The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E. L. F.) 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.

Organising Tolkien's language writings

In 1992,

Christopher Tolkien Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English and naturalised French academic editor and writer. The son of the author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher edited 24 volumes based on his father's P ...

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 (shortened to conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed natural language, naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devise ...

. 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. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

and

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

Tolkien manuscript archives. This main course of publication is being carried out intermittently in the journal ''Parma Eldalamberon''. 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 by George Allen & Unwin in the UK and by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin in the US. They collect and analyse much of J. R. R. Tolkien' ...

,'' 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.

Journals

The E. L. F. publishes two journals, ''Vinyar Tengwar'', edited by Hostetter, and ''Parma Eldalamberon'', edited by Christopher Gilson. There is an online journal, ''Tengwestië'', edited by Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne; and it sponsors the ''Lambengolmor'' (Quenya: "loremasters") 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, initially published under the auspices of the Mythopoeic Society, and then taken over by the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship. 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 (law), estate to s ...

, ''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 analyses ...

''.

''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 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'' (paralleling his idea of ''mythopoei ...

. The publication is indexed by the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

. ''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.

''Tengwestië''

''Tengwestië'' is the E.L.F.'s online journal. Its editors are Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne. Articles have appeared intermittently.

ELFcon

The ELFcon was the annual open conference of the E.L.F., held from 1991 to 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 conventions organized by Bill Welden continued, renamed to ''Omentielva'', from ''omentie'', Quenya for "meeting". Its proceedings are published in ''Arda Philology''.

Notes

References

External links

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