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appendix e 1473
accent’ were frequently used for i and e (but in some modes for
e and i). The curls were used for o and u. In the Ring-inscription
the curl open to the right is used for u; but on the title-page this
stands for o, and the curl open to the left for u. The curl to the
right was favoured, and the application depended on the language
concerned: in the Black Speech o was rare.
Long vowels were usually represented by placing the tehta on
the ‘long carrier’, of which a common form was like an undotted
j. But for the same purpose the tehtar could be doubled. This
was, however, only frequently done with the curls, and sometimes
with the ‘accent’. Two dots was more often used as a sign
for following y.
The West-gate inscription illustrates a mode of ‘full writing’
with the vowels represented by separate letters. All the vocalic
letters used in Sindarin are shown. The use of No. 30 as a sign
for vocalic y may be noted; also the expression of diphthongs by
placing the tehta for following y above the vowel-letter. The sign
for following w (required for the expression of au, aw) was in
this mode the u-curl or a modification of it ~. But the diphthongs
were often written out in full, as in the transcription. In this
mode length of vowel was usually indicated by the ‘acute accent’,
called in that case andaith ‘long mark’.
There were beside the tehtar already mentioned a number
of others, chiefly used to abbreviate the writing, especially by
expressing frequent consonant combinations without writing
them out in full. Among these, a bar (or a sign like a Spanish
tilde) placed above a consonant was often used to indicate that
it was preceded by the nasal of the same series (as in nt, mp, or
nk); a similar sign placed below was, however, mainly used to
show that the consonant was long or doubled. A downward hook
attached to the bow (as in hobbits, the last word on the title-page)
was used to indicate a following s, especially in the combinations
ts, ps, ks (x), that were favoured in Quenya.
There was of course no ‘mode’ for the representation of English.
One adequate phonetically could be devised from the Fëanorian
system. The brief example on the title-page does not attempt to
exhibit this. It is rather an example of what a man of Gondor
might have produced, hesitating between the values of the letters