The power of words

By group 1

Literature is a very interesting and complex field, where we can appreciate cultural frameworks,historic situations and social backgrounds from the world we live in. But frequently, we can even read and learn about culture, history and languages belonging to a specific fantasy world that exist in another universe and time, created by the author and inspired in our reality.

This last kind of stories are the ones we are going to talk about on this article, because their importance is not only limited to entertain and amaze us. They are the living proof that if an author knows and applies certain rules on his/her creative work correctly, the result will be very close to what happens on the reality. The best example of this knowledge of certain rules applicated in a story to make it as complex and real as reality itself, is the use of linguistic theories in the creation of artificial languages, which also needs intensive and careful planning and researching to be complete. As Cultural anthropologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence,Wade Davis explains: "A language isn't just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. It is a flash of the human spirit, a vehicle through which the soul of a particular culture comes into the material world. And when we lose a language, we lose a vital element of the human dream." Today, the most known artificial languages are Klingon, developed to the series Star Trek; Dothraki, portrayed in the saga of fantasy  “A song of Ice and Fire”, and Na’vi, from the Avatar movie, which have been brought to television and cinema; finally Elvish, belonging to “The lord of the rings” and one of the most popular language created by  J. R. R. Tolkien.

This famous British linguist and writer is a remarkable example of the power of languages to give depth and a special taste to a good story. Some of the best known languages created by Tolkien are Sindarin and Quenya. The first one was the Elvish language most commonly spoken in Middle-earth in the Third Age. It was the language of the Sindar, the Grey Elves. For that reason this language is also known as Grey Elvish or Grey-elven. Sindarin is a mainly analytic language, whose grammar and phonology was based on Welsh, since Tolkien thought it would be suitable with the celtic-like stories told by its speakers. Some others influences in its structure were the consonant mutations present especially in the Celtic Brythonic languages.

On another hand, the Quenya is  the ancient and archaic Elvish language. It has two dialects: Vanyarin and Nandorin and it is spoken mainly by High Elves. In order to created it, Tolkien developed the tengwar alphabet, that has 36 consonant phonemes, 1 semiconsonant, 2 diphthongs and 10 vowel sounds.Besides, since he wanted to simulate the classic languages, the basis to build this language were Latin and Finnish, and it is also possible any influence from Greek and Welsh.

What was first?

All of these language features conform the way in which people, or may we say “elves”, who use them live as well as their identity as a civilization. But a large group of specialist in linguistics affirm that language can not be seen as a main part, or a determinant point of a culture, because it is more than just the result of the way that a human group see the world, and its composition goes even further in complexity. However, it seems to be the opposite thing in the case of Tolkien´s fantasy languages; they were designed and  specifically created to show different characteristic of the speakers (for example, the differences  on the variants of elvish which indicates if the elf belongs to the nobility, or a different tribe). Is possible to determine if the official rule that apply to regular languages is also valid on the world of artificial languages?

As Tolkien said, "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"

We can conclude that the polemics and different opinions will be always a part of linguistics, and although it may seem like everything has been said and discovered respect language and tongues, if we have the freedom to create and participate on the construction and knowledge about languages in literature and fantasy worlds there will always be an amount of unpredictability and uncertainty. Now, if we think about it, how does a language influence a certain culture? And what does it mean to us when a language dies? With this statement the British linguist demonstrates how the creative power of the words is able to set up a whole new reality, and even to reliving the past for this ancient cultures and their habits that are reflected in their language.

Finally we want to share with you a video that compile 10 of the most famous fictional languages that appear in some movies:

Have you ever noticed them? Or even more, have you invented any constructed language with your family or friends? Share with us your opinions and impressions :)