Linguistic divergence in Elvish - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lost One · 10-26-2003, 04:46 PM

Tolkien reated his two wonderful Elvish languages, and proto-Elvish from which thewy could both have derived. However, he had to accountfor the divergence of this original Elvish into these two quite different tongues. He did this through means of a long separation of part of the Teleri (the Sindar) from the other kindreds. To me this has never seemed convincing. Languages certainly evolve of course, among humans at least, and this can hapen quite quickly (in only 400 years Anglo-Saxon tured into comprehensible modern English), but why should such change have occurred among immortal elves? Many of the Teleri who remained in Beleriand were close friends and relatives of those who went to Aman. Yet, supposedly, Elwe (Thingol) and his brother Olwe would have ended up speaking different languages. I know, of course, that this situation arose because Tolkien's languages came first, and he had to account for their divergence when he came to create his 'mythology'. Yet, can this be properly rationalised in the context of Middle-earth, beyond simply saying: well it happened?

10-26-2003, 04:46 PM	#1
Lost One Haunting Spirit Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 67	Linguistic divergence in Elvish Tolkien reated his two wonderful Elvish languages, and proto-Elvish from which thewy could both have derived. However, he had to accountfor the divergence of this original Elvish into these two quite different tongues. He did this through means of a long separation of part of the Teleri (the Sindar) from the other kindreds. To me this has never seemed convincing. Languages certainly evolve of course, among humans at least, and this can hapen quite quickly (in only 400 years Anglo-Saxon tured into comprehensible modern English), but why should such change have occurred among immortal elves? Many of the Teleri who remained in Beleriand were close friends and relatives of those who went to Aman. Yet, supposedly, Elwe (Thingol) and his brother Olwe would have ended up speaking different languages. I know, of course, that this situation arose because Tolkien's languages came first, and he had to account for their divergence when he came to create his 'mythology'. Yet, can this be properly rationalised in the context of Middle-earth, beyond simply saying: well it happened?