismo. Um dos passos mais importantes para essa reconstrução seria então, criar orgulho na sua comunidade, a comunidade Afro-Americana. Tendo como suporte um texto de Alain Locke escrito em 1925 e entitulado, The New Negro, tal como outras referências retiradas de narrativas de escravos, desenvolvo de seguida uma leitura da expressão cultural dos negros nos Estados Unidos pós-escravatura.

As “slave narratives” são textos que narram acontecimentos, na maior parte das vezes, na primeira pessoa e nas quais narra factos reais consoante as suas memórias e experiências. Traduzindo a expressão para as “narrativas da escravatura” pode ser conveniente, embora não se consiga transmitir a essência do molde original. Estas narrativas representam o culminar de uma tradição literária desde o século XVII e têm, hoje, um papel significativo na história cultural afro-americana. São, nesta perspectiva, valorizadas como uma forma de arte, pela qual a comunidade em questão se reafirma dentro de uma sociedade cosmopolita, sociedade essa que lhes foi imposta. Alain Leroy Locke nasceu em 1885, num seio familiar virado objectivamente para a educação, não sendo então de estranhar a surpreendente intelectualidade que provou ter, no seu tempo. Formado e profissionalizado pela Harvard University, Locke foca o seu principal interesse no “New Negro Movement”, associação oficialmente fundada em 1925. Os ideais deste movimento eram expressar a nova imagem dos negros, liberta das identidades pré-construídas, sobretudo durante a escravatura. A história dos antepassados é direccionada artisticamente, de forma a introduzir a intelectualidade na comunidade. No texto que deu origem ao movimento, nota-se o forte apelo à autodeterminação como recurso para o negro se libertar dos estereótipos daquele “old negro” que se contrapõe à sua nova imagem como pessoa emancipada através da consciência pessoal. Esta apresenta-se como uma forma de construir uma identidade cultural digna de pertencer a uma sociedade.

O texto narrativo de Locke aponta para a forma de estar e de pensar dos seus antepassados, consoante as circunstâncias dos seus opressores. A sensação de inferioridade instalou-se no espírito do “old negro”, e este, moralmente manteve-se contido no seu lugar. Formalmente, é esta forma de estar que o autor pretende abordar, apresentando uma nova visão, mais consistente da comunidade negra, e, para isso, o mais importante é aumentar o auto-estima dos membros desta comunidade, através do auto-respeito e da auto-suficiência de cada um. Tendo em conta que as sociedades estão em constante transformação, o que ajuda a distinguir as sociedades tradicionais das modernas, essa mudança de atitude por parte dos afro-africanos é perceptível. Quero eu dizer com isto que Locke projecta no texto uma perspectiva antecipada dos tempos modernos que vieram quebrar com os modelos impostos pela tradição, desfragmentando o mundo e desenvolvendo desta forma uma pluralidade de centros de poder. O “new negro”, segundo Locke, determina-se pela capacidade de se valorizar como raça através das suas formas de expressão social. Como exemplo, o autor aponta para a vida que se vive no Harlem, em Manhattan, onde se reúnem pessoas ligadas a variadas artes, tais como a música e a literatura, assente numa base sólida para o carácter intelectual potenciado pelos negros. Aqui, encontra-se a maior comunidade afro-americana e é por isso o local onde se juntam os maiores elementos que os caracterizam, estimulando a ideia de um negro integrado numa sociedade democrática. As manifestações culturais da comunidade negra vão permitir a constituição de uma individualidade reconhecível e integrante nas culturas predominantes.

Na perspectiva de que as tradicionais identidades estabelecidas no mundo social durante tanto tempo estão em declínio, surgem as novas identidades e a fragmentação do indivíduo moderno, como se pode verificar na identificação das diferentes raças. Perante os três conceitos de identidade que, ao longo da história da civilização, emergem, e que, segundo Stuart Hall são: o sujeito Iluminado, o sujeito sociológico e o sujeito do pós-modernismo, entendendo com isto que o homem não é o centro do Universo, mas sim um fenómeno em interacção com a sociedade, abrindo caminho à entidade que pretendo aqui salientar, o sujeito pós-modernista. Caracteriza-se por não possuir uma identidade fixa nem permanente, pois a identidade torna-se neste sentido num “moveable feast”. Isto é, algo histórico, pelo que o sujeito pode assumir diferentes identidades, por vezes até contraditórias em momentos diferentes. Todo este processo de mudança, reflectida na descontinuidade, fragmentação, ruptura e/ou deslocalização das identidades, chama-se hoje “globalização”. Surge com isto, a relação dos conceitos identidade e diferença, os quais, e prosseguindo o tema central, marcam a forma de pensar dos afro-americanos.

O texto de Alain Locke torna-se assim relevante nos estudos culturais, pois ele antecipa as ideologias de uma nova forma de individualidade, uma nova concepção do sujeito individual e de identidade que se reflecte hoje nos tempos modernos. A forma como a comunidade negra se identifica, dando respeitável valor ao seu passado, marca a sua diferença em relação com as outras culturas. A sua cultura interage e requalifica-se deste modo dentro das culturas massificadas. Tal é o objectivo que Locke pretende alcançar na exposição que faz em, The New Negro. Os afro-americanos devem interiorizar a diferença e construir a sua identidade paralelamente com a cultura americana que está inquestionavelmente assente na hibridez. Salienta-se desta maneira a vulgaridade da cultura porque cada sociedade tem a sua grandiosidade com desígnos muito particulares, o que se verifica na raça negra. A construção de uma sociedade é expressa através das suas instituições, nas suas artes e no ensino. À medida que a sociedade cresce, as mentes individuais são feitas e re-feitas mediante as culturas de massas. A comunidade afro-americana deve, assim, destruir a imagem de um povo estereotipado, sem convicções e subdesenvolvido, através das suas manifestações intelectuais e culturais. Devem comprovar e fortalecer a sua educação e mostrar capacidade de serem pessoas dignas e respeitáveis na sociedade.

O projecto de Locke em relação à construção da identidade da sua comunidade, ajuda-nos a perceber os diversos sentidos que o conceito de cultura aparenta ter mediante a sua aplicação em determinado ramo do conhecimento humano. Assim, dentro do contexto das Ciências Sociais, cultura é um aspecto da vida social, que se relaciona com a produção do saber e das artes, dos costumes, etc., perpetuada pela transmissão de uma geração às seguintes, sociologicamente, tudo o que é aprendido e partilhado pelos indivíduos de um determinado grupo e que confere uma identidade dentro do seu grupo de pertença. Este raciocínio leva-nos a pensar filosoficamente que a cultura é o conjunto de manifestações humanas que contrastam com natureza ou comportamento natural, ou um conjunto de respostas para melhor satisfazer as necessidades e os desejos humanos. Cultura é informação, na medida como se rege sob conhecimentos práticos e teóricos apreendidos e transmitidos aos contemporâneos. Eis o resultado dos modos como diversos grupos humanos foram resolvendo os seus problemas ao longo da história. O homem não só recebe a cultura dos seus antepassados, como cria, ele mesmo, elementos que a renovam, é um factor de humanização.

Inspirações Geniais

2008-01-20T08:40:00.000Z

Duende Brilhante e Skywalker!!

Agradeço não a inspiração propriamente dita no seu sentido lato, mas sim, o vosso toque mágico...

A isso eu chamo Inspirações Geniais!! Thanks.

Natureza da Literatura

2007-10-23T22:41:00.000+01:00

Resumo do Capítulo II da Teoria da Literatura segundo R. Wellek e A. Warren, Teoria da Literatura, 5ªed, Lisboa, Publ. Europa-América

O capítulo II da Teoria da Literatura segundo René Wellek e Austin Warren intitula-se: “Natureza da Literatura” e tem como principal objectivo, definir o objecto da investigação literária ou seja, aquilo que se pode considerar literatura e aquilo que simplesmente não é literário. Inicialmente os autores apresentam duas perspectivas para uma possível definição de literatura: a primeira é fundamentada a partir da teoria de Edwin Greenlaw que identifica a literatura com a história da civilização. A segunda consiste em reconhecer a literatura como os “grandes livros”, “notáveis pela sua forma ou expressão literária”. Quer isto dizer que existem fundamentos estéticos essenciais que determinam aquilo que é literatura tendo como base, características tais como, o estilo, a composição e a forma geral de apresentação.
Como estarão de acordo, podemos ter em conta o sentido etimológico da palavra “Literatura”, mas de acordo com Wellek e Warren, tal induz um erro porque a sugestão da etimologia de “litera” limita-se à literatura escrita ou impressa, pondo de parte a questão da oralidade. No entanto, é com a própria linguagem que se torna mais clara a natureza da literatura. Assim, os autores neste capítulo introduzem as principais diferenças entre o uso diário, científico e literário da linguagem. Torna-se em algo que não é simples na prática, uma vez que a literatura ao contrário das outras artes, não tem meios de expressão próprios e existem variadas formas para a sua utilização.
Linguagem científica: é “denotativa”, visa a uma correspondência de um para um entre o signo e a coisa significada; o signo é arbitrário pois tende a ser substituído por outros sinais equivalentes; o signo é transparente dirigindo a nossa atenção inequivocamente sobre a coisa referida; está inclinada para um sistema de signos tal como a matemática ou a lógica simbólica.
Linguagem literária: é ambígua, cheia de homónimos e de categorias arbitrárias ou irracionais como o género gramatical; é “conotativa”, não é apenas referencial pois é expressiva comunicando o tom e a atitude do orador/escritor; não se limita a afirmar e a exprimir pois quer influenciar a atitude do leitor, persuadi-lo e modificá-lo; o simbolismo sonoro da palavra é acentuado dando origem ao metro, à aliteração e às sessituras sonoras; acentua o grau de consciente realce do próprio signo; é pragmática; manifesta-se uma “personalidade”; pode haver uma conversão estabelecida: a linguagem faz poesia por ele.
Linguagem diária: não é uniforme: inclui largas variedades como a linguagem coloquial, a linguagem do comércio, a linguagem oficial, a linguagem da religião, o calão; tem também a sua função expressiva, embora esta possa variar; está repleta dos irracionalísmos e das mudanças contextuais da linguagem histórica; pretende atingir resultados, influenciar acções e atitudes mas, não se limita apenas à comunicação.
Comparando a linguagem literária com a linguagem de todos os dias, transparece uma distinção pragmática entre ambas. A linguagem diária é rotulada como simples retórica em que se verifica uma “contemplação desinteressada”, uma “distância estética” ao passo que, na linguagem literária há um “enquadramento” e determina-se pela sua “função estética”. Tendo em conta a “referência” relaciona-se o mundo literário com a ficção e a imaginação. Os seus traços característicos são precisamente a “ficcionalidade”, a “invenção” ou a “imaginação”, o que lança a concepção descritiva da literatura.
E. Wellek e A. Warren concluem o capítulo acerca da natureza literária fazendo uma breve distinção entre literatura e não literatura: a organização; a expressão pessoal; a realização; a exploração do meio de comunicação; a ausência de objecto prático; a ficcionalidade. Resume-se que “uma obra de arte literária não é um simples objecto, mas antes uma organização altamente complexa, de carácter estratificado, com múltiplos significados e relacionações”.

The English Language-Part 1

2007-07-15T19:13:00.000+01:00

Initially, English was called Anglo-Saxon or Old English. Normally Anglo-Saxon is used to characterize cultural history after the Renaissance period and its linguistic changes, and Old English is rooted on studies which focus upon the continuing development of the language. When we look at English texts, it becomes obvious that besides the differences we find between Old and nowadays English, there are also many similarities. Most of the differences are based on the use of phonetic symbols unknown in the Latin alphabet. Replacing such characters with letters will turn Anglo-Saxon less frightening. The vocabulary is much closer to present day English if you figure out which prefixes or suffixes have disappeared or find out the words that are not used any more. Since English has a good amount of compound words, you can also break up the words to understand them. The grammar is much more complex to define. Its complexity is due to the fact that Old English was mainly composed with inflections, an importance given at the end of the word. This is the main difficulty for those who want to learn Old English, note that there are more irregular verbs than today.

Celtic was the nature of all English language. Even though the Romans submitted the Celtic there is still no way to understand how much Latin was spoken. Invasions of the Anglo-Saxons vanished with the Celtic, leaving a small number of words in the English language. It is more common to hear these words in Cornwall, Devon, Wales, and Scotland.

After the “dark age” the first manuscripts were written by Roman missionaries. The first texts were translations of Latin words. We can notice with these manuscripts that there were several kinds of spellings. The stronger dialect was Mercian because of its powerful influence in the Middle Ages. Most of Modern English comes from this dialect. The use of Latin by the Anglo-Saxons also had its contribution for English development, just as Scandinavian names because of the Danish settlements.

Letters from the runic alphabet were the first ones to describe Old English and these symbols had a metaphysical meaning. We can find many artefacts with these runic inscriptions. They were mostly used to write secrets like clues to solve up riddles. Many texts were written developing into a whole new way to express the language. As time goes by, it is notable that variations start to appear in Old English. Manuscripts started to disappear so copies were made. With the Peterborough Chronicle we can verifiy changes in the language. The language begins to sound more like present time English. New words come to use and grammar begins to suffer alteration. There are new meanings and sense to words. Symbols that were used to express a sound are quite similar to the modern alphabet, having most of the times the same use. Middle English can be tricky sometimes. Words that have a certain meaning today didn’t necessarily have the same significance before.

Between the 12th and 15th century English started to mutate. On one hand, France had a very strong influence in England, on the other hand, social and politic happenings turned English into the mother tongue of the population. The language has been very well established, no other language could overtake it. Middle English literature started to grow as doors opened for new lexis.

Some Old English and French borrowings were totally lost. Other words grew into Middle English vocabulary, just like Latin had contributed before. This gives the English language the status of a "parallel word system". Irregular structures of Old English began to disappear in substitute to more regular structures. This caused alterations in the spelling and pronunciation as well.

Middle English is marked with a big interest in poetry and prose by intelectuals. It gives us the idea of the language style during this era. By the end of the 15th century the language starts to transforme again, especially how it sounds. The “Great Vowel Shift” gives us a whole new picture of English phonetics. There was refreshment on the way sounds were pronounced. After this linguistic revolution the language continued to change but keeping its basic form.

Just as common, the language varies geografically. The East Midlands’ dialect was the one with more impact in Modern English because of its big amount of population. Among these specific variations in the language we can clearly estable a distinction in what is “standard” and what is “regional”, just as what is correct and what is incorrect.

Uma forma de agradecer um amigo virtual

2007-07-03T05:07:00.001+01:00

"O que aparece na face e na expressão facial é

uma experiência espiritual imediatamente

vizualizada sem a mediação de palavras."

Eduardo Geada

Olhar a Cidade através do Cinema

2007-07-03T04:20:00.001+01:00

Foi explorada a ideia de que a cidade, ou seja, o espaço onde se desenrola qualquer argumento, tem um papel fundamental na sequência total de um filme. Fundamental para o desenvolvimento dessa ideia, foi a análise de filmes como:

“O Gabinete do Dr. Caligari” (Robert Wiene, 1919);

“Berlim, Sinfonia de Uma Capital” (W. Ruttmann, 1927)

“Os Inúteis” (Federico Fellini, 1953).

Na verdade, todo o indivíduo terá tido a experiência de assistir a um filme e, através dele, ser magicamente transportado para o local onde se está a passar a acção. Desta forma, com o poder da imaginação, o espectador vivencía o que cada personagem vive e sente. Considerando que, através do olhar, a imaginação é estimulada, o cinema torna-se numa verdadeira “arte de mostrar”, em que a sociedade se revela nesse grande espelho que é a tela.

A Revolução Industrial, iniciada na Inglaterra durante a primeira metade do século XVIII, foi um dos passos marcantes para o desenvolvimento económico, político e social do mundo em geral, e para o crescimento das cidades, em particular. A partir de invenções como a máquina de vapor, as sociedades inauguram a experiência de um novo paradigma vivencial, que pode ser denominado como uma forma modernista de viver. No domínio do cinema, a entrada desse paradigma modernista, tem nos cineastas Lumière e Méliès dois dos vultos mais marcantes que influenciaram a forma como a arte do cinema dá os seus contributos para esse paradigma sócio-económico mais vasto. As suas influências tornam-se indeléveis.

Desde então, cada realizador, enquanto participante activo nesta nova ordem mundial, reflecte na tela a sua realidade, a sua visão do mundo, que não é mais do que a sua visão pessoal (incluindo as suas emoções, sentimentos e ideologias) acerca do que se está a passar no mundo. Esta forma de arte, a que se chama cinema, não é, afinal, outra coisa, senão um testemunho histórico, vivencial e artístico, é certo, mas ainda assim, testemunho das transformações a que vai assistindo ao seu redor e que constitui o objecto primordial do seu trabalho, da sua arte: as obras cinematográficas.

Um filme é, então, para além do entretenimento, um testemunho histórico (a que se poderá chamar documento vivencial) da realidade que vive (o realizador enquanto actor) e que transforma em arte (a obra cinematográfica). De certa forma, então, compreender uma obra cinematográfica, passa por compreender os contextos em que o realizador se move, a visão que ele tem da mesma enquanto sujeito resultando num testemunho histórico (o produto cinematográfico).

A cidade é, desde os gregos, um espaço privilegiado, de interacções, de vivências, de “ateliers de histórias” dos protagonistas mais naturalistas que são os seus habitantes. Não admira, portanto, que obras que reflectem as dinâmicas das cidades (urbes) tenham merecido especial atenção de agentes diversos que quiseram testemunhar formas específicas de encarar a ordem social dominante.

Ao fazer um filme sobre uma cidade, ou se quiseremos, um espaço urbano, o realizador está a dar o seu olhar sobre as interacções que acontecem nesses mesmos espaços. O objecto de eleição de um realizador são as histórias, pois é através delas que ele consegue transmitir algo. E as histórias são vividas por personagens. Ao contar a história de um personagem, o realizador convida-nos a olhar para essa realidade através do olhar desse personagem. E eis que, assim, se desenvolve um processo mágico.

Um realizador, ao invés de nos fornecer um testemunho factual, faz do espectador parte activa do mesmo processo, convidando-o a fazer parte do espaço, do tempo, das experiências dos personagens que retrata. O espectador deixa de ser, então, um espectador passivo e, através do contágio das emoções e experiências dos personagens da história, torna-se participante activo: participante activo porque, por um processo de identificação, vive, experiencia, e “está” no espaço da história, identificando-se com o personagem. Assim, juntos, personagem e espectador, vivem experiências, vivem a cidade e identificam-se nas respostas (quer pelas emoções quer através dos comportamentos) que dão às solicitudes da sociedade que o realizador retrata.

Esta identificação do espectador com o actor despertou o meu interesse para o espaço dramático, olhando para ele como se fosse uma personagem e aprendendo a reconhecê-lo como uma das personagens principais. O filme que escolhi ver com outro olhar como fonte de inspiração para esta minha reflexão cinematográfica – “Lost in Translation/ O Amor é um Lugar Estranho”, de Sofia Coppola (2003). Vencedor de um Óscar da Academia de Hollywood (2004), na categoria de Melhor Argumento Original, “Lost in Translation” é o segundo filme de Sofia, filha do famoso Francis Ford Coppola. Trata-se da história de duas pessoas que não se conhecem e que ao viverem um certo culture – shock devido às suas passagens pela cidade de Tóquio, Japão, acabam por se cruzar e daí nascerá uma forte ligação de amizade e de cumplicidade entre eles. No seguimento do olhar destes dois personagens de Sofia Coppola somos levados a conhecer e a sentir a sensação de estar numa das maiores metrópoles do mundo. Em minha opinião, este filme torna-se num real roteiro turístico de Tóquio, representando bem o conceito de cidade através de uma perspectiva cinematográfica.

Sendo o cinema um reflexo da sociedade em geral, e da cidade, em particular, como foi referido anteriormente, um filme, em última análise, não se limita a contar histórias. Um filme faz história nos espaços. Com a chegada da cidade moderna, surgem mudanças substanciais. E o cinema, que tem como principal objecto de análise a realidade, (re)apresenta-a, com todas as transformações a ela inerentes.

A cidade e o cinema são, portanto, dois documentos históricos (sendo um elemento do outro), tornando-se indissociáveis na sua historicidade.

2007-03-15T14:44:00.000Z

“As many languages as he has,

as many friends, as many arts and trades,

so many times is he a man"

Carta Ao Jovem Poeta

2007-03-15T14:28:00.000Z

dedicada a Cristina e Márcia com muito respeito e carinho

“Se a tentação que sente é irresistível de escrevê-los (os poemas), se não procura a fama ou o proveito, se a dor maior de escrevê-los só se cura com a dor maior de escrever outros, se se sente vazio e triste quando eles são escritos, e sofre de sentir-se vazio quando vai escrevê-los e não sabe nunca o que vai escrever, e acha horrível tudo o que escreveu mas não é capaz de destruí-lo, então publique-os, publique-os sempre.”

Jorge de Sena

As ruas preenchidas com cartazes anunciando bailes de máscaras, serpentinas que acompanham os ventos, as crianças fantasiadas com fatos hilariantes, os desfiles, as cores, os risos, o samba, enfim uma festa de boa disposição saliente entre as pessoas indica-nos que chegou o Carnaval. São imensas as imagens que cada um de nós pode ter quando se fala nesta festa de Fevereiro. Os meios de comunicação transmitem nos toda a celebração do grandioso Carnaval vivido no Brasil, tal como há sempre alguém que invoque ou prefira festejar este dia em Veneza vivendo o espírito da tradição das suas máscaras. Toda a gente terá tido a experiência de ouvir os mais idosos a recordar as travessuras que neste dia aparentavam ser consentidas e mesmo os contos e mitos do Carnaval contados por eles são todas imagens, entre outras, que podemos ter acerca do Carnaval. Material não falta para escrever um poema sobre esta época festiva mas, existirá alguém capaz de o fazer? Todas as imagens que temos e que nos ocorrem na realidade do dia-a-dia, serão suficientes para expressar em palavras a sua descrição física ou psicológica, seja ela qual for? Quem tem o direito de escrever, quem pode escrever e como pode escrever foram questões que no Domingo de Carnaval, num pequeno encontro de amigos em Santo Tirso foram levantadas após uma brilhante recitação-surpresa de dois poemas inéditos de dois autores contemporâneos de poesia portuguesa. Desde já o meu agradecimento pelo convite e por toda a hospitalidade que tive direito durante todo o convívio.
As conclusões às questões que anteriormente referi foram curtas uma vez que este tema exige mais tempo de reflexão. Tivemos que admitir que qualquer sujeito pode escrever. A escrita é uma forma de comunicar e transmitir emoções, sensações, uma forma de expressar o que nos vem na alma. Esta pode desenvolver-se da simplicidade até à complexidade. Devemos talvez pensar que cada pessoa se expressa sob diferentes condições poéticas. Existem escritores que escrevem desde sempre e naturalmente fazem crescer as suas práticas para se expressar ou fazer-se expressar. Outros começam mais tarde quando se descobrem ou porque dedicaram algum tempo para desenvolver as suas capacidades. Escrever é uma forma de registar os nossos pensamentos e com as palavras podemos fazer grandes obras de arte. A forma mais eficaz de encarar a arte de escrever é através da leitura. Embora cada vez existam mais leitores e mais iniciativas que promovem o acto de leitura, ainda são poucos os leitores de poesia.
Saber apreciar um bom texto é como saber saborear uma taça requintada de champanhe. Compreender aquilo que é literário de aquilo que não o é torna-se fundamental para jovens escritores. A materialidade da linguagem torna-se vulnerável e nós brincamos com a sua flexibilidade para melhor nos entender no mundo ou pelo contrário, para melhor nos perdermos nele. Este ano a imagem que trago do Carnaval serão as palavras declamadas por duas pessoas significativas nos meus afectos. Ambas marcaram o dia ao partilharem a sua condição poética, as suas formas de encarar a realidade, neste caso talvez mesmo o extremo máximo do Amor. Assim, mediante a maturação de cada um somos todos uns poetas mascarados como se todos os dias fossem dias de Carnaval… Como se todos os dias fossem motivo de cantar.

Porque hoje está a chover lembrei-me...

2007-02-08T20:40:00.000Z

"Que llueva, que llueva

la virgen de la cueva,

los pajaritos cantan,

las nubes se levantan

que si, que no

que caiga un chaparron

al medio de la estación,

que rompa los cristales

y los mios no"

Uma Crítica Social Denuncia A Segurança Pública

2007-02-07T18:08:00.000Z

Quando se desperta num Sábado de manhã, temos sempre aquela sensação de tranquilidade e a ideia de que nos aguarda um dia cheio de coisas relaxantes após a rotina de uma semana de trabalho. Levantamo-nos do nosso ninho de repouso e subimos as persianas deparando-nos com o sol que nos bate no rosto enquanto aquece as nossas almas transmitindo-nos energias, energias ditas positivas. Tais serão necessárias para enfrentarmos a sociedade quando olhamos das nossas janelas para as ruas e quem nelas habitam.
Em pleno século XXI ainda vivemos numa sociedade onde a discriminação está bem acentuada. Todavia, vivemos numa sociedade onde a organização político-económico e social nos trazem confusões e dúvidas em relação às decisões governamentais. Perante a falta de estabilização e a irregularidade de processos de investimento por parte do Poder sentimos hoje, mudanças radicais em todo sistema português. Como exemplo, temos o sistema educacional que em minha opinião, é a base de uma sociedade culta e desenvolvida e que neste momento sentimos que está a ser manipulada, desrespeitando os valores que grandes educadores da nossa história tanto defenderam para uma cultura portuguesa mais rica. Todas estas atrocidades nos trazem insegurança principalmente quando somos confrontados com a alta taxa de desemprego e criminalidade existentes na nossa sociedade. A criminalidade abrange vários actos e contextos numa dimensão 3D. O sistema jurídico desenvolve-se estabelecendo leis que nos dizem o que é crime e o que não o é, por vezes ultrapassando os valores éticos e morais das pessoas e sem a menor consideração pelos ideias conquistados desde a Revolução Francesa: Igualdade, Liberdade e Fraternidade. Contudo, todo o seu rigor não nos livra de pequenos crimes que ocorrem nas ruas, como assaltos e outros bem mais perversos que nos aterrorizam na luta do nosso dia-a-dia. Os agentes tentam-nos proteger e acreditamos que o combate à criminalidade esteja sempre nos seus planos para a contribuição do nosso bem-estar em comunidade. Apesar dos esforços, os agentes do nosso país são eles também, vítimas de uma falta de rigorisidade na sua organização.
Quando num Sábado à noite saímos para tomar uns copos e apaguizar toda aberração que se vive diariamente com os resultados do nosso poder institucional. Quando tentamos preservar o optimismo que nos acompanha através do diálogo e da convivência humana e tal conforto é retirado com a presença de membros da nossa Segurança Portuguesa, com aspecto de embriagados a divertirem-se à procura de quem fuma ou não drogas leves, até podíamos pensar o quanto estamos seguros na boémia portuguesa. Ridículo é quando saímos desse espaço público e reparamos que ocorram assaltos a viaturas, a pessoas e até a habitações, sem referir outros crimes de maior intensidade que acontecem todos os dias nas ruas onde vivemos, trabalhamos, enfim onde procuramos a afirmação para uma maior qualidade de vida. Pois! Não se encontra nenhum agente nem qualquer outra intervenção por parte deles. Lamentável é termos que julgar qual é o crime mais perigoso, entre fumar um "charro" ou colocar a segurança pública em risco através de roubos e agressões. Quem são os verdadeiros criminosos? Os que estão dentro do bar ou os que estão cá fora? De certo que os que estavam a fumar enquanto descontraíam, não tencionavam saír do bar e vandalizar a segurança pública nem pessoal. Também duvido que os verdadeiros criminosos quisessem entrar num local fechado onde existe a sua própria segurança e que protege os clientes que frequentam o respectivo espaço. Creio que o maior problema é saber quem são os agentes que nos vão proteger nas ruas das nossas cidades.