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Annual Truman Lecture USAFA 64th Academy Assembly
Get PDFIn October 2022, on the occasion of the 64th annual Academy Assembly, focused on “Waging Peace on the Final Frontier,” the deputy commander of USSPACEOM Lieutenant General John Shaw spoke at the Air Force Academy’s endowed Truman Lecture, which itself was created to inspire cadets toward careers in National Security leadership
Waging Peace on the Final Frontier 64th Academy Assembly Proceedings
Get PDFIn October 2022, the 64th annual Academy Assembly at the U.S. Air Force Academy took up the theme of “Waging Peace on the Final Frontier.” The following are proceedings of roundtables held by select undergraduates from around the country on questions of space policy & strategy
Screening for Insider Threats in US Law Enforcement: A National Sample of Department Policies and Practices Plain Language Summary
Get PDFFor this project, we conducted multi-pronged formative research on insider threats in U.S. law enforcement. Our main objective was to better understand current policies and procedures to screen for and identify insider threats in the hiring process and among active officers
Spring 2024 Graduation Survey Responses
No full textSpring 2024 Graduation survey responses master file without identifiers
Lenition and Language Contact in Peru
Get PDFLenition is defined as any type of articulatory consonantal weakening which can result in voicing, spirantization, or elision. Synchronically and diachronically, lenition has had a consistent and considerable influence on the development of Spanish as well as on its variation. For example, historically, intervocalic /p t k/ were lenited and voiced in Spanish and the other Western Romance languages Contemporarily, varying levels of lenition have been documented in wide array of Spanish varieties, some of which have been shown to correlate with different sociolinguistic factors. While the degree of lenition for different consonantal segments varies, the general consensus is that lenition is present and active in most, if not all, monolingual varieties of Spanish.
In varieties of Latin American Spanish in contact with indigenous languages, variation that differs from what has been observed in monolingual varieties of Spanish has been reported (see Davidson 2019, Lope Blanch 1987 Michnowicz 2009, 2011, among others). The current study examines how contact with Quechua in southern Peru slows down or impedes several lenitive processes in the Andean Spanish of the region. Specifically, 23 sociolinguistic interviews gathered in a community in southern Peru were analyzed. The results of mixed-effects linear regressions indicate that contact with Quechua, specifically Cusco Quechua, is correlated with lesser degrees of spirantization of intervocalic /d/, as well as with minimal intervocalic sibilant voicing. We hypothesize that Quechuan phonology as well as L2 learning of Spanish has resulted in the lessening of the role of certain processes of lenition, some of which are otherwise rather common in Spanish. Likewise, the current study emphasizes the importance of specifying what variety of Quechua contact linguistics researchers work with as different varieties of Quechua have differing consonantal phonologies
¿Qué es hablar golpeado? Correlatos acústicos
Get PDFEste estudio forma parte de un proyecto que investiga las actitudes lingüísticas hacia el español en distintas ciudades fronterizas (e.g., El Paso-Ciudad Juárez). Su propósito es identificar los correlatos acústicos que caracterizan el habla golpeada de la región dialectal norte en contraste con el habla cantada del DF, con miras a manipular variables específicas en futuras tareas de matched-guise . Los escasos estudios sobre la entonación del habla “golpeada” se han centrado en las configuraciones nucleares del final de frase y su variación sociolingüística. Por lo tanto, la investigación sobre los correlatos acústicos a lo largo de la oración representa una contribución pionera. Las dos preguntas de investigación emplean tres dimensiones acústicas (duración, intensidad y F0), dos dialectos (el habla golpeada de Chihuahua y el habla cantada del DF) y dos estilos (la lectura del Viento Norte y el relato espontáneo de la Caperucita ):
1 ¿Existen correlatos de duración, intensidad o F0 que diferencien la entonación declarativa del habla golpeada de la del habla cantada en la lectura y el relato?
2 ¿Cuál es la importancia de estos correlatos y cómo interactúan entre sí para distinguir las dos hablas?
Las muestras analizadas comprenden aproximadamente 55 minutos de habla de 20 hablantes de Chihuahua y 10 del DF. Para cada frase entonativa se calcularon medidas locales -- el radio de cada sílaba tónica con su post-tónica, el radio de la penúltima con la última sílaba de cada frase entonativa-- y medidas globales -- la declinación, y medidas de ritmo como %V, Varco.
La primera pregunta de investigación se responde utilizando modelos mixtos con cada una de las medidas locales y globales como variable dependiente, con los factores fijos habla (golpeada vs. cantada) y estilo (lectura vs. relato), y los factores aleatorios “participantes” y “frases”. La segunda pregunta se aborda mediante regresiones logísticas con habla como variable dependiente y las medidas que distinguieron las hablas en al menos un estilo como factores fijos. Resultados preliminares con 9 hablantes sugieren que los correlatos de F0 e intensidad tienen un papel más relevante que la duración, especialmente en las medidas globales
The Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in the Classroom Using a Cognitive Linguistic Approach
Get PDFSpanish is a language spread over twenty-one countries, three continents and some half a billion of native speakers. Due to this vast geographic distribution of Spanish in the world, there is immense dialectal variation in the language. This immense diffusion makes one reflect how important it is for students to contend with the reality of sociolinguistic variation throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Nevertheless, textbooks often opt to oversimplify or avoid explanations of regional varieties, and most research on learner experience with regional variation is on naturalistic exposure through study abroad or extracurricular experiences. There have been growing concerns about the presence of linguistic variation in the process of Second Language Acquisition in recent decades. However, few are the studies on its acquisition in the classroom and through explicit pedagogical methods.
The purpose of this study is double. On one hand, it’s to test and prove the effectiveness of the pedagogical inclusion of Spanish dialectal variation during the process of second language acquisition and how this will help students understand the sociocultural aspect of language. On the other hand, it’s to test and prove the efficacy of an explicit teaching methodology that follows the operative value of Cognitive Linguistics. This pedagogical material used follows the Input Processing Theory which allows learners to understand and process not only the semantic meaning of the studied form, but also the pragmatic meaning, the contextualized meaning, and the reason why these dialectal variations arise.
The design of this study examines four different methodological approaches applied to four different groups of participants at UAlbany, SUNY, to measure the level of acquisition of each group. Group A received a cognitive based approach with the inclusion of dialectal variation. Group B received a cognitive based approach without the inclusion of dialectal variation. Group C received a descriptive based approach with the inclusion of dialectal variation. Group D is the controlled group that receives a descriptive based approach with no dialectal variation. The results of this study demonstrate the long-term efficacy of the cognitive linguistic approach versus the descriptive grammar instruction followed by most textbooks. It also proves the value of incorporating dialectal variation into grammar instruction, suggesting new methodological avenues for second language teaching
Spanish Dialect Contact in New York: Perception and Representation in Theatrical Stage Performance
Get PDFFollowing Zentella’s (1990) inquiries into contact between Spanish varieties in New York, research has examined the impact of interdialectal contact among different Hispanic groups in this city (e.g., Erker, 2012; Otheguy & Zentella, 2011). The present research extends the study of dialect contact in New York to the context of theatrical performance and audience perception. The project focused on performances of the Repertorio Español and Teatro Círculo, both with strong Caribbean and Peninsular foundations. The analysis included qualitative and quantitative data. In sociolinguistic interviews, twelve actors of different Hispanic dialect origins reflected upon their personal experiences with accent modification in stage productions of these two companies. They also completed a brief survey related to dialect preference according to the types of plays (classical vs. contemporary) and their roles (primary vs. secondary). A small audience sample of ten first-generation Cubans responded to a survey regarding their perceptions of the accents that they observed in the performances of the same twelve actors. In the second part of the survey, the audience participants also provided sociolinguistic background information. In the findings, audience members’ perceptions did not always align with what the actors themselves believed they were accomplishing linguistically on stage. Actors of Caribbean origin (especially Cubans and Puerto Ricans) stated in interviews that they worked to suppress their voices in non-Caribbean productions. However, the audience sample overwhelmingly perceived a Caribbean accent, which they attributed to a lack of proper theatrical diction. In non-Caribbean productions, Peninsular actors (e.g., from Spain) stated that they did not work to modify their accents, while actors of other dialect origins did. Nevertheless, audience participants indicated that they perceived the linguistic origins of the latter. Non-Caribbean and non-Peninsular performers (e.g., Venezuelans and Mexicans) affirmed that they at times perceived Caribbean voices as more prestigious or acceptable than their own within the context of some types of performances. These findings advance research by highlighting the importance of the performative and perceptual dimensions of Spanish dialect contact in public spaces in the United States, and in the theater industry more specifically.
Keywords: Spanish, dialect contact, perception, accents, Hispanic theater, New Yor
Framing Immanence in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Ordet and Carlos Reygadas’s Stellet Licht
Get PDFMy article proposes the notion of the immanent frame to productively address film-theoretical and theological concepts at stake in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Ordet (1955) and Carlos Reygadas’s Stellet Licht (2007). I believe my intervention to be significant for it shows how both films are not only related in their religious subject matter but negotiate it in formal terms through the notion of the immanent frame. Although both films have been analyzed alongside one another in the past, my article is the first to address the Mennonite migration history and notion of secularization (Taylor) to explain the function of the time-images (Deleuze) in Reygadas’s film. I show that its miraculous effects of “place- and timelessness” are based on a history of migration and colonization
