The Lord of the Rings

as
Nargothrond, Gondolin, Beleriand.
In the Third Age final
nd
in long words had become
n
from
nn,
as in
Ithilien, Rohan, Anórien.

VOWELS
     
    For vowels the letters
i, e, a, o, u
are used, and (in Sindarin only)
y.
As far as can be determined the sounds represented by these letters (other than
y)
were of normal kind, though doubtless many local varieties escape detection. 2 That is, the sounds were approximately those represented by
i, e, a, o, u
in English
machine, were, father, for, brute,
irrespective of quantity.
    In Sindarin long
e, a, o
had the same quality as the short vowels, being derived in comparatively recent times from them (older
é, á, ó
had been changed). In Quenya long
é
and
ó
were, when correctly 2 pronounced, as by the Eldar, tenser and ‘closer’ than the short vowels.
    Sindarin alone among contemporary languages possessed the ‘modified’ or fronted
u
, more or less as
u
in French
lune.
It was partly a modification of
o
and
u
, partly derived from older diphthongs
eu, iu.
For this sound
y
has been used (as in ancient English): as in
lyg
‘snake’, Q.
leuca,
or
emyn
pl. of
amon
‘hill’. In Gondor this
y
was usually pronounced like
i.
    Long vowels are usually marked with the ‘acute accent’, as in some varieties of Fëanorian script. In Sindarin long vowels in stressed monosyllables are marked with the circumflex, since they tended in such cases to be specially prolonged; 1 so in
dun
compared with
Dúnadan.
The use of the circumflex in other languages such as Adûnaic or Dwarvish has no special significance, and is used merely to mark these out as alien tongues (as with the use of
k
).
    Final
e
is never mute or a mere sign of length as in English. To mark this final
e
it is often (but not consistently) written
ë.
    The groups
er, ir, ur
(finally or before a consonant) are not intended to be pronounced as in English
fern, fir, fur,
but rather as English
air, eer, oor.
    In Quenya
ui, oi, ai
and
iu, eu, au
are diphthongs (that is, pronounced in one syllable). All other pairs of vowels are dissyllabic. This is often dictated by writing
ëa (Eä), ëo, oë.
    In Sindarin the diphthongs are written
ae, ai, ei, oe, ui,
and
au.
Other combinations are not diphthongal. The writing of final
au
as
aw
is in accordance with English custom, but is actually not uncommon in F
ë
anorian spellings.
    All these diphthongs 2 were ‘falling’ diphthongs, that is stressed on the first element, and composed of the simple vowels run together. Thus
ai, ei, oi, ui
are intended to be pronounced respectively as the vowels in English
rye
(not
ray), grey, boy, ruin;
and
au (aw)
as in
loud, how
and not as in
laud, haw.
    There is nothing in English closely corresponding to
ae, oe, eu; ae
and
oe
may be pronounced as
ai, oi.

STRESS
     
    The position of the ‘accent’ or stress is not marked, since in the Eldarin languages concerned its place is determined by the form of the word. In words of two syllables it falls in practically all cases on the first syllable. In longer words it falls on the last syllable but one, where that contains a long vowel, a diphthong, or a vowel followed by two (or more) consonants. Where the last syllable but one contains (as often) a short vowel followed by only one (or no) consonant, the stress falls on the syllable before it, the third from the end. Words of the last form are favoured in the Eldarin languages, especially Quenya.
    In the following examples the stressed vowel is marked by a capital letter:
isIldur, Orome, erEssëa, fËanor, ancAlima, elentÁri, dEnethor, periAnnath, ecthElion, pelArgir, silIvren.
Words of the type
elentÁri
‘star-queen’ seldom occur in Quenya where the vowel is
é, á, ó,
unless (as in this case) they are compounds; they are commoner with the vowels
í, ú,
as
andÚne
‘sunset, west’.
    They do not occur in Sindarin except in compounds. Note that Sindarin
dh, th, ch
are single consonants and represent single letters in the original scripts.

NOTE
     
    In names drawn from other languages than Eldarin the same values for the letters are intended, where not specially described above, except in the case of Dwarvish. In Dwarvish, which did not possess the sounds represented above by
th
and
ch (kh), th
and
kh
are aspirates, that is
t
or
k
followed by an
h,
more or less as in
backhand, outhouse.
    Where
z
occurs the sound intended is that of English
z. gh
in the Black Speech and Orkish represents a ‘back spirant’ (related to
g
as
dh
to
d):
as