40. Dude, Just Make a Language!

On Tolkien’s essay A Secret Vice and constructed languages.

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?

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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