Debt to the past: language and communication

United States, 1962

Please note

Sorry, we don't have images or video for this item.

This film depicts varied means of communication such as spoken, unspoken and written language: pictographic, ideographic and phonetic. It discusses phonemes and the history of the alphabet. It shows the power language has for good and evil, and stresses the need for humans to use this great gift for worthy and constructive purposes.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

production company

Moody Institute of Science. Educational Film Division

Duration

00:16:00:00

Production places

United States

Production dates

1962

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

503072

Language

English

Subject categories

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Language and culture

Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Communication

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - United States

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Communication - Social aspects

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Sociolinguistics

Education, Instruction, Teaching & Schools → Communication skills

Education, Instruction, Teaching & Schools → English language - Alphabet

Education, Instruction, Teaching & Schools → Language and culture

Education, Instruction, Teaching & Schools → Oral communication

Education, Instruction, Teaching & Schools → Sociolinguistics

Education, Instruction, Teaching & Schools → Written communication

Educational & Instructional

Educational & Instructional → Educational films

Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Communication skills

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Communication skills

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Nonverbal communication

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Oral communication

Literature → Sociolinguistics

Literature → Written communication

Short films

Short films → Short films - United States

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/96113--debt-to-the-past-language-and-communication/ |title=Debt to the past: language and communication |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=3 May 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}