Opening of National Museum of Language, Saturday 3 May

[Don Osborn]

FYI, I also posted something short about this at
http://donosborn.org/blog/2008/04/30/national-museum-of-language/ . It is
small but worthy of support. It also seems that "language museum" (however
termed) is an emerging category of institution/learning-center that can
provide physical places for popular education and appreciation of language
(along the lines discussed by David Crystal as "locations to visit"), and
also serve as foci for applied activities and outreach.

Earlier in this International Year of Languages I was (admittedly a bit
presumptuously) proposing the idea of a sort of high level meeting of
existing language museum projects as a way of sharing ideas and approaches,
perhaps clarifying some general themes or standards, and establishing a
network for mutual aid. Unfortunately I ran into some roadblocks and simply
haven't had the time to devote to this. Eventually it will happen I'm sure,
without need for an outside would-be catalyst, but sooner would be better.

Wrt the topic of this list - maybe there will be some role for language
museums in public education about language policies and planning.

Don Osborn



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu [mailto:owner-lgpolicy-
> list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of Harold Schiffman
> Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 8:19 PM
> To: lp
> Subject: US: Opening of National Museum of Language, Saturday 3 May
> 
> Forwarded From: edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu
> 
> 
> Via ILR-INFO...
> 
> 
> 
> The National Museum of Language (NML), a small museum that explores
> the transformative powers of language, will be opened to the public
> this May after more than ten years in the making. A trail-blazer in
> the field-there are no more than three museums in the world with a
> similar focus--the Museum will examine the history, impact and art of
> language.
> 
> 
> 
> The opening exhibit "Writing Language: Passing It On" will display how
> written language has developed over time. Attention is given to the
> development of alphabetic and pictographic writing systems. The
> alphabetic exhibit traces the beginnings of the Roman Alphabet from
> Sumerian clay tablets, its evolution into the alphabet used most
> widely worldwide today, and its relation to Arabic and Hebrew
> alphabets. The pictographic exhibit features the Chinese and Japanese
> scripts.
> 
> 
> 
> The Museum will open Saturday, May 3, 2008, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. After
> the opening, visitors are then welcome on Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9:00
> AM - 4:00 PM; first and third Sundays: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM.
> 
> 
> 
> The opening
> 
> 
> 
> When: Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 1:00 PM.
> 
> Where: The National Museum of Language
> 
> 7100 Baltimore Ave. -- Suite 202
> 
> College Park, MD 20740
> 
> 
> 
> For more information contact: Dr. Amelia C. Murdoch,
> acmurdoch at languagemuseum.org
> 
> www.languagemuseum.org <http://www.languagemuseum.org/>
> 
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