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Old 06-30-2003, 03:04 AM   #3
Gwaihir the Windlord
Essence of Darkness
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Evermore
Posts: 1,420
Gwaihir the Windlord has just left Hobbiton.
Sting

Yes; as I remember, the language of orcish was merely a debased form of Westron -- that is to say a descendant of Numenorean, enriched with the speech of other Men of Middle-Earth -- enriched with components of the Black Speech. The Black Speech in its pure form was not spoken all over Mordor -- although Sauron's purpose was indeed to spread it over the whole of Middle-Earth once he had conquered it. Many Orcs would probably have mostly spoken Westron anyway.

So the speech of the Orcs would have been more or less intelligible to most listeners-in, such as Sam, even without the enhanced powers of aural perception awarded to him by the Ring.
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