Lapine language

The words of the Lapine language were developed by Adams piecemeal and organically as required by the circumstances of the plot. In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" interview, Adams noted that "I just constructed Lapine as I went—when the rabbits needed a word for something so did I." Reflecting on his inspirations for the words, Adams stated that "some of them are onomatopoeic like hrududu (motor vehicle), but overall they simply came from my subconscious".{{Cite web |last=Adamsrichard |date=2013-09-25 |title=I am Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, Shardik, and other novels. AMA! |url=http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1n3quw/i_am_richard_adams_author_of_watership_down/ |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=r/IAmA}} Adams commented that the motivation for the sound of Lapine was that it should sound "wuffy, fluffy" as in the word "Efrafa". Writing for The Guardian, Keren Levy described the Lapine language as "somehow easy to accept as [a language] we have always known. It is the language of the countryside, of its copses and beeches and of the weather."

The sound of Lapine has been ascribed to influence from Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Arabic languages. Author Stephen Cain bolsters the Arabic connection by noting in particular that "Adams had occasion to study [Arabic] during his military service in the Middle East." The Lapine language has also been frequently compared to Sindarin (the language of the Elves in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth series) in terms of its effect on setting in the novels. Following the success of Watership Down, Richard Adams would go on to invent another constructed language for his Beklan novels, Shardik (1974) and Maia (1984).

Some fans of the book, including authors and academics, have written about the words and phrases extant in the corpus of Watership Down and have analyzed the language and its variations on a linguistic level.

Within the books, the rabbits' use of Lapine is presented to readers as Standard English with the inclusion of a number of specialized Lapine lexical terms. Albert Valdman notes that inter-rabbit Lapine is alternately formal and colloquial "marked by hesitations, interruptions, interjections, incomplete sentences, and false starts". Pit Corder breaks this down further, finding that the Lapine spoken by the rabbits consists of 64% simple sentences, 14% compound sentences (with 30% paratactic and 70% marked coordination), and 22% complex sentences. The mean Lapine sentence length is 6.3 words.

Adams includes a glossary of all Lapine words in the book at the end. Notable traits include the plural marker -il (which replaces a final vowel if it is present in the singular: hrududu, "automobile", pl. hrududil), and the fact that cardinal numbers only go up to four, with any number above that being called hrair, "many", although the runt Hrairoo's name is translated into English as "Fiver" instead. The use of Lapine words is often (although not exclusively) used to indicate concepts unique to rabbits, such as silflay (aboveground grazing) or tharn (tonic immobility).

When speaking to other animals, the rabbits adopt a lingua franca known as "Hedgerow." However, in both examples given in the book (i.e. the mouse and Kehaar the gull) the conversation reverts to Lapine once initial contact has been established. More specifically, the rabbits adopt formal Lapine; the other animals employ a Lapine Foreigner Talk that Corder describes as "a reduced code or incipient pidgin". He further notes that the general rules of "Foreigner Talk" are well-established in societies, even among natives who have never communicated with a foreigner. Corder attributes the learning of the rules of "Foreigner Talk" to its use within native-speaker-oriented literature and other media as a proxy for interlanguage.

Because Lapine is presented in the novels as Standard English, Lapine Foreigner Talk is essentially English Foreigner Talk with a Lapine gloss; thus, it provides an example of linguistic enculturation for children who read the books. Breaking down the syntax of Lapine Foreigner Talk to compare with that of standard Lapine, Corder finds that they are roughly the same with the only notable difference being an inversion of the proportion of paratactic to marked coordination in compound sentences. Specifically, Corder reports Lapine Foreigner Talk to consist of 73% simple sentences, 15% compound sentences (70% paratactic and 30% marked coordination), and 12% complex sentences (with 60% complemented by the four verbs "think", "know", "say", and "tell"). Valdman further notes differences between the Lapine Foreigner Talk used to facilitate discussion as with Kehaar the gull, and that used to signal the depreciated status of the unnamed mouse (a less powerful animal in the rabbit world).

The use of Lapine outside of the fictional world of the novels has been explored by Thomas E. Murray, who notes that the Lapine word "silflay" (meaning "To go above ground to feed. Literally, to feed outside.") has entered the English lexicon as more than a mere nonce word. In a survey Murray found that the term was in use (meaning "the act of rabbits eating above-ground") primarily in the Midwest and North Central United States. He also noted differing levels of use according to socioeconomic status with usage highest among middle and lower middle class speakers. Murray suggests that the geographical spread of the term may in part be limited by interactions with rabbits, highlighting the comment of a New York City-based survey participant who knew the word but never used it due to the lack of rabbits in the city. Murray also claims that the Lapine word "Crixa" (meaning "The center of Efrafa, at the crossing point of two bridle paths") has also gained usage outside the novel: it is used by students to refer to the residential dormitories within Ohio State University.

Lapine has been described as easy to learn due to its emphasis on nouns, and it has been praised as a didactic tool for budding linguists and learners of English as a second language.

Linguists, academics, and fans of the original novel have further developed and refined the Lapine language since its 1972 creation. Authors, such as Patrick Jemmer (who corresponded briefly with Adams regarding Lapine), have made large-scale "recreations" of various possible historical stages of the language. Jemmer's work documents the evolution of numerous inter-related languages (the process of development and analysis is called "aleolinguistics"). It contains comprehensive syntax for each linguistic stage (or "aleostate"), and vocabularies involving approximately 2000 lexemes. Sample scripts and comparative texts are available.

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite book | last = Adams | first = Richard | author-link = Richard Adams | date = 2005 | chapter = Introduction | title = Watership Down | page = xiv | publisher = Scribner | isbn = 978-0-7432-7770-9}}

{{cite book | last = Adams | first = Richard | author-link = Richard Adams | date = 2005 | chapter = Lapine Glossary | title = Watership Down | pages = 475–476 | publisher = Scribner | isbn = 978-0-7432-7770-9}}

{{cite web | url = http://interviewly.com/i/richard-adams-dec-2014-reddit | title = Richard Adams reddit AMA - December 2014 | last = Adams | first = Richard | author-link = Richard Adams | date = December 2014 | website = Reddit (via Interviewly.com) | access-date = 1 February 2015 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170103113703/https://www.interviewly.com/i/richard-adams-dec-2014-reddit | archive-date = 2017-01-03}}

{{cite book | last = Cain | first = Stephen | author-link = Stephen Cain (poet) | date = 2006 | chapter = Watership Down | title = Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | pages = 211–212| isbn = 9780313021930}}

{{cite journal |last1=Corder |first1=S Pit |title=The Language of Kehaar |journal=RELC Journal |date=17 August 2016 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1177/003368827700800101 |s2cid=145776871 |issn = 0033-6882}}

{{cite web | url = http://www.langmaker.com/featured/lapine.htm | title = Lapine: The Language Of Watership Down | last = Henning | first = Jeffrey | author-link = Jeffrey Henning | website = Langmaker | access-date = 23 January 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120424144234/http://www.langmaker.com/featured/lapine.htm | archive-date = 24 April 2012}}

{{cite web | url = https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/7-fictional-languages-from-literature-and-film-that-you-can-learn | title = 7 fictional languages from literature and film that you can learn | last = Hickman | first = Matt | website = Mother Nature Network | access-date = 11 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181021062213/https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/7-fictional-languages-from-literature-and-film-that-you-can-learn | archive-date = 21 October 2018}}

{{cite web | url = https://www.geek.com/news/11-fake-languages-that-are-super-easy-to-learn-1632544 | title = 11 Fake Languages that are Super Easy to Learn | last = Jensen | first = K. Thor | website = Geek.com | access-date = 11 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160426095411/https://www.geek.com/news/11-fake-languages-that-are-super-easy-to-learn-1632544 | archive-date = 26 April 2016}}

{{cite news | last = Levy | first = Keren | date = 19 December 2013 | title = Watership Down by Richard Adams: A tale of courage, loyalty, language | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/dec/19/comfort-reading-richard-adams-watership-down | newspaper = The Guardian | access-date = 1 February 2015}}

{{cite journal | last = Murray | first = Thomas E. | title = Lapine Lingo in American English: Silflay | journal = American Speech | volume = 60 | issue = 4 | pages = 372–375 | date = 1985 | doi = 10.2307/454919 | issn = 0003-1283 | jstor = 454919}}

{{cite news | last = Oltermann | first = Philip | date = 26 August 2015 | title = The rabbit language of Watership Down helped me make the leap into English | url = https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/26/watership-down-rabbit-language-conquer-english-richard-adams | newspaper = The Guardian | access-date = 11 June 2019}}

{{cite book | last = Rogers | first = Stephen D. | date = 2011 | chapter = Lapine | title = The Dictionary of Made-Up Languages | publisher = Adams Media | pages = 125–126 | isbn = 9781440530401}}

{{cite journal | last = Valdman | first = Albert | title = Sociolinguistic Aspects of Foreigner Talk | journal = International Journal of the Sociology of Language | issue = 28 | pages = 41–52 | date = January 1981 | issn = 0165-2516 | doi = 10.1515/ijsl.1981.28.41| hdl = 2022/23306 | s2cid = 143959806 | url = https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/2022/23306/1/Valdman%2c%20Albert_Sociolinguistic%20Aspects%20of%20Foreigner%20Talk%20%281981%29.pdf | hdl-access = free }}

{{cite book | last = Jemmer | first = P W | date = 2014 | title = Studia Aleolinguistica: An in-depth study of linguistic 'subcreation'. Enflame Newcastle Number 4 | publisher = NewPhilSoc | isbn = 9781907926167}}

{{cite web | url = http://aleolinguistics.jimdo.com/ | title = Aleolinguisics: Creative Language Development | last = Jemmer | first = Patrick | website = Jimdo | access-date = 1 May 2017 }}

}}

• {{cite journal | last = Jemmer | first = Patrick | title = Secret Vices: Lapine | journal = Quettar | volume = 25 | pages = 3–4 | date = 1986}}
• {{cite journal | last = Jemmer | first = Patrick | title = U Sthinga-i-Kelaabr: Tolkien's Ring Poem in Lapine| journal = Aglared (English Ed.) | pages = 10 | date = July 1987}}
• {{cite journal | last = Jemmer | first = Patrick | title = Subcreation: A Linguistic Faculty of Greatest Excellence| journal = Quettar | volume = 31 | pages = 8–10 | date = 1988}}
• {{cite thesis | type = Project Fund Award | first = Patrick | last = Jemmer | title = Schema Aleolinguistica | publisher = Trinity College, Cambridge | year = 1989}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20040621175144/http://alowvelkiconsulting.co.uk/language/lapine.html excerpts available] via Internet Archive.)
• {{cite thesis | type = First Yeomanship Award | first = Patrick | last = Jemmer | title = Ars Aleolinguistica | publisher = Trinity College, Cambridge | year = 1990}}

{{wiktionary|Appendix:Lapine}}

• [http://bitsnbobstones.watershipdown.org/lapine/overview.html Frithaes! A Guide To Colloquial Lapine]

{{Watership Down}}{{Constructed languages}}

Category:Watership Down

Category:Fictional languages

Category:Constructed languages

Category:Constructed languages introduced in the 1970s