Language of the Making (was: Parseltongue)

Erich Rickheit KSC scripsit:

> For magical languages in kid's books, I'd like to learn the Language
> of Making from Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books. Of course, we don't
> get more than a couple dozen words, and a small handful of utterances,
> not really enough to make up a grammar. Mostly, it begs the question:
> how does a culture go from speaking the language of Creation to a
> mundane language? Surely the fact that incorrect utterances are
> not effective to the natural world a great barrier to language
> change. Perhaps change comes from people trying to speak to each
> other in such a way that the universe doesn't pay attention to
> them; say, by using elaborate circumlocutions, or just by speaking
> as incorrectly as possible. Hmm, that's giving me some ideas.
Exactly so.  I recommend reading the other Earthsea books, which shed
light on this, especially the appendix to _Tales of Earthsea_, which gives
you the facts about the place, including its languages.

My wife and I have just re-read all six E. books (Wizard of E., Tombs of
Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales of E., The Other Wind), so
I'm up on this at the moment.  BTW, Earthsea books are not "kid's books",
although children can certainly read & benefit from them.

--
Said Agatha Christie / To E. Philips Oppenheim  John Cowan
"Who is this Hemingway? / Who is this Proust?   jcowan@reutershealth.com
Who is this Vladimir / Whatchamacallum,         http://www.reutershealth.com
This neopostrealist / Rabble?" she groused.     http://www.ccil.org/cowan
        --author unknown to me; any suggestions?