Phonetic changes of South-Elven

III.2. Phonetic changes of South-Elven

III.2.1. Accent

As already mentioned the accent of Eleiar stayed unchanged in South-Elven. But that also meant that the articulation of stressed vowels remained in large parts unchanged; final vowels were at first reduced instead before being lost in later times; e.g.: el. a geora Þ *geare Þ sel. gér (horn, m.); georó Þ *gearu Þ gér.

III.2.2. Vowels
Because of the constant accent unstressed medial syllables showed a partial reduction, while final vowels were lost. Backed vowels (in final syllables of the structure -VC), remained however, albeit in a somewhat reduced form. Therefore our description will use a division into a) stressed, b) unstressed and c) final vowels.

1.) Stressed vowels
Stressed monophtongs stayed mostly unchanged, although there was some influence by following syllables. Since vowels in prefixes reacted similar to stressend vowels, they are also treated here.

MONOPHTONGS

in most cases there was no change; e.g.: el. bardwav Þ sel. barduv; iarlame Þ iarlem (falcon, m.)
1. before the labial consonants [b, m] and [p] as well as before directly following [w] it was rounded to [o]; e.g.: a lamathe Þ lomath (eye).
2. in enclitics and prefixes it stayed also unchanged; e.g.: article a resp. ar, ac (for)

no change in stressed syllables; e.g.: árdal Þ árdyl (proud)

stayed the same except before r + C, [l], [i] or [j] of the next syllable; e.g.: begwe Þ begu (goblin); dengo Þ deng (sensitive, understanding)
1. before r + C [e] was diphtongized to [ea]; e.g.: a cerme Þ cearm (actor, culprit, m.); erdal Þ eardyl (caring)
2. before [l] [e] was rounded to [y]; e.g.: celaddan Þ cyladd (to celebrate); celdón Þ cyldun (fun, f.).
3. before [i] and [j] of the following syllable [e] was raised to [i]; e.g.: Eleiar Þ Eliar; celio Þ cilia (celebration, f.), leios Þ lias (sun, m.).
4. In position in front of stressed syllables [e] stayed unchanged; e.g.: Eliar; ebilis Þ ebylis (start, beginning, m.).

stayed unchanged; e.g.: délas (pen nib, m.); éscal Þ éscyl (breathing)

did normally also not change; e.g.: dricas (drill, m.); finta Þ fint (white)
1. before [l] [i] was rounded like [e] to [y] ; e.g.: ilme Þ yln (leader, m.)

shows no change; e.g.: rílda Þ ríld (sounding)

shows also no change, e.g.: grodach (force, violence, m.)
1. before [l] and [w] of the following syllable it was raised to [u]; e.g.: golve Þ gulv (fool, m.); ioswaddan Þ iusudd (to bloom).
2. in prefixes [o] changed to [a]; e.g.: rolamamny Þ ralomenn (I am seen.

no change; e.g.: o dólba Þ dólb (root, f.); o drócon Þ drócan (shortness, f.)

stayed unchanged except before[i], [j] of the following syllable; e.g.: a drulme Þ druln (rivulet, m.); gurdal Þ gurdyl (terrifying)
1. before [i], [j] [u] was unrounded to [i]; e.g.: a turil Þ tiryl (iron,m.); clutiaddan Þ clitidd (to collect).

stayed unchanged; e.g.: húcal Þ úcyl (on their side)

became [e]; e.g.: a cytach Þ cetach (sand).

DIPHTONGS
ai

changed to [æ] as in West-Elven; e.g. aifal Þ aefyl (young); o baidach Þ baedach (deer, f.)

was lengthened by a immediate stage of [ao] to [o:]t; e.g.: a gausath Þ gósath (stranger,m.); haunal Þ ónal (crying).

Þ [e:]; e.g.: a beindis Þ béndis (knowledge); ceinal Þ cényl (fighting)

changed also to é; e.g.: a geora Þ gér (horn, m.); ieonaddan Þ iénadd (to taste).
1. before [l] [eo] stayed unchanged; e.g.: eoldeth (scout, m.)

was lengthened by a immediate stage of [ie] to [i:]; e.g.: a siadd Þ sídd (people, m.); cial Þ cíl (hitting).

was weakened to [ia]; e.g.: a ghion Þ hian (division, m.).

changed early to [u:]; e.g.: a scoim Þ scúm (hill, m.).

2.) Vowels in medial syllables
Vowels in medial syllables were generally weakened.

normally became [e]; e.g.: iarlem (falcon, m.); ar ainar Þ aener (trust, m.); dricada Þ driced (piercing, sharp)
1. before [l] [e] was rounded: [y; e.g.: aifal Þ aefyl (young); gurdal Þ gurdyl (terrifying)
2. before fricatives [a] stayed unchanged; e.g.: grodach (force, m.); dricas (drill, m.)
3. after semi-vowels [e] was lost and the semi-vowels were vocalised; e.g.: a bardwav Þ *bardwev Þ barduv; clutiaddan Þ *clutiedden Þ clutidd (to collect).

stayed normally unchanged; e.g.: eoldeth (scout, m.).
1. before [l] it was rounded to [y] as in aefyl.

stayed also unchanged; e.g.: béndis (Wissen, m.); gurdim (terror, m.).
1. was equally runded before [l]; e.g.: turil Þ tiryl (iron, m.)

changed to [a]; e.g.. drócon Þ drócan (shortness, f.); leios Þ lias (sun, m.)
1. before [l] the change was retained; e.g. celol Þ cylol (festive).

here the same holds true; e.g.: a faluch Þ folach (stonegras, m.); dónulfe Þ dónulf (leprosity, m.).

Long vowels were shortened, although they occured only seldom:

Þ [a]; e.g.: a theolán (bear, m.) Þ thélan.

e:, i:

Þ [i]; e.g.: dénmígh Þ dénni (dreamy)

o:, u:

Þ [u]; e.g.: o ceilón Þ célun beauty,f.)

Diphtongs were also shortened:

ai, oi

Þ i; e.g.: ar iswais Þ isois (hit, m.)

Þ u; e.g.: o bornauth Þ bornuth (maturity, f.).

ia, io

Þ i, ia; e.g.: o nucision Þ nucesian (pugnaciousness, f.).

Þ u; e.g.: anuan? Þ anun? (where?).

3.) Final vowels
Final vowels were reduced and short vowels finally dissappeared. Long vowels were shortened and were then lost by anology. In grammatical words shortened vowels often remained. The changes were: á Þ a; é, í Þ i; ó, ú Þ u. Examples: anú? Þ anu? (whom?); *aché(n) Þ achi (there). After semi-vowels even shortened vowels sometimes remained; e.g.: celio Þ cilia (celebration, f.)

III.2.3. Semi-vowels

INITIALLY
In initial positiom before [a, e, i] [w] was retained; in front of [o] and [u], however, it changed with [wo, wu] Þ [u]; e.g.: a wargil Þ wargyl demon, m.); a worto Þ urt (thicket, m.).
A similar change happened with [j] before [a,o,u]; before [e, i] it was lost, with [je, ji] Þ [i]; e.g.: a iurme Þ iurn (storm, m.); o iesalon Þ isylan (bitterness, f.).

AFTER CONSONANTS
Because of the weakening of vowels in medial position [j] and [w] after consonants often combined with following vowels and were subsequently lost; e.g.: clutiaddan Þ *clutieddan Þ clutidd (to collect); a bardwav Þ *bardwev Þ barduv (song, singing).
Exceptions of this change:

combined with certain consonants: -ci, gi- Þ -j-; e.g.: a nucio Þ *niia Þ nia (disaster, m.; aber: nuciaddan Þ nicidd, to quarrel); o begio Þ *biia Þ bia (deception, cheat, f.; nut: bigidd, to decept, to cheat).
before [o, u] [j] remained; e.g.: a ddinio Þ ddinia (wind, m.); o huliutha Þ iliath (mouse, f.).

combined with [o,u] after consonants before the weakening of vowels and became [o,u]; e.g.: a cerwos Þ cearos (tallow, fat, m.).
together with the weakened vowels of [a, e] it became [u]; e.g.: barduv. Partially new diphtongs developed throguh combinations with following vowels; e.g.: ar iswais Þ isois (hit, m.).
in combination with [g] a new sound developed, which changed subsequently to [v]; e.g.: théghwal Þ thévyl (insignificant, few).

BETWEEN VOWELS
j

was lost between similar vowels which subsequently contracted; was lost after vowel mutation of [e, u]; e.g.: Eleiar Þ *Eliiar Þ Eliar, a leios Þ lias (sun, m.).

between vowels it was mostly retained; e.g.: a thawin Þ thowin (wild).
was lost between similar vowels (already before the change in quality had occurred); e.g.: o ddrewe Þ *ddre Þ ddrel (mouse, f.; the South-Elven form could however have originated from a variant form of o ddrela).

III.2.3. Consonants
Because of the constant accent most consonants stayed unchanged; but some of the tendencies of Elven were continued in South-Elven (loss of [g] and change of [z] to [r]).

PLOSIVES
p

o páralon Þ párylan (adroitness, f.)

beindis Þ béndis

a turil Þ tiryl (iron, m.)

a dólus Þ dólas (stem, root, m.); erdel Þ eardyl (caring)

celda Þ cyld (happy)
1. became [j] in combination with [j]; e.g.: a nucio Þ nia (disaster, m.)

a ginthe Þ ginth (thinking, m.)
1. in combination with [j] it became [j]; s.a.

FRIKATIVES
þ

thurda Þ thurd (angry)

o ddreon Þ ddrén (search, f.)

a siadd Þ sídd (people, tribe, m.)

became [r] in medial position and was lost initially; e.g.: zido Þ id (seven); gazal Þ garyl (shiny)

a gulchudd Þ gulchadd (wolf, m.)

became [h] initially and was lost between vowels; e.g.: a ghuswas Þ husus (drink, m.); a ceighim Þ *ceim Þ cém (panting, cough, m.).
1. combined with [w] to give [v] eventually; e.g.: théghwal Þ thévyl (insignificant, few).

was lost in all positions; e.g.: o harma Þ arm (blood); on aldahar Þ oldar (flute, f.).

NASALS

Apart from the following cases there was no change; after [l] [m] became [n]; e.g.: ar ilme Þ yln (leader, m.).

LIQUIDS

here were also no changes; e.g.: a rílim Þ rílim (tone, sound, m.).