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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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

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

A Complete Grammar of Esperanto (by Reed, Ivy Kellerman, Mrs.)
The Principles of the International Phon... (by International Phonetic Association)
L'Innocente
Elements of Style, The (by Strunk Jr, William)
The Mabinogion (by Charlotte. Guest)
The Age of Innocence (by Wharton, Edith)
A manual of style, containing typographi... (by University of Chicago. Press)
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (by John Locke)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The (by Twain, Mark)
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, A (by Joyce, James)
The King's English (by Fowler, Henry Watson)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom ... (by Twain, Mark)
Shakespeare's Sonnets (by Shakespeare, William)
Secret Garden, The (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)

Top 100 books on Education

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (by Unknown)
The Organization and Administration of a... (by Lefevre, Arthur)
Uncle Tom's Cabin (by Stowe, Harriet Beecher)
Meno, Score Plato Meno (by Plato)
Rights of Man, Score Aor Rom Volume Vol. II (by Paine, Thomas)
Beowulf (by Gummere, Francis B.)
Dracula (by Stoker, Bram)
Odyssey, The (by Homer)
Symposium (by Plato)
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (by Budge, Ernest Alfred Wallis, Sir)
Some Thoughts Concerning Education (by Locke, John)
Riders of the Purple Sage (by Grey, Zane)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Dougl... (by Douglass, Frederick)
Washington Irving's the Legend of Sleepy... (by Irving, Washington)
The Heroides (by Naso, Publius Ovidius (Ovid))

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

The Adventures of Maya, The Bee (by Bonsels, Waldemar)
Stories for Children. First Reader Grade (by Mrs. Charles A. Lane)
Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
The Little People of the Snow (by William Cullen Bryant)
The Story of Chicken Little: Rhymed and ... (by Kenneth Graham Duffield)
Beauty and the Beast (by Crane, Walter)
The Orbis Pictus of John Amos Comenius (by Johann Amos Comenius)
House that Jack Built, The (by Unknown)
Mrs. Peter Rabbit (by Burgess, Thornton Waldo)
The Story of Little Jane and Me (by Blatchford, Mary E)
Song of Hiawatha, The (by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth)
The Baby's Own Aesop : Being the Fables ... (by Crane, Walter)
The Little Red Hen
The King of the Golden River, Or the Bla... (by John Ruskin)
The Tales of Mother Goose (by Oshea, Michael Vincent)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Cour... (by Twain, Mark)
Lord Jim (by Conrad, Joseph)
Catch 22 a Novel (by Joseph Heller)
Villette (by Brontë, Charlotte)
Uncle Tom's Cabin; Or, Life Among the Lo... (by Stowe, Harriet Beecher)
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famo... (by Defoe, Daniel)
Pickwick Papers, The Version 2 (by Dickens, Charles)
David Copperfield (version 2) (by Dickens, Charles)
The Awakening (by Chopin, Kate)
Last Of The Mohicans (A Narrative of 175... (by Cooper, James Fenimore)
The Prisoner of Zenda (by Hope, Anthony)
The Republic, Score Plato Rep (by Plato)
Beyond Good and Evil (by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm)
King Solomon's Mines (by Haggard, H. Rider)
Middlemarch (by Eliot, George)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

A Visit from St. Nicholas (by Moore, Clement Clarke)
Slovenly Peter (by Hoffmann, Heinrich)
Peter and Wendy (by Barrie, J. M.)
Midsummer Night's Dream, A (by Shakespeare, William)
The Red Badge of Courage (by Crane, Stephen)
Five Children and It (by Nesbit, E. (Edith))
Red Badge of Courage, The (by Crane, Stephen)
A Token for Children : Being an Exact Ac... (by Janeway, James)
Wind in the Willows, The (by Grahame, Kenneth)
A Christmas Carol (by Dickens, Charles)
Tom Brown's School Days : By Thomas Hugh... (by Hughes, Thomas)
White Fang (by London, Jack)
Story of the Treasure Seekers, The (by Nesbit, E. (Edith))
The story of King Arthur and his knights (by Pyle, Howard)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The (by Twain, Mark)

Top books on Shakespeare

William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
Measure for Measure Shakespeare (by Shakespeare, William)
King John (by Shakespeare, William)
Macbeth (by Shakespeare, William)
King Richard Iii (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedy of King Lear (by Shakespeare, William)
The Winter's Tale (by Shakespeare)
Taming of the Shrew, The (by Shakespeare, William)
Shakespeare's King Richard Iii; (by Shakespeare, William)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
As You Like It the Pennsylvania State Un... (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus (by Shakespeare, William)
Twelfth Night (by Shakespeare)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
King Richard the Second (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

Clifford The Big Red Dog : Preformed by ... (by Norman Bridwell)
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
Giggle, Giggle, Quack : Preformed by Wal... (by Doreen Cronin)
Koala Lou : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Mem Fox)
Zomo the Rabbit : A Trickster Tale from ... (by Gerald McDermott)
Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors : Pre... (by Norman Bridwell)
Love You Forever : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Munsch)
Calabash Cat : Preformed by Wally Amos (by James Rumford)
All the Places to Love : Preformed by Wa... (by Patricia MacLachlan)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
The Treasure : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Uri Shulevitz)
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type : Pref... (by Doreen Cronin)
I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)
Olivia...and the Missing Toy : Preformed... (by Ian Falconer)
Jump, Frog, Jump : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Kalan)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Pehea 'O Ia E Holo Ai (by Lilinoe Andrews)
Na Mele Aimoku (by Hawaiian Historical Society)
Kamehameha the Great (by Julie Stewart Williams)
An Account of the Polynesian Race : Its ... Volume Vol. 2 (by Fornander, Abraham)
Kumu'Ulu (by Keoni Kelekolio)
Na 'Elala (by University of Hawaii At Hilo)
Hawaiian Language Imprints (by Bernice Judd)
Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (by Julie Stewart Williams)
Hawai’I Island Legends : Pikoi, Pele and... (by Mary Kawena Pukui)
Ka'Ehuikimanoopu'Uloa (by William Henery)
Hawaiian Canoe-Building Traditions (by Naomi N. Y. Chun)
Pono E Loa'A Ke Kokua Ia'U (by Kealohi M. Reppun)
No Ka Wai O Ka Puna Hou (by Eve Furchgott)
Punia (by Lokahi Antonio)
Hawaiian Dictionary (by Mary Kawena Pukui)

Top books on Poetry

Poems (by Owen, Wilfred)
Poems by Currer, Ellis, And Acton Bell (... (by Bell, Acton)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience and... (by Blake, William)
Stray Birds (by Sir Rabindranath Tagore)
A Profeta Kertje (by Gibran, Khalil)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunb... (by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
A Masque of Poets : Including Guy Vernon... (by Emily Dickinson)
The Poems Of Robert Frost (by Frost, Robert.)
The Prelude Or, Growth of a Poets Mind (by Wordsworth, William)
Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)
Verses 1889-1896 (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Poetical Works : Volume 1 (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
The Collected Poems (by Yeats, William Butler)
Collected Poems of John Keats : Volume 5... (by Keats, John)

Yiddish Book Center

Olendorf's Mehode Zikh Grindlikh Oystsul... (by Harkavy, Alexander)
In Baginen (by Bick, Abraham)
Batsiung Tsu Arbe Un Arbeer Sotsialer Yo... Volume Vol. 1 (by Shemen, N)
Kant's Etik Fun Bukh Kritik Fun der Prak... (by Kant, Immanuel)
Rezolutsyes Fun der Akher Vel Konferents... (by World Union of Poalei Zion--Hitachdut)
Dos Urale Folk Yiroel (by Nikolski, N. M. (Nikola Mikhalovich))
Der Kishefmakher Un Zayn Zun a Mayele Ba... (by Bastomski, Solomon)
Oytsres Fun Idishen Humor Okhmes, Vitsen... (by Aschkenasy, Isaac)
Tsip Tsop Hemerl (by Guyanski, Binyamin)
Ven a Folk Dervakh Medines Yisra'El 1948... (by Rozshanski, Shemuel)
Gezamele Verk : Vol. 4 Volume Vol. 4 (by Libin, Z. (Zalman))
Berlin-Moskve-Yerusholayim (by Paluszak, Elias)
Shern Derkenen Dikh Lider (by Yungman, M.)
Muer Un Zun (by Bobruk, Albin)
Tsulib Shkheynim (by Miller, Boruch)