Lapine is a fictional language created by author Richard Adams for his 1972 novel Watership Down, where it is spoken by rabbit characters.
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11 Facts About Lapine language
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The language was again used in Adams' 1996 sequel, Tales from Watership Down, and has appeared in both the film and television adaptations.
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The fragments of Lapine language presented by Adams consist of a few dozen distinct words, and are chiefly used for the naming of rabbits, their mythological characters, and objects in their world.
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The name "Lapine language" comes from the French word for rabbit, lapin, and can be used to describe rabbit society.
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5.
Words of the Lapine language were developed by Adams piecemeal and organically as required by the circumstances of the plot.
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Adams commented that the motivation for the sound of Lapine language was that it should sound "wuffy, fluffy" as in the word "Efrafa".
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Sound of Lapine has been ascribed to influence from Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Arabic languages.
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Albert Valdman notes that inter-rabbit Lapine language is alternately formal and colloquial "marked by hesitations, interruptions, interjections, incomplete sentences, and false starts".
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The use of Lapine language words is often used to indicate concepts unique to rabbits, such as silflay or tharn.
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Valdman further notes differences between the Lapine language Foreigner Talk used to facilitate discussion as with Kehaar the gull, and that used to signal the depreciated status of the unnamed mouse.
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11.
Lapine language noted differing levels of use according to socioeconomic status with usage highest among middle and lower middle class speakers.
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