"A Secret Vice", also known as "A Hobby for The Home", is a lecture first presented by English philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien in 1931. The lecture concerns Tolkien's relations with and view on constructed languages, in particular on artistic languages. In the talk, Tolkien discusses the human desire to make languages, and his criteria to create a good language – these include phonoaesthetics (the beauty of sounds) and the presence of a mythology to accompany the language. Tolkien's presentation was the first instance of him openly exhibiting his hobby of conlanging, and includes examples of several of his languages.
The talk was first published in essay form in 1983, in an anthology of Tolkien's previously unpublished works edited by his son, Christopher. In 2016, an extended edition was published, with material missing from earlier versions, new manuscript material, and a collection of essays concerning Tolkien and constructed languages. This version was edited by Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins, receiving largely positive reviews from both Tolkien scholarship and the fandom.
Tolkien began his interest in conlanging, the art of inventing languages, when he was a teenager; he had previously used Animalic, a language created by his cousins. Tolkien helped to create Nevbosh with a cousin, a code based on English with concepts from French and Latin included. Tolkien's following solo work, Naffarin, was largely drawn from Spanish and Latin. During adolescence, he learnt the international auxiliary language of Esperanto, keeping a notebook in the language aged 17.[1]
Contents
Tolkien begins the lecture by clarifying its topic as concerning artistic languages, as compared to international auxiliary languages; he briefly discusses his admiration for Esperanto, and the need for a unifying international language. He then attempts to categorise these languages by their level of complexity. The lower stages of this hierarchy comprise language games; Tolkien writes that this type of language is not art in the same way as more developed ones, and that they are crude in their simple use for secrecy or fun.
To illustrate this, the example of Animalic, a language built solely from animal names, is given. Tolkien argues that the invention of this is an example of the linguistic ability of humans, and that a more developed form of this ability manifests itself in several forms: in polyglotism, poetry, and in conlanging. To show the next stage in his hierarchy, he uses Nevbosh, which showed examples of sound change and alternation, as well as a fledgling appreciation of phonaesthetics. He discusses his joy of language invention, its lack of recognition as an art form, and subsequent lack of publicity by practitioners.
For the next level of development, Tolkien deems a distinction between practicality of communication and pleasure in sound-making as necessary. Examining his own language, Naffarin, a language partly inspired by Nevbosh, Tolkien notes that it has more developed phonetics, moving away from its source languages, and shows his style of conlanging. He states that a successful artistic language requires a constructed mythology among other stipulations, and lists attractions to conlanging: philological experimentation, and grammatical experimentation with the creation of engineered languages. To end, Tolkien gives several examples of his poetry in Quenya and Noldorin, concluding the lecture by likening artistic languages to a form of poetry, and conlangers to poets.
Publication
A Secret Vice was first presented as a lecture to the Samuel Johnson literary society at Pembroke College, Oxford on 29 November 1931 at 9pm[2] – it was the first time that Tolkien made his views of language creation and phonoaesthetics public.[3][lower-alpha 1] The manuscript for the talk was later revised for a possible second presentation around twenty years later.[lower-alpha 2] Although the original manuscript for the talk gave its name as A Hobby For The Home, the minutes of the Johnson Society record the lecture's name as A Secret Vice[5] – this name was applied to it by Tolkien's son Christopher; Tolkien then used the name.[6]
The essay was first published in print in the 1983 The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, which was edited by Christopher. This version omitted material from the original speech, such as a description and glossary of Tolkien's language Fonwegian,[lower-alpha 3] an a posteriori and a priori mix, using grammatical elements from Latin, and a phonology from English.[2] This was left out of the 1983 edition because it was written in pencil in the original manuscript, and it was therefore not clear that it was intended to be part of the main lecture.[8]
HarperCollins published a 2016 hardback extended critical edition titled A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages edited by Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins. This included the full text of the lecture,[3] as well as several essays, including a previously unpublished "Essay on Phonetic Symbolism"[lower-alpha 4] on sound and language by Tolkien, and manuscript work related to the lecture. The introduction of the book includes five essays surrounding the lecture and its context, entitled:[8]
"Myth-making and Language Invention"
"Theorizing Language Invention"
"The Languages of Middle-earth"
"'A Secret Vice' and Its Immediate Context"
"'A Secret Vice' and the Larger Context"
After the introduction, full text, and Tolkien's notes for the lecture,[8] including the original minutes of the Johnson Society meeting,[3] the book concludes with a two-part coda. The first part, The Reception of Tolkien's Invented Languages, discusses the history of the study of Tolkien's languages or "Tolkenian Linguistics". The second, Imaginary Languages for Fiction: Tolkien's Legacy, discusses Tolkien's impact and legacy on artistic languages, looking at languages used in popular media since the publication of The Lord of The Rings.[11] According to Fimi, the critical edition included around 4,500 words of previously unpublished writing by Tolkien.[12]
The Norwegian linguist and Tolkien scholar Helge Fauskanger wrote: "In 1931, Tolkien wrote an essay about the somewhat peculiar hobby of devising private languages. He called it 'A Secret Vice'. But in Tolkien's case, the 'vice' can hardly be called secret anymore."[13] Fauskanger sees as significant Tolkien's statement in "A Secret Vice" that "The making of language and mythology are related functions", and that "Your language construction will breed a mythology."[13]John Garth wrote that A Secret Vice showed that "language creation, for Tolkien, was an act of gorgeous, individualistic rebellion in an era of barbarous conformity."[14]
Cheryl Cardoza comments that the essay showed Tolkien's "integral relationship between linguistic invention and mythic core" and that "Tolkien’s creation of these categories [of artistic languages] in “A Secret Vice” shed light on the mistakes made by ... other fiction authors." Cardoza views A Secret Vice as containing "a recipe for achieving ... depth" and that it was his application of the set of rules Tolkien outlined in the essay that allowed the realism of Middle-earth.[15]
A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages received largely positive reviews: Nelson Goering praised the editors in the Journal of Tolkien Research for their "excellent job of making clear the dynamic nature of these languages", calling the book "a very significant publication... a largely well-edited and learned presentation of important material by Tolkien."[8]
In Tolkien Studies, Arden R. Smith called the work "a welcome addition to the family of expanded editions of Tolkien's shorter works", praising the editorial essays, but criticised "various infelicities "in the Elvish texts and poetry.[11]
Jason Fisher, in Mythlore, gave a more critical review, writing that the level at which the book was written excluded readers with less thorough knowledge of Tolkien scholarship: "this book is not intended for readers who are new to the subject." Fisher also criticised the lack of an index, omission of Tolkien's annotations for his poem "Olima Markirya", and lack of information surrounding Fonwegian. He additionally disagreed with the scope of the piece with the relative lack of material relating to Tolkien and Esperanto. Despite this, he termed it "a welcome bounty of new material to reckon with and ... an invaluable start".[5]
Garth gave a summary of the book in New Statesman, writing "It’s a mishmash, with something for the Elvish buff and something for those who enjoy unlikely cultural collisions."[16]
Ed Fortune in Starburst magazine gave a positive review, and commented: "Editors Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins have done much to preserve the sense of the work... Those fascinated with Quenya and all things Middle Earth will be especially delighted by this work... this is the definitive work on Tolkien’s relationship with words."[17]
Dennis Wilson Wise viewed the book as an improved "go-to text", praising the "rigorous endnotes" and the "solid contributions being made to the field by this volume". Wise also questioned some of the book's claims as "overstatements", as well as the book's limited area of study, which omitted material on Tolkien's relationship with Esperanto.[3]
↑ Figi and Higgins claim this presentation as Tolkien's first publication of his interest in constructed languages; this is disputed by Goering on the basis that in 1920, Tolkien had read a form of The Fall of Gondolin to an essay club at Exeter College, Oxford.[4]
↑ Goering also questions the existence of this second presentation due to a lack of evidence.[4]
↑ The status of Fonwegian as a creation of Tolkien is disputed; while Higgins argues that it is a creation of Tolkien, scholars such as Goering and Fisher doubt this.[7] For further information, see Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien.
↑ The previously unpublished essay by Tolkien was much less developed than A Secret Vice, with many points left unsubstantiated.[9] The manuscript was left without a title, so the name "Essay on Phonetic Symbolism" is from the editors of the book; the phrase "Phonetic Symbolism" begins the essay.[10]
The Elvish languages of Middle-earth, constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien, include Quenya and Sindarin. These were the various languages spoken by the Elves of Middle-earth as they developed as a society throughout the Ages. In his pursuit for realism and in his love of language, Tolkien was especially fascinated with the development and evolution of language through time. Tolkien created two almost fully developed languages and a dozen more in various beginning stages as he studied and reproduced the way that language adapts and morphs. A philologist by profession, he spent much time on his constructed languages. In the collection of letters he had written, posthumously published by his son, Christopher Tolkien, he stated that he began stories set within this secondary world, the realm of Middle-earth, not with the characters or narrative as one would assume, but with a created set of languages. The stories and characters serve as conduits to make those languages come to life. Inventing language was always a crucial piece to Tolkien's mythology and world building. As Tolkien stated:
The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows.
The English philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien created several constructed languages, mostly related to his fictional world of Middle-earth. Inventing languages, something that he called glossopoeia, was a lifelong occupation for Tolkien, starting in his teens.
The Black Speech is one of the fictional languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien for his legendarium, where it was spoken in the evil realm of Mordor. In the fiction, Tolkien describes the language as created by Sauron as a constructed language to be the sole language of all the servants of Mordor.
The Lhammas, Noldorin for "account of tongues", is a work of fictional sociolinguistics, written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937, and published in the 1987 The Lost Road and Other Writings, volume five of The History of Middle-earth series.
The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship is a "Special Interest Group" of the Mythopoeic Society devoted to the study of J. R. R. Tolkien's constructed languages, headed by the computer scientist Carl F. Hostetter. It was founded by Jorge Quiñónez in 1988.
The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of research covering many aspects of his fantasy writings. These encompass The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, along with his legendarium that remained unpublished until after his death, and his constructed languages, especially the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin. Scholars from different disciplines have examined the linguistic and literary origins of Middle-earth, and have explored many aspects of his writings from Christianity to feminism and race.
"Namárië" is a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien written in one of his constructed languages, Quenya, and published in The Lord of the Rings. It is subtitled "Galadriel's Lament in Lórien", which in Quenya is Altariello nainië Lóriendessë. The poem appears, too, in a book of musical settings by Donald Swann of songs from Middle-earth, The Road Goes Ever On; the Gregorian plainsong-like melody was hummed to Swann by Tolkien. The poem is the longest Quenya text in The Lord of the Rings and also one of the longest continuous texts in Quenya that Tolkien ever wrote. An English translation is provided in the book.
A constructed language is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. A constructed language may also be referred to as an artificial, planned or invented language, or a fictional language. Planned languages are languages that have been purposefully designed; they are the result of deliberate, controlling intervention and are thus of a form of language planning.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, Elves are the first fictional race to appear in Middle-earth. Unlike Men and Dwarves, Elves are immortal, though they can be killed in battle. If so, their souls go to the Halls of Mandos in Aman. After a long life in Middle-earth, Elves yearn for the Earthly Paradise of Valinor, and can sail there from the Grey Havens. They feature in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Their history is described in detail in The Silmarillion.
Quenya is a constructed language, one of those devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for the Elves in his Middle-earth fiction.
Arden Ray Smith is a member of the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship and holds a Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley. He has published numerous articles relating to the languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien. He was a columnist and editor of Vinyar Tengwar, for which he wrote the popular column "Transitions in Translations", in which odd elements in translations of J. R. R. Tolkien's work were described and commented upon.
Dimitra Fimi is a Greek academic and writer and since 2023 Professor of Fantasy and Children's Literature at the University of Glasgow. Her research includes that of the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and children's fantasy literature.
J. R. R. Tolkien was both a philologist and an author of high fantasy. He had a private theory that the sound of words was directly connected to their meaning, and that certain sounds were inherently beautiful. Scholars believe he intentionally chose words and names in his constructed Middle-earth languages to create feelings such as of beauty, longing, and strangeness. Tolkien stated that he wrote his stories to provide a setting for his languages, rather than the other way around. Tolkien constructed languages for the Elves to sound pleasant, and the Black Speech of the evil land of Mordor to sound harsh; poetry suitable for various peoples of his invented world of Middle-earth; and many place-names, chosen to convey the nature of each region. The theory is individual, but it was in the context of literary and artistic movements such as Vorticism, and earlier nonsense verse that stressed language and the sound of words, even when the words were apparently nonsense.
Tolkien's scripts are the writing systems invented by the philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien. The best-known are Cirth, Sarati, and Tengwar.
Helge Kåre Fauskanger is a Norwegian author and philologist. In Norway he is known as a crime novelist; elsewhere, he is best known as a Tolkien scholar with an interest in Tolkien's constructed languages.
Anthony Appleyard worked at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and was known as a Tolkien scholar specialising in Tolkien's constructed languages. His 1995 description of the Elvish language Quenya was the first to use the information published in The History of Middle-earth. This was criticised by the Tolkien scholar Carl F. Hostetter as trying to construct a single consistent language rather than accepting that Quenya changed over time, both in the real world as Tolkien continued to invent linguistic structures, and in the fictional history of Middle-earth as the Elvish languages changed and fragmented.
Philology, the study of comparative and historical linguistics, especially of the medieval period, had a major influence on J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth. He was a professional philologist, and made use of his knowledge of medieval literature and language to create families of Elvish languages and many details of the invented world.
Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits is a 2008 book by Dimitra Fimi about J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. Scholars largely welcomed the book, praising its accessibility and its skilful application of a biographical-historical method which sets the development of Tolkien's legendarium in the context of Tolkien's life and times. Major themes of the book include Tolkien's constructed languages, and the issues of race and racism surrounding his work.
Tolkien has often been supposed to have spoken of wishing to create "a mythology for England". It seems he never used the actual phrase, but various commentators have found his biographer Humphrey Carpenter's phrase appropriate as a description of much of his approach in creating Middle-earth, and the legendarium that lies behind The Silmarillion.
The Etymologies is J. R. R. Tolkien's etymological dictionary of his constructed Elvish languages, written during the 1930s. As a philologist, he was professionally interested in the structure of languages, the relationships between languages, and in particular the processes by which languages evolve. He applied this skill to the construction of the languages of Middle-earth, especially the Elvish languages. The Etymologies reflects this knowledge and enthusiasm: he constantly changed the etymological relationships of his "bases", the roots of his Elvish words. The list of words covers several of his minor languages as well as the two major ones, greatly extending the vocabularies known before it was published in The Lost Road and Other Writings in 1987.
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