Re: Sounds of Quenya?

Mark J. Reed wrote at 2006-01-28 16:42:47 (-0500)
 > On 1/28/06, Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> wrote:
 > > So, I think I'm getting a handle on the sounds of Quenya. Here's what I
 > > understand. Please comment with corrections.
 >
 > > ë /@/ finally, but trema is used for diaeresis elsewhere
 >
 > That means "two dots is used for two dots elsewhere". :)

Such a reading, while semantically possible, would be pragmatically
perverse.

 > And IIRC, it's not /@/ finally, it's /e/.  The diaresis is there to
 > remind English-speakers that it's not silent, as final E's so often
 > are in English.  I think a final *long* e just gets the accent
 > mark, like a long vowel anywhere else, but a final *short* e gets
 > the trema.  But it's definitely not a schwa.  In Galadriel's
 > Lament, Namarië ends in a clear vowel.
 >
 > > ry is troublesome to me since I can't grok /r_j/
 >
 > I suggest trying to hear it in Japanese, which IIRC has a phonemic
 > distinction between /r_j/ and /rj/.

I don't think so.  I think /r/ can be palatalised before /i/ (and
/j/), but this isn't phonemic.

Anyway, "/r/" in Japanese is approximately [4], and often more-or-less
lateral(ised) - /rj/ even more so, from what I understand.  I'm not
sure it would be a useful model for Quenya.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9408e&L=linguist&D=1&F=&S=&P=971