The welcome message, which contains our reasons for existing and our guidelines, is reproduced below. The Elfling FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list is also available. If you would like to read back messages from Elfling, feel free to go to the Yahoo!Groups archive of Elfling.
Welcome to the Elfling list! PLEASE READ THE FAQ BEFORE POSTING!
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The Elfling list is archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elfling, and at the TolkLang page at http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/. Please be aware that by posting, you agree to allow your posts to be published via Yahoo!Groups.com and archived in the two places just mentioned. Both archives are freely available to all; one need not be an Elfling member to access them.
New members are invited to introduce themselves to the list. Membership in Elfling is and will remain gratis; there are no membership fees or dues of any sort.
Purpose of list:
The Elfling list exists to further the scholarly study of the languages invented by JRR Tolkien. The list, despite its title, is not specifically limited to Elvish languages; discussion of Mannish and Dwarvish tongues, of the so-called “minor” languages, and of proto-languages derived by reconstruction based on the published languages, is encouraged.
Tolkien is the one language creator in modern times, and probably in all times, about whose language creations there is a large body of printed sources; there is also a vast body of material in autograph manuscript that has not as yet been made available for study outside a closed circle of people, and which still awaits scholarly publication. The Elfling list, therefore, also discusses the current state of researches into Tolkien’s linguistic creations.
The list operates under the belief that the created languages of Tolkien fully merit scholarly and technical study as language systems in their own right, and as an outstanding example of language-creation for aesthetic and artistic purposes (glossopoesy), quite apart from the study of Tolkien’s work within the field of literary criticism. While the technical study of Tolkien’s created languages may be of little interest to the reading public, it has great value for linguistics and the history of ideas alike, two fields that have been largely neglected in Tolkien studies.
Guidelines:
1) No personal attacks. Keep it civil, please. While we cannot always agree with each other, we can agree to disagree dispassionately. We also recognize that disagreement with another poster’s ideas does not necessarily constitute an attack on that poster.
1a) No grammar and spelling flames. Not everyone’s native language is English, and those who make the effort to communicate in a language that they do not speak natively are to be commended, not condemned. This applies doubly to those who make the effort to communicate in Quenya or Sindarin.
1b) No materiel flames. Items of interest to the study of Tolkien’s languages are scattered through many books and other publications. These materials can be difficult to find and quite expensive. It is unfair to expect all list members to own (or even be able to consult) all relevant materials; therefore, flames based on “You really ought to have read that!” are not permitted.
2) When you make arguments, please do your best to base your arguments on facts (either documentary evidence, or well-argued inductive or deductive proof). Argument from authority is not usually good here, and broad assertions will elicit a request for supporting evidence. Likewise, it is highly discourteous to make assertions based on hidden or otherwise unavailable evidence.
Conversely, it is rude to answer a question with nothing more than “It’s in such-and-such resource, so go look it up!” Of course there is no problem with referring people to good sources. When you do so, however, please describe briefly what exactly can be found in the source, where in the source it is to be found, and how it relates to the question at hand.
3) Please observe good netiquette. When you reply to a post, include ONLY the RELEVANT parts of that post in your reply, and delete the rest, and do your best to keep the attributions correct for posts that you quote. Some Elfling members come from parts of the world where Internet access is very costly; it is quite rude to send messages that are larger than necessary. Also, please consolidate several short reply posts into one longer post via cut-and-paste when possible.
4) Polls via the Elfling website on Yahoo!Groups.com will be allowed only with prior permission of the managers. This rule exists to avoid wasting the time of Elfling members with unclear, irrelevant, or frivolous polls.
5) Obvious spam and hate mail will cause the poster to be summarily removed from Elfling, and the managers will attempt to inform the poster’s ISP about the spam.
Elfling’s managers
Elfling is managed by John Cowan and Cirk Bejnar.
The list is generally unmoderated, but posts from new members and “graylisted” members are moderated. Members are graylisted when, in the opinion of one of the management team, they are violating Elfling’s rules; they are removed from the graylist at management discretion.
Any concerns regarding management can be addressed to the management staff. Be aware that a separate list, elfling-d, serves as a public record of insulting or abusive comments to Elfling’s moderation team. Any such comment sent to the elfling-owner address or any of the private addresses of the moderation team is subject to posting to elfling-d, where it will be world-readable.
If you would like to join the management staff, please send email indicating your interest!
A special note about Elvish poetry:
(courtesy of Helge Fauskanger; reading the entire post from the archive is highly recommended)
If you want to optimize your chances of actually having your Elvish text reviewed, here are some ideas:
- Keep it SHORT. You should post your monumental Quenya epic poem stanza by stanza, not drop it on us in one mega-posting. Some people may indeed be impressed by it, but remember: Long text = huge amount of comments necessary = more comments than anyone has the time to write.
- Provide your own, full English translation (even if this is somehow a “known” text, like a Tolkien poem), as well as any extra comments you find necessary. If you want us to tell you if you have got it right, we must know with certainty what you are trying to say.
- Make your English translation INTERLINEAR! That is, translate it between the lines of the Elvish text, for instance like this (I use a stanza from Ales Bican’s poem “Song to Éowyn” as an example - by the way, let me commend Ales for having written detailed comments on quite a few Quenya texts submitted to Elfling):
Roccalas, linda lótë nórelyo,
Éowyn, beautiful flower of your land,
anvanya yeldë Roccoliéva,
the fairest daughter of [the] People of Horses,
le calina ve Naira ilwessë;
you [are] light like [the] Sun on sky;
le rín’ anda laurëa loxenen,
you [are] crowned by long golden hair,
caltala ve i calimë alcar,
shining like the bright rays of light,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
You can certainly set out your Elvish text by itself at the beginning of the letter, perhaps even preferably so, but do repeat it - line by line - as you translate it. (Insert other necessary comments between the lines, to.) Otherwise, your potential reviewers will have to match the text with the translation themselves, before they ever get to write any comments of their own. That means extra work for them, in the case of a long text MUCH extra work, and some people just won’t bother to do it.
If you observe these points, you will substantially improve your chances of actually having your Elvish text reviewed by someone who may (or may not) know more Elvish than you do.
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