Wow thanks for that run-down of the linguists/vocal coaches' rationale...that's really great and just about says it all. I had guessed the thing about Frodo and Bilbo speaking a more standard English accent because they're educated and had contact with elves. What they said about the elves speaking clearly and deliberately makes me see why the elves in the film all seemed...hm, a bit snooty? Tense? Something like that. I guess, what can you expect from mortals trying to play Quendi. <P>I had guessed Aragorn and the wizards were rolling R's because that is the elvish way to do it. The comments from the coaches didn't say that specifically though. Well, if they need an excuse it sounds like a good reason to me!<P>They are actually following in Tolkien's footsteps in doing things this way, ie giving different accents to different groups. In the appendix to the book Tolkien explains how he came by transcriptions of names out of the Common Speech and it sounds a lot like the reasoning they used in the film. None of the accents were jarring so I agree that the actors did a great job.
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