Grammar of late Quenya


is a constructed language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his fictional universe, Middle-earth. Here is presented a resume of the grammar of late Quenya as established from Tolkien's writings c. 1951–1973. It is almost impossible to extrapolate the morphological rules of the Quenya tongue from published data because Quenya is a fictional and irregular language that was heavily influenced by natural languages, such as Finnish and Latin, not an international auxiliary language with a regular morphology.
Tolkien wrote several synchronic grammars of Quenya, describing its state at specific moments during its development, but only one has been published in full: The Early Qenya Grammar. Apart from that, he wrote several diachronic studies of Quenya and its proto-language Common Eldarin, three of which have been published: The Qenyaqetsa, the Outline of Phonetic Development, and the Outline of Phonology.
Late Quenya is a highly inflected language, in which nouns have ten cases and there is a rather regular inflection of verbs. Although the word order is highly flexible, the usual structure is subject–verb–object.

Evolution

The Tolkien scholars Christopher Gilson and Patrick Wynne explore the evolution of Elvish grammar, stating that the Elvish languages including Quenya "form an expanding canvas" that grew during Tolkien's career. In the last stages of this external development, Tolkien imagined a diglossic Elven society with a vernacular language for daily use, "the 'colloquial' form of the language", called Tarquesta High-tongue, and a more formal and conservative language for use in ceremonies and lore, Parmaquesta or Book-language, "which was originally the spoken language of the Noldor of Túna as it was at approximately period V.Y. 1300". Tolkien envisaged that Quenya evolved, internally within Middle-earth, following regular laws or linguistic principles, and that languages, even if different, could interrelate.

Nouns

Numbers

Contrary to many auxiliary languages that have fairly simple systems of grammatical number, in late Quenya nouns can have up to four numbers: singular, general plural, particular/partitive plural, and dual.
In late Quenya Tarquesta, the plural is formed by a suffix to the subjective form of the noun.
"Thus in Quenya Eldar = Elves, The Elves, All Elves; i Eldar = the Elves previously named ; but Eldali, Elves, some Elves. With Eldali the definite article is seldom used,"
Not all nouns can have all four numbers since some of them are pluralia tantum having no singular variant for referring to a single object, such as armar ; some other nouns, especially monosyllabic ones, use only one of the two plurals judged the most aesthetic by Elves ; with the word má "the only plural in use was máli". The word tó has no dual or plural, according to Tolkien.

Noun declension

Quenya nouns are declined, having cases that often resemble those of Finnish. Declining is the process of inflecting nouns; a set of declined forms of the same word is called a declension. Parmaquesta has ten cases. These include the four primary cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and instrumental; three adverbial cases: allative, locative, and ablative; and an adjectival case.
Primary cases:
  • The nominative is the subject of a verb. It is also used with most prepositions.
  • The accusative is the direct object of a verb. It has the same form as the nominative in Tarquesta, but is distinct in Ancient Quenya and in Parmaquesta.
  • The genitive is mainly used to mark origin. Its usage sometimes overlaps the ablative, sometimes the adjectival.
  • The instrumental marks a noun as a means or instrument.
Adverbial cases:
  • The allative expresses motion towards: elenna, 'toward a star, starward'.
  • The dative is the indirect object of a verb.
  • The locative expresses location or position: Lóriendesse, 'in Lórien'.
  • The ablative expresses motion away from: earello, 'from the sea'.
Adjectival case:
  • The adjectival case describes qualities, and turns almost any noun into an adjective. It is also used to indicate possession or ownership. In Tarquesta, this usage sometimes overlaps with the genitive.
The declension of the noun in Parmaquesta has been published in the so-called "Plotz Declension" that Tolkien provided in a letter to Dick Plotz in 1967. This provides the "classical" declension of two vocalic-stem nouns cirya "ship" and lassë "leaf", in four numbers: singular, pl. 1, pl. 2, and dual. The declension has eight chief cases in three groups that Tolkien labelled a, b, and c. Of these cases, Tolkien named only
The allative and locative in turn have short forms, of which the short allative form appears to correspond to the dative case. The third group, c, has only one member, which appears to correspond to the adjectival case as described in the essay "Quendi and Eldar – Essekenta Eldarinwa" written in c. 1960.
The declension of cirya and lasse given below is taken from the Plotz Declension and reflects the forms of Classical Quenya. The declensions of ondo "stone", nér "man", and cas "head" are taken from an earlier conceptual period of Quenya.
Singularciryalassëondonércas
Nominativeciryalassëondonércas
Accusativeciryálasséondocara
Genitiveciryolassëoondonerocaro
Instrumentalciryanenlassenenondoinennerinencarinen
Allativeciryannalassennaondontanertacasta
Dativeciryanlassenondornerencaren
Locativeciryassëlassessëondossenerissëcasse
Short Locativeciryaslassesondosneriscas
Ablativeciryallolasselloondollonerullocallo, carullo
Adjectivalciryavalassevaondovanerwacarwa

Plural 1ciryalassë
Nominativeciryarlassí
Accusativeciryailassí
Genitiveciryaronlassion
Instrumentalciryainenlassínen
Allativeciryannarlassennar
Dativeciryainlassin
Locativeciryassenlassessen
Short Locativeciryaislassis
Ablativeciryallonlassellon

Plural 2ciryalassëondonércas
Nominativeciryalílasselíondoli?cari
Accusativeciryalílasselíondoli??
Genitiveciryalionlasselionondolion??
Instrumentalciryalínenlasselínenondolínen??
Allativeciryalinnalasselinnaondolinta??
Dativeciryalinlasselinondolir??
Locativeciryalisselasselisseondolissen??
Short Locativeciryalislasselis???
Ablativeciryalillolasselilloondolillon??
Adjectivalciryalívalasselíva???

Dualciryalassëondonércas
Nominativeciryatlassetondosnerutcarut
Accusativeciryatlassetondosnerutcarut
Genitiveciryatolassetoondunerucaru
Instrumentalciryantenlassentenondoinent??
Allativeciryantalassentaondontas??
Dativeciryantlassentondurnerurcarur
Locativeciryatsëlassetsëondoset??
Ablativeciryaltolasseltoondollut??