Back To The Past?

Disentangling Elvish Time and Space Refer- ence

Abstract

J.R.R. Tolkien used his created languages (conlangs) to experiment with alternative linguistic structures. On example is the time reference system of the Elvish languages. This paper explores Elvish time reference based on three texts published in the chapter “Notes on Elvish Time-Reference” in The Nature of Middle-earth (2021) and data from Tolkien's conlangs, namely Quenya and Common Eldarin. Tolkien experimented with the Elvish worldview on time and space in general. According to two of the discussed texts from The Nature of Middle-earth, the Elves visualize the past in front of them and the future behind them. I will argue that this worldview is found in The Lord of the Rings but that Tolkien rejected it later and replaced it was an opposing worldview that visualizes the future as in front and the past as behind. From the latter worldview, Tolkien derived a time reference system which uses the same expressions for ‘behind, at the back’ and ‘before’, and ‘in front, ahead’ and ‘after’. This contrasts with English, where we can use before with both a spatial and temporal meaning. I will argue that this colexification is not the logical outcome of the Elvish worldview and explore why this system is rare in the languages of the World while the English system is frequently found. I will explain how the English time reference system developed according to contemporary linguistic theory and propose an explanation for the development of the Elvish system. In this way, I will show that the English system is not confused, as Tolkien thought, but based on a coherent space-time metaphor. 

In linguistic terms, the paper deals with adverbials in the form of noun phrases with temporal/spatial expressions serving as prepositions and markers of sequential location.