Ancient 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] [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}|pm] > [{ptk}{tw}|{ptk}ʰ{tw}|pp] 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