December 2018

OS. [w] vanished before [u]; [{uw|wu}] > [u]

Based on a few examples, it seems [w] vanishes before [u] in Old Noldorin, in the same way as that [j] vanished before [i]. Since the combination [wu] did not normally occur in Primitive Elvish, this phonetic development only applied to cases where the [u] arose later, such as when [oi], [ǭi] became [ui] in Noldorin:

OS. [j] vanished before [i], [ui]; [{ji|jui}-] > [{i|ui}-]

OS. [ē], [ō] became [ī], [ū]; [ē|ō] > [ī|ū]

OS. [rl] became [ll]; [rl] > [ll]

OS. [p], [t], [k] became spirants before [s]; [ps|ts|ks] > [ɸs|θθ|xs]

In both (Old) Sindarin and (Old) Noldorin, voiceless stops [p, t, k] became spirants before [s]. For [ps], [ks], the results were [ɸs], [xs]. For [ts], the development was somewhat different, with [ts] > [tθ] > [θθ] > [θ]. Tolkien described both these changes in his notes on Noldorin use of the Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s:

OS. intervocalic [s] became [h]; [VsV|-Vs] > [VhV|-Vh]

In both (Old) Sindarin and (Old) Noldorin, an intervocalic [s] became [h]. This change is somewhat obscured, because later still non-initial [h] vanished. The clearest Sindarin examples are:

OS. [ns] became [ss]; [-ns-] > [-ss-]

OS. medial [s] assimilated to following nasal; [-{sm|sn}-] > [-{mm|nn}-]

In the (Old) Noldorin of the 1930s, it seems that primitive [s] in combination with a nasals [m] or [n] developed into [mm] or [nn]. There are several examples in the Etymologies:

OS. final [e] became [a] after single [s] and [st]; [-se|-ste|-sse] > [-sa|-sta|-sse]