blog entry #2

The topic I have decided to do my research project on is fictional languages, more specifically the creation process that goes along with writing (or sometimes speaking) them into existence. I chose this subject because I was once really interested in learning Kryptonian (Superman's heritage language) and came across a lot of interesting facts about the way it was created, mainly stemming from Esperanto. I've also always been in awe of J.R.R. Tolkien's work and the fact that he created many (many) fictional languages for his own works, and that he seemed to have his own way to go about it as well. I think it'll be very interesting to see the different routes creators can choose to take to make a language for their works. I hope to inform my peers about the process of creating a language, sometimes from scratch, sometimes from bases which seem to be very re-occurring, and hopefully pique their interest about a very interesting linguistic field which can sadly be often forgotten. I expect finding academic sources and research on Kryptonian to be particularly difficult, since it is not as in-depth of a fictional language as Tolkien's or Klingon, meaning it doesn't have as many words or grammatical structure. But I really hope to be able to significantly talk about it, as I know it widely stems from Esperanto and find that particularly interesting. It is also one of the few fictional languages which have grown to have a writing system that is completely foreign to the ones in our own languages, so I hope to be able to touch briefly on that.

Most of the feedback I've received from my peers so far has been that this sounds like a rather informative essay instead of argumentative, which is the goal, so I'll brainstorm ideas as to how to make it more argumentative, primarily by looking for a stance to take on the subject.

Adams, Michael. From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages. Oxford University Press, 2011.

In this book, Adams touches on many topics and a wide variety of conlangs on surface level. His book contains input on those topics from multiple different authors, each focusing on one specific topic. He, of course, mentions Tolkien's work, along with Klingon and a few other recurring conlangs in the sources I've chosen. It's rather interesting that he also includes debated conlangs, such as Newspeak or 1337 (Leet) and provides surface information on those as well.

This source will be useful to me as it introduces a new set of conlangs which are often forgotten when speaking of fictional languages made for media; gaming languages. Languages specifically made for games tend to be a much harder challenge to take on than the creation of a language for a book or a movie, which in itself is already an impressive task. The chapters which mention gaming languages will help me illustrate to the reader why exactly that is, and how it related back to my third topic sentence, that is the intensity of fandom which can stem from rightfully made conlangs.

Doughan, David. “Elvish and Welsh.” Mallorn: The Journal of the Tolkien Society, no. 30, Sept. 1993, pp. 5–9. EBSCOhost, dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2325/10.2307/45320361.

In this research article, Douglas highlights and explains the similarities between Tolkien's Elvish language and the Welsh language, going as far as to bring up some cultural similarities as well. He touches briefly on Welsh and Celtic deities and cultural worship, as well as Celtic poetry and literature, explaining that Tolkien was undoubtedly aware of these and certainly had them in mind whilst creating the Elvish language and culture.

This source will help me present a nuanced analysis of Tolkien's methods when creating his languages, highlighting his profuse knowledge of many different linguistic concepts and fields as well as his ability to take inspiration from non-fictive languages without only basing himself on their linguistic makeup, but also their culture.