How do you keep languages in a museum?

23 June 2005

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Yes, America, as of 1997 there is such a place, located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. It's not yet open to the public, but the National Museum of Language is gradually taking shape. What a unique institution! A museum dedicated entirely to the subject of language. Everyone visits museums -- to see (and sometimes touch) physical objects like airplanes, paintings, bleached bones and antique coins. But language? Language is mainly sounds, and words and books, and they're in libraries. What'll you do in a language museum? And why?

Most of us want to know more about language: how it developed, how languages differ, how the body works as a language machine. The Museum's purpose is to demonstrate what we know about language, how we know it, why it's important -- and give you a chance to explore it. Enjoyably.

So what will the museum look like? What's in it?

Well, there will be a library, one that pulls together the nation's most comprehensive collection of information on language. Some will be in the form of books and journals; much of it will be on-line -- accessible wherever you are on the planet. A unique feature of the library will be its collection of speech samples: samples from hundreds of languages and many dialects -- with the eventual goal of having a sample of every language in the world. It'll be an extraordinary resource for language research.

Of course the Museum will also have things on display, and displays will be multimedia and interactive.

You'll see and hear how the science of speech analysis evolved from the use of gas flames to voiceprint technology. You can take home an image of your own speech from a sound spectrogram. Or learn how speech synthesizers work -- from those annoying telephone voices to important devices that allow physically challenged people like Steven Hawking to speak. You'll be able to talk with a computer and see how well it does in understanding and creating speech.

And you'll get answers -- in plain talk -- to questions such as why human beings have the gift of speech but animals don't.

There'll be an interactive wall-sized map to show where each of the world’s languages are spoken. You'll see how languages develop and change. How they differ. How they spread over space and time. And how they die.

There'll be an interactive display that shows the linguistic heritage of America. It will look at language diversity in the U.S. -- including our aboriginal tongues -- with sound bytes and video clips that show the dialects of American English -- and where your own dialect fits in.

There'll be an animated model of the human speech apparatus, such as lungs, vocal cords, lips, teeth and tongue. It'll show how they work to create vowels, consonants, pitch and volume -- the infinite variety of sounds in thousands of languages and dialects.

And you'll see what we know about how language is acquired. How babies learn language. How second languages are learned.

Exhibits will explore the role of language in society, how it relates to law, commerce, technology, and the world's great religions -- rich subjects, reaching back to the beginning of civilization.

An important subject is the preservation of endangered languages. U.S. universities, linguistic organizations, communities -- and people and institutions in other countries, as well as the U.N. -- are collecting information on threatened languages. But there's need for a central place where the information is brought together. The Museum sees itself potentially as a national repository for preserving ethnic cultures through preservation of their languages.

There will be much, much more. This is only a peek at what the Museum eventually will become. As it grows, the National Museum welcomes your ideas for its future -- and your participation in its work. Why don't you become a member?

That's the linguistic thought for today, which comes from Dr. Amelia C. Murdoch, President of the National Museum of Language, co-sponsor of this series. And this is the Five-Minute Linguist at the College of Charleston. If you have a question or comment, or want to join the Museum, go to our website at www.cofc.edu/linguist. In the meantime, keep in mind that wherever you are, and whatever you do... language makes a difference.