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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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

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

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (abridg... (by Carroll, Lewis)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Cour... (by Twain, Mark)
Beyond Good and Evil (by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm)
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (by Wittgenstein, Ludwig)
Anne of Green Gables Illustrated By Anon... (by Montgomery, L.M.)
The American Esperanto Book : A Compendi... (by Baker, Arthur)
The Land That Time Forgot (by Burroughs, Edgar Rice)
The Kabbalah Unveiled, Score Jud Tku (by MacGregor Mathers, S. L.)
Just so Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
An Elementary Spanish Reader (by Louis Marie Auguste Loiseaux)
Tender Buttons (by Stein, Gertrude)
Siddhartha (by Hesse, Hermann)
The Mabinogion (by Charlotte. Guest)
The Principles of the International Phon... (by International Phonetic Association)
Chicago Manual of Style (by University of Chicago)

Top 100 books on Education

Harriet, The Moses of Her People (by Bradford, Sarah Hopkins)
The Moral Judgment of the Child (by Jean Piaget)
Metamorphoses, Score Ovid Meta (by Ovid)
Development of the Education of Wage-Ear... (by Hey, Spurley)
Democracy and Education (by Dewey, John)
Euclid's Elements of Geometry (by Robert Potts)
Doll's House, A (by Ibsen, Henrik)
The Critique of Practical Reason (by Kant, Immanuel)
Pragmatism (by James, William)
Walden (by Thoreau, Henry David)
The Elements of Style (by Strunk, William)
Of the Education of the Poor: Being the ... (by Society for Bettering the Conditions and Increasin...)
The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (by Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
The Scarlet Letter (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
The Montessori Method (by Montessori, Maria)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

Mother Earth's Children; The Frolics of ... (by Gordon, Elizabeth)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
The Three Bears
Harrison's New Nursery Picture Book : Co... (by Bewick, Thomas)
Divine and Moral Songs for Children (by Isaac Watts)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (version 2) (by Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm)
The Tales of Mother Goose (by Oshea, Michael Vincent)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
Johnny Crow's Party; Another Picture Boo... (by Brooke, Leonard Leslie)
Complete Version of Ye Three Blind Mice (by Ivimey, John William)
House that Jack Built, The (by Unknown)
Ozma of Oz (by Baum, L. Frank)
The First Days of Man, As Narrated Quite... (by Frederic Arnold Kummer)
A Book for Boys and Girls; Or, Country R... (by Bunyan, John)
Little Tot's Picture Book (by Sheila Thibodeau Lambrinos Collection - York Unive...)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Odyssey, The (by Homer)
The Man in the Iron Mask (by Maquet, Auguste, 1813-1888)
Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys: Bei... (by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Count of Monte Cristo, The (by Dumas, Alexandre)
The Awakening (by Chopin, Kate)
The Republic, Score Plato Rep (by Plato)
Gulliver's Travels (by Swift, Jonathan)
Misérables, Les Vol. 1 (by Hugo, Victor)
Great Expectations (by Dickens, Charles)
The Idiot (by Dostoevsky, Fyodor)
Little Women (by Alcott, Louisa May)
House of the Seven Gables, The (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
Beyond Good and Evil (by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

Three Musketeers, The (by Dumas, Alexandre)
The story of King Arthur and his knights (by Pyle, Howard)
Twas the Night Before Christmas (A Visit... (by Moore, Clement Clarke)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom ... (by Twain, Mark)
The Tales of Mother Goose (by Oshea, Michael Vincent)
The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma: Issue 1 Volume Issue 1 (by Virgin Comics)
A Tale of Two Cities (by Charles Dickens)
The Tales of Peter Parley about America ... (by Goodrich, Samuel Griswold)
Little Princess, A (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
White Fang (by London, Jack)
Black Beauty (version 2) (by Sewell, Anna)
Happy Prince and Other Tales, The (by Wilde, Oscar)
King of the Golden River, The (by Ruskin, John)
The Red Badge of Courage (by Crane, Stephen)

Top books on Shakespeare

Timon of Athens (by Shakespeare, William)
King Henry Iv. A Tragedy. In Five Acts (by Shakespeare, William)
Twelfth Night or What You Will (by Shakespeare, William)
Twelfth Night (version 2) (by Shakespeare, William)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
Merchant of Venice (by William Shakespeare)
The Sonnets of William Shakespeare (by Shakespeare, William)
Much Ado About Nothing (by Shakespeare)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
The Taming of the Shrew (by Shakespeare, William)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (by Shakespeare, William)
The Comedy of Errors (by Shakespeare, William)
Measure for Measure Shakespeare (by Shakespeare, William)
Macbeth (by Shakespeare, William)
King Henry IV, Part 1 (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
The Wolf and the Lamb : Preformed by Wal... (by Eric Carle)
Cows Can't Fly : Preformed by Wally Amos (by David Milgrim)
I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)
Green Eggs and Ham : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Giggle, Giggle, Quack : Preformed by Wal... (by Doreen Cronin)
RRRALPH : Preformed by Wally Amos
How Rocket Learned to Read : Preformed b... (by Tad Hills)
The Treasure : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Uri Shulevitz)
More Pies : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Robert Munsch)
Calabash Cat : Preformed by Wally Amos (by James Rumford)
All the Places to Love : Preformed by Wa... (by Patricia MacLachlan)
Squashed in the Middle : Preformed by Wa... (by Elizabeth Winthrop)
The Beckonong Cat, Based on a Japenese F... (by Koko Nishizuka)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Wai'Anae: Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
Place Names of Hawaii - Hawaii Dictionar... (by Mary Kawena Pukui)
An Account of the Polynesian Race : Its ... Volume Vol. 2 (by Fornander, Abraham)
The Hawaiian Language and Complete Gramm... (by Henry P. Judd)
Kane'Ohe : Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
Maui Hikina, Volume I (by Kepa Maly)
Kuleana (by William K. Wallace)
Ka'Ehuikimanoopu'Uloa (by William Henery)
Lunalilo (by Peter Galuteria)
The Ks Impact : Increasing Access to Qua... (by State Department of Education)
Kamehameha Iv : Alexander Liholiho (by Ru Hasegawa Lowe)
Hawaiian Language Imprints (by Bernice Judd)
Na Mele Aimoku (by Hawaiian Historical Society)
Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (by Julie Stewart Williams)
No Wai Ke Kuleana (by Pohakalani Tolentino-Perry)