An ABC - book (a primer) is the first book for teaching and learning to read. The very first ABC -books appeared in the Middle Ages in xylograph (wood-carving) before the art of book printing was invented. One of such ABC- books has been preserved in the Milan library and it has drawings made by Leonardo da Vinci. An ABC-book is a reflection of a people’s mentality. It is a miniature encyclopaedia in which the knowledge of the achievements in different spheres of life, geography, a nation’s history and culture is given. This first elementary school- book is a symbiosis of pedagogics and linguistics. It is a symbol of knowledge and school. The old joiner Gepetto sold his coat in order to buy a book for a wooden doll Pinocchio. Of course, that book was a primer! The mission of an ABC- book is to lead little tots into the world of letters, to teach them to read their mother tongue. With an ABC-book the ascent of the mountain of knowledge begins. The higher one goes, the wider the horizon opens. ABC-books are as different as nations and languages are: for children in kindergartens, for the first class pupils, for the grown-ups, for the blind, for the deaf... Diversity and uniqueness in the world of the ABC-books are really admirable, just like the wonders of the world of languages themselves: ...in Turkish there is only one irregular verb whereas in English there are 283. At the same time in Esperanto there is none; ...in Chippewa (North America) there are about 6,000 verbal forms; ...in Tabasaran (Dagestan) there are 48 noun cases; ...in Kabardian there are 28 persons; ...the alphabets of Hawaiian and Rotokas are the shortest ones with 12 and 11 letters respectively; ...in Ubikh there are 80-85 consonant phonemes and one vowel phoneme a; ...in Tangma (New Guinea) there are only two words for colours, namely, muli - black; green and mola - white; red; yellow; ...in Diirbalu (Australia) there are four genders - masculine, feminine, neuter and edible. There are no genders in English, Estonian; ...in French you count as follows: 93= (4x20)+13; ...in Danish: 93=3+4 1/2x20 or 93=3+(5 - 1/2) x20, but in Ainu: 23= (2x20)- (7+10). The surprising diversity of ABC- books depends upon the inner structure of a language, a teaching method (spelling, hearing/sound, analytical, synthetical, global....), polygraphic possibilities, a nation’s mentality. In a primer just like in a water drop the demands of the epoch and the level of a nation’s culture are reflected. It is a graphic example how a nation uses its head and how the nation thinks about its children’s future. There are about 2,000 ABC-books in my collection. They are from some 150 countries and in some 280 languages and dialects. The collection has been exhibited 100 times in museums, libraries, schools and clubs of Latvia. But in 1987, in Moscow in the Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR, the collection was awarded a silver medal. Together with the philologist Lidija Leikuma, I have written primer (two parts) in the Latgalian language (1992). It has been displayed in the World’s VIP Centre in Shenzhen, China (Hall No. 1, Counter No. 902). In 1996 my Latvian primer (with two work books and methodological recommendations) was published. It was displayed in the International Book Fair in Frankfurt/Main (Germany) in October 1996. I have written an ABC-book and a reader in the local dialect of Purlova of the Latgalian language. I have been corresponding and exchanging primers with other collectors of those most interesting books in Latvia, Slovenia, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Saha (Yakutia), Kazakhstan and the Ukraine. Anyone who can help me to enrich my collection is welcome. JURIS CIBULS a/k 147 Riga, LV-1050 LATVIJA – LETTONIE e-posts: arej@np.vita.gov.lv juriscibuls@hotmail.com
Валентин - 11/25/99 14:34:52
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