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Sindarin

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Volte
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 Message 9 of 22
30 April 2011 at 8:17pm | IP Logged 
There are also tiny fledgling fragments of independent literature. http://www.istad.org/tolkien/poetry.html has some original poems. http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/sdprose.html has original prose.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elfling/message/35458 discusses verse forms; there are apparently several people actively writing verse in Tolkien's languages.

And here is a grammar: http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/u pcat&CISOPTR=1204

There are clearly people making a serious study of it, and the resources that posts above posited do appear to exist, though the literature looks scanty (but I could be missing something about the literature - the above is from a couple of minutes searching, and I have no real interest in Tolkien's languages).

Tolkien spent quite a lot of time on language construction, including inventing families of languages and their proto-languages, and the languages seem to have a surprisingly large community.

I can see merit in not listing half-developed conlangs which only interest a handful of people. Both the apparent size of the Sindarin community, and the sheer fact that more than one forum member has seriously claimed to want to study it makes me think that it would probably make sense to include it.

Edit: it's probably worth mentioning Tolkien's "A secret vice" lecture, mentioned at http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/vice.htm
His lifelong hobby was inventing languages, he wrote his fiction books to create worlds for the languages to live in, and he wanted to write and publish a lot more about his languages, but people around him weren't interested. It's a pity he's not around to see the people who are fascinated by them.


Edited by Volte on 30 April 2011 at 8:23pm

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Michael K.
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 Message 10 of 22
04 May 2011 at 8:20pm | IP Logged 
I was thinking of dabble a little in Quenya, but have decided not to do so at this time.

Here's a link to Quenya & Sindarin for those who are interested:

The Council of Elrond, basically a fan site. You need to register to see the language material (Quenya & Sindarin, some other of Tolkien's languages) but it's free:

http://www.councilofelrond.com/index.php

I should also add that Quenya is the most well-developed of Tolkien's languages.

Edited by Michael K. on 04 May 2011 at 8:22pm

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Lianne
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 Message 11 of 22
05 May 2011 at 4:06am | IP Logged 
mrwarper wrote:

It has been demonstrated that Klingon is far from 'complete', for example.


I'm curious as to where this has been demonstrated, and when. Since Marc Okrand is still alive, and still adding to the Klingon language, it wouldn't really be fair to judge it as incomplete. In any case, it certainly has a dictionary (the one I have is pretty good, and it's fairly old, so there may be a bigger, better one now). I don't know how much original literature has been written in Klingon, but it certainly has a wealth of translated literature, including the Bible and some Shakespeare.

Personally, I think it's silly that Klingon isn't on the list. I can understand languages not being added because no one's thought of it, but once someone requests one, it seems elitist to say that some languages aren't worthy.

(By the way, none of the above should be taken as a personal attack on mrwarper. I'm just making a point.)
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mrwarper
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 Message 12 of 22
05 May 2011 at 9:52am | IP Logged 
Lianne wrote:

I'm curious as to where this has been demonstrated, and when. Since Marc Okrand is still alive, and still adding to the Klingon language, it wouldn't really be fair to judge it as incomplete.

How about the fact that unless it weren't quite incomplete, there would be little need to add to it in the first place?

Besides that, well, is there a Klingon word for 'table' now? Since when exactly? ;)

Lianne wrote:
In any case, it certainly has a dictionary (the one I have is pretty good, and it's fairly old, so there may be a bigger, better one now). I don't know how much original literature has been written in Klingon, but it certainly has a wealth of translated literature, including the Bible and some Shakespeare.


Only partially true:

Chancellor Gorkon wrote:
You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.


Or was it translated from German, or Russian? ;)

Lianne wrote:
Personally, I think it's silly that Klingon isn't on the list. I can understand languages not being added because no one's thought of it, but once someone requests one, it seems elitist to say that some languages aren't worthy.

(By the way, none of the above should be taken as a personal attack on mrwarper. I'm just making a point.)


I'd hardly take something like that, especially coming from someone I've never met, as an attack, let alone a personal one.

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gambi
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 Message 13 of 22
05 May 2011 at 10:19am | IP Logged 
Well,....perhaps on the planet where Klingons live, they don't consider any of our human languages to be 'complete'. I guess it's just a matter of perspective. :P
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Luai_lashire
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 Message 14 of 22
05 May 2011 at 4:54pm | IP Logged 
There is always a need to add to languages, including natural ones. Language is so inconstant and prone to
fluctuation that to describe it as "complete" or "incomplete" is foolish at best. It would be better to use a measure
that asks not if there is a word for everything, but whether or not you can talk about everything, including things for
which there does not seem to be a word. A person who has never seen an airplane before can't name it, but they
can certainly talk about it.
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FrostBlast
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 Message 15 of 22
06 May 2011 at 4:45am | IP Logged 
I think the criteria for a language to be called "real" should be whether or not it has evolved on its own. Evolving is one of the main things languages do constantly.
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Volte
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 Message 16 of 22
06 May 2011 at 6:09am | IP Logged 
FrostBlast wrote:
I think the criteria for a language to be called "real" should be whether or not it has evolved on its own. Evolving is one of the main things languages do constantly.


Tolkien's languages have, as far as I can see. They have a surprisingly large community of enthusiasts, who stretch them further.


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