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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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

Seven Types of Ambiguity (by Empson, William)
Language, an Introduction to the Study o... (by Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939)
Tao Te Ching Volume Vol. 39 (by Legge, J.)
Frankenstein : Or, The Modern Prometheus (by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft)
The Iliad (by Homer)
Siddhartha (by Hesse, Hermann)
The Canterbury Tales (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of th... (by Findlater, Andrew)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
The Greek New Testament (by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux)
Ancient Alphabets and Hieroglyphic Chara... (by Amad Ibn Ali Ibn Washiyah, Ahmed Ibn Ali Ibn Al Mu...)
The King's English (by Fowler, Henry Watson)
The American Esperanto Book : A Compendi... (by Baker, Arthur)
Just so Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
The Canterbury Tales (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

Top 100 books on Education

Herodotus' Histories Vol 1 (by Herodotus of Halicarnassus)
The Child and the Curriculum (by Dewey, John)
Confucian Analects Confucius, Score Cfu ... (by Legge, James)
The Sixteen Satires of Juvenal (by Juvénal)
Moby-Dick or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (by Unknown)
Confucian Analects (by Confucius)
Some Thoughts Concerning Education (by Locke, John)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Dougl... (by Douglass, Frederick)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
The Adventures of Pinocchio (by Collodi, C.)
Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)
The Oresteia of Aeschylus (by Æschylus)
Call of the Wild, The (by London, Jack)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

The Tales of Mother Goose (by Oshea, Michael Vincent)
The Little Gingerbread Man (by Herbert, Robert Gaston, Ill)
Original Poems, for Infant Minds (by Ann Taylor, Jane Taylor, O'Keeffe (Adelaide))
Johnny Crow's Party; Another Picture Boo... (by Brooke, Leonard Leslie)
The Story of Ferdinand (by Leaf, Munro)
THE STORY OF HIAWATHA
The Green Fairy Book (by Andrew Lang, Henry Justice Ford)
Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
Bambi (by Salten, Felix)
Raggedy Andy Stories (by Gruelle, Johnny)
Little Almond Blossoms : A Book of Chine... (by Knox, Jessie Juliet)
Old Roly Bear (by Lowe, Samual E.)
A Book for Boys and Girls; Or, Country R... (by Bunyan, John)
The First Days of Man, As Narrated Quite... (by Frederic Arnold Kummer)
Pollyanna (by Porter, Eleanor Hodgman)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Treasure Island (by Nor, Lisa)
Silas Marner, version 2 (by Eliot, George)
War and Peace (by Tolstoy, Leo)
Northanger Abbey (by Austen, Jane)
Little Women (by Alcott, Louisa May)
Madame Bovary (by Flaubert, Gustave)
Utopia (by More, Thomas, Sir, Saint, 1478-1535)
Tale of Two Cities, A (by Dickens, Charles)
Moby Dick; Or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
Far from the Madding Crowd (by Hardy, Thomas)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (th... (by C. S. Lewis)
Sons and Lovers (by Lawrence, D. H.)
Last Of The Mohicans (A Narrative of 175... (by Cooper, James Fenimore)
Anna Karenina -2 (by Tolstoy, Leo)
The Divine Comedy (by Alighieri, Dante)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

White Fang (by London, Jack)
The Coral Island (by Ballantyne, Robert Michael)
Adventures of Pinocchio, The (by Collodi, Carlo)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
Slovenly Peter (by Hoffmann, Heinrich)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (by Twain, Mark)
The Story of Doctor Dolittle (by Lofting, Hugh)
Pollyanna (by Porter, Eleanor H.)
Ferdinand Frog (by Bailey, Arthur Scott)
Just So Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Five Children and It (by Nesbit, E. (Edith))
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (abridg... (by Carroll, Lewis)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom ... (by Twain, Mark)
The Second Jungle Book (by Rudyard Kipling)
A Token for Children : Being an Exact Ac... (by Janeway, James)

Top books on Shakespeare

The Tempest (by Shakespeare, William)
Richard III (by Shakespeare, William)
Measure for Measure (by Shakespeare)
Tragedy of Macbeth, The (by Shakespeare, William)
Love's Labours Lost (by Shakespeare, William)
Othello (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedy of King Lear (by Shakespeare, William)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (by Shakespeare, William)
As You Like It the Pennsylvania State Un... (by Shakespeare, William)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
The Sonnets of William Shakespeare (by Shakespeare, William)
Taming of the Shrew, The (by Shakespeare, William)
Much Ado About Nothing (by Shakespeare)
All's Well, That Ends Well (by Shakespeare, William)
King Henry Iv. A Tragedy. In Five Acts (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

The Greatest : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Kenny Rogers)
The Crayon Box that Talked : Preformed b... (by Shane DeRolf)
Where the Wild Things Are : Preformed by... (by Maurice Sendak)
Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors : Pre... (by Norman Bridwell)
The Paper Bag Princess : Preformed by Wa... (by Robert Munsch)
The Cat in the Hat : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
The Carrot Seed : Preformed by Wally Amo... (by Ruth Krauss)
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Cows Can't Fly : Preformed by Wally Amos (by David Milgrim)
Otto : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Steven Kroll)
Loony Little: An Environmental Tale : Pr... (by Dianna Hutts Aston)
RRRALPH : Preformed by Wally Amos
Love You Forever : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Munsch)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Hawaiian Dictionary (by Mary Kawena Pukui)
Kamehameha the Great (by Julie Stewart Williams)
He Mau Mele Kula Sabati (Sunday School S... (by Reverend Laiana)
Kamehameha Iii : Kauikeaouli (by Jean Iwata Cachola)
The Memoirs of Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bisho... (by Krout, Mary Hannah)
Kane'Ohe : Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
The Hawaiian Language and Complete Gramm... (by Henry P. Judd)
Introduction to Hawaiian Grammar (by Alexander, W. D. (William De Witt))
Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (by Julie Stewart Williams)
No Ma'Ikoha a Me Ka Wauke (by William H. Wilson)
He Ka'Ao No Hauwahine Laua O Meheanu (by Samuel M. Kamakau)
Hawai’I Island Legends : Pikoi, Pele and... (by Mary Kawena Pukui)
Annual Report of the Governor of Hawaii ... Volume Year 1959 (by Hawaii. Governor)
He Kuhikuhi O Ke Kanaka Hawaii (A Guide ... (by J. W. H. Kauwahi)
Kaua Kuloko 1895 (by Robert W. Wilikoki)

Top books on Poetry

The Prelude Or, Growth of a Poets Mind (by Wordsworth, William)
The Raven (by Poe, Edgar Allan)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (by Hughes, Langston)
Stray Birds (by Sir Rabindranath Tagore)
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunb... (by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
A Profeta Kertje (by Gibran, Khalil)
In Memoriam (by Tennyson, Alfred Lord)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
Collected Poems of John Keats : Volume 5... (by Keats, John)
Poetical Works : Volume 1 (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience and... (by Blake, William)
The Collected Poems (by Yeats, William Butler)
Rhymes of a Red Cross Man (by Robert W. Service)
Poems (by Owen, Wilfred)
Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)

Yiddish Book Center

Mayselekh (by Geltman, Litman)
Der Veg Tsum Mentsh Di Yesoydes Fun Ment... (by Sheneurson, Fishl)
Tsu Dir (by Sira, Abraham)
Bontsye Shvayg Di Vilde Briye (by Peretz, Isaac Leib)
Di Letse Eg Fun Yerusholayim (by Josephus, Flavius)
Tsigl (by Shifris, M.)
Moyshelekh, Yoselekh, Yiroeliklekh (by Korczak, Janusz)
Irlikht (by Stodolsky, Jacob)
Lodzsher Visnshaftlekhe Shriftn
Zelik der Radis Un Andere Dertseylungen (by Kipnis, Itzik)
Mensh Un Toyre : Volume 2 (by Snitzer, Jacob Lazarus)
Almanakh 1947 (by Workmens Circle (U. S.). Arbeiter Ring Shul and Ki...)
Yidn in Soven-Farband (by Rabinovich, Solomon)
Fun Di Kvaln Funm ‘Sidishn Folklor Me-Ma... (by Raphael, Yiak)
Tsum Lebn Dertseylungen (by Kipnis, Itzik)

Svensk Litteratur Samling

P. M. Om Järnvägens Dragning Genom Stock... (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Odaterade Brev Från Robert Bergman (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Ett Brev Från Robert Bergman 1853 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman År 1854 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Sågnota (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Näringstillstånd (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Brev Till Emanuel Deutsch 1879 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1851 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Värderingsuppgift (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Nordiska Museet (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1856 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Timmerförteckning (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1859 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Meddelande (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Virkesrapport (by Filipsborgsarkivet)

Ebooks Libres et Gratuits Collection

La Dame Aux Camelias (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Le Joueur Dechecs (by Zweig, Stefan)
La Reine Margot Tome Ii (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Les Gens de Bureau (by Gaboriau, Emile)
Histoires Naturelles (by Renard, Jules)
Carmilla (by Fanu, Sheridan Le)
Les Compagnons de Jehu (by Dumas, Alexandre)
A Se Tordre (by Allais, Alphonse)
La Qute Onirique de Kadath Linconnue (by Lovecraft, Howard Phillips)
Assez ! Extrait du Journal D'Un Peintre ... (by Tourgueniev, Ivan Sergueievitch)
Lœle Aux Trente Cercueils (by Leblanc, Maurice)
Voyage Autour du Monde (by De Bougainville, Louis Antoine)
Linsurge (by Valles, Jules)
La Fin de Cheri (by Colette)
De L'Autre Cote du Miroir (by Carroll, Lewis)