OS. initial syllabic [m], [n], [ŋ] became [am], [an], [aŋ]; [{ṃṇŋ̣}-] > [a{mnŋ}-]
In Sindarin and Noldorin, syllabic nasals at the beginning of words developed the vowel a, so that [ṃ-/ṇ-/ŋ̣-] became [am-/an-/aŋ-]. A clear description of this sound change occurs in the notes on ambar vs. umbar from the 1950s:
OS. initial [ml], [mr] became [bl], [br]; [m{lr}-] > [b{lr}-]
In Noldorin and Gnomish there are a number of examples of initial mr- becoming br-; this sound change must have occurred after unstressed initial syllables were reduced to favored clusters. This same sound change occurs in the history of Welsh, sometime between Proto-Keltic and Britannic (WGCH/§99ii). Some Gnomish and Noldorin examples:
OS. medial [m] became [n] before [j], [w]; [m{jw}] > [n{jw}]
In Sindarin and Noldorin it seems that medial [m] became [n] before the semi-vowels [j], [w]. There are no published notes by Tolkien explicitly describing this change, but there are several Sindarin and Noldorin examples that demonstrate it:
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:
