Are Elvish, Klingon, Dothraki and Na'vi real languages? - John McWhorter
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Not SyncedTo many, one of the coolest things
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Not Syncedabout Game of Thrones
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Not Syncedis that the inhabitants of the Dothraki sea
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Not Syncedhave their own real language.
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Not SyncedAnd Dothraki came hot on the heels
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Not Syncedof the real language that the Na'vi speak in Avatar,
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Not Syncedwhich, surely, the Na'vi needed
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Not Syncedwhen the Klingons in Star Trek
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Not Syncedhave had their own whole language
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Not Syncedsince 1979.
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Not SyncedAnd let's not forget the Elvish languages
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Not Syncedin J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy,
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Not Syncedespecially since that was the official grandfather
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Not Syncedof the Fantasy Conlangs.
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Not SyncedConlang is short for constructive language.
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Not SyncedThey're more than codes like Pig Latin,
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Not Syncedand they're not just collections
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Not Syncedof fabricated slang like the Nadsat lingo
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Not Syncedthat the teen hoodlums in A Clockwork Orange speak,
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Not Syncedwhere droog from Russian
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Not Syncedhappens to mean friend.
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Not SyncedWhat makes Conlangs real languages
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Not Syncedisn't the number of words they have.
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Not SyncedIt helps, of course, to have a lot of words.
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Not SyncedDothraki has thousands of words.
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Not SyncedNa'vi started with 1500 words.
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Not SyncedFans on websites have steadily created more.
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Not SyncedBut we can see the difference
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Not Syncedbetween vocabulary alone
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Not Syncedand what makes a real language
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Not Syncedfrom a look at how Tolkien
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Not Syncedput together grand ol' Elvish,
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Not Synceda Conlang with several thousands words.
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Not SyncedAfterall, you could memorize 5,000 words of Russian
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Not Syncedand still be barely able to construct a sentence.
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Not SyncedA four-year-old would talk rings around you.
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Not SyncedThat's because you have to know
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Not Syncedhow to put the words together.
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Not SyncedThat is, a real language has grammar.
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Not SyncedElvish does.
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Not SyncedIn English, to make a verb past,
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Not Syncedyou add an "-ed".
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Not SyncedWash, washed.
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Not SyncedIn Elvish, wash is allu
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Not Syncedand washed is allune.
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Not SyncedReal languages also change over time.
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Not SyncedThere's not such thing
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Not Syncedas a language that is the same today
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Not Syncedas it was a thousand years ago.
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Not SyncedAs people speak, they drift into new habits,
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Not Syncedshed old ones,
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Not Syncedmake mistakes,
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Not Syncedand get creative.
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Not SyncedToday, one says,
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Not Synced"Give us today our daily bread."
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Not SyncedIn Old English, they said,
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Not Synced"Urne gedaeghwamlican hlaf syle us todaeg."
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Not SyncedThings change in Conlangs too.
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Not SyncedTolkien charted out ancient
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Not Syncedand newer versions of Elvish.
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Not SyncedWhen the first elves awoke at Cuivienen,
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Not Syncedin their new language,
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Not Syncedtheir word for people was kwendi,
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Not Syncedbut in the language of one of the groups
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Not Syncedthat moved away, Teleri,
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Not Syncedover time, kwendi became pendi,
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Not Syncedwith the k turning into a p.
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Not SyncedAnd just like real languages,
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Not SyncedConlangs like Elvish split off into many.
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Not SyncedWhen the Romans transplanted Latin around Europe,
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Not SyncedFrench, Italian, and Spanish were born.
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Not SyncedWhen groups move to different places,
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Not Syncedover time their ways of speaking grow apart,
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Not Syncedjust like everything else about them.
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Not SyncedThus, Latin's word for hand was manus,
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Not Syncedbut in French, it became main,
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Not Syncedwhile in Spain it became mano.
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Not SyncedTolkien made sure Elvish did the same kind of thing.
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Not SyncedWhile that original word kwendi became pendi
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Not Syncedamong the Teleri,
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Not Syncedamong the Avari, who spread throughout Middle Earth,
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Not Syncedit became kindi
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Not Syncedwhen the w dropped out.
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Not SyncedThe Elvish varieties that Tolkien flushed out the most
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Not Syncedare Quenya and Sindarin,
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Not Syncedand their words are different
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Not Syncedin the same way French and Spanish are.
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Not SyncedQuenya has suc for drink,
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Not SyncedSindarin has sog.
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Not SyncedAnd as you know, real languages are messy!
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Not SyncedThat's because they change,
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Not Syncedand change has a way of working against order,
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Not Syncedjust like in a living room
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Not Syncedor on a bookshelf.
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Not SyncedReal languages are never perfectly logical.
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Not SyncedThat's why Tolkien made sure
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Not Syncedthat Elvish had plenty of exceptions.
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Not SyncedLots of verbs are conjugated in ways
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Not Syncedyou just have to know.
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Not SyncedTake even the word know.
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Not SyncedIn the past, it's knew,
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Not Syncedwhich isn't explained by any of the rules in English.
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Not SyncedOh, well.
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Not SyncedIn Elvish, know is ista,
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Not Syncedbut knew is sinte.
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Not SyncedOh, well.
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Not SyncedThe truth is, though,
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Not Syncedthat Elvish is more of a sketch for a real language
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Not Syncedthan a whole one.
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Not SyncedFor Tolkien, Elvish was a hobby
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Not Syncedrather than an attempt to create something
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Not Syncedthat people could actually speak.
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Not SyncedMuch of the Elvish that the characters
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Not Syncedin the Lord of the Rings movies speak
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Not Syncedhas been made up since Tolkien
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Not Syncedby dedicated fans of Elvish
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Not Syncedbased on guesses as to what Tolkien
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Not Syncedwould have constructed.
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Not SyncedThat's the best we can do for Elvish
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Not Syncedbecause there are no actual elves around
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Not Syncedto speak it for us.
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Not SyncedBut the modern Conlangs go furter.
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Not SyncedDothraki, Na'vi and Klingon are developed enough
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Not Syncedthat you could actually speak them.
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Not SyncedHere's a translation of Hamlet into Klingon,
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Not Syncedalthough performing it would mean getting used to
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Not Syncedpronouncing "k" with your uvula,
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Not Syncedthat weird, cartoony thing hanging
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Not Syncedin the back of your throat.
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Not SyncedBelieve it or not,
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Not Syncedyou actually do that in plenty
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Not Syncedof languages around the world,
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Not Syncedlike Eskimo ones.
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Not SyncedPronouncing Elvish is much easier, though.
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Not SyncedSo, let's take a lead for now
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Not Syncedfrom this introduction of Conlangs in Elvish
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Not Syncedand the other three Conglangs discussed
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Not Syncedwith a heartfelt quad-Conlangual valedictory
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Not Synced"A na marie!"
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Not Synced"Hajas!"
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Not SyncedNa'vi's "Kiyevame!"
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Not Synced"Qapla!"
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Not Syncedand "Goodbye!"
- Title:
- Are Elvish, Klingon, Dothraki and Na'vi real languages? - John McWhorter
- Speaker:
- John McWhorter
- Description:
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View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/are-elvish-klingon-dothraki-and-na-vi-real-languages-john-mcwhorter
What do Game of Thrones' Dothraki, Avatar's Na'vi, Star Trek's Klingon and LOTR's Elvish have in common? They are all fantasy constructed languages, or conlangs. Conlangs have all the delicious complexities of real languages: a high volume of words, grammar rules, and room for messiness and evolution. John McWhorter explains why these invented languages captivate fans long past the rolling credits.
Lesson by John McWhorter, animation by Enjoyanimation.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 05:21
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Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 2/13/2015.