Artificial Languages

Molly S. Griffin

Professor Stanton

History of the English Language

April 27, 2007

Artificial/Constructed Languages

“Languages which are intended to be spoken by people, to people (as distinct from, say, programming languages), and which have been deliberately constructed rather than having evolved.”

Two types: A priori—built from scratch A posteriori—based on natural languages

Richard Kennaway’s list has 312 named—but there are many more

What’s the point? International communication—a

common language (Esperanto, Glosa) Fictional worlds (Klingon, Elvish) Linguistic experimentation (Loglan)

Alternative languages (Brithenig) Personal languages (Animalic) Joke languages (Pig Latin, Ubbi Dubbi)

Social or political purposes (Láadan)

Esperanto 1887: Introduced by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof No concentrated area where it’s spoken,

but speakers are everywhere—between 100,000 and 2,000,000

Does not replace other languages—acts as a second common language between people.

Can supposedly be learned in much less time than other languages.

Is politically unbiased. “Dr. Zamenhof did not really make an

artificial language, but a sort of synthesis of our principal modern languages. He chose for the vocabulary of his language the most international roots” (Privat 10). Telefono, telegrafo, teatre, arto,

muziko, onklo, sukcesi, marklo all very Latin and Germanic

Esperanto Phonetics A, “father” B C, “bits” Ĉ, “church” D E, “get” F G, “go” Ĝ, “jet” H, “loch” Ĥ I, “machine” J, “yes” Ĵ, “measure”

K L M N O, “go” P R, “burrito" S, “said” Ŝ, “shed” T U, “boot” Ŭ, “water” V Z

Esperanto Grammar Every letter has only one sound and is always

pronounced. Accent is always on the next-to-last

syllable. Vowels are never diphthongized. Parts of speech are formed by adding endings

to words: “o” = noun… instruisto (teacher) “a” = adjective… nova (new) “j” = plural… Inteligentaj personoj

(intelligent people) “n” = direct object… Esperanto havas

facilajn regulojn (Esperanto has easy rules)

Esperanto Grammar No inflectional verb endings for

casesInfinitive Present Past Future Imperative Conditional

To see Sees Saw Will see See! Would see

-i -as -is -os -u -us

Vidi Vidas Vidis Vidos Vidu vidus

Why Learn Esperanto? Esperanto is

phonetic. Esperanto has

simplified grammar. Esperanto simplifies

building your vocabulary.

Esperanto lets you invent your own vocabulary.

Esperanto has a recognizable vocabulary.

“At least four times easier to learn!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URZmctx0RDw

J.R.R. Tolkien and his Languages

1892-1973 author of Lord of the Rings, The

Hobbit, and The Silmarillion HUGE philologist to complement his Middle Earth,

created several languages, Quenya and Sindarin being the most well-developed

On Esperanto:“Esperanto seems to me beyond doubt, taken

all round, superior to all present competitors, but its chief claim to support seems to me to rest on the fact that it has already the premier place, has won the widest measure of practical acceptance, and developed the most advanced organisation” (Back Esperanto).

However, claimed that Esperanto and other artificial languages are “dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends" (Letters).

A Brief History of Elvish

Quendian

Quenya Common Eldarin

Avarin

Sindarin

Telerin Nandorin

History of Elvish “Of the Eldarin tongues two are

found in this book: the High-elven or Quenya, and the Grey-elven or Sindarin. The High-elven was an ancient tongue of Eldamar beyond the sea, the first to be recorded in writing. It was no longer a birth-tongue, but had become, as it were, an ‘Elven-latin,’ still used for ceremony…” (ROTK 1101).

In regards to diphthongs: “iu in Quenya was in the Third Age usually pronounced as a rising diphthong as yu in English yule.”

The Tengwar “Alphabet”• Not technically an alphabet—just a bunch of consonants that languages could pick and choose from—Men and Elves could both use it

•None of the letters have a fixed value, but relationships between certain letters were recognized

•Five pages in the appendix on how different languages employ the Tengwar letters

Writing and Speaking

Quenya, the Ancient Tongue

J.R.R. Tolkien reading Elvish poetry

Why Learn Elvish? You can’t, really. Although words

and phrases can be spoken, “the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax of Tolkien's invented languages, even of Quenya and Sindarin, are far too incomplete to allow its casual, conversational, or quotidian use.” (The Tolkenian Linguistics)

But it’s fun!

Bibliography ELNA. “Esperanto-USA.” http://www.esperanto-

usa.org/ Fauskanger, Helge. “Quenya—The Ancient Tongue.”

http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/quenya.htm Kennaway, Richard. “Constructed Language List.”

http://www2.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~jrk/conlang.html Privat, Edmond. Esperanto at a Glance. Fleming H.

Revell Company: New York, 1908. Tolkien, J.R.R. “Back Esperanto Loyally.”

http://www.esperanto-usa.org/en/node/685 Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings, Return of

the King. Houghton Mifflin: Boston, 1995. Wynne, Patrick. “Resources for Tolkien

Linguistics.” http://www.elvish.org/resources.html