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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

The Principles of the International Phon... (by International Phonetic Association)
The Tower of Babel, A Poetical Drama (by Alfred Austin)
The Canterbury Tales (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
National Symposium on Learning Disabilit... (by Department of Education)
Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tal... (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Psychology and Pathology of Speech Devel... (by Conradi, Edward)
The Science Of Language Vol I (by F. Max Muller K. M.)
A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Lan... (by Hoernle, August Frederich Rudolf)

The Words of the People: An Exhibit on Language

From the oldest forms of writings with pictographs and Cuneiform in 3500 B.C. to the generation of the first alphabet; of all the strides that we have made in technology, Language has been the single most important "invention" since the dawn of man. In fact, language defies time. Language is the greatest man-made achievement. Tone, intonation, inflection, the tongue, the throat, the breath and the brain: all lifeforms have some form of communication. The proceeding Collections in "The Words of the People: An Exhibit on Language" includes the most significant books on the subject of language.

Language, Literature, Children's Literature, Hawaiiana, Poetry and more.

Language and Learning

The root of the word language comes from the Latin term lingua, meaning "tongue." This definition’s attention to the human tongue highlights this muscle as the primary tool used by the body to shape combinations of uttered sounds to form the words of a spoken language. However, we can examine how languages also have a life of their own beyond an individual body. The “Words of the People: An Exhibit on Language" illustrates how language can be studied through its human biological and cognitive properties, as well as through its temporal and relational nature.

Language depends upon social customs and the ability for other humans to learn and adapt to social stimuli. The Science of Language Volume I, details theories on how early humans created words through vocalizations with the speech organs such as the throat, nose, tongue, palate, teeth, and lips, producing thousands of sounds. However, a typical language group utilizes only a limited number of sounds, usually between 10 and 60, which are interpreted aurally (The Science of Language, Volume 1, K.M. Max Muller).

In The National Symposium on Learning Disabilities in English Language Learners, proffers that the capacity to learn a language is based on individual factors, such as neurobiology, and contextual factors, such as environmental and social support (U.S. Department of Education, The National Symposium on Learning Disabilities in English Language Learners, U.S. Department of Education). Edward Conradi, a Professor of Psychology, wrote a thesis titled Psychology and Pathology of Speech Development of the Child. In this work, Conradi details how the various sounds a child makes after birth becomes the foundation for learning his mother tongue (Conradi, Psychology and Pathology of Speech Development of the Child, Edward Conradi). Later, the author became the President of the Florida State College of Women, the first women’s college in the south approved by the Association of American Universities (“Edward Conradi,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Perhaps it was through his studies in child psychology that Conradi believed all people should be given the opportunity to develop their language, and contribute to their culture and society.

Language Across Time

Writing allowed particular languages to be remembered for longer periods of time. The oldest writing is traced to the Sumerians, whose records go back to at least 3500 B.C. They used a form of picture writing that told a story or gave a message. The use of pictures as a writing style became so highly developed that it could express abstract ideas. Many present-day Asian countries such as China continue to use this form of writing (“Language,” World Heritage Encyclopedia and "The History of the Alphabet," World Heritage Encyclopedia).

However, alphabetic systems of writing differ from picture writing because they are not static. Alphabetic writing is comprised of symbols, such as letters of the alphabet, that represent a vocalized sound (“Language”). Alphabetic writing changes to reflect the evolution of spoken language (“Language,” World Heritage Encyclopedia and "Letter Alphabet," World Heritage Encyclopedia). The Canterbury Tales was told by storyteller and poet Geoffrey Chaucer is an example, The original writing of this work used different spellings, reflecting pronunciations of words according to the vernacular of Chaucer’s time. However, when the work was written in later editions, the spellings of words changed to reflect pronunciations during those times (The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer). The International Phonetic Association (IPA) has transcribed words in this book, using symbols to demarcate specific speech sounds. The Principles of the International Phonetic Association, 1912 chronicles the history of the IPA, creating a tool often used in dictionaries to assist readers in the pronunciation of words as they are spoken in their contexts (The Principles of the International Phonetic Association, International Phonetic Association).

The Great Vowel Shift

Before Modern English, there were "Old English" and Middle English." In 1550 A.D., a documented event called "The Great Vowel Shift occurred.

Language Families

The Tower of Babel: A Poetical Drama by Alfred Austin is a dramatization of a biblical story that tells us that all languages were at once one. However, a heavenly intervention confused people’s languages and scattered them around the world (Tower of Babel, Alfred Austin). Despite the differences of today, it is possible to examine the relationships between languages. One way to classify these relations are through the concept of language families, or a group of languages that are related through descent from a common ancestor, or proto-language. Language families can be divided into smaller phylogenetic units, or branches of the language family. For example, the Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Romance and Indo-Iranian languages are phylogenetic units of the indo-European language family (“Tower of Babel,” World Heritage Encyclopedia).

Different languages can also transform one another when they come into contact. These are called "Sprachbund." The book, A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages, With Special Reference to the Eastern Hindi, Accompanied by a Language-Map and a Table of Alphabets details how the Indian Subcontinent is a Sprachbund, or "...a geographical region that has several languages that feature common linguistic structures due to language contact and not common origin..." (A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages, With Special Reference to the Eastern Hindi, Accompanied by a Language-Map and a Table of Alphabets, August Frederich Rudolf Hoernle). "Language Isolates" are languages that have no known relatives, such as the Basque language (“Basque Language,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). "Contact Languages" are created when languages that do not come from a single ancestor come into contact to create "mixed" or Creole languages (“Language,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Hawaiian Pidgin, for instance, is an example of a Creole. Of note: Hawaiian Pidgin is the only known language in history to be created by children. On pineapple, coffee and sugar cane plantations in Hawaii, there was such a diversity of workers that the children (in order to be able to socialize together) unconsciously created a Creole that is still spoken widely in the State of Hawaii. Hawaiian Creole is a mixture of "loanwords" and phrases from over a dozen languages, including Hawaiian, Modern English, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Portuguese.

Debates on the study of language revealed its multi-dimensionality. Language has been studied biologically and cognitively, as an action of the vocal chords to create sounds with the use of the tongue. Languages function as organisms that survive over time through becoming a written language, or a spoken language that endures as a descendant of a proto-language. Spoken language can also dynamically transform by taking on the properties of other languages it is in contact with. The “Words of People: An Exhibit" on Language” features language as a multi-dimensional subject that covers the biological, historical and cultural aspects of human communication.

Works Cited

Austin, Alfred. The Tower of Babel, A Poetical Drama. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1874.

"Basque Language." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. New York: Macmillan, 1910.

Conradi, Edward. Psychology and Pathology of Speech Development of the Child. Volume 11. Pedagogical Seminary, September, 1904.

Department of Education. The National Symposium on Learning, Disabilities in English Language Learners. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, U.S. Department of Education, 2003.

"Edward Conradi." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

"The History of the Alphabet." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Hoernle, August Frederich Rudolf. A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages, With Special Reference to the Eastern Hindi, Accompanied by a Language-Map and a Table of Alphabets. London: Trubner and Co., 1880.

International Phonetic Association. The Principles of the International Phonetic Association. Paris: Association Phonétique Internationale, 1912.

"Language." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

"Letter Alphabet." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Muller K.M. Max. The Science of Language. Volume 1. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1899.

"Tower of Babel." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Language Collections

Learn more about the evolving nature of languages in these collections:

Top 100 books on Language

The Land That Time Forgot (by Burroughs, Edgar Rice)
The Tale of Genji (by Shikibu, Murasaki)
Canterbury Tales, The (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
The Land That Time Forgot (by Burroughs, Edgar Rice)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
The Esperanto Teacher a Simple Course fo... (by Fryer, Helen)
Beyond Good and Evil (by Nietzsche, Friedrich)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (abridg... (by Carroll, Lewis)
The Mabinogion (by Charlotte. Guest)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
Jane Eyre (by Brontë, Charlotte)
Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tal... (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Beowulf
Siddhartha (by Hesse, Hermann)

Top 100 books on Education

Some Thoughts Concerning Education (by Locke, John)
Christian Education in the Dark Ages (A.... (by Magevney, Eugene A.)
Heroides (by Ovidius Naso, Publius (Ovid))
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Dougl... (by Douglass, Frederick)
Medea (by Euripides)
The Adventures of Pinocchio (by Collodi, C.)
Gorgias (by Plato (Platon))
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (by Budge, Ernest Alfred Wallis, Sir)
The Scarlet Letter (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
Free Schools; A Documentary History of t... (by Finegan, Thomas Edward)
Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
Hippolytus (by Euripides)
Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)
The Republic, Score Plato Rep (by Plato)
The Jungle (by Sinclair, Upton)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

Baby's Lullaby Book : Mother Songs (by Pratt, Charles Stuart)
The Orbis Pictus of John Amos Comenius (by Comenius, Johann Amos)
The Story Hour (by Smith, Nora A.)
Raggedy Ann's Alphabet Book (by Gruelle, Johnny)
Ferdinand Frog (by Bailey, Arthur Scott)
The National Nursery Book
King of Golden River (by Ruskin, John)
Dutch Twins, The (by Perkins, Lucy Fitch)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (by Potter, Beatrix)
A Book for Boys and Girls; Or, Country R... (by Bunyan, John)
The Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book (by Caldecott, Randolph)
Cinderella; Or, The Little Glass Slipper
The Tiny Picture Book
The Story of Ferdinand (by Leaf, Munro)
The First Days of Man, As Narrated Quite... (by Frederic Arnold Kummer)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Ivanhoe NL (by Scott, Walter, Sir)
Black Beauty (by Sewell, Anna)
The Secret Garden (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Bhagavad Gita (by Various)
The Woman in White (by Collins, Wilkie)
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Ni... (by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir)
Far from the Madding Crowd (by Thomas Hardy)
The Holy Bible (by Various)
The Tale of Genji (by Shikibu, Murasaki)
Heart of Darkness (version 2) (by Conrad, Joseph)
Ulysses (by Joyce, James)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The (by Twain, Mark)
Emma (by Austen, Jane)
Sons and Lovers (by Lawrence, D. H.)
Vanity Fair (by Thackeray, William Makepeace)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

Treasure Island (by Stevenson, Robert Louis)
Les Miserables (by Hugo, Victor)
Ragged Dick (by Alger, Horatio, Jr.)
Swiss Family Robinson, The (by Wyss, Johann David)
The History of Sandford and Merton (by Thomas Day)
Nights with Uncle Remus (by Harris, Joel Chandler)
Ivanhoe NL (by Scott, Walter, Sir)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The (by Twain, Mark)
King Solomon's Mines (by Haggard, Henry Rider)
At the Back of the North Wind (by MacDonald, George)
White Fang (by London, Jack)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (abridg... (by Carroll, Lewis)
Andersen’s Fairy Tales (by Andersen, Hans Christian)
Princess and the Goblin, The (by Macdonald, George)
Tom Brown's School Days (by Hughes, Thomas)

Top books on Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream (by Shakespeare, William)
Comedy of Errors, The (by Shakespeare, William)
The Taming of the Shrew (by Shakespeare, William)
Comedy of Errors (by Shakespeare)
King Richard Ii (by Shakespeare, William)
Troilus and Cressida (by Shakespeare)
King Richard the Second (by Shakespeare, William)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tempest (by Shakespeare, William)
Pericles (by Shakespeare, William)
Timon of Athens (by Shakespeare, William)
All's Well, That Ends Well (by Shakespeare, William)
Richard III (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedy of King Lear (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)
How Rocket Learned to Read : Preformed b... (by Tad Hills)
Squashed in the Middle : Preformed by Wa... (by Elizabeth Winthrop)
The Greatest : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Kenny Rogers)
Green Eggs and Ham : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
More Pies : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Robert Munsch)
All the Places to Love : Preformed by Wa... (by Patricia MacLachlan)
The Cow Who Clucked : Preformed by Wally... (by Denise Fleming)
The Cat in the Hat : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
RRRALPH : Preformed by Wally Amos
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
The Treasure : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Uri Shulevitz)
Giggle, Giggle, Quack : Preformed by Wal... (by Doreen Cronin)
Otto : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Steven Kroll)
Koala Lou : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Mem Fox)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

He Malaai Ka'U (by William H. Wilson)
Wai'Anae: Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
La'Ieikawai (by Dawn Kahalaomapuana)
An Historic Inventory of the Physical, S... (by Territorial Planning Board)
Pehea 'O Ia E Holo Ai (by Lilinoe Andrews)
Occasional Papers of Bernice P. Bishop M... (by Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum)
Hawaiian Language Imprints (by Bernice Judd)
Annual Report of the Governor of Hawaii ... Volume Year 1959 (by Hawaii. Governor)
Lili'Uokalani (by Ru Hasegawa Lowe)
Kamehameha V : Lot Kapuaiwa (by Rosalin Uphus Comeau)
Na Mele Aimoku (by Hawaiian Historical Society)
Ke Aupuni Moi (by Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau- Kamehameha School Pre...)
Oiwi Vol. 1 Volume 1 (by Lokahi Antonio)
Kulu Wai Liilii : He Mau Mele Hoole Waio... (by Mission Houses Museum Library)
Place Names of Hawaii - Hawaii Dictionar... (by Mary Kawena Pukui)

Top books on Poetry

In Memoriam (by Tennyson, Alfred Lord)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (by Hughes, Langston)
When I Was King: Poems (by Henry Lawson)
Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)
Poems (by Owen, Wilfred)
Stray Birds (by Sir Rabindranath Tagore)
The Prelude Or, Growth of a Poets Mind (by Wordsworth, William)
Poems by Currer, Ellis, And Acton Bell (... (by Bell, Acton)
The Raven (by Poe, Edgar Allan)
The Poems Of Robert Frost (by Frost, Robert.)
Poetical Works : Volume 1 (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
A Masque of Poets : Including Guy Vernon... (by Emily Dickinson)
The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shell... (by Percy Bysshe Shelley)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
A Profeta Kertje (by Gibran, Khalil)

Yiddish Book Center

Tsu a Yidisher Okher Lider (by Einhorn, David)
Di Nakh Un der Og (by Fuchs, A. M)
Yidishe Folkslider (by Warshawski, Mark)
Mayn Sheele Sloveshne : Volume 2 (by Kipnis, Itzik)
Fun Shel Tsu der Groyser Velt (by Asch, Sholem)
Der Inernatsyonaler Arbeer Ordn in Idish... (by Zaltsman, R. (Reuven))
Vi Ikh Hob Zey Geken Porren Fun Bavuse I... (by Shomer-Bachelis, Rose)
Yung-Brazil Lider Un Poemes (by Lieberman, A. M)
Idish in Amerike Muz Gayn Barg Aroyf! (by Penn, Ascher)
Rashi-Bukh Tsum Naynhundern Geburts-Yor (by Mendelson, José)
Erts Yiroel in Idishen Leben Un Lieraur (by Rhinewine, Abraham)
Umeiker Shmeykhl Derayinerungen, Dertsey... (by Viderman, Anah)
Der Folk's-Redner a Zamlung Fun Redes Ba... (by Rabinowitz, Moses Hirsch)
Zalmen Zilbertsvayg Yoyvl-Bukh Tsu Zayn ... (by Zylbercweig, Zalmen)
Bleer Fun Payn Un Umkum Maerialn Tsu der... (by Yidisher Visnshaflekher Insiu. Yivo Komie In Melbu...)