FREEA SECRET VICE: TOLKIEN ON INVENTED LANGUAGES EBOOK J. R. R. Tolkien,Dimitra Fimi,Andrew Higgins | 157 pages | 07 Apr 2016 | HarperCollins Publishers | 9780008131395 | English | London, United Kingdom A Secret Vice - Lord of the Rings Wiki The philologist and author J. Tolkien created a number of constructed languagesincluding languages devised for fictional settings. Inventing languages, something that he called glossopoeia paralleling his idea of mythopoeia or myth-makingwas a lifelong occupation for Tolkien, starting in his teens. The most developed of his glossopoeic projects was his family of Elvish languages. He first started constructing an Elvin tongue in c. He later called A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages Quenya c. Inhe held a lecture about his passion for constructed languages, titled A Secret Vice. Here he contrasts his project of artistic languages constructed for aesthetic pleasure with the pragmatism of international auxiliary languages. The lecture also discusses Tolkien's views on phonaestheticsciting Greek, Finnishand Welsh as examples of "languages which have a very characteristic and in their different ways beautiful word-form". Tolkien's glossopoeia has two temporal dimensions: the internal fictional timeline of events described in The Silmarillion and other writings, and the external timeline of Tolkien's own life during which he often revised and refined his languages and their fictional history. Tolkien was a professional philologist of ancient Germanic languagesspecialising in Old English. He was also interested in many languages outside his field, and developed a particular love for the Finnish language. He described the finding of a Finnish grammar book as "like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before". Glossopoeia was Tolkien's hobby for most of his life. At a little over 13, he helped construct a sound substitution cypher known as Nevbosh, [4] 'new nonsense', which grew to include some elements of actual invented language. Notably, Tolkien claimed that this was not his first effort in invented languages. Language invention had always been tightly connected to the A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages that Tolkien developed, as he found that a language could not be complete without the history of the people who spoke it, just as these people could never be fully realistic if imagined only through English and as speaking English. Tolkien therefore took the stance of a translator and adaptor rather than that of the original author of his works. Tolkien was of the opinion that the invention of an artistic language in order to be convincing and pleasing must include not only the language's historical developmentbut also the history of its speakers, and especially the mythology associated with both the language and the speakers. It was this idea that an "Elvish language" must be associated with a complex history and mythology of the Elves that was at the core of the development of Tolkien's legendarium. Tolkien wrote in one of his letters: "what I think is a primary 'fact' about my work, that it is all of a piece, and fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. It is not a 'hobby', in the sense of something quite different from one's work, taken up as a relief-outlet. The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows. But, of course, such a work as The Lord of the Rings A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages been edited and only as much 'language' has been left in as I A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages would be stomached by readers. I now find that many would have liked more. It is to me, anyway, largely an essay in 'linguistic aesthetic', as I sometimes say to people who ask me 'what is it all about'. While the Elvish languages remained at the center of Tolkien's attention, the requirements of the narratives associated with Middle-earth also necessitated the development at least superficially of the languages of other races, especially of Dwarves and Menbut also the Black Speech designed by Sauronthe main antagonist in The Lord of the Rings. This latter language was designed to be the ostensible antithesis of the ideal of an artistic language pursued with the development of Quenyathe Black Speech representing a dystopian parody of an international auxiliary language just as Sauron's rule over the Orcs is a dystopian parody of a totalitarian state. The Elvish language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language. Tolkien constructed the family from aroundworking on it up to his death in He constructed the grammar and vocabulary of at least fifteen languages and dialects in roughly three periods:. Although the Elvish languages Sindarin and Quenya are the most famous and the most developed of the languages that Tolkien invented for his Secondary World, they are by no means the only ones. They belong to a family of Elvish languages, that originate in Common Eldarinthe language common to all Eldarwhich in turn originates in Primitive Quendianthe common root of Eldarin and Avarin languages. Finnish morphology particularly its rich system of inflection in part gave rise to Quenya. Another of Tolkien's favourites was Welshand features of Welsh phonology found their way into Sindarin. Very few words were borrowed from existing languages so that attempts to match a source to a particular Elvish word or name in works published during his lifetime are often very dubious. Tolkien had worked out much of the etymological background of his Elvish languages during the s collected in the form of The Etymologies. Inhe wrote the Lhammasa linguistic treatise addressing the relationship of not just the A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages languages, but of all languages spoken in Middle-earth during the First Age. The text purports to be a translation of an Elvish work, written by one Pengolodh, whose historical works are presented as being the main source of the narratives in The Silmarillion concerning the First Age. The Lhammas exists in two versions, the shorter one being called the Lammasathen. Tolkien later revised this internal history to the effect that the Elves had been capable of inventing language on their own, before coming into contact with Valarin see Primitive Quendian. When working on The Lord of the Rings during the s, Tolkien invested great effort into detailing the linguistics of Middle-earth. When writing The Lord of the Ringsa sequel to The A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented LanguagesTolkien came up with a literary device of using real languages to "translate" fictional languages. This device of rendering an imaginary language with a real one was carried further: [9]. Rohirric is always represented by the Mercian dialect of Old English because Tolkien chose to make the relationship between Rohirric and the Common Speech A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages to that of Old English and Modern English. The terms Rohirric, Rohirian, and Rohanese have all been used to refer to the language. Tolkien himself used "Rohanese". The Rohirric word for horse has been identified as a cognate for Tolkien's Elvish words for 'horse': rocco Quenya and roch Sindarin. Furthermore, to parallel the Celtic substratum in England, he used Old Welsh names to render the Dunlendish names of Buckland Hobbits e. Because of the device of having Modern English representing Westron, there was no necessity to actually work out the details of Westron grammar or vocabulary in any detail, but Tolkien does give some examples of Westron words in Appendix F to The Lord of the Ringswhere he also summarizes its origin and role as lingua franca in Middle-earth:. Even orcs had to rely on using Common Speech albeit in A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages much-debased form for communication between themselves, because different orc sub-dialects change so haphazardly that they are not mutually intelligible from one clan to the next. Some samples of the language of the Dwarvescalled Khuzdulare A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages found in The Lord of the Rings. The situation here is a little different from the "Mannish" languages: As Khuzdul was kept secret by the Dwarves and never used in the presence of outsiders not even Dwarvish given namesit was not "translated" by any real-life historical language, and such limited examples as there are in the text are given in the "original". Khuzdul was designed A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages have a "Semitic" affinity, with a system of triconsonantal roots and other parallels especially to Hebrewjust as some aspects of the Dwarves and the Jews are intentional. The language of the Ents is also described in the novel. As the Ents were first taught to speak by Elves, Entish appears related to the Elvish languages. However, the Ents continued to develop their language. It is described as long and sonorous, a tonal language somewhat like a woodwind instrument. Only the Ents spoke Entish as no others could master it. Even the Elves, master linguistscould not learn Entish, nor did they attempt to record it because of its complex sound structure:. The grammatical structure of Old Entish was also quite bizarre, often described as a lengthy, long-winded discussion of a topic. There may not even have been words for yes and no : such questions would be answered by a long monologue on why the Ent in question did or did not agree with the Ent who asked the question. The Ent Quickbeam was regarded as a very "hasty" Ent for answering a question before another A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages had A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages the end may only have been another hour away.