I-affection

2022-07-22T04:52:51Z

172.68.50.92: /* Inspiration */

'''I-affection''' or '''[[Wikipedia:Germanic umlaut|Umlaut]]''' is a phonological phenomenon which is an integral part of the [[Sindarin]] language.

The phenomenon refers to the vowels of a word to be 'slid' higher and fronter to another sound, usually ''e'', drawn because of a following ''i'' (usually near the end of the word) in a sort of [[Wikipedia:vowel harmony|vowel harmony]]. This started to occur after the stage called "[[Old Sindarin]]".

Umlaut has a grammatical significance in Sindarin since it is how plural of nouns is formed.
==Examples==
The following verbs show how the vowels of the word-stems slid into ''e'' because of the affection of ''i''.
*''[[gonod]]'' "count" + ''-ia'' > ''[[genedia-|g''e''n''e''d'''i'''a]]'' "to reckon"
*''[[aglar]]'' "glory" + ''-ia'' > ''[[egleria-|''e''gl''e''r'''i'''a]]'' "to praise"
*''[[said]]'' "private" + ''-ia'' > ''[[seidia-|s''ei''d'''i'''a-]] "to set aside"<ref>{{VT|42}} p.20</ref>

The same effect is seen with other endings such as ''[[-ien]]'' or ''[[-ian]](d)'' as seen in
*''[[Balar]]'' an island + ''[[-iand]]'' > ''[[Beleriand|B''e''l''e''r'''i'''and]]'' "Land of Balar"

Another ending which causes umlaut is ''[[-il]]''
*[[AM1]] + ''-il'' > ''[[emil|''e''m'''i'''l]]'' "mother"<ref>{{VT|45a}} p.5</ref>
*''[[brand]]'' "high" + ''-il'' > ''[[brennil|br''e''nn'''i'''l]]'' "lady"
*''[[arn]]'' "king" + ''-il'' > ''[[ernil|''e''rn'''i'''l]]'' "prince"
It also can be triggered by compounded words
*[[mad-]] + [[glî]] > ''[[medli|m''e''dl'''i''']]'' "[[bear]]" (honey-eater)
*[[ath-]] + ring > ''[[ethring|''E''thr'''i'''ng]]''
*''[[or]]'' "over" + ''[[i]]'' "the" > ''[[erin|''e''r'''i'''n]]'' "on the"

==Plural==
{{seealso|Sindarin#Pluralization}}
The [[Primitive Quendian]] plural ending ''[[-ī]]'' was retained in [[Quenya]] and Old Sindarin. In the later stages the *''-i'' affected the previous vowels, especially the preceding one<ref name="ITE">[[Bill Welden]], [[Jim Allan]], ''On the formation of plurals in Sindarin'', published in ''[[An Introduction to Elvish]]'' pp. 62-67</ref>

Then, all final vowels were [[apocope]]d in Sindarin, including the plural markers. All traced of plural were simply the affected vowels.

To summarize this, the envisioned history of word ''[[adar]]'' pl. ''edair'' would be like this:
*[[OS]] *''atari'' "fathers" > *''edeiri'' > *''edeir'' > ''edair''

In a different form it is seen in [[Ilkorin]]. For example ''adar'' pl. ''edrin'', ''aman'' pl. ''emnin'', ''[[boron]]'' pl. burnin, ''[[gangel]]'' pl. ''genglin'' and ''[[thorn]]'' > ''thurin''.

==Inspiration==
The phenomenon is common in Germanic and Welsh, on which Sindarin is based on. For example the plural of W. ''bard'' (< ancient *''bardos'') is ''beird'' (< *''bardoi'')<ref name="ITE"/> The same process is responsible for some plurals in English, such as ''man > men'' or ''foot > feet''.
{{references}}
[[Category:Sindarin]]
[[Category:Linguistic terms]]

Tolkien Gateway - User contributions [en]

I-affection