Elvish Linguistic Fellowship

The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E. L. F.) is a "Special Interest Group" of the Mythopoeic Society^[1] devoted to the study of the constructed languages of J. R. R. Tolkien, today headed by the computer scientist Carl F. Hostetter. It was founded by Jorge Quiñónez in 1988. The E. L. F. publishes two journals,^[2][3] Vinyar Tengwar, edited by Hostetter, and Parma Eldalamberon, edited by Christopher Gilson. There is also an online journal, Tengwestië,^[4] edited by Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne; and it also sponsors the Lambengolmor mailing list.

Organising Tolkien's language writings[]

In 1992, Christopher Tolkien appointed the editors of the E.L.F. to order, edit, and then publish his father's writings concerning his constructed languages. They have worked from photocopies of the materials sent to them and from notes taken by the group's members in the Bodleian and Marquette University Tolkien manuscript archives. It was agreed that the best way to do this was chronologically, as Tolkien's writings are often fully explicable only in light of his earlier writings, and often are dependent on those earlier writings for their context (both in internal and external terms). This main course of publication was being carried out in the journal Parma Eldalamberon, until it halted in June 2015. There are, however, some writings that are largely independent, and/or whose context has been sufficiently established by Christopher Tolkien's own chronological publication efforts in The History of Middle-earth, and so do not have to be presented in the normal chronological flow of the larger project. Such materials are being published in the journal Vinyar Tengwar. Members include Christopher Gilson, Carl F. Hostetter, Arden R. Smith, Bill Welden, and Patrick H. Wynne.

Parma Eldalamberon[]

Parma Eldalamberon (broken Quenya for 'The Book of Elven-tongues') was founded in 1971 as a fanzine devoted to a variety of invented literary languages, published under the auspices of the Mythopoeic Society. Today it is an irregular publication dedicated to the editing of Tolkien's manuscripts describing his Elvish Languages. It is edited by Christopher Gilson. It has no ISSN or ISBN number. Parma Eldalamberon is sold on a per-issue basis only, it is not found in bookstores.

In 1995, with the support of Christopher Tolkien and permission of the Tolkien Estate,^[5] Parma was reinvented as a series of standalone volumes publishing in full material from Tolkien's manuscripts relating to languages and scripts. Much of this material was previously unpublished or published only in heavily edited form (for example, selections from the "Gnomish Lexicon" published in full in Parma Eldalamberon #11 were published in the Appendices to The Book of Lost Tales.^[6]).

For a list of material by Tolkien published in Parma Eldalamberon 1995 to date, see Elvish languages (Middle-earth)#Bibliography.

Vinyar Tengwar[]

Vinyar Tengwar (broken Quenya for "News Letters") is a journal^[7] (ISSN 1054-7606) published by the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, dedicated to the study of the invented languages of J. R. R. Tolkien. The publication is indexed by the Modern Language Association.^[8]

Issues[]

Vinyar Tengwar first appeared in 1988, at first edited by Jorge Quiñónez and later taken over by Hostetter. It appeared in bimonthly intervals at first, but after July 1994, issues appeared more irregularly, roughly once a year, until #49 appeared in June 2007;^[9] there was then a hiatus until March 2013, when issue #50 appeared. As of 2020, no further issues had been published.^[10] The journal was dedicated primarily to the editing of Tolkien's linguistic texts, some of which were mentioned in volumes of The History of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien, but not published in that series owing to their specialist nature.^[9]

Back issues of the journal are published in collections of ten issues on a per-order basis; issues 1-10, the last batch to be converted to this format, became available in March 2007.

ELFcon[]

The ELFcon was the annual open conference of the E.L.F. Its purpose was to present scholarly papers on any subject relating to Tolkien's invented languages, to discuss the papers amongst the attendees, and to serve as a friendly gathering for a common intellectual pursuit. There were four ELFcons:

• First Annual Colloquium on the Languages of Middle-earth, later called ELFcon I (1991)
• Second Annual Colloquium on the Languages of Middle-earth, also known as ELFcon II (1992, report in Vinyar Tengwar #23)
• ELFcon III (1993)
• ELFcon IV (1994)

ELFcons ended in 1994, but Tolkienist conventions organized by Bill Welden continue.^[11]

References[]

External links[]

• E. L. F. website
• Parma Eldalamberon
• The Vinyar Tengwar site
• The Tengwestië site
• The Lambengolmor list
• Mythopoeic Society, the parent organization of ELF