The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E. L. F.) is a "Special Interest Group" of the

Mythopoeic Society The Mythopoeic Society (MythSoc) is a non-profit organization devoted to the study of mythopoeic literature, particularly the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and C. S. Lewis, all members of The Inklings, an informal group of wr ...

devoted to the study of the constructed languages of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

, today headed by the computer scientist

Carl F. Hostetter Carl Franklin Hostetter is a Tolkien scholar and NASA computer scientist. He has edited and annotated many of J. R. R. Tolkien's linguistic writings, publishing them in ''Vinyar Tengwar'' and ''Parma Eldalamberon''. Career NASA Carl Hostette ...

. It was founded by Jorge Quiñónez in 1988.

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 A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. ...

. They have worked from photocopies of the materials sent to them and from notes taken by the group's members in the

Bodleian The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the secon ...

and

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

Tolkien manuscript archives. 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 ''The History of Middle-earth'' is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 that collect and analyse much of Tolkien's legendarium, compiled and edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien. The series shows the development over t ...

,'' 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,

, Arden R. Smith, Bill Welden, and Patrick H. Wynne.

Journals

The E. L. F. publishes two journals, ''Vinyar Tengwar'', edited by Hostetter, and ''Parma Eldalamberon'', edited by Christopher Gilson. There is also an online journal, ''Tengwestië'', edited by Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne; and it also sponsors the ''Lambengolmor'' mailing list.

''Parma Eldalamberon''

''Parma Eldalamberon'' (broken

Quenya Quenya ()Tolkien wrote in his "Outline of Phonology" (in '' Parma Eldalamberon'' 19, p. 74) dedicated to the phonology of Quenya: is "a sound as in English ''new''". In Quenya is a combination of consonants, ibidem., p. 81. is a constructed l ...

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

. 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 An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition an ...

number. In 1995, with the support of Christopher Tolkien and permission of the

Tolkien Estate The Tolkien Estate is the legal body which manages the property of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, including the copyright for most of his works. The individual copyrights have for the most part been assigned by the estate to subsidiary enti ...

, ''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 ''The Book of Lost Tales'' is a collection of early stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, published as the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series '' The History of Middle-earth'', in which he presents and analy ...

''.). 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 refereed journal () published by the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, dedicated to the study of the languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien. The publication is indexed by the Modern Language Association. ''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; there was then a hiatus until March 2013, when issue #50 appeared. As of 2020, no further issues had been published. The journal was dedicated primarily to the editing of Tolkien's linguistic texts, some of which were mentioned in volumes of ''

'', edited by Christopher Tolkien, but not published in that series owing to their specialist nature.

ELFcon

The ELFcon was the annual open conference of the E.L.F that was held from 1991-1994. 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. ELFcons ended in 1994, but

Tolkienist Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. The concept of Tolkie ...

conventions organized by Bill Welden continue."International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien's Invented Languages"
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References

External links

*
Mythopoeic Society, the parent organization of ELF
{{Languages of Middle-earth Tolkien linguistic studies Linguistics journals Publications established in 1988