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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tal... (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Lan... (by Hoernle, August Frederich Rudolf)
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)
The Science Of Language Vol I (by F. Max Muller K. M.)
The Principles of the International Phon... (by International Phonetic Association)
Psychology and Pathology of Speech Devel... (by Conradi, Edward)

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

Pygmalion (by Shaw, George Bernard)
Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tal... (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Brothers Karamazov, The (by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor)
Poetics (by Aristotle)
L'Innocente
Tao Te Ching Volume Vol. 39 (by Legge, J.)
The Language and Thought of the Child
Siddhartha (by Hesse, Hermann)
Beowulf (by Gummere, Francis B.)
Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of th... (by Findlater, Andrew)
Secret Garden, The (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Familiar Quotations : A Collection of Pa... (by John Bartlett)
The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare, William)
Middlemarch (by Eliot, George)
1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (by Grose, Captain)

Top 100 books on Education

Laddie (by Stratton-Porter, Gene)
The Heroides (by Naso, Publius Ovidius (Ovid))
Metamorphoses, Score Ovid Meta (by Ovid)
Pragmatism (by James, William)
The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (by Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
Euclid's Elements of Geometry (by Robert Potts)
Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)
Confucian Analects Confucius, Score Cfu ... (by Legge, James)
Free Schools; A Documentary History of t... (by Finegan, Thomas Edward)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Dougl... (by Douglass, Frederick)
The Adventures of Pinocchio (by Collodi, C.)
Free Military School for Applicants for ... (by Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regim...)
Elements of Style, The (by Strunk Jr, William)
Moby Dick; Or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
Leviathan (Books I and II) (by Hobbes, Thomas)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

The Adventures of Pinocchio (by Collodi, C.)
Pollyanna (by Porter, Eleanor Hodgman)
The Story of Chicken Little: Rhymed and ... (by Kenneth Graham Duffield)
Little Mary; Or, The Picture-Book
Baby's Abc Book
The Purple Cow! (by Burgess, Galett)
The Baby's Own Aesop : Being the Fables ... (by Crane, Walter)
The Orbis Pictus of John Amos Comenius (by Comenius, Johann Amos)
Mrs. Peter Rabbit (by Burgess, Thornton Waldo)
Johnny Crow's Party; Another Picture Boo... (by Brooke, Leonard Leslie)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Carroll, Lewis)
Fairy Tales/By Hans Christian Andersen; ... (by Andersen, Hans Christian)
The Story of Chicken Little: Rhymed and ... (by Kenneth Graham Duffield)
Cinderella; Or, The Little Glass Slipper
King of the Golden River, The (by Ruskin, John)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Hard Times (by Dickens, Charles)
The Diary of a Nobody [By] George Grossm... (by Grossmith, George)
Crime and Punishment (by Dostoevsky, Fyodor)
Pickwick Papers, The Version 2 (by Dickens, Charles)
The Prisoner of Zenda : Being the Histor... (by Hope, Anthony, 1863-1933)
Gulliver's Travels (by Swift, Jonathan)
Anna Karenina -2 (by Tolstoy, Leo)
Jane Eyre (by Brontë, Charlotte)
Heart of Darkness (by Conrad, Joseph)
War and Peace (by Tolstoy, Leo)
Lord Jim (by Conrad, Joseph)
Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare, The (by Chesterton, G. K.)
A Christmas Carol (by Dickens, Charles)
Sense and Sensibility (version 3) (by Austen, Jane)
Lorna Doone, a Romance of Exmoor (by Blackmore, Richard Doddridge)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

A Christmas Carol (by Dickens, Charles)
King Arthur and His Knights (by Radford, Maude L.)
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The (by Baum, L. Frank)
At the Back of the North Wind (by MacDonald, George)
The Little Gingerbread Man (by Herbert, Robert Gaston, Ill)
Happy Prince and Other Tales, The (by Wilde, Oscar)
Peter and Wendy (by Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew), 1860-1937)
The Red Badge of Courage
The Jungle Book (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Oliver Twist (by Dickens, Charles)
Just so Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The (by Baum, L. Frank)
The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma: Issue 1 Volume Issue 1 (by Virgin Comics)
The Swiss Family Robinson (by Johann David Wyss)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (by William Shakespeare)

Top books on Shakespeare

Taming of the Shrew, The (by Shakespeare, William)
Macbeth (by Shakespeare, William)
Coriolanus (by Shakespeare, William)
Measure for Measure Shakespeare (by Shakespeare, William)
King Richard Iii (by Shakespeare, William)
Much Ado About Nothing (by Shakespeare)
Cymbeline (by Shakespeare, William)
King Richard Ii (by Shakespeare, William)
Much Ado About Nothing (by Shakespeare, William)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (by Shakespeare, William)
Timon of Athens (by Shakespeare)
Macbeth (by Shakespeare, William)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
Titus Andronicus (by Shakespeare, William)
Tempest, The (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors : Pre... (by Norman Bridwell)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
The Greatest : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Kenny Rogers)
Love You Forever : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Munsch)
Green Eggs and Ham : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
RRRALPH : Preformed by Wally Amos
Stephanie's Ponytail : Preformed by Wall... (by Robert Munsch)
All the Places to Love : Preformed by Wa... (by Patricia MacLachlan)
The Lion and the Mouse : Preformed by Wa... (by Eric Carle)
Loony Little: An Environmental Tale : Pr... (by Dianna Hutts Aston)
Jump, Frog, Jump : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Kalan)
Cows Can't Fly : Preformed by Wally Amos (by David Milgrim)
The Wolf and the Lamb : Preformed by Wal... (by Eric Carle)
Clifford The Big Red Dog : Preformed by ... (by Norman Bridwell)
The Cat in the Hat : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Kane'Ohe : Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
Ao Kiko
He Wahi Mo'Olelo No Keauhou a Me Na Wahi... (by Kepa Maly)
Hawaiian Language References-'Olelo Maku... (by Kamehameha Schools)
He Wahi Mooolelo No Batimea Puaaiki, No ... (by J. S. Gelina)
Moku Ka Pawa (by Keoni Kelekolio)
La'Ieikawai (by Dawn Kahalaomapuana)
Na Koko O Keia Keiki Hawai'I (by William H. Wilson)
No Na Hale (by Liana Iaea Honda)
Ehia I Loa'A (by University of Hawaii At Hilo)
Hawai’I Island Legends : Pikoi, Pele and... (by Mary Kawena Pukui)
Lili'Uokalani (by Ru Hasegawa Lowe)
No Ma'Ikoha a Me Ka Wauke (by William H. Wilson)
Kamehameha Iii : Kauikeaouli (by Jean Iwata Cachola)
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii : the Sac... (by Emerson, Nathaniel Bright, 1839-1915)

Top books on Poetry

Poems by Currer, Ellis, And Acton Bell (... (by Bell, Acton)
When I Was King: Poems (by Henry Lawson)
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunb... (by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience and... (by Blake, William)
One Hundred Poems of Kabir, Tr. By Rabin... (by Kabir)
A Profeta Kertje (by Gibran, Khalil)
Rhymes of a Red Cross Man (by Robert W. Service)
Collected Poems of John Keats : Volume 5... (by Keats, John)
A Masque of Poets : Including Guy Vernon... (by Emily Dickinson)
Verses 1889-1896 (by Kipling, Rudyard)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
The Raven (by Poe, Edgar Allan)
The Prelude Or, Growth of a Poets Mind (by Wordsworth, William)
In Memoriam (by Tennyson, Alfred Lord)
Stray Birds (by Sir Rabindranath Tagore)

Yiddish Book Center

Rusishe Mayselakh (by Kipnis, Itzik)
Bovo Bukh (by Levita, Elijah)
Doyres (by Kroshnitz, Mordecai)
Shmuglers Uner der Dayshisher Okupatsye ... (by Varshavski, Ozer)
Mayn Lublin Bilder Funem Lebns-Shayger F... (by Fiszman-Sznajdman, Róa)
Tsi a Shnirl Zikh Fun Zeydn Tsu Mayn an ... (by Fireman-Levin, Miriam)
Regnboygn Fun Gezang Gezamle Lider (by Rivin, Joshua)
Der Veg Tsu Gezundhay Prakishe Meditsini... (by Peker, Meir)
A Kezayes Erd Epishe Poeme (by Glantz, Yaacov)
Es Kum der Og Lider (by Felzenbaum, Michael)
Di Opshamung Fun Mentshen Un der Opklayb... Volume Vol. 1 (by Darwin, Charles)
Der Emes Vegn Palesina (by Levin, Yaakov)
Kropokin's Lebens-Beshraybung (by Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, Kniaz)
Geshikhes Un Porren (by Yakir, Yankl)
Ksovim Fun a Komi-Voyazsher (by Sholem Aleichem)

Svensk Litteratur Samling

Meddelande (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1858 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Om Sveriges Folksjukdomar (by Bergmankällor)
Odaterade Brev Från Robert Bergman (by Grytnäsarkivet)
P. M. Öfver Hypotek För Obligationslån (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1856 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1849 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Virkesrapport (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Stockfångst M. Fl. Privilegier I Norr- O... (by Bergmankällor)
Nordiska Museet (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Virkeslagring (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Ett Brev Från Robert Bergman 1853 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Till Emanuel Deutsch 1881
Timmerförteckning (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1851 (by Grytnäsarkivet)

Ebooks Libres et Gratuits Collection

Le Crime de Rouletabille (by Leroux, Gaston)
La Dame de Monsoreau (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Le Ble en Herbe (by Colette)
Poesies (by Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb)
La Plus Belle Histoire du Monde (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Les Compagnons de Jehu (by Dumas, Alexandre)
La Dame de Monsoreau Tome Iii (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Contes Divers (by De Maupassant, Guy)
Reflexions Ou Sentences et Maximes Moral... (by De La Rochefoucauld, François Duc)
Laissez-Moi (Commentaire) (by Sauvageot, Marcelle)
La Guerre des Boutons (by Pergaud, Louis)
La Criniere du Lion les Archives de Sher... (by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir)
La Fee des Greves (by Féval, Paul)
La Fin de Cheri (by Colette)
La Maison a Vapeur Voyage a Travers Lind... (by Verne, Jules)