Elvish Languages on Numenor

[elfscribe]

Hi Lizards - need some canon help.

Stephen Geard in A History and Complete Chronology of Numenor has the following to say about elvish languages on Numenor:

" *Quenya was the language of the High Elves of the West (i.e. Valinor). It was brought to Middle-earth by the Noldor (one of the tribes of the Elves) as they returned to Middle-earth in pursuit of Morgoth at the begining of the First Age. However, for various reasons, once in Middle-earth the Noldor largely abandoned Quenya in favour of Sindarin. Quenya was taken to Númenor by the Edain as the language of ancient lore and wisdom. It was not spoken on Númenor but was used to form the official names of places and important people. Even so, these places and people usually had Sindarin and/or Adûnaic names, often with the same meaning as the Quenya. Unless otherwise indicated all the names appearing in the table in Part 2 are Quenya.
* Sindarin was originally the language of the Grey Elves of Beleriand (a region in the north-west of Middle-earth), however it became the lingua franca of all Elves in Middle-earth throughout the First and Second Ages. Until banned, it was widely spoken in Númenor - especially in the north-west around the city of Andúnië."
members.ozemail.com.au/~sdgeard/hccnum1.html

So, according to this, if one is speaking elvish at all on Numenor (in latter days to do so was defying the ban against it), one is speaking Sindarin.
First of all, in your opinions (this especially asked of Darth) is this correct? And if so, anyone know where Tolkien says this? Secondly, if so, how did it evolve? It seems to me that there would be more connection - at first - among the Edain with the elves in Valinor who still spoke Quenya and in addition, all the names on Numenor are in Quenya. So where did a daily use of Sindarin come in here? Third, anyone know if/where there is a list of Sindarin and Adunaic equivalents of place-names on Numenor? I've only seen a couple of Adunaic equivalents for main characters, such as Nimruzir as the equivalent of Elendil (which is Quenya, btw.)
I guess Elros spoke Sindarin and maybe that's the answer to my question?
Thoughts?

[elfscribe]

My lovely and talented beta Malinornë did some research on this question for me. Thanks Mal!
So I'm posting the answer in case anyone is remotely interested:

After some research, I have to say I agree with Geard, at least
if we accept Unfinished Tales as canon (I haven't compared, so I
don't know if it contradicts any of the info given in
Akallabeth). I think I've found the passage that he (and other online
sources) are based on, the 'where Tolkien says this' you asked for
at LC. In note #19 to the story of Aldarion and Erendis, it
says:

"Quenya was not a spoken tongue in Númenor. It was known only
to the learned and to the families of high descent, to whom it
was taught in their early youth. It was used in official documents
intended for preservation, such as the Laws, and the Scroll and
the Annals of the Kings..., and often in more recondite works
of lore. It was also largely used in nomenclature: the official
names of all places, regions, and geographical features in the
land were of Quenya form (though they usually had also local
names, generally of the same meaning, in either Sindarin or Adúnaic
[Númenorean]. The personal names, and especially the official
and public names, of all members of the royal house, and of the
Line of Elros in general, were given in Quenya form" (UT:216).
The Kings took Quenya names because High-Elven was "the noblest
tongue in the world" (UT:218).

This isn't all - the note is a page long, but I have the book
only in Swedish (found the above quote at Ardalambion). So if you
have UT, go read the note in its entirety, it ought to be on
page 215-216 or so. Before this passage about Quenya, it says that
Sindarin was the everyday language on the northwestern part of
the island (because of the people there oringinating with the
tribe of Men that were closest with the Elves) , while Adunaic was
used on the rest, although everyone was able to communicate in
Sindarin.

I seriously doubt a list of place-name in Sindarin and Adunaic
has been published, if JRRT even made one... seeing that he did
not finish and publish his Numenor stories in his lifetime, he
may not have come further than the idea that these places had
Sindarin and Adunaic names in addition to the Quenya ones that he
used himself on the map and in narrative. If such names were
known, they ought to have appeared in Geard's article, or at
Ardalambion. Unless, of course, they have been published in one of the
lingusitic magazines Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon the
last 2-3 years. I have the VT:s for that period but don't remember
seeing anything on Numenor. And PE I have ordered.

This is from Ardalambion - the first sentence is the site owners
deduction from info in the Silmarillion:

Originally all the Edain were Elf-friends, and most of them knew
Sindarin (though the daily speech of the Númenóreans was
Adûnaic, a Mannish tongue). We are told that "the lore-masters
among them learned also the High Eldarin tongue of the Blessed
Realm, in which much story and song was preserved from the beginning
of the world... So it came to pass that, beside their own names,
all the lords of the Númenóreans had also Eldarin [Quenya
and/or Sindarin] names; and the like with the cities and fair
places that they founded in Númenor and on the shores of the Hither Lands" (Akallabêth).

Also from Ardalambion:

Appendix F in LotR (and UT:216) informs us that "the Dúnedain
alone of all races of Men knew and spoke an Elvish tongue; for
their forefathers had learned the Sindarin tongue, and this they
handed on to their children as a matter of lore, changing little
with the passing of the years". Perhaps it was the Dúnedain
that stabilized the Sindarin language, at least as used among
themselves (UT:216 states that Sindarin spoken by mortal Men
otherwise "tended to become divergent and dialectal"). Whatever the
standard of Mannish Sindarin might have been in later ages, back in
the First Age "the most part of [the Edain] soon learned the
Grey-elven tongue, both as a common speech among themselves and
because many were eager to learn the lore of the Elves"
(Silmarillion ch. 17)

Elros spoke Sindarin, yes, but it appears most of the humans did
as well at the time they moved to Elenna/Numenor.

Here's a quote from 'Letters', p. 154 in case you have it:

"The Numenoreans dwell within far sight of the easternmost
'immortal' land Eressëa; and as the only men to speak an Elvish
tongue (learned in the days of their Alliance) they are in constant
communication with their ancient friends and allies, either in
the bliss of Eressëa, or in the kingdom of Gilgalad on the
shores of Middle-earth."