Tengwar refers to the writing system
developed by J. R. R. Tolkien for use with the languages of Middle-earth.
(Within Middle-earth, Fëanor invented the system
after previous experience with the sarati, another writing system.)
As in the Korean Hangul writing system,
the geometric shape of letters suggests their sound values:
doubling a letter's bow voices the sound,
raising the stem turns a stop into a fricative, and
shortening the stem creates a nasal.
However, this regularity can pose problems:
because many letters can be rotated to form other valid letters,
there exists a potential for dyslexia.
Modes
A mode is a mapping from letters to sounds.
Tengwar modes are known to exist for at least
Quenya, Sindarin, Black Speech, English, Polish, Esperanto, Lojban, and Toki Pona.
Some modes treat all "letters" as consonants
and use vowel points like the Hebrew alphabet;
others, the Beleriandic modes, use letters for vowels
like the Greek and Latin alphabets.
Some modes map the C-series and Q-series to [k] and [kw] respectively;
others map them to [tS] (English /ch/) and [k].
Tengwar
The tengwar (Quenya for "letters"; sing. tengwa)
are used as consonants in pointed modes
and as either consonants or vowels in Beleriandic modes.
Primary letters
T-series P-series C-series Q-series
#o""o #o""o o" # "#"""# 01-04:
# # # # # # # # voiceless
# o" #ooo#o "oo"# "oo"# stops
# # # #
# # # #
#o""o""o #o""o""o o" o" # "#""#"""# 05-08:
# # # # # # # # # # # # voiced
# o" o" #ooo#oo#o "oo"oo"# "oo"ooo# stops
# # # #
# # # #
# # # #
# # # #
#o""o #o""o o" # "#"""# 09-12:
# # # # # # # # voiceless
# o" #ooo#o "oo"# "oo"# fricatives
# # # #
# # # #
#o""o""o #o""o""o o" o" # "#""#"""# 13-16:
# # # # # # # # # # # # voiced
# o" o" #ooo#oo#o "oo"oo"# "oo"ooo# fricatives
17-20:
#o""o""o #o""o""o o" o" # "#""#"""# voiced or
# # # # # # # # # # # # geminated
# o" o" #ooo#oo#o "oo"oo"# "oo"ooo# nasals
21-24:
#o""o #o""o o" # "#"""# single nasals
# # # # # # # # or weak
# o" #ooo#o "oo"# "oo"# consonants
Additional letters
# o"o # o"o ""#"""" ""#"""" 25-28:
# # # # # # liquids
#o " #o # "oo (r, r', l, l')
o" o" # o #
"oo "oo "ooo" "ooo"
o" o" o"""o
# # " #
# o o"""o # o o"""o 29-32:
# # # # # # # # sibilants
"ooo" " # "ooo" " # (s, s', z, z')
# # o #
o" "ooo" o"
# #
# #
# o""o# "o o"""o 33-36:
# # # # o"o # # semivowels
# # "oo"#oo # # "ooo" (h, hw, y, w)
#
#
# # # vowel carriers
# # # (alternate,
# # # medium, short)
#
#
Names
Each letter has a name, based roughly on its sound value in Quenya:
- Tinco
- Parma
- Calma
- Quesse
- Ando
- Umbar
- Anga
- Ungwe
- Súle
- Formen
- Aha
- Hwesta
- Anto
- Ampa
- Anca
- Unque
- Númen
- Malta
- Noldo
- Nwalme
- Óre
- Vala
- Anna
- Vilya
- Rómen
- Arda
- Lambe
- Alda
- Silme
- Silme nuquerna
- Esse
- Esse nuquerna
- Hyarmen
- Hwesta Sindarinwa
- Yanta
- Úre
Tehtar
The tehtar (Quenya for "signs"; sing. tehta)
resemble Greco-Latin diacritics.
In pointed modes, these vowel points are used with a consonant
and represent a vowel either before or after the consonant based on the mode.
In Beleriandic modes, these are used to form diphthongs.
The diagram below shows each point with a (silent) short vowel carrier;
using them with a long carrier makes the sound longer.
" o"o (three dots, or a circumflex)
" "
# #
# or # /a/
# #
o" (acute accent)
#
# /e/
#
o (single dot)
#
# /i/
#
o"" (curl open to right)
"
#
# /o/
#
"o (curl open to left)
""
#
# /u/
#
"o" (inverted circumflex)
#
# /y/
# (high central vowel, not /j/ as in "year")
Sources
- The appendices to The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
- "Tengwar - Wikipedia" (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengwar)
- "Tengwar / English Language" (http://wwwusers.imaginet.fr/~smartin/elfique/english_eng.htm)
Legal
Copyright © 2002 Damian Yerrick. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
According to the U.S. Copyright Office, a writing system is not copyrightable, but it may be patentable. However, any U.S. patent on Tengwar would have long since expired, thanks to the lack of a Cher Patent Term Extension Act.