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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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)
National Symposium on Learning Disabilit... (by Department of Education)
The Principles of the International Phon... (by International Phonetic Association)
The Canterbury Tales (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tal... (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
The Tower of Babel, A Poetical Drama (by Alfred Austin)

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

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (by John Locke)
The Greek New Testament (by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux)
Poetics (by Aristotle)
The Language and Thought of the Child
Chicago Manual of Style (by University of Chicago)
Three Musketeers, The (by Dumas, Alexandre)
The Canterbury Tales (by Geoffrey Chaucer)
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (by Wittgenstein, Ludwig)
Elements of Style, The (by Strunk Jr, William)
The Land That Time Forgot (by Burroughs, Edgar Rice)
An Intermediate Greek English Lexicon
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
Great Expectations (by Dickens, Charles)
Pygmalion (by Shaw, George Bernard)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Co... (by Twain, Mark)

Top 100 books on Education

Free Military School for Applicants for ... (by Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regim...)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
Vocational education and guidance of you... (by Robison, Emily)
The Elements of Style (by Strunk, William)
Odyssey, The (by Homer)
Medea (by Euripides)
History of the Peloponnesian War (by Thucydides)
Tarzan of the Apes (by Burroughs, Edgar Rice)
Common Sense (by Paine, Thomas)
King Henry IV, Part 1 (by Shakespeare, William)
The Four Socratic Dialogues of Plato (by Plato)
The Divine Comedy : Inferno (by Alighieri, Dante)
The Gorgias (by Jowett, Benjamin)
Heroides (by Ovidius Naso, Publius (Ovid))
Oresteia, The (by Aeschylus)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

The Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book (by Caldecott, Randolph)
Little Bo-Peep; A Nursery Rhyme Picture ...
The Green Fairy Book (by Andrew Lang, Henry Justice Ford)
Little Tot's Picture Book (by Sheila Thibodeau Lambrinos Collection - York Unive...)
Little Mary; Or, The Picture-Book
Baby's Lullaby Book : Mother Songs (by Pratt, Charles Stuart)
Raggedy Andy Stories: Introducing the Li... (by Johnny Gruelle)
The Green Fairy Book (by Lang, Andrew, Ed)
Fairy Tales/By Hans Christian Andersen; ... (by Andersen, Hans Christian)
Baby's Abc Book
Three Blind Mice (by Ivimey, John William)
House that Jack Built, The (by Unknown)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm)
A Book for Boys and Girls; Or, Country R... (by Bunyan, John)
The Story of Mankind (by Van Loon, Hendrik Willem)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Faust I (by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von)
The Canterbury Tales (by Geoffrey Chaucer)
Metamorphosis (by Kafka, Franz)
Les Misérables (by Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885)
The Red Badge of Courage (by Crane, Stephen)
Black Beauty (by Sewell, Anna)
The Pilgrim's Progress (by Bunyan, John)
Lorna Doone, a Romance of Exmoor (by Blackmore, Richard Doddridge)
The Man Who Was Thursday : A Nightmare (by Chesterton, Gilbert K.)
Allan Quatermain (by Haggard, Henry Rider)
The Man in the Iron Mask (by Dumas, Pere Alexandre)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman ... (by Hardy, Thomas)
The Sun Also Rises (by Hemingway, Ernest)
The Diary of a Nobody (by Grossmith, George)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Co... (by Twain, Mark)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

Beauty and the Beast (by Crane, Walter)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (by Potter, Beatrix)
Just so Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Journey to the Interior of the Earth, A (by Verne, Jules)
Pollyanna (by Porter, Eleanor Hodgman)
The Coral Island (by Ballantyne, Robert Michael)
Moonfleet (by Falkner, J. Meade)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (by Mark Twain)
Water-Babies, The (by Kingsley, Charles)
The Count of Monte Cristo (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Wide, Wide World, The (by Warner, Susan)
Ivanhoe (by Scott, Walter, Sir)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Jack and the Beanstalk and Other Stories

Top books on Shakespeare

Othello (by Shakespeare, William)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
The tragedy of Julius Caesar (by Shakespeare, William)
Timon of Athens (by Shakespeare, William)
Merchant of Venice, The (by Shakespeare, William)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (by Shakespeare, William)
Coriolanus (by Shakespeare, William)
All's Well, That Ends Well (by Shakespeare, William)
The History of Troilus and Cressida (by Shakespeare, William)
The Winter's Tale (by William Shakespeare)
As You Like It (by Shakespeare, William)
Merchant of Venice (by William Shakespeare)
Troilus and Cressida (by Shakespeare)
Much Ado About Nothing (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ... (by Dr. Seuss)
I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)
Stephanie's Ponytail : Preformed by Wall... (by Robert Munsch)
The Very Greedy Bee : Preformed by Wally... (by Steve Smallman)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
Curious George and the Pizza : Preformed... (by Margret and H.A. Rey)
The Wolf and the Lamb : Preformed by Wal... (by Eric Carle)
Where the Wild Things Are : Preformed by... (by Maurice Sendak)
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
How Rocket Learned to Read : Preformed b... (by Tad Hills)
Loony Little: An Environmental Tale : Pr... (by Dianna Hutts Aston)
Cows Can't Fly : Preformed by Wally Amos (by David Milgrim)
The Treasure : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Uri Shulevitz)
The Greatest : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Kenny Rogers)
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type : Pref... (by Doreen Cronin)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Ma Uka, Ma Kai (by Eve Furchgott)
Lili'Uokalani (by Ru Hasegawa Lowe)
He Kuhikuhi O Ke Kanaka Hawaii (A Guide ... (by J. W. H. Kauwahi)
Kamehameha V : Lot Kapuaiwa (by Rosalin Uphus Comeau)
Hawaiian Language References-'Olelo Maku... (by Kamehameha Schools)
Kamehameha the Great (by Julie Stewart Williams)
The Ks Impact : Increasing Access to Qua... (by State Department of Education)
He Moolelo No Kekahi Mau Koa Kaulana (A ... (by M. Goldberg)
Pono E Loa'A Ke Kokua Ia'U (by Kealohi M. Reppun)
Lehua 'Ahihi (by Kuleana Kope)
Punia (by Lokahi Antonio)
Hawaiian Canoe-Building Traditions (by Naomi N. Y. Chun)
Na Mele O Hawaii Nei: 101 Hawaiian Songs (by Samuel H. Elbert)
He Mau Mele Kula Sabati (Sunday School S... (by Reverend Laiana)
Annual Report of the Governor of Hawaii ... Volume Year 1959 (by Hawaii. Governor)

Top books on Poetry

Songs of Innocence and of Experience and... (by Blake, William)
A Masque of Poets : Including Guy Vernon... (by Emily Dickinson)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (by Hughes, Langston)
Collected Poems of John Keats : Volume 5... (by Keats, John)
The Poems Of Robert Frost (by Frost, Robert.)
One Hundred Poems of Kabir, Tr. By Rabin... (by Kabir)
Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)
The Collected Poems (by Yeats, William Butler)
In Memoriam (by Tennyson, Alfred Lord)
Poems by Currer, Ellis, And Acton Bell (... (by Bell, Acton)
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunb... (by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Poetical Works : Volume 1 (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
Rhymes of a Red Cross Man (by Robert W. Service)
The Raven (by Poe, Edgar Allan)
Poems (by Owen, Wilfred)

Yiddish Book Center

Oyf Di Rashike Vegn Fun Tsien : Rayze Ay... (by Berebichez, I)
A Men’Sh Ba Layn (by Gorky, Maksim)
Dray [Ondenkbukh]
Unzere Yontoyvim : Volume 1 (by Unterman, Isaac)
Barime Redes Fun Di Shikago'Er Marirer M... (by Frumkin, A. (Avraham))
Vegn Di Natsionale Momenn in der Parey- ... (by Stalin, Joseph)
Ale Shrifen : Vol. 1 Volume Vol. 1 (by Gordin, Jacob)
A Vortt in Zayn Tsayt (by Wolpe, David E)
Fun der Fremd (by Brownstone, Ezekiel)
Der Shlimmazeldiger Mazol-Tov, Oder : Ar... (by Shaykevitsh, N. M. (Nahum-Meir))
Di Goldene Pave (by Halpern, Moshe Leib)
Mayn Shprakhbukh Arbe- Un Leyen-Bukh Far... (by Bass, Hyman B.)
Di Yidishe Avonome Gegn-A Kind Fun der O... (by Dimanshten, S)
Oysgeveyle Verk : Volume 3 (by Mendele Mokher Sefarim)
Shklover Yiden Novelen (by Shneour, Zalman)