Artificial Languages

1
Artificial Languages
Molly S. Griffin Professor Stanton History of the
English Language April 27, 2007
2
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 prioribuilt from scratch
• A posterioribased on natural languages
• Richard Kennaways list has 312 namedbut there
  are many more

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Whats the point?

• International communicationa 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)

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Esperanto

• 1887 Introduced by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof
• No concentrated area where its spoken, but
  speakers are everywherebetween 100,000 and
  2,000,000
• Does not replace other languagesacts 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

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Esperanto Phonetics

• A, father
• B
• C, bits
• C, church
• D
• E, get
• F
• G, go
• G, jet
• H, loch
• H
• I, machine
• J, yes
• J, measure

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

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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)

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Esperanto Grammar

• No inflectional verb endings for cases

8
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?vURZmctx0RDw
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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).

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A Brief History of Elvish
Quendian
Common Eldarin
Avarin
Quenya
Telerin
Nandorin
Sindarin
11
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.

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The Tengwar Alphabet

• Not technically an alphabetjust a bunch of
  consonants that languages could pick and choose
  fromMen 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

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Writing and Speaking
J.R.R. Tolkien reading Elvish poetry

• Quenya, the Ancient Tongue

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Why Learn Elvish?

• You cant, 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 its fun!

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Bibliography

• ELNA. Esperanto-USA. http//www.esperanto-usa.or
  g/
• Fauskanger, Helge. QuenyaThe 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