Clueless in Middle Earth (WAS LOTR movie)

[blpurdom]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., Katze <jdumas at k...> wrote:
> In regards to Liv's voice. I'm not sure what they did, but I 
> remember seeing a clip of her talking about how she developed the 
> speech patter for Arwen based in the language in the books. I 
> thought that was quite wonderful..truly getting into her part.

I was listening very intently when she was speaking elvish and 
reading the subtitles at the same time; I am quite certain that she 
pronounced Arwen "Ar-oo-en."  In Welsh, "w" is pronounced "oo." 
(I've just finished reading "The Grey King," in which Susan Cooper 
gives a wonderfully succinct explanation of Welsh pronunciation.)  
Does this mean JRRT based Elvish on Welsh?  Since Welsh is one of 
the Brythonic languages, that would make a certain amount of sense, 
I suppose.  As a philologist, he probably knew how to pronounce/read 
all of the ancient languages of the British Isles.  (I wish I could 
speak Gaelic; I love listening to Mary Jane Lamond sing in Gaelic, 
and not just because she has the same last name I was born with.)  I 
was just fascinated to hear Tyler say "Ar-oo-en."  FOTR was just so 
wonderfully thorough I think I'm seriously considering going to see 
that film again instead of going with a friend who hasn't seen the 
HP film yet...

--Barb