I agree that there is no good purpose in writing a book in a language different from that of your intended readers - nor is any purpose served by inventing fake measurement systems, etc...
Quenya/Sindarin is a special case.
It *deserves* to be a complete language.
It just does.
Quenya/Sindarin is a special case. It *deserves* to be a complete language. It just does.
I agree. While the earliest words were conjured up in a manner common to most writers of fiction, as the history of Middle Earth was developed more and more, the languages increased in importance to where actual effort was invested in giving them linguistic elements common to real languages. That this effort was undertaken to make the linguistic properties of the elven tongues authentic, rather than having them be otherwise meaningless strings of sonorous syllables, renders that effort worthy of being carried forward to some advanced stage of development. I cannot use the term "completion", because no language is ever really "complete" unless it is a "dead" language; no further entries being made to its lexicon. While the case could easily be made that the elven tongues are among the ranks of "dead" languages, even the effort to assemble their remains into an understandable skeleton of linguistic properties has resulted in a resurrection of sorts. So much so that some have begun extending the language; adding new verbs and nouns to the original lexicon. Thus, among a very small, but growing, group of scholars, enthusiasts and assorted hangers-on, the elven tongues have come to life, again, and none can tell how far this will go. It's well worth additional participation.