As I'd agree that Appendix E is top-tier-Tolkien-published-canon, I'd also have to agree (with me) that so is
The Road Goes Ever On (1967), in which the example given for Sindarin short i is "sick" . . . long i as in "see".
Quote:
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The intended pronunciation is given in Appendix E to volume III, but not perhaps with great clarity, so I offer a few notes (. . .) The short vowels may be rendered as in E. sick, bed, hot . . ."
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Also, immediately following Tolkien's
"irrespective of quantity" in the Appendix description, we have:
Quote:
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"In Sindarin long e, a, o had the same quality as the short vowels, being derived . . ."
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So I wonder(ed), why does Tolkien note these vowels as having the same quality as the short vowels, but not long i for instance? Well, someone far more versed in the Tolkienian tongues than I am once answered my question thusly [I've "corrected" a couple words that I take to be mistaken in the following quote]:
Quote:
Because he contrasts this with Quenya, where long é, ó are more closed than short e, o. But yes, it [if?] any vowels are different, I expect í/i and ú/u to be the first. In the Tenguesta Quenderinwa Tolkien wrote that in Common Eldarin the long vowels “tended to be tenser and narrower that the short vowels” (PE18/83) and it wouldn’t be of [off?] the table that at least sometimes Tolkien imagined Sindarin/Noldorin to continue this for i and u."
Posted (elsewhere) by Gilruin Oct 3, 2022
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Gilruin also warns against taking even Tolkien's own pronunciation over what he writes, but that's a fairly general statement, and as far as
Mithlond, Minas Tirith and Mithril are concerned, and even Tolkien's own pronunciation of
linnathon and galadhremmin (
to my ear at least), so far, for short i, I'm using i as in sick, rather than machine.
Konserning Quenya: i approximately as in English machine, regardless of quantity (thus short and long i only differ in duration) --
once again, according to Appendix E -- but in an early source, Tolkien himself quoted the word
pit as an example of short "Qenya" i. Of course, in this case we have Tolkien-published text versus Tolkien-written text.
[side note: Appendix E also relates that
ir -- "finally or before a consonant" (Boromir, for example) -- is intended to be pronounced as English "eer"]
The long and short of it (pun intended): I'm confused.