Tolkien Tale of Fantasy Offers Real-Life Learning Opportunity

"Tolkien was a Germanic philologist," says Edgar Slotkin, University of Cincinnati professor of English. “A philologist is someone who brings linguistics, history, palaeography, folklore and other disciplines to bear on understanding texts.”

At UC’s McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, Slotkin teaches courses in Celtic languages and literatures, folklore and linguistics. (Linguistics is the scientific study of many languages, rather than just one.)

Many people would not be surprised to hear that John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wrote several books, three of which were made into movies by Peter Jackson in recent years: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Perhaps some people might be surprised to learn that Howard Shore's music for the films was then crafted by Shore and conductor John Mauceri into a six-movement symphony.
 
What might be surprising to most, however, is the key role that language plays in both the symphony and the original books. Entire languages were created beyond the dialogue contained within the pages.

“Isn’t that overkill?” some might ask. But because of this, the words on the page actually make sense — to people who know about words.
 
As a young man, Tolkien studied Old English, the Germanic languages, Welsh and Finnish at Exeter College in Oxford, England. Early in his career, he published a book called "A Middle English Vocabulary" and began to establish his philologist reputation.

While working with languages by day as a lexicographer (one who writes dictionaries), Tolkien began to create languages that he imagined elves might have spoken, based on his knowledge of Welsh and Finnish. At the same time, he began to create a series of stories as a context for his new/old languages. These tales eventually spun into what readers and moviegoers recognize as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Hobbit and Silmarillion. Now music lovers will also get a chance to experience the languages, as sung by the Cincinnati Children’s Chorus and May Festival Chorus (which includes many UC alumni and staff).
 
Surprisingly, the chorus is not just singing generic vowel sounds. They are actually singing words, many of which were crafted by Tolkien himself. There are six languages in the piece (as described by David Carroll, of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus): 

• Adûnaic — Ancient tongue of the Men of Numenor, mostly invented by film linguist David Salo, based on the Lord of the Rings.
• Black Speech — Sauron’s evil tongue of Mordor, created by J. R. R. Tolkien and expanded by linguist Salo.
• Khuzdûl — Secretive language of dwarves, mostly invented by Salo based on the Lord of the Rings books.
• Quenya — High Elvish, a formal scholarly language, created by Tolkien and influenced by Finnish.
• Rohhiric — Spoken by the horse-riding Men of Rohan, represented by Old English (Anglo-Saxon).
• Sindarin — Vernacular tongue of all elves created by Tolkien and influenced by Welsh.

“It is definitely a Welsh-looking language,” Slotkin says. He has taught Welsh at UC, himself. (In fact, he taught Welsh to Cincinnatian and UC alum Jerry Hunter, who is now a senior lecturer in the Welsh Department of the University of Wales, Bangor, and the only American to teach Welsh at a university in Wales.)

Tolkien aside, inventing languages for characters is a fairly recent phenomenon. “Star Trek” is one example of Hollywood’s timeline in character communication. In the 1960s series, Klingons spoke mostly English. In the first two movies, the actors portraying the Klingons spoke English with “alien-sounding” words dubbed in later to match their lips. The late (Irish) actor who played Scotty, James Doohan, came up with the words.

Finally, for the third movie (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock), a full Klingon language was invented by linguist Marc Okrand. Okrand based his language on the sounds that Doohan had created for the earlier movies. This created language of Okrand’s was used for the remaining films.

According to Sharon Dean, associate professor of English and director of the American Ethnic Studies certificate program, writers of contemporary science fiction regularly create the languages their characters will speak. She cites Ursula K. Leguin’s Left Hand of Darkness and the works of Samuel R. Delaney as examples.

“It is interesting though, that Tolkien did that nearly a century ago,” Dean points out. “It’s certainly common place now, but he was definitely ahead of his time!”

What attracts most readers to the books more than the languages, perhaps, are the stories themselves.

“Tolkien was knowledgeable about myths and legends, of course,” says Slotkin. The Lord of the Rings tale is reminiscent of other themes in folklore such as the Saga of the Volsungs, as well as other Finnish and Norse lore.

"If readers like Tolkien, they would probably like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Material trilogy," he adds. "They might also like Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels if they have a sense of humor."

"I teach a three-quarter sequence 'Introduction to Folklore' every other year," Slotkin explains. "This year I am teaching a course on legends and on folk humor." He is also teaching "Celtic Literature in Translation: Myth and Epic" in the fall, "Romance and Lyric" in the winter, and perhaps modern Celtic literatures in the spring. He teaches "Modern Irish" in a two-year sequence: elementary for three quarters followed by intermediate for three quarters. 

"I do the same for the other languages I teach (Welsh, Old Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Old Norse) when there is a demand for them," he adds.

Linguistics at UC’s McMicken College of Arts & Sciences
UC’s Department of English and Comparative Literature offers an interdisciplinary bachelor's degree in linguistics. At McMicken College, linguistics is an interdisciplinary program. Students who major in linguistics take courses in several departments like anthropology, classics, English, sociology and psychology, as well as courses in a foreign language. This helps the student find answers to questions like these: how do we learn language as children; why does every language change over time; why is language primarily a human activity; and how does it work?

Career Opportunities
Graduates in linguistics are prepared for many different career opportunities in diverse fields. Having an background in linguistics can lead students to pursue careers in areas like editing, writing, translating, publishing, teaching foreign languages and teaching English as a second language. Linguistics also provides skills that are highly valued in a wide range of positions in business and industry. When combined with courses in computer technology and mathematics, linguistics can lead to degrees in those fields as well as business and law.

Related links:

All Things Celtic Discussed as UC Hosts the 30th Annual Meeting of the Celtic Studies Association of North America

Department of English and Comparative Literature 

Programs in McMicken College of Arts & Sciences

Apply to UC!

May Festival Chorus

Tickets to Lord of the Rings Symphony