July 05, 2022

40. Dude, Just Make a Language!

1 hour 3 minutes

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: Tolkien’s essay “A

Secret Vice.” Originally prepared as a lecture called “A Hobby for the Home”

for an Oxford literary society in 1931, “A Secret Vice” is now regarded as one

of the two most key essays, along with “On Fairy-Stories” of Tolkien

essentially reflecting on his own work and what drove his creative interests.

His training and work as a philologist grew out not only an interest in

languages in general but in creating them for his own interest, and it’s long

been clear that his early development of the Elvish languages in particular

are what led him to start creating poetry and prose set in his legendarium to

begin with. At the same time, the time and place of the essay’s creation

demonstrates that a lot of his stance involves assumptions that wider

linguistic scholarship has since moved on from. What was the popular impact of

constructed languages such as Esperanto on Tolkien’s own belief in how such

languages could thrive? Why is it important to distinguish between Tolkien’s

favored belief in sound symbolism and the separate school of structural

linguistics? What were some of the evident biases that Tolkien’s own favored

languages – not to mention his native language, English – created in terms of

what he wanted to create himself with his own original tongues? And just what

was it with his way of dancing around actually talking about what interested

him in the subject instead of simply flat out stating it?

Show Notes.

Jared’s

doodle. To

see the stars is to name them.

We do not recommend getting into an accident with a forklift, but if you do,

watch MST3K,

listen to It’s Just a Show, and sing along

with a song.

The Tolkien Society’s report on the new forthcoming

Tolkien book The Fall of Númenor. (And as we say later, check out our

Aldarion and Erendis episode.)

Amazon

promos ahoy.

There were a variety of Empire magazine stories; this was the main one

online, plus Lenny Henry on the

Harfoots. (And

Celebrimbor…the

newscaster?)

Leith McPherson on being the dialect coach

for The Rings of Power.

Jamie Wilson and Lindsey Weber on the Orcs in The Rings of Power.

(Relatedly, our episode on orcs.)

Deadline’s announcement of the major voice

casting for The War of the Rohirrim.

Philippa Boyens interviewed by

TheOneRing.net on The War

of the Rohirrim, including discussion of the new character Héra.

The critical edition of A Secret

Vice, as listed on Dimitra

Fini’s site. (Plus the informal launch, as she

describes it, of the book at Oxford.)

Oriana’s 2019 Vox piece on

conlangs.

You might have heard of GoldenEye.

But are you invincible?

Constructed languages

have been a thing then and now.

Esperanto!

Volapük!

Novial!

Gertrude Stein and James

Joyce:

Modernists par excellence.

Sound symbolism and

structural

linguistics.

Finnish is

very much its own thing.

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By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

4.8

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