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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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

The Brothers Karamazov (by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1821-1881)
The Canterbury Tales (by Geoffrey Chaucer)
A Sanskrit Grammar : Including Both the ... (by William Dwight Whitney)
Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tal... (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Anne of Green Gables Illustrated By Anon... (by Montgomery, L.M.)
The Canterbury Tales (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Jane Eyre (by Brontë, Charlotte)
An Introduction to the Study of Language (by Bloomfield, Leonard, 1887-1949)
A Woman of Thirty (by Seiffert, Marjorie Allen)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Co... (by Twain, Mark)
A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic (by Cleas, Richard)
1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (by Grose, Captain)
The Iliad (by Butler, Samuel)
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (by Budge, Ernest Alfred Wallis, Sir)
Canterbury Tales, The (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)

Top 100 books on Education

The Lady of Shalott (1832) (by Tennyson, Alfred, 1St Baron Tennyson, Lord)
Plutarch's Lives (by Plutarch)
Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)
The Grapes of Wrath (by Steinbeck, John)
Jungle, The (by Sinclair, Upton)
Christian Education in the Dark Ages (A.... (by Magevney, Eugene A.)
Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)
The confessions of S. Augustine (by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo)
Riders of the Purple Sage (by Grey, Zane)
Emma (by Austen, Jane)
Science and Education (by Huxley, Thomas Henry)
Oresteia, The (by Aeschylus)
Elements of Style, The (by Strunk Jr, William)
The Heroides (by Naso, Publius Ovidius (Ovid))
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom ... (by Twain, Mark)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

The Three Jovial Huntsmen : One of R. Ca... (by Caldecott, Randolph, 1846-1886)
The Tiny Picture Book
The House That Jack Built (by Caldecott, Randolph)
Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
A Book for Boys and Girls; Or, Country R... (by Bunyan, John)
The Dutch Twins (by Perkins, Lucy Fitch)
The Tale of Buster Bumblebee (by Arthur Scott Bailey, Harry L. Smith)
Old Roly Bear (by Lowe, Samual E.)
The Book of Nonsense, Comprising One Hun... (by Lear, Edward)
The Adventures of Pinocchio (by Collodi, C.)
A Book of Discoveries. Illustrated by Go... (by Masefield, John)
Harrison's New Nursery Picture Book : Co... (by Bewick, Thomas)
The Book of Nonsense (by Lear, Edward)
A Apple Pie (by Greenaway, Kate)
The Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book (by Caldecott, Randolph)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Bleak House (version 3) (by Dickens, Charles)
The Sun Also Rises (by Hemingway, Ernest)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Allan Quatermain (by Haggard, Henry Rider)
Red Badge of Courage, The (by Crane, Stephen)
Sense and Sensibility (version 3) (by Austen, Jane)
Sons and Lovers (by Lawrence, D. H.)
David Copperfield (by Dickens, Charles)
Tao Te Ching Volume Vol. 39 (by Legge, J.)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Jane Eyre (by Brontë, Charlotte)
The Diary of a Nobody (by Grossmith, George)
Through the Looking-Glass (by Carroll, Lewis)
The Trial (by Kafka, Franz)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (by Verne, Jules)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

Happy Prince and Other Tales, The (by Wilde, Oscar)
The Tales of Peter Parley about America ... (by Goodrich, Samuel Griswold)
The Happy Prince and Other Tales and a H... (by Wilde, Oscar)
Call of the Wild, The (by London, Jack)
Rip Van Winkle (by Jefferson, Joseph)
A Tale of Two Cities (by Charles Dickens)
Great Expectations (by Dickens, Charles)
The Coral Island (by Ballantyne, Robert Michael)
The Magic Pudding (by Lindsay, Norman)
The Panchatantra (by Arthur W Ryder)
The Three Musketeers (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Robinson Crusoe (by Defoe, Daniel)
Hymns in Prose for Children, By the Auth... (by Anna Laetitia Barbauld)
Treasure Island (by Nor, Lisa)
The story of King Arthur and his knights (by Pyle, Howard)

Top books on Shakespeare

The Book of Love (by Wagstaff, Blanche Shoemaker)
Two Noble Kinsmen (by Shakespeare)
Tempest, The (by Shakespeare, William)
As You Like It (by Shakespeare, William)
King John (by Shakespeare, William)
Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (by Shakespeare, William)
Macbeth (by Shakespeare, William)
Tragedy of Macbeth, The (by Shakespeare, William)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
Timon of Athens (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare, William)
Shakespeare's Sonnets (version 2) (by Shakespeare, William)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (by Shakespeare, William)
Measure for Measure Shakespeare (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

Koala Lou : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Mem Fox)
All the Places to Love : Preformed by Wa... (by Patricia MacLachlan)
Clifford The Big Red Dog : Preformed by ... (by Norman Bridwell)
Green Eggs and Ham : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
The Beckonong Cat, Based on a Japenese F... (by Koko Nishizuka)
The Wolf and the Lamb : Preformed by Wal... (by Eric Carle)
The Cat in the Hat : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
Otto : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Steven Kroll)
Squashed in the Middle : Preformed by Wa... (by Elizabeth Winthrop)
RRRALPH : Preformed by Wally Amos
Where the Wild Things Are : Preformed by... (by Maurice Sendak)
Jump, Frog, Jump : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Kalan)
More Pies : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Robert Munsch)
The Cow Who Clucked : Preformed by Wally... (by Denise Fleming)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Kane'Ohe : Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
Kuleana (by William K. Wallace)
Annual Report of the Governor of Hawaii ... Volume Year 1959 (by Hawaii. Governor)
An Account of the Polynesian Race : Its ... Volume Vol. 2 (by Fornander, Abraham)
Hawaii Session Laws (by Hawaii)
Ka Mo'Olelo O Lonoikamakahiki (by Abraham Fornander)
The Memoirs of Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bisho... (by Krout, Mary Hannah)
Ke Keiki Paionia (The Pioneer Boy) (by Samuel C. Andrews)
Maui Hikina, Volume I (by Kepa Maly)
Moloka'I: Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
Kulu Wai Liilii : He Mau Mele Hoole Waio... (by Mission Houses Museum Library)
Iosepa Kaho'Oluhi Nawahiokalani'Opu'U (by William H. Wilson)
Ai'Ai (by Kawike Napoleon)
Occasional Papers of Bernice P. Bishop M... (by Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum)
No Ma'Ikoha a Me Ka Wauke (by William H. Wilson)

Top books on Poetry

The Poems Of Robert Frost (by Frost, Robert.)
Poems by Currer, Ellis, And Acton Bell (... (by Bell, Acton)
Stray Birds (by Sir Rabindranath Tagore)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)
The Raven (by Poe, Edgar Allan)
Collected Poems of John Keats : Volume 5... (by Keats, John)
One Hundred Poems of Kabir, Tr. By Rabin... (by Kabir)
A Masque of Poets : Including Guy Vernon... (by Emily Dickinson)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience and... (by Blake, William)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (by Hughes, Langston)
A Profeta Kertje (by Gibran, Khalil)
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunb... (by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Verses 1889-1896 (by Kipling, Rudyard)
In Memoriam (by Tennyson, Alfred Lord)

Yiddish Book Center

Ash Fun Mizbeyekh (by Budasoff, Natalio)
Der Zeyger (by Sholem Aleichem)
Ru in Ruyinen Lider Un Baladn (by Zeltzer, Chaim)
Yudishe Geshikhe Nay Bearbey Nokh Profes... (by Graetz, Heinrich)
A Frosh-A Rayzndern (by Garshin, Vsevolod Mikhailovich)
A Mes les Oyfn Inzl Tseylon (by Metsh, Sergei)
Oysgerakher Emes Dertseylungen (by Tsepliovich, Grigori)
Sefer Divre Torah Ve-Hu Kitsur Shulan Ar... (by Ayim Yeshayah, Ha-Kohen)
70 Yor Arbeer Tsienizm in Amerike (by Alperin, Aaron)
Kapilen Geshikhe Fun Amolikn Yidishn Leb... (by Ringelblum, Emanuel)
Yidishe Ksovim Fun a Vayn Korev : Volume... (by Berdichevsky, Micah Joseph)
Di Yidishe Ogshul Un Di Yeshiveh Keaneah (by Blaustein, Moses)
Lieraur Visenshaf Lehrbukh Far Di Yidish... Volume Vol. 1 (by Rozensheyn, A. B.)
Shabe's-Yon-Efdike Yidn Dos Gezang Fun a... (by Bizberg, Pedro)
Geklibene Verk : Vol. 6 Volume Vol. 6 (by Bimko, Fishl)

Svensk Litteratur Samling

Brev Från Robert Bergman 1856 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1849 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Ett Brev Från Robert Bergman 1853 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Stockfångst M. Fl. Privilegier I Norr- O... (by Bergmankällor)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1859 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Meddelande (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
P. M. Öfver Hypotek För Obligationslån (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1858 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Till Emanuel Deutsch 1881
Brev Från Robert Bergman År 1854 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Virkesrapport (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Nordiska Museet (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Virkeslagring (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Värderingsuppgift (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Näringstillstånd (by Filipsborgsarkivet)

Ebooks Libres et Gratuits Collection

Les Miserables Tome V Jean Valjean (by Hugo, Victor)
La Qute Onirique de Kadath Linconnue (by Lovecraft, Howard Phillips)
Advis de la Deffaicte des Anglois et Avt...
Histoires Grises (by Tavernier, E. Édouard)
Famille Sans Nom (by Verne, Jules)
Assez ! Extrait du Journal D'Un Peintre ... (by Tourgueniev, Ivan Sergueievitch)
Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge (by Dumas, Alexandre)
La Plus Belle Histoire du Monde (by Kipling, Rudyard)
L'Enfant (by Valles, Jules)
Mister Flow (by Leroux, Gaston)
Un Mousse de Surcouf (by Mael, Pierre)
Les Trois Garrideb (by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir)
L'Eclat D'Obus (by Leblanc, Maurice)
A Se Tordre (by Allais, Alphonse)
La Burlesque Equipee du Cycliste (by Wells, Herbert George)