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 speaking tel'quessir (elvish)
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 24 Sep 2016 :  04:34:38  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
I am currently trying to learn tel'quessir for my campaign (and well for fun). I'm having trouble with the exact pronunciation. I haven't found anything precise, only things similar (sindarin). I'm just not sure if I should be comparing sindarin with tel'quessir

I have found several websites detailing tel'quessir pronunciation, but nothing like actually hearing it. if anyone has ANYTHING to help me. please feel free to Private message me or reply. thanks

:D


Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane

Fellfire
Master of Realmslore

1965 Posts

Posted - 24 Sep 2016 :  07:09:31  Show Profile Send Fellfire a Private Message  Reply with Quote
There is an Elvish dictionary here, but nothing on pronunciation.

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Love is a lie. Only hate endures. Light is blinding. Only in darkness do we see clearly.

"Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but.. blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me." - Bane The Dark Knight Rises

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BenN
Senior Scribe

Japan
382 Posts

Posted - 24 Sep 2016 :  11:15:45  Show Profile Send BenN a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I was really impressed with the creator of a BG2 mod (Kivan and Deheriana, URL below); she did the voice for one of the mod's characters, all in elvish. The accent & intonation sounds kinda Italian to me; as spoken elvish is supposed to be 'musical', that sounds about right.

http://www.gibberlings3.net/kivan/
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 24 Sep 2016 :  14:10:03  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by BenN

I was really impressed with the creator of a BG2 mod (Kivan and Deheriana, URL below); she did the voice for one of the mod's characters, all in elvish. The accent & intonation sounds kinda Italian to me; as spoken elvish is supposed to be 'musical', that sounds about right.

http://www.gibberlings3.net/kivan/



Thank you I will look at that url right now

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 24 Sep 2016 :  14:20:04  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
hmm. can't seem to download it. wonder if there is just a audio file I can get??

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 08 Oct 2016 :  19:22:11  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I found a section in The Swordcoast Adventurers Guide about how to write Elvish. Its informative

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 11 Nov 2016 :  21:18:56  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Working pretty hard at Learning Tel' Quessir.

I'm curious, Has anyone else tried to learn a language like this. like sindarin, Valyrian, Klingon, etc...

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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BenN
Senior Scribe

Japan
382 Posts

Posted - 12 Nov 2016 :  07:29:07  Show Profile Send BenN a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Elren_Wolfsbane

hmm. can't seem to download it. wonder if there is just a audio file I can get??


I've found the relevant audio files in the mod (44 in all, in .ogg format); if you let me know your e-mail address (via private message?), I'll send them to you.
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TBeholder
Great Reader

2384 Posts

Posted - 12 Nov 2016 :  10:54:48  Show Profile Send TBeholder a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Is "tel'quessir" used as a term for language anywhere in the canon lore? I'd be very surprised.

People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch
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Wrigley
Senior Scribe

Czech Republic
605 Posts

Posted - 12 Nov 2016 :  11:52:59  Show Profile  Visit Wrigley's Homepage Send Wrigley a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I am afraid Mr Greenwood didn't made full language for elves. However Mr Tolkien did and you can find it even online.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 12 Nov 2016 :  15:41:17  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Elren_Wolfsbane

Working pretty hard at Learning Tel' Quessir.

I'm curious, Has anyone else tried to learn a language like this. like sindarin, Valyrian, Klingon, etc...



I dislike conlangs. Languages grow and evolve naturally, over time, and pick up bits and pieces here and there from other languages. That's why the English language is so weird and has exceptions to pretty much every single rule, as well as oddness like geese but not meese, or the fact that Jack is a nickname for Jonathan...

When you build a language from scratch, it doesn't have that natural, organic development.

So to me, conlangs are about the same as pig Latin.

Related note: Middle-Earth was created to have a history for the languages Tolkien was creating. He was all about the language; the stories came from his realization that language needs history.

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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 13 Nov 2016 :  20:39:34  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder

Is "tel'quessir" used as a term for language anywhere in the canon lore? I'd be very surprised.



Yes, I believe it is the main Elvish Language in the realm. You can find some stuff on it at:

Dragon Magazine #279
and
http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/diction_elf.htm

(and many other references as well)

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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CorellonsDevout
Great Reader

USA
2708 Posts

Posted - 15 Nov 2016 :  23:36:29  Show Profile Send CorellonsDevout a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Elren_Wolfsbane

quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder

Is "tel'quessir" used as a term for language anywhere in the canon lore? I'd be very surprised.



Yes, I believe it is the main Elvish Language in the realm. You can find some stuff on it at:

Dragon Magazine #279
and
http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/diction_elf.htm

(and many other references as well)



This was the one I was going to suggest. Races of the Wild also has a bit on Elvish, though again, no pronunciation.

Sweet water and light laughter
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 20 Nov 2016 :  12:52:56  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by CorellonsDevout

quote:
Originally posted by Elren_Wolfsbane

quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder

Is "tel'quessir" used as a term for language anywhere in the canon lore? I'd be very surprised.



Yes, I believe it is the main Elvish Language in the realm. You can find some stuff on it at:

Dragon Magazine #279
and
http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/diction_elf.htm

(and many other references as well)



This was the one I was going to suggest. Races of the Wild also has a bit on Elvish, though again, no pronunciation.



Races of the wild.. ohh, I have to find that. Thanks

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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nicodoggie
Acolyte

Philippines
1 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2016 :  08:48:42  Show Profile Send nicodoggie a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I dislike conlangs. Languages grow and evolve naturally, over time, and pick up bits and pieces here and there from other languages. That's why the English language is so weird and has exceptions to pretty much every single rule, as well as oddness like geese but not meese, or the fact that Jack is a nickname for Jonathan...

When you build a language from scratch, it doesn't have that natural, organic development.



Just like Tolkien, a lot of naturalistic conlangers actually go through the effort of addressing this issue by doing a lot of world-building. The Akana project (http://akana.conlang.org/wiki/Main_Page) is one of the most well known. I am kind of surprised that there isn't more overlap between the conlanging community and the tabletop one.

More relevant to the topic, I have one attempt at a Tel'Quessir grammar, but nothing about sounds: http://www.grey-company.org/Circle/language/grammar.htm

You could use Quenya or Sindarin as guides though, maybe:

http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/quenya.htm#Heading6
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Sindarin#Phonology

Edited by - nicodoggie on 25 Nov 2016 08:50:15
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Kiaransalyn
Senior Scribe

United Kingdom
762 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2016 :  23:17:50  Show Profile Send Kiaransalyn a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Elren_Wolfsbane

Working pretty hard at Learning Tel' Quessir.

I'm curious, Has anyone else tried to learn a language like this. like sindarin, Valyrian, Klingon, etc...



Most constructed languages (ConLangs) are either really impressive in terms of scholarship (examples include Sindarin, Quenya, Klingon, Dothraki and Verdurian) or utter crap (most things in D&D).

Years ago, I got all fascinated with the 'drow language' but the more I looked at the resources out there (Grey Company, etc), the more I discovered that 'drow' was either a code or just plain gobbledygook. There was (oh it's still there) a drow dictionary where anyone could make up an entry, which is why there is a drow 'word' for 'television' but not for 'cup'. (See for yourself: http://www.grey-company.org/Maerdyn/resources/translator/)

Which one do you think a drow is most likely to use a cup or a television?

If you look at the alphabets in the recent 5th Edn books (and I really like 5th Edn by the way), you'll see they all have the same letters, but why would Dwarves have 'Q', 'c' or 'X'? Why not "kw" for 'Q', "K" or "s" for 'c', and "ks" for 'x'?

If you want a language that sounds nicely Elvish, either try Finish (Tolkien's inspiration for Quenya) or Welsh (Sindarin). A simple dictionary would give you enough subject matter for flavour.

The problem with the Elvish language in FR is that it is not clear what sounds the letters represent. For example, 'Kiir' is 'Gem’ but is that two syllables 'Key ear' a long i such as in Dutch and Finnish "keir" or "k-ear" or tonal, does the vowel sound rise, fall, drop suddenly, etc?

Then we have Kiira - 'gems', so this tells us that adding an 'a' makes the plural, but when we look around we see that "Tel'Kiira" = ‘Lore Gem’ (and don't get me started on that sodding apostrophe it serves no function whatsoever, it's there to look foreign that's all), "El'Tael" = ‘Bladesingers’ (not El Taela), and "N'Vaelahr" = ‘Shadow Soldiers'.

It's all been made up, with the emphasis being on what looks 'elven', not on what an elf might actually speak.

(Odd aside, apparently "Creyala" = ‘Poker (Card Game)’ and "Filliken" = ‘Open Skirt’ (Prostitute)')

So, save yourself years of frustration and don't bother with made up languages unless you know that real thought has gone into them. Sindarin and Quenya are decent bases for Elvish, there's no reason why you can't use them for Elvish flavour. :)

Death is Life
Love is Hate
Revenge is Forgiveness


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Jimmy: Yeah. But don't hold it against me.
Ken: I'll try not to... Just try not to say anything too loud or crass.

Edited by - Kiaransalyn on 22 Dec 2016 23:32:58
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore

Australia
6646 Posts

Posted - 23 Dec 2016 :  01:59:13  Show Profile Send George Krashos a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I've been dabbling in a few FR languages of late - in terms of word, plurals and some basic verb structure - and have taken pains to create "rules" so the inconsistencies you mention above don't occur. Where I have encountered difficulties is where the canon FR sources (including Ed) throw up words and terms, which can be tough to reconcile. Elvish in the FR firmament is by the far the worst in this regard.

In saying that I am aware that Ed did create an "FR elvish" but it was never adopted by TSR/WotC. That ship has well and truly sailed now.

-- George Krashos

"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus
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CorellonsDevout
Great Reader

USA
2708 Posts

Posted - 23 Dec 2016 :  03:22:02  Show Profile Send CorellonsDevout a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I always thought it would be fun to create a language. I love linguistics. I haven't really studied the FR languages much. I know Tolkien put great thought into his languages, particularly Elvish.

Sweet water and light laughter
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 23 Dec 2016 :  07:53:39  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I enjoy learning a new language like Tel'Quessir (fr elvish). It's challenging, but I'm still working at it

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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Starshade
Learned Scribe

Norway
279 Posts

Posted - 23 Dec 2016 :  14:32:59  Show Profile Send Starshade a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Do "FR Elvish" have a grammatical structure at all, or is it more or less loose words, with gobedygok grammar?
The Kiira - Tel'kiira, indicates some Authors have looked on interesting Languages, Celtic or Swahili got prefixes, but making a working grammar now, if noone have bothered... Would be like Star Trek, with klingon - klingonase (the first klingon was nonsense, too. But they made the Language, and pretended the gobedygok was a "dialect")
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 23 Dec 2016 :  15:22:51  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I would say they structured it like Tolkien's Sindarin . It is a different dialect of Elvish, but the grammatical and sentence structure is very close

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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TBeholder
Great Reader

2384 Posts

Posted - 27 Dec 2016 :  21:58:26  Show Profile Send TBeholder a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Elren_Wolfsbane

quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder

Is "tel'quessir" used as a term for language anywhere in the canon lore? I'd be very surprised.


Yes, I believe it is the main Elvish Language in the realm. You can find some stuff on it at:
Dragon Magazine #279
and
http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/diction_elf.htm

(and many other references as well)

I don't know how to put it delicately... so, to put it bluntly, "I believe X is Y, and there's something about it in Z" does not equal "X was specifically said to be Y in the source Z".
AFAIK, the only name proper given was "Espruar" - alphabet / written language of the Moon Elves used as written "Elven Common". Also it's occasionally mentioned that there used to be several older languages used by the Elves of different origins, but that's all.
Where the spoken language was called anything more specific than just "Elven"/"Elvish"?

People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 27 Dec 2016 :  22:49:37  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I was only using Tel'Quessir as a reference to which dialect of Elvish I'm trying to learn. Not to get confused with other dialects of Elvish such as; Sindarin (Tolkien) , Ssamath (drow), Darnassian, Nazja, and Thalassian (from WoW), etc. ..

Espruar is the written form of Elvish, yes. And it would just be called elvish.


Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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Ayrik
Great Reader

Canada
7969 Posts

Posted - 28 Dec 2016 :  02:13:49  Show Profile Send Ayrik a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The Old Grey Box described Espruar as the alphabet for writing silver elvish. Often used by gold elves. Not always used by gold elves. Implying that gold elves have their own alphabet and script, thus Espruar is only one elvish and not all elvish.

Tolkien was a writer, poet, and a university professor of philology (the study of written language and linguistics). He constructed several languages for his fantasy writings, and provided extensively detailed alphabets, vocabularies, and grammars for each - along with pronunciation guides for English speakers/readers.

But I don't know why all this concern about elven language and pronunciation. I mean - aside from knowing how to insult, curse, and swear at them - why would anyone ever want to talk to an elf?

[/Ayrik]

Edited by - Ayrik on 28 Dec 2016 02:28:00
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Elren_Wolfsbane
Learned Scribe

USA
111 Posts

Posted - 28 Dec 2016 :  03:14:18  Show Profile Send Elren_Wolfsbane a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik

The Old Grey Box described Espruar as the alphabet for writing silver elvish. Often used by gold elves. Not always used by gold elves. Implying that gold elves have their own alphabet and script, thus Espruar is only one elvish and not all elvish.

Tolkien was a writer, poet, and a university professor of philology (the study of written language and linguistics). He constructed several languages for his fantasy writings, and provided extensively detailed alphabets, vocabularies, and grammars for each - along with pronunciation guides for English speakers/readers.

But I don't know why all this concern about elven language and pronunciation. I mean - aside from knowing how to insult, curse, and swear at them - why would anyone ever want to talk to an elf?



Why does some e learn Klingon!! Because they love the show, the lore, the language. That is one reason I'm learning Elvish. I love D&D and think it's interesting to earn/ speak this language. Yes, I am using it for my campaign. I'm also learning it for the fun of it

Aa' lasser en`coialle n`natula brown.

(May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown)

-Elren Wolfsbane
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