VOWELS The Silmarillion

VOWELS

AI has the sound of English eye; thus the second syllable of Edain is like English dine, not Dane.

AU has the value of English ow in town; thus the first syllable of Aulë is like English owl, and the first syllable of Sauron is like English sour,notsore.

EI as in Teiglin has the sound of English grey.

IE should not be pronounced as in English piece,but with both the vowels i and e sounded, and run together; thus Ni-enna, not 'Neena'.

UI as in Uinen has the sound of English ruin.

AE as in Aegnor, Nirnaeth, and OE as in Noegyth, Loeg, are combinations of the individual vowels, a-e, o-e, but ae may be pronounced in the same way as ai, and oe as in English toy

EA and EO are not run together, but constitute two syllables; these combinations are written ea and eo(or, when they begin names, and Eo: Eärendil, Eönwë).

U in names like Húrin, Túrin, Túna should be pronounced oo; thus 'Toorin' not 'Tyoorin'.

ER, IR, UR before a consonant (as in Nerdanel, Círdan, Gurthang) or at the end of a word (as in Ainur) should not be pronounced as in English fern, fir, fur, but as in English air, eer, oor.

E at the end of words is always pronounced as a distinct vowel, and in this position is written ë.It is likewise always pronounced in the middle of words like Celeborn, Menegroth.

A circumflex accent in stressed monosyllables in Sindarin denotes the particularly long vowel heard in such words (thus Hîn Húrin); but in Adûnaic (Númenórean) and Khuzdul (Dwarvish) names the circumflex is simply used to denote long vowels.

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