Native Tongue of Gondorians

[branwyn]

What was the birth speech of Boromir and Faramir? Sindarin or Westron? My own theory is that they were raised speaking Sindarin, but if anyone has evidence to the contrary I would be very interested to hear.
Thanks!

[Radbooks]

I think that Westron was their everyday language, but there is no doubt that they knew Sindarin. If you look at Appendix F in Return of the King it's pretty clear that Westron was the language spoken by almost everyone at the end of the 3rd age. The Intro paragraph is pretty clear on that. But then when you read on in the section called 'Of Men' about the 6th paragraph it does say that Sindarin was only known to a small part of the peoples of Gondor and spoken daily by fewer.

So, I doubt that the boys would speak it as their primary language... it wouldn't be very useful if not many others spoke it.

[branwyn]

But what always gave me pause was that Faramir and his men speak Sindarin in Ithilien. Unless they were using it as a secret code, since Sauron's forces wouldn't understand it. But I recall that the rangers still speak Sindarin even when they are safe in Henneth Annun (when there is no need to speak in code).
The passages in the Appendices are ambiguous. It says that in Minas Tirith and the townlands around it, Sindarin was spoken on a daily basis. That sounds like an enclave of native Sindarin speakers to me, but I wish I could find more definitive evidence either way. I wonder what Tolkien says the northern Dunedain speak among themselves. Like the southern Dunedain, they take elvish names but that doesn't mean that they speak Sindarin on a daily basis.
Thanks for your help with this!

[Radbooks]

It's so hard to say on a lot of this stuff because you can find conflicting information in different places. I know that in my stories of the northern Dunedain I have them speaking Sindarin as their primary language. I believe I found that on the HASA site when I was doing some research for the story. It seems like if anyone would use the language it would be them. But this part of the Appendix seems to say that they don't speak it! From what I remember, the HASA referenced things that changed my mind and so I went with the Sindarin because it fit my story better.

Anyway, you might check that site and see if they have any help!