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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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

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 Secret Garden (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
The Esperanto Teacher a Simple Course fo... (by Fryer, Helen)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Co... (by Twain, Mark)
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (by John Locke)
The Elements of Style (by Strunk, William)
The Iliad (by Butler, Samuel)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (by Anonymous)
The Divine Comedy : Inferno (by Alighieri, Dante)
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, A (by Joyce, James)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
Stickeen (by Muir, John)
1984 (by Orwell, George)
Around the World in Eighty Days (by Verne, Jules)
Les Fleurs du Mal (by Baudelaire, Charles)

Top 100 books on Education

Moby Dick; Or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
Herodotus' Histories Vol 1 (by Herodotus of Halicarnassus)
The Adventures of Pinocchio (by Collodi, C.)
Concerning Civil Government, Second Essa... (by Locke, John)
A plan for improving female education (by Willard, Emma)
Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (by Anonymous)
Beowulf (by Unknown)
The Iliad (by Homer)
The Adventures of Pinocchio (by Collodi, C.)
Emma (by Austen, Jane)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Common Sense (by Paine, Thomas)
Heroides (by Ovidius Naso, Publius (Ovid))
Riders of the Purple Sage (by Grey, Zane)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

House that Jack Built, The (by Unknown)
Three Hundred Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
Three Blind Mice (by Ivimey, John William)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (version 2) (by Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm)
Baby's Abc Book
The Tales of Mother Goose (by Perrault, Charles)
Raggedy Andy Stories (by Gruelle, Johnny)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Carroll, Lewis)
The Arabian Nights Entertainments Comple... (by Anonymous)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
The Tiny Picture Book
The purple cow! (by Burgess, Gelett)
Ozma of Oz (by Baum, L. Frank)
Jack and the Beanstalk (by Floyd, Grace C.)
Velveteen Rabbit, The (by Williams, Margery)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Frankenstein (dramatic reading) (by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft)
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The (by Baum, L. Frank)
The Awakening (by Chopin, Kate)
Black Beauty (version 2) (by Sewell, Anna)
Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous M... (by Defoe, Daniel)
Das Kapital (by Karl Marx)
Wuthering Heights (by Bronte, Emily)
Silas Marner, version 2 (by Eliot, George)
Scarlet Letter, The (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
The Canterbury Tales (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (abridg... (by Carroll, Lewis)
The Iliad (by Butler, Samuel)
The Count of Monte Cristo (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Hard Times (by Dickens, Charles)
Swann's Way (by Proust, Marcel)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

Ivanhoe NL (by Scott, Walter, Sir)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (by Irving, Washington, 1783-1859)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (by Verne, Jules)
Les Miserables (by Hugo, Victor)
Little Women (by Alcott, Louisa May)
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (by Pyle, Howard)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates (by Dodge, Mary Mapes)
David Copperfield (by Dickens, Charles)
Coral Island, The (by Ballantyne, R.M.)
A Midsummer-Night's Dream (by William Shakespeare)
Five Children and It (by Nesbit, E. (Edith))
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (version 2) (by Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm)

Top books on Shakespeare

William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
King John (by Shakespeare, William)
The tragedy of Julius Caesar (by Shakespeare, William)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
Measure for Measure Shakespeare (by Shakespeare, William)
Merchant of Venice (by William Shakespeare)
Richard II (by Shakespeare, William)
Two Gentlemen of Verona, The (by Shakespeare, William)
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shake... (by Shakespeare, William)
All's Well, That Ends Well (by Shakespeare, William)
The Merchant of Venice (by William Shakespeare)
Twelfth Night (version 2) (by Shakespeare, William)
Timon of Athens (by Shakespeare, William)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (by Shakespeare, William)
Cymbeline (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

Cows Can't Fly : Preformed by Wally Amos (by David Milgrim)
The Wolf and the Lamb : Preformed by Wal... (by Eric Carle)
Stephanie's Ponytail : Preformed by Wall... (by Robert Munsch)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
The Cat in the Hat : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
Jump, Frog, Jump : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Kalan)
Giggle, Giggle, Quack : Preformed by Wal... (by Doreen Cronin)
The Cow Who Clucked : Preformed by Wally... (by Denise Fleming)
Otto : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Steven Kroll)
Green Eggs and Ham : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Hunches in Bunches : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
The Greatest : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Kenny Rogers)
The Paper Bag Princess : Preformed by Wa... (by Robert Munsch)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Lei Pipipi (by Cathleen Piilani Mattoon)
Kamehameha Iv : Alexander Liholiho (by Ru Hasegawa Lowe)
He Kuhikuhi O Ke Kanaka Hawaii (A Guide ... (by J. W. H. Kauwahi)
Life in Hawaii : An Autobiographic Sketc... (by Coan, Titus)
Occasional Papers of Bernice P. Bishop M... (by Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum)
Kahea Loko (by The Pacific American Foundation)
Ke Aupuni Moi (by Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau- Kamehameha School Pre...)
Kumu Kou (by Larry Kimura)
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii : the Sac... (by Emerson, Nathaniel Bright, 1839-1915)
Ke Alo O Kona Mo'I (The Face of Her King... (by Robert Lono Ikuwa)
Ka'Ehuikimanoopu'Uloa (by William Henery)
No Ka Wai O Ka Puna Hou (by Eve Furchgott)
Punia (by Lokahi Antonio)
He Mau Mele Kula Sabati (Sunday School S... (by Reverend Laiana)
Ku'U Tutu (by Dawn Kahalaomapuana)