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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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

Anne of Green Gables Illustrated By Anon... (by Montgomery, L.M.)
Hamlet (by Shakespeare, William)
Siddhartha (by Hesse, Hermann)
Secret Garden, The (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
The Trial (by Kafka, Franz)
Language, an Introduction to the Study o... (by Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939)
From Ritual to Romance (by Weston, Jessie L.)
Tao Te Ching Volume Vol. 39 (by Legge, J.)
The Secret Garden (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
The Language and Thought of the Child
Pygmalion (by Shaw, George Bernard)
The Kabbalah Unveiled, Score Jud Tku (by MacGregor Mathers, S. L.)
Les Miserables (by Hugo, Victor)
Shakespeare's Sonnets (by Shakespeare, William)
Litauisches Lesebuch, Mit Grammatik und ... (by Leskien, August)

Top 100 books on Education

Meno, Score Plato Meno (by Plato)
Moby Dick; Or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
Anna Karenina -2 (by Tolstoy, Leo)
Walden (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)
Catullus (by Gaius Valerius Catullus)
A Modest Proposal (by Swift, Jonathan)
Science and Education (by Huxley, Thomas Henry)
Leviathan (by Hobbes, Thomas)
The confessions of S. Augustine (by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo)
The Jungle (by Sinclair, Upton)
Emma (by Austen, Jane)
Metamorphoses (by Ovidius Naso, Publius (Ovid))
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Dougl... (by Douglass, Frederick)
Laddie (by Stratton-Porter, Gene)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

Ozma of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
The Tiny Picture Book
Three Little Pigs
Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
The Little Gingerbread Man (by Herbert, Robert Gaston, Ill)
The Green Fairy Book (by Lang, Andrew, Ed)
Fabula De Domino Tode : the Tale of Mr T... (by Potter, Helen, Beatrix)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
A Apple Pie (by Greenaway, Kate)
Three Blind Mice (by Ivimey, John William)
Just so Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Mrs. Peter Rabbit (by Burgess, Thornton Waldo)
Story of Mankind, The (by van Loon, Hendrik)
Three Hundred Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
A Treatise on the Astrolabe (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Tess of the D'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman ... (by Hardy, Thomas)
Emma (by Austen, Jane)
The Scarlet Letter (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
Robinson Crusoe (by Defoe, Daniel)
Little Women (by Alcott, Louisa May)
Bhagavad Gita (by Arnold, Edwin, Sir)
The Mayor of Casterbridge (by Hardy, Thomas)
Sense and Sensibility (by Austen, Jane)
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famo... (by Defoe, Daniel)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Woman in White, The (by Collins, Wilkie)
The Odyssey (by Homer)
Villette (by Brontë, Charlotte)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (by Wilde, Oscar)
The Divine Comedy (by Alighieri, Dante)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

King Solomon's Mines (by Haggard, Henry Rider)
The Happy Prince and Other Tales and a H... (by Wilde, Oscar)
The Tale of Ferdinand Frog (by Bailey, Arthur Scott)
What Katy Did (by Coolidge, Susan)
King of the Golden River, The (by Ruskin, John)
Treasure Island (by Nor, Lisa)
The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes : ... (by Jones, Giles)
The Arabian Nights (by Burton, Richard)
Swiss Family Robinson, The (by Wyss, Johann David)
The Story of Doctor Dolittle (by Lofting, Hugh)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith)
The Story of the Treasure Seekers (by Nesbit, Edith)
The Tales of Peter Parley about America ... (by Goodrich, Samuel Griswold)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Peter and Wendy (by Barrie, J. M.)

Top books on Shakespeare

The History of Troilus and Cressida (by Shakespeare, William)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tempest; A Comedy by William Shakesp... (by Shakespeare, William)
Troilus and Cressida (by Shakespeare)
Measure for Measure (by Shakespeare)
Cymbeline (by Shakespeare, William)
Othello (by Shakespeare, William)
Shakespeare's King Richard Iii; (by Shakespeare, William)
Much Ado About Nothing (by Shakespeare)
Measure For Measure (by Shakespeare, William)
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shake... (by Shakespeare, William)
King Richard Ii (by Shakespeare, William)
Coriolanus (by Shakespeare, William)
King John (by Shakespeare, William)
Macbeth (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

The Carrot Seed : Preformed by Wally Amo... (by Ruth Krauss)
The Lion and the Mouse : Preformed by Wa... (by Eric Carle)
RRRALPH : Preformed by Wally Amos
Jump, Frog, Jump : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Kalan)
Otto : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Steven Kroll)
Green Eggs and Ham : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Cows Can't Fly : Preformed by Wally Amos (by David Milgrim)
Koala Lou : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Mem Fox)
Squashed in the Middle : Preformed by Wa... (by Elizabeth Winthrop)
I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)
Hunches in Bunches : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
The Cow Who Clucked : Preformed by Wally... (by Denise Fleming)
The Beckonong Cat, Based on a Japenese F... (by Koko Nishizuka)
Stephanie's Ponytail : Preformed by Wall... (by Robert Munsch)
Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors : Pre... (by Norman Bridwell)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Yankees in Paradise the New England Impa... (by Bradford Smith)
He Mau Mele Kula Sabati (Sunday School S... (by Reverend Laiana)
Kahea Loko (by The Pacific American Foundation)
Punia (by Lokahi Antonio)
Na Koko O Keia Keiki Hawai'I (by William H. Wilson)
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii : the Sac... (by Emerson, Nathaniel Bright, 1839-1915)
Moloka'I: Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of th...
Hawaiian Language References-'Olelo Maku... (by Kamehameha Schools)
Life in Early Hawaii the Ahupuaa (by Kamehameha Schools Press)
He Lumi Hou Ko Ka Hale (by William H. Wilson)
The Memoirs of Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bisho... (by Krout, Mary Hannah)
Hawaiian Language Imprints (by Bernice Judd)
The 'Ulu Tree (No Ke Kumu 'Ulu) (by Eve Furchgott)
The Water of Kane (by Caroline Curtis)