David I. Salo (born February, 1969) is an American linguist and student of J.R.R. Tolkien's constructed languages.
Biography[]
At Macalester College in Minnesota, Salo studied Greek, Latin, and linguistics, which stimulated his mastery of Tolkien's languages. He managed a mailing list for fans with the same passion, called Elfling, founded in 1998[1] by his wife,[2] Dorothea Salo, and also contributed often to Lisa Star's Tolkienian language journal Tyalië Tyelelliéva. Shortly afterward, he was chosen as Tolkien language consultant in the making of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films. He expanded on Tolkien's recorded vocabulary of Sindarin, Quenya, and Khuzdûl (Dwarvish), providing the lyrics in such languages for songs in the films or for words in the films' soundtrack. He gives some commentary in the Extended Edition documentaries J.R.R. Tolkien - Origins of Middle-earth and J.R.R. Tolkien: Legacy of Middle-earth. In 2003, Salo studied master's-level linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[3]
In 2004, his book A Gateway to Sindarin was published, which stands as the only comprehensive study of and guide to the Sindarin language in book form.
In the early 2010s, Salo returned to cinema to assist in the same function for The Hobbit films. His work there left a considerable sum of Khuzdul and Black Speech words Salo had invented for the grammatical need of the context in the film, referred to by fans as "Neo-Khuzdûl" and "Neo-Black Speech". He had also created an Orcish dialect apart from Black Speech, given the name Yrksk.[4] Lexicons of Salo's invented material were available at his now-discontinued personal website; they can currently be found on other websites, such as here.
David Salo resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife.
Articles written[]
- 1995 - "Commentary on Firiel's Song" in Tyalië Tyelelliéva, n. 7
- 1996 - "Catamando Lire Mincarme" in Tyalië Tyelelliéva, n. 9
- 1997 - "The Book of Mazarbul as an example of book-making in Middle-earth" in Tyalië Tyelelliéva, n. 10
- 1997 - "Legolas' Song of Lebennin" in Tyalië Tyelelliéva, n. 11
- 1998 - "Development of 'Galadriel's Lament'" in Tyalië Tyelelliéva, n. 12
- 2000 - "A History of the Nandor" and "A Grammar and Dictionary of Silvan Elvish" in Other Hands, n. 28.
External links[]
- Former personal blog, Midgardsmál
- "David Salo on Black Speech, orc dialects and the Mind of Sauron" at TheOneRing.net, September 2013
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ http://nellardo.com/lang/elf/faq.html#s0.2, "Section 0 About Elfling and the Elfling FAQ"
- ↑ https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1651&context=nasig
- ↑ January 2003 article of the Wisconsin State Journal. pg. C1
- ↑ https://zhaaburi.wordpress.com/yrksk/