Tolkien's Elvish Languages
Author J. R. R. Tolkien created many languages for his Elves, which eventuated in the creation of a mythology (expounded in his books), complete with races, to speak the tongues he had constructed. His interest was primarily philological, and he said his stories grew out of his languages. The languages were the first thing Tolkien created for his mythos, starting with what he originally called "Qenya", the first primitive form of Elvish. This was later called Quenya (High-elven) and is one of the two most complete of Tolkien's languages (the other being Sindarin, or Grey-elven). The phonology, vocabulary and grammar of Quenya and Sindarin are strongly influenced by Finnish and Welsh, respectively. In addition to these two, he also created several other (partially derived) languages. In addition to Tolkien's original lexicon, many fans have contributed words and phrases, attempting to create a language that was fully usable in reality.
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