Elves, Immortality, and Language Evolution

 Language is, without a doubt, one of the most all pervasive factors in Tolkien’s works.  This is true to the extent that it is more accurate to say that his works are vessels for his languages, rather than languages being contained within his works. He talks about this fact at length in Letter 165, saying that “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.” Given this linguistic foundation for the Lord of the Rings and other works in Tolkien’s legendarium, as well as his background as a philologist, it is no surprise that many specific questions concerning linguistics have definite answers to them.

​One area of linguistics I have always been fascinated by is historical linguistics, as well as language change and evolution. As such, there were several curiosities I’ve had pertaining to the way that certain languages within Middle Earth, especially Elvish, changed and evolved. The Elvish language family was probably Tolkien’s favorite of the ones he created, given how much attention he paid to its various dialects relative ton others he created, and as such, there is a lot of information to be gathered pertaining to it.

​When human languages evolve, there are countless mechanisms that it can do so through, always working in conjunction with one another. For this reason, as well as a lack of records, the horizon for where we can see language evolution is relatively recent, all things considered. Mortality also plays an extreme role in this. Not only do we lose entire languages when speakers die, but we also lose generally older forms of language. I’m sure many of us can relate to the experience of speaking with an older person and noticing certain characteristics about their speech that differ from that of our own. This is because they acquired language in their childhood from even older people, and certain things- phrasings, words, sounds, grammar- may have changed during their lifetime. 

​This is not to say that human language does not evolve on the level of the idiolect: the unique speech of an individual. In fact, over the course of someone’s lifetime, their speech will evolve with the wider language community over time. Numerous studies have been done on this, particularly the speech of the late Queen Elizabeth II, whose speech sounds drifted over time, generally in accordance with the drift of upper class, posh British English speakers. Coupled with the previous experience of hearing an older speaker, we can then conclude that the speech of people over their lifetime does change with society in real time, but in a unique way, partially determined by the version of the language one acquired as a child, and partially by the ongoing acquisition as we hear speech around us.

​Elvish, then, is a very unique case when it comes to language and language evolution, not in terms of its structure or sounds, which, while unique, are firmly within the realm of human plausibility, but rather in the fact that its speakers are immortal. As established, mortality itself acts as a sort of encouraging factor for language evolution, constantly recycling the population to ensure the oldest variant of a language in active speech is, at most, about a hundred years old. This begs the question, then, of what does language evolution look like in a population that does not die?

​We know Elvish evolved quite a bit. Just in the opening to the Silmarillion, when Tolkien describes the initial waking of the Elves, they develop a language among themselves (often called Primitive Elvish) which had evolved to form what we know as Quenya by the time that the Elves finally crossed to Valinor. Along the way, several other Elvish groups had separated from the primary one moving toward the sea, all of whom would later develop their own tongues, such as Sindarin and Nandorin. This is to say that the primary mechanism that Tolkien describes for Elvish language evolution is the physical separation of speakers in space, preventing them from interacting with one another and the languages naturally diverging. While this description from the Silmarillion gets at the general cause of the language change, it does not address the actual mechanisms by which it changed.

​In an essay found in The Peoples of Middle Earth, the Dangweth Pengolod, Tolkien states:

“A man may indeed change his spoon or his cup at his will, and need ask none to advise him or to follow his choice. It is other indeed with words or the modes and devices of speech. Let him bethink him of a new word, be it to his heart howsoever fresh and fair, it will avail him little in converse, until other men are of like mind or will receive his invention. But among the Eldar there are many quick ears and subtle minds to hear and appraise such inventions, and though many be the patterns and devices so made that prove in the end only pleasing to a few, or to one alone, many others are welcomed and pass swiftly from mouth to mouth, with laughter or delight or with solemn thought - as maybe a new jest or new-found saying of wisdom will pass among men of brighter wit. For to the Eldar the making of speech is the oldest of the arts and the most beloved.” 

 

Essentially saying that many of these language innovations came about deliberately rather than as the process of direct contact with other languages or natural drift. In fact, the Elvish languages seem very adverse, generally speaking, to borrowing or otherwise allowing themselves to be influenced by other tongues, partially due to isolation and partially due to attitude. In fact, there are instances such as Thingol’s banning of Quenya in favor of Sindarin that show just how resistant to change from outsiders Elvish is.

In all, Tolkien does provide a rationale for how Elvish could change so drastically when its speakers have infinite natural lifespans, and deliberate language curation seems to be the way this was done. It is interesting that this evolution seems to generally mirror the speed at which human languages evolve, so I remain curious if the information we have yet been given tells the whole story of what he intended for his languages, but the fact that there is an answer for most questions you could ask about Tolkien’s works is one of the reasons it is so enchanting.

-BTS (Wildcard)