English, I assume. It would have been rough on the Pevensies and Eustace and Jill coming to Narnia otherwise.

Unless there was some magic which made them switch language without noticing.

But yes, I assume so too.

How do you account for Narnia existing much longer than the distance between King Alfred and us and still having the same English?

I mean there were about 1000 years between first and second arrival of Pevensies.

and forġyf ūs ūre gyltas, swā swā wē forġyfað ūrum gyltendum. = And forgive us our guilts as also we forgive our guilters ?

Same language?

That's a question I wondered about too. But I think the appearances of the other peoples in the Narnia universe (Telmarines, Calormenes, etc.) may partially explain it.

I believe they said they were speaking Narnian. Didn't Tumnus mention that? I do believe Aslan would have purposely done the language switch idea so that it wouldn't be hard on them. He knew they spoke a different language there. I think what happened can be related to what happened at the Pentecost, in the New Testament.

I think they would call it Narnian, just as we call English English, not Anglo-Saxon-Norman. Somehow America hasn't started calling American English American, but we might if England wasn't a place that we could go.

And that is an interesting question about what Caspian was speaking. Perhaps the high born of Non-Narnian countries had distinct dialects by the time Telmar took over?

While linguistic evolution didn't seem to take place in Narnia (Must have driven Tolkien mad 😛 ) one reason for there only being one language and a slowing of the language changing would be that there's no equivalent of the tower of Bable in Narnia so there would be no reason for there to be a massive language shift due to mingling with people that spoke something different.

It's possible too, that with everyone being spread out over the world of Narnia, different regions would have different vocabularies over time (most notably to our knowledge, the Calormenes as opposed to... everyone else we know of). As for the basic preservation (or non- or slow evolution) of the language over such a great span of time, I have no explanation.

I wonder if talking animals and walking trees can have contributed some conservatism.

Telmarines are obviously English Pirates only if the Telmarines in Narnia speak English - otherwise it is not so obvious from what nation the pirates came.

Telmarines and Calormenes seem to have had access each to another language than English, to judge from names. As for Archenland, there might have been Irish as that other language. Telmarines seem also to have studied Latin - Pulverulentus Siccus might have been a learned Pirate's self mocking translation of a nickname like "Dry-as-Dust".

So this is kinda my answer to the question. I must add that I wrote it over four years ago and before my Masters degree in which I had properly studied historical linguistics and language change (although having studied it now, some of the questions raised are even more relevant).

http://hedgepickle.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/linguistic-conundrums-in-narnia.html

Wonderful refreshment, I had seen it already. But forgotten about it.

I had written a Google doc about it, I think, yes, the Philologica article about Narnian Philology is not it, and I don't know how to get to my google docs after they switched system.

Intriguing thread --
Although this may sound like a cop out, if Narnia did not undergo a linguistic Babel (Genesis 11) the linguistic principle of all peoples understanding one another may still have been in effect in this magical world (c.f., Tooky's suggestion mentioning an absence of Babel in Narnia).

I think of the scene in Charn, in which the words inscribed on the pillar on which the golden bell and hammer were written in some unknown script. Yet as Digory and Polly looked at the message they found they could understand it after all (and they also understood Jadis also after the ringing of the bell woke her from her enchanted sleep).

' "There seems to be something written here," said Polly, stooping down and looking at the side of the pillar.

"By gum, so there is," said Digory. "But of course we shan't be able to read it."

"Shan't we? I'm not so sure," said Polly.

They both looked at it hard and, as you might have expected, the letters cut in the stone were strange. But now a great wonder happerned: for as they looked, thought the shape of the strange letters never altered, they found that they could understand them.'

Although their understanding the foreign script may be explained by enchantment, the principle of being able to understand other peoples when the children of Adam and Eve visited may have also been a property of deep magic, an effect of breathing Narnian air, perhaps?

(And as a side note, I expect that in the future in heaven, linguistic barriers will again be broken down so that we may all worship together in our own languages yet all be able to understand one another.)
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I think they would call it Narnian, just as we call English English, not Anglo-Saxon-Norman. Somehow America hasn't started calling American English American, but we might if England wasn't a place that we could go.

And that is an interesting question about what Caspian was speaking. Perhaps the high born of Non-Narnian countries had distinct dialects by the time Telmar took over?

While linguistic evolution didn't seem to take place in Narnia (Must have driven Tolkien mad 😛 ) one reason for there only being one language and a slowing of the language changing would be that there's no equivalent of the tower of Bable in Narnia so there would be no reason for there to be a massive language shift due to mingling with people that spoke something different.

Before Babel, people also lived longer and in one single society (not sure this was the case before Flood, like one single society).

In Narnian world you do have Calormen, Archenland, Telmar and Islands as fairly distinct societies. And in punishment of Babel the ... well, you might have a point too.

I would assume English because when Narnia was born, it's first king and queen were English. They may be different languages from other regions such as Calormen but I think that NARNIA'S language was English. 🙂

Plus, Aslan seems to have spoken English so that the children and the cabby and Uncle Andrew and all would understand Him. It may be He kept English alive in Narnia so Lucy and Tumnus could hold a conversation when Lucy came in LWW. If Lucy couldn't understand Tumnus, then the whole plotline of the rest of the series would be seriously messed up. And Aslan wouldn't want that, if you understand what I'm saying.

Plus, Aslan seems to have spoken English so that the children and the cabby and Uncle Andrew and all would understand Him. It may be He kept English alive in Narnia so Lucy and Tumnus could hold a conversation when Lucy came in LWW. If Lucy couldn't understand Tumnus, then the whole plotline of the rest of the series would be seriously messed up. And Aslan wouldn't want that, if you understand what I'm saying.

That's an interesting theory! It may be true too! I wouldn't be surprised if Aslan knew more languages (especially if he is based off of Jesus).