Are Elvish, Klingon, Dothraki and Na'vi real languages? - John McWhorter
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0:07 - 0:09To many, one of the coolest things
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0:09 - 0:10about "Game of Thrones"
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0:10 - 0:12is that the inhabitants of the Dothraki Sea
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0:12 - 0:14have their own real language.
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0:14 - 0:16And Dothraki came hot on the heels
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0:16 - 0:20of the real language that the Na'vi speak in "Avatar,"
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0:20 - 0:22which, surely, the Na'vi needed
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0:22 - 0:23when the Klingons in "Star Trek"
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0:23 - 0:25have had their own whole language
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0:25 - 0:27since 1979.
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0:27 - 0:29And let's not forget the Elvish languages
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0:29 - 0:32in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy,
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0:32 - 0:35especially since that was the official grandfather
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0:35 - 0:37of the fantasy conlangs.
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0:37 - 0:41Conlang is short for constructed language.
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0:41 - 0:43They're more than codes like Pig Latin,
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0:43 - 0:45and they're not just collections
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0:45 - 0:47of fabricated slang like the Nadsat lingo
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0:47 - 0:48that the teen hoodlums
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0:48 - 0:50in "A Clockwork Orange" speak,
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0:50 - 0:51where droog from Russian
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0:51 - 0:53happens to mean friend.
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0:53 - 0:55What makes conlangs real languages
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0:55 - 0:57isn't the number of words they have.
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0:57 - 1:00It helps, of course, to have a lot of words.
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1:00 - 1:02Dothraki has thousands of words.
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1:02 - 1:04Na'vi started with 1500 words.
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1:04 - 1:08Fans on websites have steadily created more.
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1:08 - 1:09But we can see the difference
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1:09 - 1:11between vocabulary alone
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1:11 - 1:13and what makes a real language
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1:13 - 1:14from a look at how Tolkien
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1:14 - 1:16put together grand old Elvish,
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1:16 - 1:19a conlang with several thousands words.
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1:19 - 1:22After all, you could memorize 5,000 words of Russian
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1:22 - 1:25and still be barely able to construct a sentence.
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1:25 - 1:27A four-year-old would talk rings around you.
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1:27 - 1:29That's because you have to know
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1:29 - 1:30how to put the words together.
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1:30 - 1:33That is, a real language has grammar.
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1:33 - 1:34Elvish does.
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1:34 - 1:36In English, to make a verb past,
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1:36 - 1:38you add an "-ed".
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1:38 - 1:40Wash, washed.
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1:40 - 1:42In Elvish, wash is allu
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1:42 - 1:45and washed is allune.
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1:45 - 1:48Real languages also change over time.
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1:48 - 1:49There's no such thing
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1:49 - 1:51as a language that's the same today
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1:51 - 1:53as it was a thousand years ago.
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1:53 - 1:55As people speak, they drift into new habits,
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1:55 - 1:57shed old ones,
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1:57 - 1:57make mistakes,
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1:57 - 1:58and get creative.
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1:58 - 2:00Today, one says,
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2:00 - 2:02"Give us today our daily bread."
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2:02 - 2:04In Old English, they said,
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2:04 - 2:08"Urne gedaeghwamlican hlaf syle us todaeg."
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2:09 - 2:11Things change in conlangs, too.
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2:11 - 2:13Tolkien charted out ancient
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2:13 - 2:15and newer versions of Elvish.
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2:15 - 2:17When the first Elves awoke at Cuivienen,
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2:17 - 2:18in their new language,
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2:18 - 2:21the word for people was kwendi,
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2:21 - 2:22but in the language of one of the groups
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2:22 - 2:24that moved away, Teleri,
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2:24 - 2:27over time, kwendi became pendi,
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2:27 - 2:29with the k turning into a p.
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2:29 - 2:31And just like real languages,
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2:31 - 2:34conlangs like Elvish split off into many.
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2:34 - 2:37When the Romans transplanted Latin across Europe,
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2:37 - 2:40French, Spanish, and Italian were born.
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2:40 - 2:42When groups move to different places,
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2:42 - 2:44over time their ways of speaking grow apart,
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2:44 - 2:46just like everything else about them.
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2:46 - 2:49Thus, Latin's word for hand was manus,
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2:49 - 2:51but in French, it became main,
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2:51 - 2:53while in Spain it became mano.
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2:53 - 2:57Tolkien made sure Elvish did the same kind of thing.
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2:57 - 3:00While that original word kwendi became pendi
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3:00 - 3:01among the Teleri,
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3:01 - 3:04among the Avari, who spread throughout Middle Earth,
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3:04 - 3:05it became kindi
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3:05 - 3:07when the w dropped out.
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3:07 - 3:10The Elvish varieties Tolkien flushed out the most
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3:10 - 3:12are Quenya and Sindarin,
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3:12 - 3:13and their words are different
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3:13 - 3:15in the same way French and Spanish are.
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3:15 - 3:17Quenya has suc for drink,
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3:17 - 3:19Sindarin has sog.
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3:20 - 3:23And as you know, real languages are messy.
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3:23 - 3:24That's because they change,
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3:24 - 3:27and change has a way of working against order,
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3:27 - 3:28just like in a living room
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3:28 - 3:29or on a bookshelf.
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3:29 - 3:32Real languages are never perfectly logical.
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3:32 - 3:34That's why Tolkien made sure
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3:34 - 3:36that Elvish had plenty of exceptions.
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3:36 - 3:38Lots of verbs are conjugated in ways
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3:38 - 3:39you just have to know.
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3:39 - 3:41Take even the word know.
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3:41 - 3:43In the past, it's knew,
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3:43 - 3:47which isn't explained by any of the rules in English.
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3:47 - 3:48Oh well.
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3:48 - 3:50In Elvish, know is ista,
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3:50 - 3:53but knew is sinte.
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3:53 - 3:54Oh well.
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3:54 - 3:55The truth is, though,
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3:55 - 3:57that Elvish is more a sketch for a real language
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3:57 - 3:59than a whole one.
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3:59 - 4:01For Tolkien, Elvish was a hobby
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4:01 - 4:03rather than an attempt to create something
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4:03 - 4:05people could actually speak.
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4:05 - 4:07Much of the Elvish the characters
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4:07 - 4:08in the "Lord of the Rings" movies speak
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4:08 - 4:10has been made up since Tolkien
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4:10 - 4:12by dedicated fans of Elvish
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4:12 - 4:14based on guesses as to what Tolkien
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4:14 - 4:16would have constructed.
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4:16 - 4:18That's the best we can do for Elvish
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4:18 - 4:20because there are no actual Elves around
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4:20 - 4:21to speak it for us.
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4:21 - 4:24But the modern conlangs go further.
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4:24 - 4:27Dothraki, Na'vi, and Klingon are developed enough
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4:27 - 4:29that you can actually speak them.
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4:29 - 4:31Here's a translation of "Hamlet" into Klingon,
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4:31 - 4:33although performing it would mean getting used
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4:33 - 4:35to pronouncing k with your uvula,
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4:35 - 4:37that weird, cartoony thing hanging
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4:37 - 4:39in the back of your throat.
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4:39 - 4:40Believe it or not,
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4:40 - 4:41you actually do that in plenty
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4:41 - 4:42of languages around the world,
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4:42 - 4:45like Eskimo ones.
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4:45 - 4:47Pronouncing Elvish is much easier, though.
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4:47 - 4:49So, let's take our leave for now
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4:49 - 4:52from this introduction to conlangs in Elvish
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4:52 - 4:54and the other three conglangs discussed
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4:54 - 4:58with a heartfelt quad-conlangual valedictory:
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4:58 - 4:59"A na marie!"
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4:59 - 5:00"Hajas!"
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5:00 - 5:02Na'vi's "Kiyevame!"
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5:02 - 5:03"Qapla!"
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5:03 - 5:05and "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
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Are Elvish, Klingon, Dothraki and Na'vi real languages? | ||
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Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 2/13/2015.