Hello, Mythgard community! I've been a long-time listener of prof. Olsen's podcasts, and they've helped me find new cherished depths in Tolkien's works. So much so that I will now take any excuse I can to earn a grade writing about Tolkien. Currently I'm enrolled in a linguistics class where a paper has been assigned which may be on any subject so long as it may in some way be analyzed through a linguistic lens. It is allowed to be a simple research paper if no thesis or assertion comes to the surface.
So of course I'm writing about Tolkien, though I'm uncertain yet of where exactly I want to take the paper. Analyzing Quenya or Sindarin through a mechanical lens, their syntax, morphology, semantics and pragmatics, strikes me as rather daunting, but I'd still be eager to explore it if I only knew where to begin. Aside from that this paper could go anywhere. Other subjects that occur to me are; the way in which the English/(Westron) text of Tolkien's works evokes its mythic character with classical or medievalist word choices and sentence structure; Tolkien's primary-world linguistics and translation work, though I'd like to base the paper on his fiction if I can; Tolkien's poetry, especially if there are enough made-up words therein to present a little lexicon for the paper's substance, though the only example that occurs to me now is "flammifer" from the Song of Earendil.
I know the primary works of fiction well enough, but I feel a bit out of my depth when it comes to Tolkien's letters and academic work. Be assured, I am eagerly doing the footwork and devouring all I can but I still can't be sure that I'm not missing an ideal source buried somewhere. To the point, I have a great deal of respect for the cumulative intellect, curiosity and warm-spiritedness of this community, so I come in the hope that I can provided some guidance. I hope to find primary sources such as letters to correspondents or scholarly work by Tolkien himself that addresses the linguistics of Middle-earth, or perhaps illuminates his views on the relation between language and myth in a broader sense. Do you know of any good pieces that you could point me to? Heck, if you know any secondary sources or Tolkien scholars that address what I'm after I'd love to know about them. Through listening to prof. Olsen's podcasts over the years I have heard him give the names of many Tolkien scholars, some who I have the impression may even also be involved in Signum U, but the darn thing is that for the life of me I can't recall their names (no disrespect meant), and can't afford the time to listen back through the hundreds of podcasts to try to hear them mentioned again. I'll certainly be checking out prof. Olsen's works. Unfortunately jstor doesn't seem to have much Tolkien-related work on it, and beyond jstor my fledgling scholarship begins to flounder.
The way I write papers, the subject and thrust of the paper won't reveal itself to me until I've immersed myself in the sources a bit more, so I'd also be looking to roll the idea ball around. Where do you suppose I could take this linguistics paper?
Much gratitude to anybody who takes interest, and best wishes to all.
So of course I'm writing about Tolkien, though I'm uncertain yet of where exactly I want to take the paper. Analyzing Quenya or Sindarin through a mechanical lens, their syntax, morphology, semantics and pragmatics, strikes me as rather daunting, but I'd still be eager to explore it if I only knew where to begin. Aside from that this paper could go anywhere. Other subjects that occur to me are; the way in which the English/(Westron) text of Tolkien's works evokes its mythic character with classical or medievalist word choices and sentence structure; Tolkien's primary-world linguistics and translation work, though I'd like to base the paper on his fiction if I can; Tolkien's poetry, especially if there are enough made-up words therein to present a little lexicon for the paper's substance, though the only example that occurs to me now is "flammifer" from the Song of Earendil.
I know the primary works of fiction well enough, but I feel a bit out of my depth when it comes to Tolkien's letters and academic work. Be assured, I am eagerly doing the footwork and devouring all I can but I still can't be sure that I'm not missing an ideal source buried somewhere. To the point, I have a great deal of respect for the cumulative intellect, curiosity and warm-spiritedness of this community, so I come in the hope that I can provided some guidance. I hope to find primary sources such as letters to correspondents or scholarly work by Tolkien himself that addresses the linguistics of Middle-earth, or perhaps illuminates his views on the relation between language and myth in a broader sense. Do you know of any good pieces that you could point me to? Heck, if you know any secondary sources or Tolkien scholars that address what I'm after I'd love to know about them. Through listening to prof. Olsen's podcasts over the years I have heard him give the names of many Tolkien scholars, some who I have the impression may even also be involved in Signum U, but the darn thing is that for the life of me I can't recall their names (no disrespect meant), and can't afford the time to listen back through the hundreds of podcasts to try to hear them mentioned again. I'll certainly be checking out prof. Olsen's works. Unfortunately jstor doesn't seem to have much Tolkien-related work on it, and beyond jstor my fledgling scholarship begins to flounder.
The way I write papers, the subject and thrust of the paper won't reveal itself to me until I've immersed myself in the sources a bit more, so I'd also be looking to roll the idea ball around. Where do you suppose I could take this linguistics paper?
Much gratitude to anybody who takes interest, and best wishes to all.
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