Re: Cein

At 19:23 2001-06-04 +0200, daniel andreasson wrote:

>So the spirant mutation variant of /m/ is /mm/? I like the
>look of double m in the beginning of words, but I already have
>[v] as the spirant mutation of [m]. I also have {r} for {rh}
>and [l] for [K] (i.e. {ll}). The only one I don't have a spirant
>mutation for is [n], which I suppose could be [nn], as in e.g.
>_i nnog_ 'the dwarfs' from _nog_ 'dwarf'.
>
>I guess I could change the spirant mutation of [m] to [mm]
>instead of [v] to avoid the clash with soft mutation.
Of course the wicked thing to do would be to have /n/ > /D/ parallel to
/m/ > /v/! :-)

But more importantly, mightn't the definite article cause nasal mutation in
the plural?  The attested form _in Eldaron_ shows that at least in some
cases the plural def.art. could be _in_.  You might get _i ddog_ pl. _i nnog_.

It hit me that the most probable speakers of Cein would be the sons of
Feanor: they would try to cling to Quenya as their in-group language, but
it would be inexorably drawn towards the Sindarin spoken with and by
everybody else around!



/BP 8^)>
--
B.Philip Jonsson mailto:bpX@netg.se (delete X)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__
                A h-ammen ledin i phith!                \ \
     __  ____ ____    _____________ ____ __   __ __     / /
     \ \/___ \\__ \  /___  _____/\ \\__ \\ \  \ \\ \   / /
     / /   / /  /  \    / /Melroch\ \_/ // /  / // /  / /
    / /___/ /_ / /\ \  / /Melarokko\_  // /__/ // /__/ /
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Gwaedhvenn Angelmiel \ \______/ /a/ /_h-adar Merthol naun
  ~~~~~~~~~Kuinondil~~~\________/~~\__/~~~Noolendur~~~~~~
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"A coincidence, as we say in Middle-Earth" (JRR Tolkien)

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