Monday, July 22, 2024

I'm Not the First to Ask


Assorted retorts from yahoo boards and elsewhere: Tolk Lang QQ · Tolkienophobia · As Tolk Lang QQ Keep Dropping In · Φιλολoγικά/Philologica: I'm Not the First to Ask · New blog on the kid: Since I'm Being Pestered by Tolkienophobes ...

AI actually had an answer. This means that others have answered before I asked, and before I intend to give my own answer.

Why are so many asking whether Tolkien really created his languages?
https://poe.com/chat/3gv3kdllz7j4j7xsc4o


There are a few key reasons why people often question whether J.R.R. Tolkien truly created the languages featured in his writings:

  1. Linguistic complexity: The languages Tolkien invented, such as Elvish languages like Quenya and Sindarin, are remarkably complex and sophisticated, with detailed grammatical structures, vocabularies, and writing systems. This level of linguistic complexity is impressive and leads some to doubt that a single person could have created them.
  2. Resemblance to real-world languages: While Tolkien's languages are unique, they do share some similarities with natural human languages, both in terms of grammar and sound. This has led some to speculate that Tolkien may have drawn inspiration from or adapted existing languages, rather than constructing them entirely from scratch.
  3. Tolkien's background: Tolkien was a philologist and professor of linguistics, and his deep knowledge and passion for languages likely contributed to the richness of his invented tongues. However, some question whether even his expertise could account for the full depth and breadth of the languages he created.
  4. Lack of complete documentation: Tolkien never fully documented or published the entirety of his linguistic work, leaving some gaps and uncertainties that fuel speculation about their origins.


However, the overwhelming scholarly consensus is that Tolkien did indeed create these languages himself, drawing upon his extensive linguistic knowledge and creative talents. While he may have been influenced by or incorporated elements of real-world languages, the depth and coherence of his invented tongues are a testament to his linguistic genius and imagination.


So, what do I make of it.

1. and 3. cancel out. If Tolkien was a philologist, he was amply equipped to imitate what in real languages is a teamwork over 20—40 generations since the language was a different one. As well as features we have not spotted the origin of. A very simple case: Tolkien knew Latin, so he knew a language could have different cases. When he knew that, would he really need a team to work out the cases for Quenya? He knew French had lost cases since Latin and Welsh had lost cases since Old Brythonic, what's so mysterious about a man using that knowledge to assume Sindarin had lost cases?

"Yeah, but keeping it in the head, all of this at the same time!"

Yes, he was interested in languages. I'm not presuming you could do it. You shouldn't presume I could keep all the soccer rules in the head while watching a game of soccer (that's why I rarely do so, I think I did so exactly twice in my life, twice as often as going to horse races). I'm more impressed by the fact that Tolkien could probably have understood a rugby match and a soccer match perfectly, which probably contributes more than a little to his battle scenes!

But as watching soccer is a more common hobby than learning languages to read old literature, I am too well aware that I would make myself ridiculous with conspiracy theories of Tolkien basing all battle scenes on real soccer games or underground live role playing battles.

Obviously, the AI was not exactly able to discern whether reasons given on the internet were very intelligent.

2. is admitted, but any natural language also is a mixture of traits and vocabulary shared with different other ones.

4. is irrelevant. Suppose Tolkien had been member of a secret society, which had spoken Quenya for generations, that would explain why we have gaps in the information, but it would not explain why Tolkien was able to tinker so much with Quenya. If it had been the case, Quenya would already have been fixed, and Tolkien couldn't have tinkered with it. Here is an example from Fauskanger, between 1930's Qenya and Lord of the Rings style Quenya:

On one point only does the Qenya Lexicon provide extensive information about a grammatical feature: the formation of the past tense of verbs. In well over 300 cases the past tense is listed alongside the more basic form of the verb. We find all the types we are familiar with from later Quenya, such as past tenses formed with the ending -ne (e.g. sesta- "compare", pa.t. sestane), with nasal infixion (e.g. kap- "jump", pa.t. kampe) or by lengthening the stem-vowel and adding -e (e.g. mel- "to love", pa.t. méle; see pp. 82, 45, 60). But there is also a great number of highly exotic formations, such as the ending -ya turning into past tense -sine or -tine (e.g. mauya- "to cry", pa.t. mausine; panya- "arrange", pa.t. pantine, pp. 60, 72), or even past tenses involving internal-vowel shifts (like milk- "have, keep, possess", pa.t. malke, or tump- "build", pa.t. tampe - pp. 62, 93). The "Qenya" past tenses should be subjected to a thorough study. True, some of the information provided clearly applies to "Qenya" only, presupposing its own peculiar phonological history; for instance, vowel-shifts in the past tense occur where we have stems involving syllabic consonants - the forms milk- > malke and tump- > tampe come from stems MLKL and TMPM. Such stems are no longer possible in Tolkien's later vision of Primitive Elvish, so in later Quenya, shifts like milk- > pa.t. malke would not be possible either (there is nothing to parallel this in the Etymologies). Yet in some cases the Qenya Lexicon may provide clues to mysteries in Tolkien's later Elvish. For instance, Gilraen's Sindarin linnod in LotR Appendix A has onen for "I gave".

The Qenya Lexicon Reviewed
https://ardalambion.net/qlreview.htm


The "scholarly consensus" in this case means those who have studied Tolkien Linguistics. As amateurs or at university. It may refer to three people, Helge Fauskanger, probably best standardiser of Neo-Quenya, David Salo, dito for Sindarin, and Carl F. Hostetter, director of the Yahoo group Elflang list.

The coherence of Tolkien's languages is also a testament to two other factors.

  • Having no predecessor, he did not have to dodge excellent solutions for fear of copyright strikes.
  • Not being homeless, he did not get his notebooks stolen or lost.


Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St. Mary Magdalene
22.VII.2024

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