Ancient Quenya Phonetics

The section analyzes the most ancient stages of Quenya phonetic development, those changes prior to the Classical Quenya period. Phonetic developments from the Classical period forward are discussed in the entry on Quenya Phonetics.

Phonemes

  p-series t-series k-series
voiceless-stops [p] [t] [k]
voiced-stops [b] [d] [g]
voiced-spirants [β] ‹ƀ› [ð] [z] [ɣ] ‹ʒ›
voiceless-spirants [ɸ] ‹ꝑ› [s] [θ] ‹þ› [h] [x] ‹χ›
nasals [m] [m̥] ‹hm› [n] [n̥] ‹hn› [ŋ] ‹ñ›
voiced-continuants [w] [l] [r] [j]
voiceless-continuants [w̥] ‹hw› [l̥] ‹hl› [r̥] ‹hr› [j̊] ‹hy›

vowels [i] [e] [a] [o] [u]
others [ø]

Phonetic Groups

Phonetic Rules

[ms] became [ns] [ms] > [ns] 00100
[ns] became [ss] [ns] > [ss] 00200
second short vowel of same quality lost [V₁CV̆₁CV] > [V₁CCV] 00300
later [j], [w] became [i], [u] before consonants [VjC|VwC] > [ViC|VuC] 00400
[ls] became [ll] or [ld] [ls] > [ll] 00500
stops frequently underwent metathesis with nasals and liquids [{ptk}{mnŋlr}|{pʰtʰkʰbdg}{mnŋ}|{tʰd}l] > [{mnŋlr}{ptk}|{mnŋ}{pʰtʰkʰbdg}|l{tʰd}] 00600
[nl], [nr] became [ll], [rr] [nl|nr] > [ll|rr] 00700
[sr] became [ss] [sr] > [ss] 00800
[rl] and [lr] became [ll] [rl|lr] > [ll|ll] 00900
[r], [l] often became syllabic in clusters [V₁Cḷ|CCr] > [V₁CV₁l|CCar] 01000
[r] became [s] after voiceless stops and aspirates [{ptkpʰtʰkʰ}r] > [{ptkpʰtʰkʰ}s] 01100
initial [d] assimilated to following nasal [dVXn-] > [nVXn-] 01200
initial [ɣ] became [h] [ɣ-] > [h-] 01300
combinations of voiced stops were unvoiced [{bdg}{bdg}] > [{ptk}{ptk}] 01400
[z] plus voiced stop became unvoiced [z{bdg}] > [s{ptk}] 01500
[n], [m] became [t], [w] after voiceless stops and aspirates [{ptk}{nm}|{ptk}ʰ{nm}] > [{ptk}{tw}|{ptk}ʰ{tw}] 01600
nasals became voiceless stops before aspirates [mpʰ|ntʰ|ŋkʰ] > [ppʰ|ttʰ|kkʰ] 01700
aspirates became voiceless stops after voiceless stops [{ptk}{ptk}ʰ] > [{ptk}{ptk}] 01800
aspirates became voiceless spirants [{ptk}ʰ] > [{ɸθx}] 01900
syllabic initial [s] became [is] [ṣ-] > [is-] 02000
initial [s] plus voiceless stops became voiceless spirants [sp-|st-|sk-] > [ɸ-|θ-|x-] 02100
initial [s] unvoiced following continuant [sm-|sn-|sr-|sl-|sj-|sw-] > [m̥-|n̥-|r̥-|l̥-|j̊-|w̥-] 02200
[x] unvoiced following [j], [w] [xj|xw] > [j̊|w̥] 02300
voiced stops became nasals before nasals [{bdg}{mnŋ}] > [{mnŋ}{mnŋ}] 02400
syllabic nasals developed a preceding vowel of similar quality [ṃb-|ṇd-|ŋ̣g-|ŋ̣gw-|ŋ̣gj-] > [umb-|and-|iŋg-|uŋgw-|iŋgj-] 02500
initial [dr-], [dl-] became [r-], [l-] [dr-|dl-] > [r-|l-] 02600
[dj] became [lj] [dj] > [lj] 02700
initial [d] became [l] [d-] > [l-] 02800
voiced stops became spirants except after nasals [{bdg}|{mnŋ}{bdg}] > [{βðɣ}|{mnŋ}{bdg}] 02900
velars were dentalized before [j] [{kgŋ}j|ŋkj|{rlŋ}gj] > [{tdn}j|ntj|{rln}dj] 03000
initial [ɣ] before [l], [r] sometimes became a vowel [ɣ{rl}V₁-] > [V₁{rl}V₁-] 03100
[j], [w] often became [i], [u] after consonant groups [CC{jw}|C{td}j|C{kg}w] > [CC{iu}|C{td}j|C{kg}w] 03200
[ę̄], [ǭ] became [ē], [ō] [ę̄|ǭ] > [ē|ō] 03300
unstressed medial long vowels shortened [V́CV̄] > [V́CV̆] 03400
[ɣ] became [j] between liquids and [e], [a] [{rl}ɣ{ae}] > [{rl}j{ae}] 03500
[ɣ] became [j] between [i], [e] and a vowel [{ie}ɣV] > [{ie}jV] 03600
[jei], [wou] became [jē], [wō] [jei|wou] > [jē|wō] 03600
[j], [w] often reduced between vowels [V̆{jw}V] > [VV] 03800
[ln] became [ld] [ln] > [ld] 03900
[lɣw], [rɣw] became [lw], [rw] [{lr}ɣw] > [{lr}w] 04000
[mw] became [nw] [mw] > [nw] 04100
initial [ŋ] vanished [ŋV-|ŋw-] > [øV-|w-] 04200
[β], [ɣ] vocalized before voiced consonants [VβC|VɣC|Vɣj|Vɣw] > [VuC|V̄øC|Vij|Vuw] 04300
initial nasals plus stops reduced to nasals [mb-|nd-|ŋg-] > [m-|n-|ŋ-] 04400
medial [s] often became [z] [Vs{Vmnrljw}] > [Vz{Vmnrljw}] 04500
[z] and [ð] assimilated to following [r], [l] [{zð}r|{zð}l] > [rr|ll] 04600
[z] assimilated to following [m], [n] [zm|zn] > [mm|nn] 04700