Dothraki, Na’vi, Klingon, and Elvish are all real languages. Well, they’re real in a sense. They were created for the works in which they appear, but they work the way real languages do, and have even evolved past their initial creations. They’re “constructed languages”, or conlangs, and this TED-Ed video explains them beautifully.
What makes these conlangs actual languages is more than just different words for things than what we have in English. There are rules they follow. Verbs behave differently than nouns. Sentences have structure. Particularly in the case of Tolkien’s Elvish, they evolve in a similar way to real actual Earth languages. In the lore of Tolkien’s world elves moved around, and as they did their language changed similarly to how Latin evolved into European languages.
It’s fascinating stuff, and if you want to learn more the TED-Ed lesson page has a lot more information.
(via TED-Ed)
- Someone covered “Gangnam Style” in Klingon
- Thinking in a foreign language helps you make rational decisions
- Learn to say “I love you” in a number of conlangs
