What Language was Spoken in Narnia?

[Benisse]

Good point; whatever happened at our Babel to create different languages, the fact is that for ages the language of the earth world was mutually understandable. So the universal language in Narnia could possibly have been preserved since the days of King Frank with no Babel curse to cause language shift and new languages to emerge.

[Lily of Archenland]

Regardless of whether altogether new languages were ever made, I can't believe that the language would have undergone no shifts whatsoever over time - you make new words when you discover new things (were there any plants or animals in Narnia which weren't carbon copies of Earth? Unusual biological needs connected to the mythical creatures, or connected to having beings that were people and trees at the same time? Weather-terms for underwater phenomena since you have naiads, mermaids, and possible some Talking Beasts spending a lot of their time underwater - or detailed flight-related terms from the Birds, Bats, and Fledgelings?). You make new words via slang, when somebody shortens a word for ease of use or adds a new ending to make it sound fancy or a large group of people share a joke in common. Folklore and historical anecdotes lead to phrases and metaphors which, while not strictly New Terms, would be more likely to be understood quickly by people who grew up In a culture than otherwise. And you also have the question of whether any of the persons in places other than Narnia besides the Telmarines came through chinks and chasms from non-Narnian worlds - and whether any of them gave Narnia loanwords through trade routes.

[Shield Maiden]

Lily, Lewis did create some new words for the Narnian world - pavender doesn't exist here.

I do understand your point, though - I'm surprised that there wasn't /more/ of a language shift than what is (barely) obvious in the books.

[Lily of Archenland]

There is always the question of who is the narrator, in the Watsonian - if it is Lewis narrating, and he learned the story from one or more participants, might he or his source be changing the wording a bit in places to make it more easily comprehensible?

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Ohhhh... I hadn't thought of that! Lewis does make it sound he's had interviews with the characters....

[Lily of Archenland]

^_^ It is a possibility which is fun to think about.
Of course, that would leave the question of how we got The Last Battle - but the hypothesis works well up to a point!

[kristi]

Same way we got The Great Divorce