An adventure to the middle earth
The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smug will be on show this week! Don't forget to get your ticket!
Languages in the middle earth
J.R.R Tolkien, in his novel Hobbits and The Lord of the Ring, pictured an imagined universe with several different races: Ainur, Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Hobbits. Most of Tolkien’s novels are based on that amazing world; in fact, Tolkien also drew several maps and wrote several letters of the middle earth. It can be said that Tolkien devoted his life in vividly describing the fictional world.
Of course, the popularity of the novels around the world is unparalleled. Even now, The Lord of the Ring remains the seat of the second best-selling novels ever been written, just below Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, and The Hobbit the sixth. Fans of the movie watched it again and again, which includes me. I watched the movie The Lord of the Ring series again last week, enjoyed the amazing the story and be prepared for the new movie Hobbit 2, which will be on show next week. One reason that those novels are so popular is that the middle earth was so well-constructed, with complete logic and relationship between races and kingdoms.
Although it is a purely fictional world, the middle earth attracted a large number of researchers, of course lots of them are also it’s fan. One of the most amazing thing in the middle earth is the languages Tolkien created, spoken by different races in the middle earth.
In fact, Tolkien once stated that he wished to have all books written in “Elvish”, a popular language in the middle earth. Elvish (or Eldarin) languages include the languages of Elves, derived from the same ancestor. It is further divided into Quenya and Telerin, which also includes Sindarin. Another group in Mannish language, originally spoken by human, including the Soval Pharë, which is commonly spoken by man and hobbits in the third age. The languages spoken by dwarves, however, remains a mystery, because it is a secret language between dwarves- nobody else is allowed to learn them. Besides that, some other creatures have their own language.
In the hobbits, when the dwarves and Gandalf entered the land of Elves, a series of dialogue happened. When the dwarves initially talked with the elves, they used the language of human. Why elves and dwarves used the language of human? Firstly, the language of dwarves is a secret between dwarves, and elves cannot use it when communication. The elvish, however , is more like a complex language in the upper world. Though some dwarves know it, they don’t tend to use, because it is a language of a race they don’t like very much.
When Gandalf meets the elvish prince and queen, the situation changes. They started to use mannish language first, but then as topic continues, they started to use Elvish language. And when Gandalf met Saruman, the language changed again. When the high-leveled Ainur talks, they use a higher level of language.
In this fictional world, the language usage pattern was very similar to the real life. People from different places use a different dialect, and races from the same ancestor tend to have more similar language. Similar languages can form groups of languages, within which people can understand each other.
It is very interesting to analyze how Tolkien create the fictional world as well as the language. In fact, there is a list of book analyzing the language created by Tolkien. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_research) It is also noticeable that the language in the fictional world reflects some phenomenon in the reality.
One thing is the process of language evolution. In Tolkien’s fictions, the Elvish languages are all derived from the same ancestor, and while the elves separate and live in a different part of the world, several different Elvish appears. This is consistent with how Asian and Europe language evolve. (my narrative here http://blog.alanzyy.com/?page_id=19) Chinese, Japanese and Korean share the same ancestor, as well as most European languages are derived from Germanic.
When races with different language background communicate with each other, the multilingualism appears. In Tolkien’s stories, it is a consent that Dwarves’ language are secret and are only used by Dwarves. Elvish and Mannish are often used in inter-races communication. The habit of language use becomes a phenomenon and in a certain circumstance, it is always appropriate to use one kind of combination. Note how Gandalf says, “best wishes” to different races.
J.R.R Tolkien, in his novel Hobbits and The Lord of the Ring, pictured an imagined universe with several different races: Ainur, Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Hobbits. Most of Tolkien’s novels are based on that amazing world; in fact, Tolkien also drew several maps and wrote several letters of the middle earth. It can be said that Tolkien devoted his life in vividly describing the fictional world.
Of course, the popularity of the novels around the world is unparalleled. Even now, The Lord of the Ring remains the seat of the second best-selling novels ever been written, just below Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, and The Hobbit the sixth. Fans of the movie watched it again and again, which includes me. I watched the movie The Lord of the Ring series again last week, enjoyed the amazing the story and be prepared for the new movie Hobbit 2, which will be on show next week. One reason that those novels are so popular is that the middle earth was so well-constructed, with complete logic and relationship between races and kingdoms.
Although it is a purely fictional world, the middle earth attracted a large number of researchers, of course lots of them are also it’s fan. One of the most amazing thing in the middle earth is the languages Tolkien created, spoken by different races in the middle earth.
In fact, Tolkien once stated that he wished to have all books written in “Elvish”, a popular language in the middle earth. Elvish (or Eldarin) languages include the languages of Elves, derived from the same ancestor. It is further divided into Quenya and Telerin, which also includes Sindarin. Another group in Mannish language, originally spoken by human, including the Soval Pharë, which is commonly spoken by man and hobbits in the third age. The languages spoken by dwarves, however, remains a mystery, because it is a secret language between dwarves- nobody else is allowed to learn them. Besides that, some other creatures have their own language.
In the hobbits, when the dwarves and Gandalf entered the land of Elves, a series of dialogue happened. When the dwarves initially talked with the elves, they used the language of human. Why elves and dwarves used the language of human? Firstly, the language of dwarves is a secret between dwarves, and elves cannot use it when communication. The elvish, however , is more like a complex language in the upper world. Though some dwarves know it, they don’t tend to use, because it is a language of a race they don’t like very much.
When Gandalf meets the elvish prince and queen, the situation changes. They started to use mannish language first, but then as topic continues, they started to use Elvish language. And when Gandalf met Saruman, the language changed again. When the high-leveled Ainur talks, they use a higher level of language.
In this fictional world, the language usage pattern was very similar to the real life. People from different places use a different dialect, and races from the same ancestor tend to have more similar language. Similar languages can form groups of languages, within which people can understand each other.
It is very interesting to analyze how Tolkien create the fictional world as well as the language. In fact, there is a list of book analyzing the language created by Tolkien. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_research) It is also noticeable that the language in the fictional world reflects some phenomenon in the reality.
One thing is the process of language evolution. In Tolkien’s fictions, the Elvish languages are all derived from the same ancestor, and while the elves separate and live in a different part of the world, several different Elvish appears. This is consistent with how Asian and Europe language evolve. (my narrative here http://blog.alanzyy.com/?page_id=19) Chinese, Japanese and Korean share the same ancestor, as well as most European languages are derived from Germanic.
When races with different language background communicate with each other, the multilingualism appears. In Tolkien’s stories, it is a consent that Dwarves’ language are secret and are only used by Dwarves. Elvish and Mannish are often used in inter-races communication. The habit of language use becomes a phenomenon and in a certain circumstance, it is always appropriate to use one kind of combination. Note how Gandalf says, “best wishes” to different races.