Re: Was Tolkien a good conlanger? (was: Re: Good Books

In a message dated 3/5/2004 11:22:32 AM Eastern Standard Time,
a.rosta@V21.ME.UK writes:
>David P:
>> Further, I remain to be convinced that Tolkien was actually a
>> *good* language creator, rather than just a prolific, or highly
>> public, one.
>I would like to try to convince you, then, but first I need to
>know what you think are the criterial properties of being a
>good conlanger.
I would say JRRT was a good conlanger -- or at any rate that Quenya and
Sindarin are good conlangs (does that amount to the same thing?)

I think highly of Quenya & Sindarin partly because they seem to be
aesthetically pleasing to see and hear, and also beause they seem natural.  It would be
easy to mistake them for natural languages, unlike, say, Klingon, which
definitely looks constructed.  (That's not a criticism of Klngon, which was designed
with other goals in mind.)

Doug