Re: Nimrina phonology

Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
> Nice.  Do /K/ ~ /l/ also pattern as a voiceless-voiced pair?
Currently, yes: ríva "yellow" + hlázi "tea" = rívalázi "green tea".

> Are all /h/s from *f?  If not /h/ may alternate with zero in
> some cases!
I've considered the possibility that not all /h/'s are from an earlier
/f/; perhaps there was a /x/ : /G/ contrast and the /G/'s dropped out.
Loss of /G/ could also account for some of the long vowels and
diphthongs. I have a feeling that if I want a naturalistic phonology I'm
going to have to go into the history to some extent.

>> Spelling is more or less phonemic, with some complications; for
>> instance, /z`/ is "r" and /r/ is "rr", so long /z`:/ is written "zr"
>> to avoid confusion with /r/.
>
> Somehow _rz_ for /z`z`/ would seem more right to me,
> probably because Swedish retroflexes represent /r/+dental,
> and because _rz_ is one of the spellings of Polish /z`/,
> but perhaps /rz/ is a possible cluster while **/zr/ isn't?
Either spelling would work, but /rz/ I'm thinking would assimilate to
/zz/. Of course, progressive assimilation is always a possibility, but
if assimilation is regressive, I can let "rz" represent an original /rz/
which in the current language is pronounced /z:/.

> BTW did you know that _nimir/nimri/nimrim_ is the word
> for 'Elf/Elves' in Tolkien's Adûnaic language?
I don't know if I've seen anything about Adûnaic. Was this in one of the
"History of Middle-Earth" volumes? It's possible I may have seen this
long ago, but I didn't have anything particular in mind when I came up
with the name Nimrína.

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