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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

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

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.)
Canterbury Tales, The (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Awful German Language, The (by Twain, Mark)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (version 2) (by Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm)
Dubliners (by Joyce, James)
1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (by Grose, Captain)
The Greek New Testament (by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux)
L'Innocente
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (by Wittgenstein, Ludwig)
The American Esperanto Book : A Compendi... (by Baker, Arthur)
Graded Selections for Memorizing : Adapt... (by John Bradley Peaslee)
Beowulf (by Unknown)
Don Quixote (by De Cervantes, Miquel)
A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic (by Cleas, Richard)
The Brothers Karamazov (by Dostoevsky, Fyodor)

Top 100 books on Education

Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)
Democracy and Education (by Dewey, John)
The Sound and the Fury and as I Lay Dyin... (by William Faulkner)
History of the Expedition under the Comm... (by Coues, Elliott)
Walden (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Science and Education (by Huxley, Thomas Henry)
Confucian Analects Confucius, Score Cfu ... (by Legge, James)
Ancient Tales from Many Lands : A Collec... (by Fleming, Rachel Mary)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Leviathan (by Hobbes, Thomas)
Tarzan of the Apes (by Burroughs, Edgar Rice)
Rights of Man, Score Aor Rom Volume Vol. II (by Paine, Thomas)
Walden (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Moby Dick; Or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
The Heroides (by Naso, Publius Ovidius (Ovid))

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

Adventures of Sonny Bear (by Fox, Frances Margaret)
The Dutch Twins (by Perkins, Lucy Fitch)
King of the Golden River, The (by Ruskin, John)
The Green Fairy Book (by Andrew Lang, Henry Justice Ford)
The Adventures of Maya, The Bee (by Bonsels, Waldemar)
The Tales of Mother Goose (by Perrault, Charles)
The Baby's Own Aesop : Being the Fables ... (by Crane, Walter)
Just So Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Carroll, Lewis)
Stories for Children : A Book for All Li... (by Mrs. Colman)
The Orbis Pictus of John Amos Comenius (by Comenius, Johann Amos)
Little Red Balloon (by Hofman, Caroline)
Aesop's Fables (by Aesop)
Picture Book Garden
The Tale of Buster Bumblebee (by Arthur Scott Bailey, Harry L. Smith)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Sense and Sensibility (by Austen, Jane)
Four Million, The (by Henry, O.)
The Prisoner of Zenda : Being the Histor... (by Hope, Anthony, 1863-1933)
The Grapes of Wrath (by Steinbeck, John)
Sons and Lovers (by Lawrence, D. H.)
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The (by Baum, L. Frank)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Cour... (by Twain, Mark)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson, 1849-1924)
Paradise Lost (by Milton, John)
House of the Seven Gables, The (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
Gulliver's Travels (by Swift, Jonathan)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
The Deerslayer, Or, The First War-Path :... (by Cooper, James Fenimore)
Heart of Darkness (by Conrad, Joseph)
Faust (by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

The Tale of Ferdinand Frog (by Bailey, Arthur Scott)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (version 2) (by Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm)
A Midsummer-Night's Dream (by William Shakespeare)
The Tempest (by Shakespeare, William)
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (by Verne, Jules)
The Tales of Peter Parley about America ... (by Goodrich, Samuel Griswold)
Tempest, The (by Shakespeare, William)
The Happy Prince and Other Tales and a H... (by Wilde, Oscar)
King Arthur and His Knights (by Radford, Maude L.)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Black Beauty (by Sewell, Anna)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (by William Shakespeare)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith)
The Swiss Family Robinson (by Johann David Wyss)
The Lost World (by Arthur Conan Doyle)

Top books on Shakespeare

The Sonnets of William Shakespeare (by Shakespeare, William)
King Lear (version 2) (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare, William)
Coriolanus (by Shakespeare, William)
Richard III (by Shakespeare, William)
The Merchant of Venice (by William Shakespeare)
Much Ado about Nothing (by Shakespeare, William)
Twelfth Night (version 2) (by Shakespeare, William)
Macbeth (by Shakespeare, William)
Comedy of Errors (by Shakespeare)
King Henry Iv. A Tragedy. In Five Acts (by Shakespeare, William)
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shake... (by Shakespeare, William)
The Book of Love (by Wagstaff, Blanche Shoemaker)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (by William Shakespeare)
Richard II (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ... (by Dr. Seuss)
The Very Greedy Bee : Preformed by Wally... (by Steve Smallman)
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type : Pref... (by Doreen Cronin)
The Carrot Seed : Preformed by Wally Amo... (by Ruth Krauss)
The Cat in the Hat : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Otto : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Steven Kroll)
The Wolf and the Lamb : Preformed by Wal... (by Eric Carle)
The Lion and the Mouse : Preformed by Wa... (by Eric Carle)
I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)
Green Eggs and Ham : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Hunches in Bunches : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Koala Lou : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Mem Fox)
Love You Forever : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Munsch)
Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors : Pre... (by Norman Bridwell)
Loony Little: An Environmental Tale : Pr... (by Dianna Hutts Aston)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Kamehameha III : Kauikeaouli (by Jean Iwata Cachola)
The Memoirs of Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bisho... (by Krout, Mary Hannah)
He Moolelo No Kekahi Mau Koa Kaulana (A ... (by M. Goldberg)
The Ks Impact : Increasing Access to Qua... (by State Department of Education)
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii : the Sac... (by Emerson, Nathaniel Bright, 1839-1915)
Kamaaina Recollections- Oral History Int... (by Kepa Maly)
The Hawaiian Language and Complete Gramm... (by Henry P. Judd)
Moloka'I: Where I Live (by Julie Stewart Williams)
Kahea Loko (by The Pacific American Foundation)
The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of th...
Ai'Ai (by Kawike Napoleon)
Hawaiian Language References-'Olelo Maku... (by Kamehameha Schools)
Na Keiki 'Elima (by William H. Wilson)
Kumu'Ulu (by Keoni Kelekolio)
Life in Hawaii : An Autobiographic Sketc... (by Coan, Titus)

Top books on Poetry

The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shell... (by Percy Bysshe Shelley)
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunb... (by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Rhymes of a Red Cross Man (by Robert W. Service)
One Hundred Poems of Kabir, Tr. By Rabin... (by Kabir)
The Collected Poems (by Yeats, William Butler)
Poems (by Owen, Wilfred)
Collected Poems of John Keats : Volume 5... (by Keats, John)
Stray Birds (by Sir Rabindranath Tagore)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (by Hughes, Langston)
Verses 1889-1896 (by Kipling, Rudyard)
When I Was King: Poems (by Henry Lawson)
Poetical Works : Volume 1 (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (by Rilke, Rainer, Maria)
A Profeta Kertje (by Gibran, Khalil)
Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)

Yiddish Book Center

Zingende Rayoynes (by Oved, Mosheh)
Kreln Fun Oy Dertseylungen Un Miniaurn (by Ambur, Volf)
Ale Verk Fun Sholem Aleykhem : Vol. 3 Volume Vol. 3 (by Sholem Aleichem)
71 Lider (by Biletzky, Israel Ch.)
Glikl Hamel, 1645-1724 (by Minkoff, N. B.)
In Kanade : Vol. 1 Volume Vol. 1 (by Shtern, Sholem)
Ver Iz Geven Sharls Runberg der Grinder ... (by Ronsh, Yitsak Elanan)
Yidishe Poen Hanbukh Fun Yidisher Dikhun... (by Entin, Joel)
Dos Dokor-Bukh Allerhand Krankheyen Un Z... (by Landes, Leonard)
Ale Verk Mi Bilder, Fak’Similn, Gekliben... Volume Vol. 7 (by Peretz, Isaac Leib)
Di Oysgebenke Sho Lider (by Seltzer, David)
Tsvishn Himl Un Vaser Roman (by Bergner, Herz)
Yidn in Yohanesburg Biz Yunyon - 31N May... (by Feldman, Leybl)
Tsayn Dertseylungen (by Corona, Meir)
Der Zek's Ogiker Vunder Krig (by Levin, Yehudah Leyb)