SISUMuseum of Language: 'World of language' opens for public to ponder
Thelimits of my language define the limits of my world.
Insaying this, the late Austrian philosopher Lugwig Wittgenstein wellsummed up the importance and complexity of the human language. Yet,few people realized it while they talk, text, listen and read.
Butone is sure to appreciate the language he uses after a visit to theMuseum of Language, opened by Shanghai International StudiesUniversity in its Songjiang campus on Saturday.
The1,000-square-meter museum opened to public, guiding them throughevery aspect of the world of language with multimedia exhibits andinteractive designs.
"Themuseum lets language—the performing stage of human minds—speakfor itself, reminding us of its existence and providing us anotherway to examine it." said Zhu Lei, associate professor of theInstitute of Linguistics and the museum's academic consultant.
Dividedinto eight chapters, the museum covers topics from the mystic birthof language to the evolution of language in the digital world, fromthe world's major writing systems to translation and interculturalcommunication, from the human constructed international languageEsperanto to the undeciphered Rongorongo glyphs on Easter Island.
Themuseum also gives an interesting quiz to test one's linguisticknowledge of phonetics, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, andprojects a big map on a wall to show the different language families'distribution around the globe.