S. voiced stops became spirants after vowels; [V{bdg}] > [V{vðɣ}]

I will start working on a new release of Atanquesta in the coming weeks. I plan to

• expand the grammar explanations and add even more examples

• rework the dual nouns section to better reflect current consensus

• add questions/exercises at the end of lessons

I don't know how long it will take, depends on my job, life etc. I will of course make an announcement when ready.

Challenge of the [day|week|month]? Devise a nice, smart idiom to say by the way in Q.

My first line of thinking is around the roots AD(A), HEK, SAT (=> "beside, aside, to the side"), but have not yet been able to come up with a nice way of using them. Of course other metaphors could work as well.

Any ideas out there?

S. short [i], [u] became [e], [o] preceding final [a]; [-{ĭŭ}{C|CC}a] > [-{eo}{C|CC}a]

In both Sindarin and Noldorin, the short vowels i and u were lowered to e and o in the syllable before final a, a phenomenon known as a-affection after the corresponding sound changes in Welsh (WGCH/§68). Tolkien himself used this term for the phenomenon:

S. initial [w] became [gw]; [w-] > [gw-]

At every conceptual stage of Sindarin (including Gnomish and Noldorin), an initial w- became gw-. An identical development took place in Welsh (WGCH/§100i). Tolkien described this change several times:

S. [zb], [zg] became [ðβ], [ðɣ]; [z{bg}] > [ð{βɣ}]

In Sindarin a [z] became [ð] before the voiced stops [b] and [g], which themselves became voiced spirants [β] and [ɣ]. This sound change is distinct from the development of [z] before [d], where the [z] vanished while lengthening preceding vowel. This sound change is discussed in notes appearing in the Outline of Phonology [OP2] from the early 1950s:

S. voiced stops became spirants after liquids; [{rl}{bdg}] > [{rl}{vðɣ}]

In Sindarin and Noldorin voiced stops became spirants after the liquids [l] and [r]; voiceless stops underwent a similar development, though the mechanism was different. These combinations went through a nearly identical development in Welsh (WGHC/§105ii). In fact, Tolkien compared Sindarin to Welsh to describe this sound change:

Disclaimer: the following is pure speculation and does not reflect any attested "rule" laid down by Tolkien.

The sources PE17:75 and VT49:48 list the "reflexive verbal inflection" suffix -xe (and its plural and dual forms). Tolkien however, does not provide any examples of the suffix "in the wild".

(I wonder whether Tolkien was influenced by the Slavic reflexive element as seen in Polish się, Czech se, Russian -sja.)

S. initial voiceless [j̊] became [x]; [j̊-] > [x-]

In Sindarin and Noldorin an initial voiceless y (hy = [j̊] or [ɧ]) become a simple spirant [x-] and eventually changed to [h-]. This was a further development in the process started when initial [s] unvoiced following consonants. Tolkien alluded to this sound change in Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings:

S. initial [s] vanished before spirants; [s{ɸθx}-] > [{ɸθx}-]

Any initial s before spirants was lost as part of the general process whereby initial s + voiceless stops became initial voiceless spirants. For further details, see the discussion of the first stage of this sound change: voiceless stops became spirants after initial [s]. Based on Noldorin evidence, it seems the second stage of this sound change occurred after the Old Noldorin/Old Sindarin period: