What Tolkien taught me about language

J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the most well known authors (in English) of our time. His most notable works, The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, have fascinated readers, artists and scholars alike for well over 50 years.

Middle Earth is one of the few created worlds that seems to weather millions of people re-reading the books, over and over again. Christopher Lee once commented that he reads The Lord of the Rings once per year.

These days many of the younger generation are introduced to his books via Peter Jackson's film version of The Lord of the Rings, and I often hear the complaint that the books are "too hard" to read (the films are easier).

I have spent much time reading Tolkien's works, including those published from his extensive notes by his son. Although some of these were quite hard to read (the progressive drafts in the Histories of the Lord of the Rings), they have shaped my understanding and use of language.

A skill that many authors struggle with is to capture a natural sounding conversation on paper. It's one thing to hold a conversation with a person, and something quite different to 'hold a conversation with yourself'. This is commonly what writers struggle with when trying to ensure their characters have a natural and flowing dialog, and yet all have their own voice.

Each person uses words and phrases that indicate their age, race, background and education, as well as their character - some are talkative and some are taciturn.

I learned that to be understood well in conversations, keep sentences relatively short, and speak clearly, compensating for an accent if necessary. In the Lord of the Rings, dialects and accents are used sparingly in written dialogs to add colour and mood, but as in real life, may easily cause misunderstanding and confusion.

All languages have so many different words that essentially mean the same (or a slightly different) thing. Although many have criticised Tolkien for using multiple names for people and places (usually in the various languages of Middle Earth), this only reflects real life.

The richness of a language comes from its history, the mythology that influenced the areas where it is spoken, its dialects, the social structures, neighbouring languages, and its popularity. English has absorbed (and then distributed) a huge number of words and phrases, most notably French, German and Spanish, but also from almost all other languages around the world.

Languages in use today are becoming richer, as languages and dialects are increasingly overlapping. Available vocabularies in all languages are constantly growing as words and phrases from one language are quickly absorbed into another, often thanks to the internet and the ease of travel across language borders.

This is illustrated a little in Tolkien's novels, with societies that had remained secluded using what seemed like archaic language and grammar constructs, or less-oft heard, older dialects - unchanged by the contact with outside languages.

Like any child wrapped in a fantasy world, devouring books, rich in languages, I wanted to make my own language. As seen in Tolkien's drafts (The History of the Lord of the Rings), language creation is incredibly time consuming, difficult to keep consistent (especially when multiple languages are created), and will change drastically over time.

Tolkien's characters spoke differently depending on their race, their age, and the amount of contact they had with 'outsiders'. As time passed, the speech of a character spending time around others who spoke differently, picked up words, grammar and phrases that were not used or not common in the character's initial language.

This matches the evolution of any spoken language and dialect in current use. A child learns the language he is exposed to. Adults modify their language based on the language used in films, books, and by the people they interact with. New words and phrases take root, and spread themselves around the world. Google is a common verb as well as a proper noun.

There is no need to get upset with how words are 'stolen' and changed to mean different things. Or when new words are created, for example the verbs google, text, friend. I believe this does not dumb-down a language, contrary to what many scholars have stated. These are changes that simply reflect the current state of society, and the passing of time.

The evolution of language also has an effect on grammar, resulting in purists throughout history deploring the degradation of grammar skills in every generation.

Grammar exists in languages so that we can communicate - they help us understand each other. Some writers always use correct grammar, and this may result in unnatural sounding conversations. Most successful writers intentionally break grammar rules (that they have thoroughly learned), in dialog, poetry and prose, to create interest, to rhyme, to set mood or make a dialog flow more naturally.

One of my favourite words when I was young was "drowneded". I knew it was grammatically incorrect, but it sounded more fun, and more natural for particular words. And so I oft used this argument to modify other words (deaded, eated, sleeped, etc.), much to the horror of my English teachers.

Tolkien created many languages and dialects throughout his lifetime, including extensive vocabulary and grammar rules. To do this, he needed an extremely strong background in the grammar of the languages he was using as a basis: Old English, Welsh, Gothic, Finnish and more. But as he was the inventor of these languages, he personally kept tinkering with the grammar whenever it didn't fit the scene or poem.

Grammar slowly changes as time passes as other languages, dialects and the slang-of-the-day influences its evolution. Writers may incorporate recent language and grammar trends into their writings or break grammar rules to set mood, or indicate a character's history.

As a child, I learned much about tense, and about irregular verbs from Tolkien's books. I was exposed to how other, older languages worked, and how grammar rules may change over time. I learned that books may not always use language correctly, and that breaking grammar rules can be fun, keeping a reader's (and young child's) interest.

During my school days we had to study various texts and poetry anthologies. Many of these seemed utterly boring - lifeless, dry, meaningless, lacking in colour and depth. This was partly due to the approach of the teachers, the fact that we must study these texts, but also because the works being studied were dull and two dimensional. The poetry stuck to rigid rhyming rules, which, unless masterfully written, lacked depth and punch.

A rich, varied vocabulary, including loan words from other languages, and understanding of how and when to break grammar, spelling and other language 'rules', ensures a much more interesting reading (and learning) experience for children.

Tolkien manipulated words, sentences, and even the grammar and spelling to give each situation, character and race a unique voice, resulting in a three dimensional imaginary world that could be explored in detail. His poetry was written to tell stories, mixing rhyming conventions, languages and breaking 'rules' where it suited the story. Other languages, different scripts, riddles, songs and poems were used to break up the story and provide an element of fun.

Through Middle Earth, I discovered that stories could be successfully told in poems and songs, they need not be boring, and need not be long. Rhymes and rhythms do not need to match, and riddles may just save your life someday!

Knowing some of the history and development of a language can help speed the learning process. This is even more so if your native language and target language share the same linguistic roots, or share the same loan words from other languages.

Using topics in your area of interest, or books that you love, will help enormously with vocabulary retention, and makes learning the grammar less painful than trying to memorise everything. Being able to see how a dialog or passage was translated has more impact when you are familiar with the content.

Learning multiple languages is not a bad thing, although progress is slower when they are learned at the same time. Speaking and understanding multiple languages is a useful skill to have - you can communicate with more people, and it makes creating your own languages easier, if you are so inclined.

That the journey of learning a language or a skill, is just as important as the destination. Especially so, since with learning, as with languages, there is no end.

"The road goes ever on and on..."

So,I learned to be curious about the history of the language, note where other languages are influencing the evolution of the language, and enjoy the journey of language learning, noting milestones along my way.

While reading the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's books, what did you learn about languages, writing, grammar and language learning? Or perhaps you learned something else?