Sound and language in Middle-earth

<p>

<a href="/facts/J._R._R._Tolkien/41HPhk5C">J. R. R. Tolkien</a> was both a <a href="/facts/Philologist/5u0xzd5g">philologist</a> and an author of <a href="/facts/High_fantasy/1xH97ERQ">high fantasy</a>. He had a private theory that the sound of words was directly connected to their meaning, and that certain sounds were inherently beautiful. Scholars believe he intentionally chose words and names in <a href="/facts/Languages_constructed_by_J._R._R._Tolkien/w0gEl7eo">his constructed Middle-earth languages</a> to create feelings such as of beauty, longing, and strangeness. Tolkien stated that he wrote his stories to provide a setting for his languages, rather than the other way around. Tolkien constructed languages for the <a href="/facts/Elf_(Middle-earth)/FccW53tg">Elves</a> to sound pleasant, and the <a href="/facts/Black_Speech/9qACMqKV">Black Speech</a> of the evil land of <a href="/facts/Mordor/Goa0Eh16">Mordor</a> to sound harsh; <a href="/facts/Poetry_in_The_Lord_of_the_Rings/UW0X3Wu7">poetry suitable for various peoples</a> of his invented world of <a href="/facts/Middle-earth/HCQrvKQe">Middle-earth</a>; and many place-names, chosen to convey the nature of each region. The theory is individual, but it was in the context of literary and artistic movements such as <a href="/facts/Vorticism/X6bJumVT">Vorticism</a>, and earlier <a href="/facts/Nonsense_verse/KcxgWPeg">nonsense verse</a> that stressed language and the sound of words, even when the words were apparently nonsense.
</p>

Sound and language in Middle-earth open-in-new

Sound and language in Middle-earth