Was J.R.R. Tolkien building on a past tradition when relying heavily on languages he made up?

Question

It is a uncontested and well known fact that Tolkien was a linguist, and he wrote Middle-Earth as a setting for his languages.However, what interests me is whether the approach he took was out of the blue, or **was he building on existing literary tradition** as far as the author making up a new language, and *heavily* relying on it as part of a literary work.

Answer 1

Well, from reading his works, you can see that Tolkien was working within established linguistic and mythologic traditions particularly of Norse heritage. If you haven’t already, read The Silmarillion for greater insights.