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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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

Les Miserables (by Hugo, Victor)
The Iliad (by Homer)
Northanger Abbey (by Austen, Jane)
Just so Stories (by Rudyard Kipling)
Beowulf (by Gummere, Francis B.)
Anne of Green Gables Illustrated By Anon... (by Montgomery, L.M.)
A Woman of Thirty (by Seiffert, Marjorie Allen)
Ancient Alphabets and Hieroglyphic Chara... (by Amad Ibn Ali Ibn Washiyah, Ahmed Ibn Ali Ibn Al Mu...)
Dubliners (by Joyce, James)
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume ... (by Tranquillus, C. Suetonius)
Tender Buttons (by Stein, Gertrude)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Co... (by Twain, Mark)
Siddhartha (by Hesse, Hermann)
Frankenstein Or, the Modern Prometheus (by Shelley, M. W.)
Poetics (by Aristotle)

Top 100 books on Education

Call of the Wild, The (by London, Jack)
The Federalist Papers (by Hamilton, Alexander)
Moby Dick; Or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
The History of Herodotus : Volume 1 (by Herodotus)
Laddie
The Way to Wealth; Or, Poor Richard Impr... (by Franklin, Benjamin)
Some Thoughts Concerning Education (by Locke, John)
Pragmatism (by William James)
Critique of Practical Reason, The (by Kant, Immanuel)
The Jungle (by Sinclair, Upton)
Emma (by Austen, Jane)
Pragmatism (by James, William)
The Elements of Style (by Strunk, William)
The Republic, Score Plato Rep (by Plato)
The Oresteia of Aeschylus (by Æschylus)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

Raggedy Andy Stories: Introducing the Li... (by Johnny Gruelle)
A Book of Discoveries. Illustrated by Go... (by Masefield, John)
The Story of Chicken Little: Rhymed and ... (by Kenneth Graham Duffield)
The Story of Chicken Little: Rhymed and ... (by Kenneth Graham Duffield)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm)
A Treatise on the Astrolabe (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
The Little People of the Snow (by William Cullen Bryant)
The Pied Piper of Hamelin .. (by Greenaway, Kate, 1846-1901, Ill)
The Tale of Buster Bumblebee (by Arthur Scott Bailey, Harry L. Smith)
The Three Bears
Little Tot's Picture Book (by Sheila Thibodeau Lambrinos Collection - York Unive...)
The House That Jack Built (by Caldecott, Randolph)
Three Blind Mice (by Ivimey, John William)
Bambi Vald Mayele (by Salten, Felix)
Green Fairy Book, The (by Lang, Andrew)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

War and Peace (by Tolstoy, Leo)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (by Irving, Washington, 1783-1859)
Villette (by Brontë, Charlotte)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm)
Red Badge of Courage, The (by Crane, Stephen)
Pride and Prejudice (by Austen, Jane)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (th... (by C. S. Lewis)
Walden (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Northanger Abbey (by Austen, Jane)
Faust (by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir)
Ivanhoe NL (by Scott, Walter, Sir)
Allan Quatermain (by Haggard, H. Rider)
The Pickwick Papers (by Dickens, Charles)
Far from the Madding Crowd (by Thomas Hardy)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

Little Lord Fauntleroy (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
At the Back of the North Wind (by MacDonald, George)
Robinson Crusoe (by Defoe, Daniel)
Lorna Doone, a Romance of Exmoor (by Blackmore, Richard Doddridge)
The Blue Fairy Book (by Lang, Andrew)
Coral Island, The (by Ballantyne, R.M.)
Ragged Dick (by Alger, Horatio, Jr.)
The Wind in the Willows (by Grahame, Kenneth)
Water-Babies, The (by Kingsley, Charles)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (by Twain, Mark)
At the Back of the North Wind (by Macdonald, George)
A Journey to the Center of the Earth (by Verne, Jules)
Blue Beard
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (by Mark Twain)
Little Women (by Alcott, Louisa May)

Top books on Shakespeare

As You Like It (by Shakespeare, William)
Twelfth Night or What You Will (by Shakespeare, William)
Coriolanus (by Shakespeare, William)
Shakespeare's Sonnets (version 2) (by Shakespeare, William)
Timon of Athens (by Shakespeare, William)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
Coriolanus (by Shakespeare, William)
Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare)
Othello (by Shakespeare, William)
Troilus and Cressida (by Shakespeare)
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shake... (by Shakespeare, William)
Merchant of Venice, The (by Shakespeare, William)
Antony and Cleopatra (by Shakespeare, William)
Tragedy of Macbeth, The (by Shakespeare, William)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

The Crayon Box that Talked : Preformed b... (by Shane DeRolf)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
All the Places to Love : Preformed by Wa... (by Patricia MacLachlan)
The Beckonong Cat, Based on a Japenese F... (by Koko Nishizuka)
The Carrot Seed : Preformed by Wally Amo... (by Ruth Krauss)
More Pies : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Robert Munsch)
The Very Greedy Bee : Preformed by Wally... (by Steve Smallman)
Where the Wild Things Are : Preformed by... (by Maurice Sendak)
Hunches in Bunches : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Curious George and the Pizza : Preformed... (by Margret and H.A. Rey)
The Cat in the Hat : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Calabash Cat : Preformed by Wally Amos (by James Rumford)
Zomo the Rabbit : A Trickster Tale from ... (by Gerald McDermott)
Squashed in the Middle : Preformed by Wa... (by Elizabeth Winthrop)
Otto : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Steven Kroll)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Ao Kiko
Pauahi - the Kamehameha Legacy (by Kamehameha Schools Press)
Na Hana a Ka La’I (by Hokulani Cleeland)
He Lumi Hou Ko Ka Hale (by William H. Wilson)
Punia (by Lokahi Antonio)
Ma Uka, Ma Kai (by Eve Furchgott)
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii : the Sac... (by Emerson, Nathaniel Bright, 1839-1915)
Maui Hikina, Volume I (by Kepa Maly)
Pacific Island Bibliography (by Floyd M. Cammack)
O Na Mole E Ke Anahonua (About the Roots... (by A. M. Legendre)
Ulu Na Mea a Pau (by Kaulana Dameg)
Wai'Anae: Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
Yankees in Paradise the New England Impa... (by Bradford Smith)
Ehia I Loa'A (by University of Hawaii At Hilo)
He Mo'Olelo No 'Aukelenuia'Iku (by Abraham Fornander)

Top books on Poetry

The Prelude Or, Growth of a Poets Mind (by Wordsworth, William)
Collected Poems of John Keats : Volume 5... (by Keats, John)
The Raven (by Poe, Edgar Allan)
Rhymes of a Red Cross Man (by Robert W. Service)
One Hundred Poems of Kabir, Tr. By Rabin... (by Kabir)
When I Was King: Poems (by Henry Lawson)
The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shell... (by Percy Bysshe Shelley)
Verses 1889-1896 (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Poetical Works : Volume 1 (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunb... (by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Poems (by Owen, Wilfred)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (by Hughes, Langston)
The Poems Of Robert Frost (by Frost, Robert.)

Yiddish Book Center

Pundko Retivto (by Opatoshu, Joseph)
Kaprizen Lider (by Segalowitch, Zusman)
Tsunzer's Biografye Geshrieben Fun Ihm A... (by Zunser, Eliakum)
Mirl (by Perle, Iehoshua)
Zikhroynes Fun Oyn Hoyz Roman in Tsvey E... (by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor)
Unzer Sholem Aleykhem [Sholem Aleichem] (by Kats, Mosheh)
Alek’Sander der Ersher : Vol. 2 Volume Vol. 2 (by Merezhkovsky, Dmitry Sergeyevich)
Shrifen : Volume 2 (by Coralnik, Abraham)
Zekhtsik Yor Pi Kahn a Zamlung Fun Opsha... (by Levinson, Joseph Mordecai)
Oysgevehle Shrifen : Volume 2 (by Hourwich, Isaac Aaronovich)
Iber Shok Un Sheyn Lider Un Poemen (by Kirman, Joseph)
Di Fley Fun Mayne Beyner (by Shaffir, M. M)
Der Eyrem Drabeynu Gershom a Hisorishe E... (by Lehmann, Marcus)
Di Geshikhe Fun der Yidisher Arbeer-Bave... (by Buchbinder, Nahum A.)
Go's Hin a Dertseylung Vegn Dzshordano B... (by Zaiaitski, Serge)

Svensk Litteratur Samling

P. M. Om Järnvägens Dragning Genom Stock... (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Näringstillstånd (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Meddelande (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Brev Till Emanuel Deutsch 1881
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1857 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1858 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Virkesrapport (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Brev Till Emanuel Deutsch 1879 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Ett Brev Från Robert Bergman 1853 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Virkeslagring (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Timmerförteckning (by Filipsborgsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1849 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
P. M. Öfver Hypotek För Obligationslån (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1856 (by Grytnäsarkivet)
Brev Från Robert Bergman 1851 (by Grytnäsarkivet)

Ebooks Libres et Gratuits Collection

Lœle Aux Trente Cercueils (by Leblanc, Maurice)
Advis de la Deffaicte des Anglois et Avt...
De L'Origine des Especes (by Darwin, Charles)
Laventure de Shoscombe Old Place (by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir)
Les Miserables Tome I Fantine (by Hugo, Victor)
Through the Looking Glass (by Carroll, Lewis)
Leternel Mari (by Dostoievski, Fedor Mikhailovitch)
Reflexions Ou Sentences et Maximes Moral... (by De La Rochefoucauld, François Duc)
Terre des Hommes (by De Saint-Exupery, Antoine)
La Pierre de Mazarin (by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir)
Le Cavalier Fortune (by Féval, Paul)
Jim Harrison, Boxeur (by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir)
Lettre au Pere (by Kafka, Frank)
L'Enterrement Dse Rats et Autres Nouvell... (by Stoker, Bram)
Les Premiers Hommes Dans la Lune (by Wells, Herbert George)