OS. [j] was lost after initial velars; [{kkʰg}j-|skj-|ŋgj] > [{kkʰg}-|sk-|ŋg]
OS. initial [ɣ]/[h] vanished; [{ɣh}-] > [ø-]
OS. [ɣ] became [g] before nasals and liquids; [ɣ{mnlr}] > [g{mnlr}]
In the Old Noldorin of the 1930s and 1940s, the voiced velar spirant [ɣ] evolved into [g] before nasals [m] and [n]; the same seems to be true of [ŋ], though Tolkien’s notation is unclear. This development is discussed in Tolkien’s notes on the Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s:
For those of you who would like to have a local copy of the saved posts from our Languages of Middle-Earth community on Google Plus, you can download the zipped archive of individual HTML files plus 2 index pages here.
In the meantime I am working on a way to extract the date and title info from the posts so that I can share it as a browsable archive here on Aglardh.
OS. [z] vanished before [d] lengthening preceding vowel; [Vzd] > [V̄d]
In Sindarin and Noldorin, [z] disappeared before the voiced stop [d], modifying the preceding vowel, though the exact phonetic rules evolved between the conceptual stages of the language. For Sindarin, this change is described in a couple places within notes on the Outline of Phonology [OP2] from around 1950:
OS. first in pair of voiced stops vocalized; [Vb{bdg}|Vg{bdg}] > [Vu{bdg}|Vi{bdg}]
In Sindarin and Noldorin, the first consonant of a pair of voiced stops became a vowel, but the exact phonetic development evolved between the two conceptual periods. The clearest description of the Sindarin change is in the Outline of Phonology [OP2] from around 1950:
OS. [ŋ] vanished except before stop; [ŋ-|VŋV] > [ø-|VøV]
The ancient velar nasal ñ [ŋ] generally vanished in Sindarin and Noldorin, ultimately surviving only in combination with voiced and voiceless stops: [ŋk] and [ŋg], including the larger cluster [ŋgj] (but not [ŋgw] which had already become [mb]). A clear description of this change appears in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from around 1950:
OS. stressed [wŏ] became [wa]; [wŏ́] > [wa]
