Emulating Tolkien

One of the language families I have tinkered with the longest is meant to be spoken by elves, like Tolkien's Quenya and Sindarin; my Alvish and Old Alvish languages date back some 13 years now. My first attempt at Alvish was patterned closely on Anglo-Saxon, and the language existed as little more than a source language for Karkrak, then the principal language I was working on. About five years ago, I revamped Alvish to resemble ancient Greek, which I first thought gave the language a noble sound. When that did not meet my fancy, I revamped the language again and developed a 3000-word vocabulary for it. Some sample vocabulary, from Alvish III:

Recently, I have decided to try and pattern Alvish more closely on Quenya and Sindarin, inspired in part by a recent discussion on the CONLANG mailing list, where David Bell discussed his language Amman-lar, originally a Tolkien clone, before Bell found his own voice (you can subscribe to CONLANG by sending an e-mail with the subject text SUBSCRIBE CONLANG <YOUR NAME> to majordomo@diku.dk).

Before creating Alvish IV, I closely studied the Quenya and Sindarin words published in The Silmarillion. I decided that what sounded pleasing to me was the emphasis on sounds produced towards the front of the mouth (e.g., /p/, /b/, /f/, /v/, /i/, /e/, /a/). Additionally, syllables in Sindarin and Quenya typically followed the style CV or CVN, where N was a nasal (/m/ or /n/), lateral (/l/) or approximant (/r/). Based on this insight, I then produced the following definition of the phonotactics (sound and syllable structure) for Old Alvish, the ancestor of Alvish:

(Con1) Vwl (Con2)

Con1 = p, b, f, v, t, d, c, g, y, w, ch, gh
Vwl = i, a, o, u, uu
Con2 = m, l, n, r, s

A further restriction to possible combinations of phonemes is that whenever there are two adjacent vowels (e.g., the /i/ and /o/ are in separate syllables in dios, /di-os/) they can only be one of the following: i-o, i-uu, i-a, u-o, u-i, u-a, o-i. So, for example, diis is not a valid Old Alvish word, since /i-i/ is not a valid combination. (The dash - is used to indicate syllable breaks.)

Some sample Old Alvish words and phrases:

anim
basuus
buci
chi gicuu
dafon
ghis
gibas
ogus dian
toman
vafus

But Old Alvish's sole purpose in my design is to provide a source for Alvish. I designed Old Alvish to have an elegant structure, which has become more complicated (and therefore more flexible) in Alvish.

I decided that Alvish developed from Old Alvish according to the following steps. First, Middle Alvish was distinguished from Old Alvish by the following sound shifts, designed to give the language even more front sounds:

/c/ > /th/
/g/ > /h/
/ch/ > /c/
/gh/ > /g/

/a/ > /e/
/uu/ > /o/
/o/ > /a/

Some examples:

MA buthi < OA buci
MA ci hitho < OA chi gicuu
MA defan < OA dafon
MA gis < OA ghis

The next series of sound shifts distinguishes Middle Alvish from Alvish and is more complex. In this series, there are no straightforward one- to-one correspondences, where one occurrence of a phoneme always becomes another phoneme. In the transition to Alvish, sounds changed only because of their environment (the other sounds they are pronounced near). While the notation used to describe these can grow quite complex, inventing sound changes like the following is not difficult. Basically, I spent a lot of time trying to make sure that Alvish words fit my preconceptions of what words I found aesthetically pleasing, and I then formulated rules to give me a way to get from the strict phonotactics of Old Alvish to something looser.

The main changes from Alvish to Old Alvish are in the phonotactics. An Alvish word can begin or end with any consonant, but the consonants in the middle must follow similar patterns to Old Alvish.

FIRST SYLLABLE

(ConWI) Vwl (ConSF)

INTERNAL SYLLABLES

(ConSI) Vwl (ConSF)

TERMINAL SYLLABLE

(ConSI) Vwl (ConWF)

ONE-SYLLABLE WORD

(ConWI) Vwl (ConWF)

ConWI = p, b, f, v, t, d, c, g, y, w, th, h, m, l, n, r, s, sp, st, sc
ConSI = p, b, f, v, t, d, c, g, y, w, th, h, s, sp, st, sc
Vwl = i, e, a, u, o
ConSF = m, l, n, r
ConWF = p, b, f, v, t, d, c, g, y, w, th, h, m, l, n, r, s

The rules for deriving Alvish words from Middle Alvish are:

/ti/ > /thi/
/a-i/ > /i-a/ (eliminating the only vowel pair to begin with /a/; e.g., /thi-al-fu/ < MA /tha-il-fu/)
/s-/ > /-s/ (removing /s/ from being a possible final consonant for internal syllables; e.g., /i-san/ > MA /is-an/)
/-sX/ > /-X/ where X<>/a/,/e/,/i/,/o/,/u/,/p/,/t/,/c/ (any /s/ that migrated before an X is omitted; e.g., /pa-fu/ < MA /pas-fu/)
/-DVC#/ > /D#/ where D=/t/,/d/; V is a vowel, C is consonant and # indicates the end of a word (this rule indicates that final syllables that begin with /t/ or /d/ move the dental phoneme to the end of the previous syllable and truncate the remaining syllable; e.g., /alt/ > MA /al-ten/)
/mD#/ > /nD#/ (any final /md/ or /mt/ formed by the previous rule replaces /m/ with /n/)
/#V1T-V2/ > /#TV2/ where T=/m/,/n/,/l/,/r/,/s/ (any word that begins with a vowel and is followed by a syllable-terminating consonant and a following vowel -- starting a new syllable -- drops the initial vowel and moves the consonant to the next syllable; e.g., /nim/ > MA /en- im/).

I won't formally describe the rules for forming compound words in Alvish. But forming compounds does have a number of twists, mainly designed to make sure that the resulting word matches the phonotactics of Alvish defined above. The rules:

• For the first of the two words compounded, anytime a vowel immediately follows another vowel (e.g., /e/ in /i-e/), that vowel is dropped.
• When the first word ends in a vowel and the second word begins with a vowel, those vowels change into an acceptable vowel pair (if they're not already); e.g., i-a, i-o, i-e, u-a, u-i, u-e.
• When the first word ends in a consonant, that consonant can be only /m/, /n/, /l/ or /r/, otherwise it moves to the front of the second word (if the second word begins with a vowel) or it is deleted.
• This process is inverted when the second word *begins* with a consonant; since that consonant cannot be /m/, /n/, /l/ or /r/, the consonant moves to the end of the first word, unless the first word ends in a consonant, in which case it is dropped altogether. Whew!

a-hu-di-en [< a-hus di-en < OA o-gus + di-an.]
a-pun [< OA o-pun.]
alt [< MA al-ten < OA ol-tan.]
as [< OA os.]
ban-u [< OA bon-u.]
be [< OA ba.]
be-sos [< MA bes-os < OA bas-uus.]
bel [< OA bal.]
bet [< MA be-tu < OA ba-tu.]
bi-al [< MA ba-il < OA bo-il.]
bi-hi-bes [< OA bi + gi-bas.]
bi-om [< OA bi-uum.]
bo-ses [< MA bos-es < OA buus-as.]
bol-i-e-ba [< bol-e e-ba < OA buul-a + a-bo.]
bot [< MA bo-thar < OA buu-cor.]
bul-a-sim [< bu-el a-sim < MA bu-el as-im < OA bu-al + os-im.]
but [< MA bu-thi < OA bu-ci.]
ci-hit [< MA ci hi-tho < OA chi + gi-cuu.]
de-fan [< OA da-fon.]
di-os [< OA di-uus.]
di-si [< di-as i < OA di-os + i.]
dir-a-bi-en [< di-ar-a bi-en < OA di-or-o + bi-an.]
du-an [< OA du-on.]
du-ha [< OA du-go.]
e [< OA a.]
e-bun-bid [< MA e-bun bi-da < OA a-bun + bi-do.]
e-pa-tam-en [< OA a-po + tom-an.]
em-ho [< OA am-guu.]
fa-po [< OA fo-puu.]
far [< OA for.]
fe-pu [< OA fa-pu.]
fe-vin-ve-fus [< OA fa-vin + va-fus.]
fel-im-fon-et [< fel-i-am fon-et < MA fel-a-im fon-e-tul < OA fal-o-im + fuun-a-tul.]
fes [< OA fas.]
fir-o [< OA fir-uu.]
fu-en [< OA fu-an.]
gi-su [< gis u < OA ghis + u.]
hit [< MA hi-tan < OA gi-ton.]
i-ba [< OA i-bo.]
i-fen-pur [< OA i-fan-pur.]
i-san [< MA is-an < OA is-on.]
ir-u-se [< MA ir us-e < OA ir + us-a.]
ni [< MA on-i < OA uun-i.]
nim [< MA en-im < OA an-im.]
nur [< MA en-ur < OA an-ur.]
o-fam [< OA uu-fom.]
pa-fu [< MA pas-fu < OA pos-fu.]
pa-fu [< OA po-fu.] (arrived at the same form as the previous word but by a different route)
pe-yil [< OA pa-yil.]
pi-em-do [< OA pi-am-duu.]
pi-fem [< OA pi-fam.]
pi-sun-bi-as [< MA pis-un ba-is < OA pis-un + bo-is.]
pir-di-fus [< pi-ar di-fus < OA pi-or + di-fus.]
po-fu [< OA puu-fu.]
po-vi [< OA puu-vi.]
pod [< MA po-des < OA puu-das.]
pom-i [< OA puum-i.]
pu-em [< OA pu-am.]
pu-il [< OA.]
pul-on [< OA pul-uun.]
ran [< MA er-an < OA ar-on.]
te [< OA ta.]
ter-in [< OA tar-in.]
the-wom-o [< OA ca-wuum-uu.]
thi [< OA ci.]
thi-al-fu [< MA tha-il-fu < OA co-il-fu.]
thi-as [< OA ci-os.]
thin-o [< thi-on no < MA thi-on an-o < OA ci-uun + on-uu.]
tho-pa [< OA cuu-po.]
thot [< MA tho-tol < OA cuu-tuul.]
ti-po-dom-pi [< OA ti-puu + duum-pi.]
ti-vol [< OA ti-vuul.]
tim-vul-po-wim [< OA tim-vul + puu-wim.]
tin [< OA.]
to-por [< OA tuu-puur.]
tu-es [< OA tu-as.]
u-fi [< OA.]
u-va [< OA u-vo.]
um [< OA.]
urt [< MA ur-thi < OA ur-ci.]
ut [< MA u-tho < OA u-cuu.]
va [< OA vo.]
val-i [< OA vol-i.]
vam [< OA vom.]
vem [< OA vam.]
vi-al [< MA va-il < OA vo-il.]
vi-fom-fe-hu [< OA vi-fuum + fa-gu.]
vim-u [< OA.]
vo-fi [< OA vuu-fi.]
vod [< MA vo-di < OA vuu-di.]
wil-pe [< OA wil-pa.]
ya-wir-os [< OA yo-wir-uus.]
yar-o [< OA yor-uu.]
ye-bon [< OA ya-buun.]
yed [< MA ye-dum < OA ya-dum.]
yi-si-pu [< yis i-pu < OA yis + i-pu.]
yo [< OA yuu.]
yu-es [< OA yu-as.]
yu-pi [< OA.]

Ut ofam tivol pomi fes te pafu firo vial fevinvefus.
Bihibes fepu yupi be thopa biom ahudien vali yed puem.
Vifomfehu wilpe iba apun iruse piemdo thino duha bulasim fapo.
Ut tipodompi dirabien boses bial e terin yebon ufi ni.
Vam va dios thewomo thi defan urt bot ifenpur uva.
Fuen pofu vem as nur bet pirdifus ebunbid tin bel.
Pifem hit isan epatamen tues nim duan bolieba vofi pisunbias.
Disi vimu banu cihit pod thialfu pulon yawiros besos yaro.
Yo pafu ran peyil timvulpowim puil alt thias topor um.
Yisipu be felimfonet thot emho vod povi yues far gisu.

Volume I, Issue 8 -- Model Languages - January-February, 1996 Contents copyright 1995 Jeffrey Henning. All rights reserved.