The Sounds of Elvish
Before you start to put Sindarin words together into sentences, it’s a good idea to learn how the words themselves are supposed to be pronounced. One of Tolkien’s goals in designing his languages was to create words that he personally found beautiful, and he wrote a great deal about his love for the euphony of certain languages (notably Welsh and Finnish). With this in mind, it should be clear that correct pronunciation of Tolkien’s languages is essential to appreciate them fully.
Following is a list of resources for studying Sindarin pronunciation.
Primary Sources
- Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings – covers many aspects of the languages, including pronunciation.
- Recordings of Tolkien (on the Glǽmscrafu site) – In 1952, Tolkien read excerpts from the then-unpublished Lord of the Rings into a tape recorder, giving us a unique view into how he pronounced his own words. Highly recommended listening!
Secondary Sources
On This Site
- The Quick Guide – If you’re just here to learn tengwar writing and don’t want an exhaustive pronunciation tutorial, this one is for you.
- The Complete Guide to Sindarin Pronunciation – my attempt to provide the information from Appendix E in an easier-to-digest format.
- Linguist’s Guide to Sindarin Pronunciation – If you happen to know IPA, this is the best resource I can provide.
External Links
- Sindarin teacher dreamingfifi has a very thorough set of lessons on Sindarin pronunciation. She uses IPA alongside less technical methods to teach the sounds.
- Quenya revivalist Helge Fauskanger has an article on Sindarin that briefly covers pronunciation. (Note that the article, while superbly researched at the time it was written, has not been updated recently. Some of its material may be out of date. The pronunciation section is still as relevant as ever, though.)