Q. [w]

Q. [w]

Pronounced as English “w”. It appears most frequently following another consonant, such as in curwë “skill” or tengwa “letter”. That’s because in Quenya’s phonetic history, initial and intervocalic w became v (PE19/72) as in vinya “new” < √WIN or céva “fresh” < ✶kēwā, while between a vowel and a consonant w became and formed a diphthong (PE19/100) as in laurë “gold (light)” < ✶glaw(a)re.

Despite these phonetic rules, initial w does appear in some Quenya words, such as wendë “maiden” and wilwarin “butterfly”. These surviving initial w may be the result of more ancient initial gw-, the clearest example of this being words like walmë “excitement” < √GWAL. Here the initial g weakened to the voiced velar spirant ʒ before ultimately vanishing, but it survived long enough to prevent the w becoming v, at least in Classical Quenya. Tolkien did say that these initial w from gw also eventually became v, but later than isolated primitive w:

gw became [ʒw], and then initially a spirantal frictional w (with slight friction both at the back and at the lips); but already in PQ this w was weakened. The weakening was later than the beginnings of the change of original w > v, and w < gw remained as such and distinct from w, v for some time: in earlier PQ it is not represented by the sign for v; but in TQ it had become identified with w, v (PE19/75-76).

Given the statement that “in TQ it [w from gw] had become identified with w, v”, Neo-Quenya writers often change all initial w to v, for example writing vilvarin “butterfly” or vende “maiden”, something Tolkien himself did on occasion. Entries in the Eldamo lexicon represents w- words with v-, though it indicates the older pronunciation with a following [w] in brackets. Tolkien’s use of initial w could instead represent either archaic or dialectical pronunciation.

There are also some ambiguities in the pronunciation of w after another consonant. The letters w and y are unique in that they represent the only consonants that can make up three-consonant clusters in Quenya such as ngw or nty (PE19/82). Furthermore, consonants pairs ending in w or y were the only pairs that allowed a preceding long vowel or diphthong, such as sáque/saique or mátya/maitya, and (mostly) the only pairs allowed at the beginning of words. They were also “short enough” to allow for the Quenya syncope: [ᴹQ.] salquë “grass” < ✶salakwē.

As such, it is possible this following w represents a labialization of the preceding consonant, so that ngw = [ŋgʷ] and qu = [kʷ], and many Neo-Quenya writers assume that such sounds are unitary consonants. However, in notes on Qenya Spelling from the late 1930s Tolkien said:

q, ngw [= ŋw] are not actually strictly simple consonants in pronunciation though they can stand initially where Qenya does not tolerate actual consonant groups ... q (kw) consists of a lip-rounded followed by a partly unvoiced w-offglide (more marked medially than initially) ... gw which only occurs in the medial group ngw is the voiced counterpart: a lip-rounded followed by a w-offglide (PE22/65-66).

According to this, qu and ngw are actually pronounced as full clusters [kw] and [ŋgw] (more accurately [kʷw̥, ŋgʷw]). It thus seems likely that clusters with w and y were considered “long enough” to attract stress, so that [ᴹQ.] ataquë “building” was stressed on the second syllable rather than the first. I think it is best to think of qu and ty as “semi-clusters”, somewhere between a consonant pair and a labialized or palatalized unitary consonant.

References ✧ LotR/1114; PE17/76; PE18/105; PE19/72, 75-76, 80, 93; PE22/149; VT48/6

Variations

Element In

Phonetic Development

Q. [no change] w < w ✧ PE18/105 (w > w); PE19/72 (w > w)
ww < ɣw ✧ PE19/76 (gw > u̯w)
Q. [nm], [ŋm] became [nw], [ŋgw] nw < nm ✧ PE22/149 (-nm > nw̃ > nw)
Q. [nm], [ŋm] became [nw], [ŋgw] ŋgw < ŋm ✧ PE22/149 (ŋm > nw̃ > ngw)
Q. [ɣ] from [g] vanished ø < ɣ ✧ PE18/105 (gw > w); PE19/72 (gw > ʒw > w); PE19/75 (ʒw > w; initially)
w-|VwV > β-|VβV ✧ PE17/76 (w > v)
w-|VwV > v-|VvV ✧ PE19/76 (w > v; from gw, in TQ)

ᴹQ. [w]

References ✧ PE19/38, 51; PE22/65

Variations

Element In

Phonetic Development

ᴹQ. [no change] w < w ✧ PE19/38 (w > w); PE19/51 (w > w)
ᴹQ. [ɣ] from [g] vanished ø < ɣ ✧ PE19/38 (ʒw > w); PE19/51 (ʒw > w)
ᴹAQ. voiced stops became spirants except after nasals and liquids ɣ < g ✧ PE19/38 (gw > w)
ᴹAQ. initial [ŋ] vanished w- < ŋw- ✧ PE19/38 (ñw > ʒw > w)

ᴱQ. [w]

References ✧ PE12/13-14, 16-17, 20; PE14/41, 60

Variations

Element In

Phonetic Development

ᴱQ. [no change] w < w ✧ PE12/16 ( > w (u))
ᴱQ. [ɣʷ] became [w] w < ɣʷ ✧ PE12/16 (ɣ͡w > ; medial)
{lr}w < {lr}xʷ ✧ PE12/17 (liquids + x͡w > lw or rw)
ᴱQ. final voiceless spirants were weakened and voiced -w < -xw ✧ PE12/20 (ƕ > )
ᴱQ. [sxʷ] became [sw] sw < sxʷ ✧ PE12/20 (sx͡w > sw)
ᴱQ. [jǝ], [wǝ] became [je], [wo] after a vowel awo < awǝ ✧ PE12/13 (au̯ǝ́ > avó)
ᴱQ. [j], [w] became [i], [u] after a vowel Vu < Vw ✧ PE12/14 (ū̆ > )
ᴱQ. [au] became [o] before unstressed vowel, but [aw] before stressed vowel awé < aué ✧ PE12/13 (au̯é > awé)
ᴱQ. [au] became [o] before unstressed vowel, but [aw] before stressed vowel awá < auá ✧ PE12/13 (au̯á > awá)
ᴱQ. [au] became [o] before unstressed vowel, but [aw] before stressed vowel awó < auó ✧ PE12/13 (au̯ó > avó)
ᴱQ. [au] became [o] before unstressed vowel, but [aw] before stressed vowel awí < auí ✧ PE12/13 (au̯í > awí)
ᴱQ. [eu], [iu] became [euw], [iuw] before unstressed vowel, [ew], [iw] before stressed vowel ewV́ < euV́ ✧ PE12/13 (ew-́ > ew-́)
ᴱQ. [eu], [iu] became [euw], [iuw] before unstressed vowel, [ew], [iw] before stressed vowel iwV́ < iuV́ ✧ PE12/13 (iw-́ > iw-́)
ᴱQ. voiceless and voiced [w] became [f], [v] in Inwelin w > v ✧ PE14/60 (w > v)
ᴱQ. [j], [w] became [i], [u] after a vowel Vw > Vu ✧ PE12/20 ( > u)