Middle 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]
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] or [nz] [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 [{ptkpʰtʰkʰbdg}{lrmnŋ}] > [{lrmnŋ}{ptkpʰtʰkʰbdg}] 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
voiceless stops were voiced before nasals [{ptk}{nm}] > [{bdg}{nm}] 01600
[n], [m] became [t], [w] after aspirates [{ptk}ʰ{nm}] > [{ptk}ʰ{tw}] 01700
nasals became voiceless stops before aspirates [mpʰ|ntʰ|ŋkʰ] > [ppʰ|ttʰ|kkʰ] 01800
aspirates became voiceless stops after voiceless stops [{ptk}{ptk}ʰ] > [{ptk}{ptk}] 01900
aspirates became voiceless spirants [{ptk}ʰ] > [{ɸθx}] 02000
syllabic initial [s] became [is] [ṣ-] > [is-] 02100
initial [s] plus voiceless stops became voiceless spirants [sp-|st-|sk-] > [ɸ-|θ-|x-] 02200
initial [s] unvoiced following continuant [sm-|sn-|sr-|sl-|sj-|sw-] > [m̥-|n̥-|r̥-|l̥-|j̊-|w̥-] 02300
[x], [s] unvoiced following [j], [w] [{xs}j|{xs}w] > [j̊|w̥] 02400
voiced stops became nasals before nasals [{bdg}{mnŋ}] > [{mnŋ}{mnŋ}] 02500
syllabic nasals developed a preceding vowel of similar quality [ṃb-|ṇd-|ŋ̣g-|ŋ̣gw-|ŋ̣gj-] > [umb-|and-|iŋg-|uŋgw-|iŋgj-] 02600
initial [dr-], [dl-] became [r-], [l-] [dr-|dl-] > [r-|l-] 02700
initial [dj] became [j] [dj-] > [j-] 02800
initial [d] became [l] [d-] > [l-] 02900
voiced stops became spirants except after nasals and liquids [{bdg}|{mnŋ}{bdg}] > [{βðɣ}|{mnŋ}{bdg}] 03000
velars were dentalized before [j] [{kgŋ}j|ŋkj|{rlŋ}gj] > [{tdn}j|ntj|{rln}dj] 03100
initial [ɣ] before [l], [r] sometimes became a vowel [ɣ{rl}V₁-] > [V₁{rl}V₁-] 03200
[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] 03300
[ǣ], [ǭ] became [ē], [ō] [ǣ|ǭ] > [ē|ō] 03400
unstressed medial long vowels shortened [V́CV̄] > [V́CV̆] 03500
[ɣ] became [j] between liquids and [e], [a] [{rl}ɣ{ae}] > [{rl}j{ae}] 03600
[ɣ] between a vowel and [e] and became [j] [Vɣe] > [Vje] 03700
[jei], [wou] became [jē], [wō] [jei|wou] > [jē|wō] 03700
[j], [w] often reduced between vowels [V̆{jw}V] > [VV] 03900
[ln] became [ld] [ln] > [ld] 04000
[lɣw], [rɣw] became [lw], [rw] [{lr}ɣw] > [{lr}w] 04100
[mw] became [mm] [mw] > [mm] 04200
initial [ŋ] vanished [ŋV-|ŋw-] > [øV-|w-] 04300
[β], [ɣ] vocalized before voiced consonants [VβC|VɣC|Vɣj|Vɣw] > [VuC|V̄øC|Vij|Vuw] 04400
initial nasals plus stops reduced to nasals [mb-|nd-|ŋg-] > [m-|n-|ŋ-] 04500
medial [s] often became [z] [Vs{Vmnrljw}] > [Vz{Vmnrljw}] 04600
[z] and [ð] assimilated to following [r], [l] [{zð}r|{zð}l] > [rr|ll] 04700
[z] assimilated to following [m], [n] [zm|zn] > [mm|nn] 04800