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Re: "Double stressed" words

From:Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Date:Thursday, August 28, 2003, 20:57
PI = Pavel Iosad
JC = John Cowan

PI> Yes, but there is no _muta cum liquida_ rule.

JC> More accurately, Tolkien didn't mention one, but he may have taken
JC> the point for granted.
JC> The poem in Boromir's dream beginning "Seek for the Sword that
JC> was broken / In Imladris it dwells" strongly suggests that "Imladris"
JC> had antepenultimate stress.

True, but even if it has antepenultimate stress in Westron, that
doesn't necessarily imply that it does so in Quenya.  Consider
the differences between the English and French pronunciations of
"Paris".

You could argue that there was no difference in Middle-Earth, of
course, and that place names had but one pronunciation, no matter
what language you were otherwise speaking.   That seems to be the
case in the movies, and is something that bothers me slightly.
It felt very odd to hear Gandalf and Frodo  . . . and even
Sam! . . . say "Mordor" all drawn-out with strongly rolled /r/s in
the middle of an otherwise perfectly normal-sounding English accent.
It's like everyone in Middle Earth was Alex Trebek. :)

-Mark

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John Cowan <jcowan@...>