Sindarin

The following was compiled by and donated to the Council-of-Elrond.com by Felicity Cullen Davison

Pronunciation

Consonants

C always has the value of k even before e and i : therefore celeb ‘silver’ is pronounced keleb.

CH is always as in German bach, or Scottish loch, never as in English church, or character. Except at the end of words and before t this sound has weakened to h in the speech of Gondor: for example, Rohan and Rohirrim (originally Rochand and Rochhirrim).

DH is only ever used in Sindarin, and represents the sound th in english these clothes. It comes from a softening of d during the passage from Quenya to Sindarin; and sometimes from the combination n+r, as in Caradhras ‘Redhorn’ from caran-rass.

F is normal except at the end of words where it becomes the v sound of English of, like in Nindalf, Fladrif.

G only represents the sound of English give, even before e and i.

H has the sound of h in house so long as it is not accompanied by any other consonant. The Quenya combination ht has the sound of cht as in german acht, schlecht.

I acts as y before other vowels.

L represents the sound of English let.

NG is always as in English sing, finger.

PH has the same sound as f and is used either at the end of words where an f would be misinterpreted v, or where the f sound has been derived from p (Pheriannath 'Halflings', from perian)

QU represents the sound cw, which, in spite of being very common in Quenya, is never used in Sindarin.

R is always trilled like a Spanish rr, even before a consonant (unlike English part).

S is always voiceless, like in English so, geese. The z sound did not occur either in Quenya or Sindarin.

SH is very similar to English sh.

TH represents the voiceless th of English thin cloth. It became s in Quenya, though was still written with a different letter; and s in early Quenya became th in Sindarin, as shown by Q. isil, S. ithil ‘moon’.

TY represents the sound heard in English tune.

V is the same as in English.

W has the sound of English w. HW is a voiceless w, as in English white (according to northern pronunciation, or the fox-hunting upper-class).

Y has the same value as in English you, except in Sindarin where it is a vowel.

Double consonants mean a long sound, like n in English penny.

Vowels

I, e, a, o, u are more or less represented by English machine, were, father, for, brute.

Long vowels are either marked, as in some versions of the Fëanorian script, by an acute accent, or, more commonly in Sindarin, by a circumflex (though only in stressed monosyllables). E is never mute.

Otherwise base yourself on French, except in the case of an, in, en, on, un. Sindarin is not a nasal language.

Stress

In words of two syllables, stress falls almost always on the first syllable. If not, it will be marked by an accent.

In longer words it falls on the last syllable but one, if that contains a long vowel, a diphtong, or a vowel followed by two (or more) consonants.

Where the last syllable but one contains a short vowel followed by only one (or no) consonant, the stress falls on the syllable before it, the third from the end. This is fairly rare in Sindarin, being a favourite of the Eldarin languages, especially Quenya.

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