How does elvish work

See also: Languages of Middle-earth. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Elvish languages. View source. History Talk 0. Basically, he invented words and needed speakers. He created the 15 different Elvish dialects, along with languages for the Ents, the Orcs, the Dwarves, the men and the Hobbits and more. He thought of everything: The Dwarves even had a separate sign language, because the forges they worked were too loud. If Tolkien had gotten his way, the books wouldn't have even been in English at all.

Of all the languages Tolkien created, two have enough words and grammar to be considered functional. They're not "complete," in the sense that they lack niche words, like "flambe" or "hydro nucleic acid," but people do speak and write in them. These languages are both Elvish in origin: Quenya and Sindarin. When he died, Tolkien left behind a large number of unpublished works, many of which are still being studied.

New words are still being uncovered. Understand that there are differences between Elvish languages like Sindarin and Quenya, and learn the "laws" of Elvish by referring back to Tolkien's works. Utilize a web browser and look for trusted sites when necessary.

Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0. Related wikiHows How to. How to. More References 4. About This Article. Co-authored by:. Co-authors: Updated: March 29, Categories: Fictional Languages. Article Summary X To write in Elvish, the best thing to do is study the appendixes of The Return of the King, which describe the different languages and types of letters, and provide a guide on pronouncing Elvish.

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Did this article help you? Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Liguk Azbell Aug 11, Anonymous Jul 2, This article helped me a lot. Roger Barker Jan 26, Anonymous Mar 24, Anonymous Apr 27, Share yours! To speak Quenya Elvish, first work on learning how Quenya vowels and diphthongs are pronounced. To learn how to speak Sindarin Elvish, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers.

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This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Sound out the Elvish vowels to memorize them. Vowels in Quenya are fixed, and their pronunciations do not change based on their location in the word. The diacritic small mark over a letter over a vowel indicates that you hold the vowel sound for longer.

Memorize the vowel sounds and practice pronouncing them. It is always a vowel in Sindarin though. The written form of Quenya is Tengwar. You speak Quenya, but you write Tengwar. Identify which consonants differ from English and practice them. Most of the consonants in Quenya are pronounced the same way they would sound in English. There are a few unique rules though which are specific to Quenya though. Learn these rules and practice using them to get used to speaking Elvish.

Stress the beginning of words that start in a vowel. Let the other syllables roll off your tongue more softly. This may sound kind of like Arabic or Aramaic at first.

You may notice that there seems to always be a vowel sound in the third syllable of every word in Quenya. This is a pattern that is near-universal in Elvish, and is the main reason that Elvish languages have such elegant flows. Use an Italian accent to pull off Quenya speech patterns. In general, you can kind of sound Elvish—even without following the rules of the language—by applying an Italian accent when pronouncing Quenyan words.