WWU linguistics professor delves into J.R.R. Tolkien's languages

J.R.R. Tolkien, wildly popular for his authorship of the fantasy trilogy "The Lord of the Rings," was by profession an unprepossessing Medievalist and historical linguist.

Edward Vajda, a professor in the Modern and Classical Languages Department at Western, discusses Tolkien's imaginary languages and how the author and linguist's extensive knowledge of world languages both ancient and modern lent itself to his creation of languages that add so much realistic depth to his fictional writing.