Hiya, I'm a classical / film score / OC score composer and I'm writing an SATB choral piece for the Ainulindale and I'm having trouble understanding the stressed syllables on the words. I know in general the rule is if there's 3 or more syllables you accent the third to last syllable, unless there's an acute accent (which I think doesn't include the fun dots). But I'm not 100% sure and I don't want to write a whole piece with the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable. Lmk if you have a recording of you reading the Quenya version of the Ainulindale or how to do that! I'm using the one written on https://www.elvish.org/gwaith/ainulindale.htm by Ryszard Derdzinski. Lmk if this is the wrong one XD
Yoooo wow tumblr thank you for never showing me this ask! I hate this hellsite sometimes.
Sorry it took me so long to respond! 🥲
So, according to my books when you have a word with two syllables, then the focus is on the first syllable. E.g. Anor ['a.nor], parma ['par.ma]
With three syllable words there are two options.
A. The second to last syllable is long
In this case the second to last syllable is the main focus. A long syllable contains either a long vowel (á, é, í, o´, ú), a diphtong (ai, oi, ui, au, eu, iu) or multiple consonants after a vowel.
Examples:
Olórin (long vowel: ó)
Úlairi (Diphtong: ai)
Isildur (two consonants after the vowel: ld)
Menelya (the y counts as a consonant: ly)
B. The second to last syllable is short
If the second to last syllable is short, the third to last syllable is emphasized. A short syllable contains a short vowel or one or no consonants.
Examples:
Orome (second to last syllable is -ro: short vowel followed by a consonant)
Anárion (second to last syllable is -ri: short vowel, not followed by a consonant)
By adding endings such as -ndil, -rdur, -rdil, ldur the emphasis can be shifted. Such as the word "isil" (moon, a noun) and "Isildur" (servant of the moon, a name). In "isil" the emphasis is on the first vowel. In "Isildur" the emphasis is on "sil".
Concerning the fun dots, in tengwar the dots and dashes indicate vowels. It's very similar to Arabic in that regard. The larger letters are generally consonants while the dots and dashes are vowels.
I don't have a recording of myself reading the Ainulindale, but I've been speaking it from what I've heard from the movies and listened from songs. There's a German singer/songwriter called Oonagh and a lot of her songs have Quenya in them! Since German pronunciation is very similar to Quenya, that helps quite a bit with pronunciation. Here are three songs of hers that feature quite a bit of Quenya. Song 1. Song 2. Song 3. (You’ll usually have to wait for the chorus, sorry. 😅)
Another thing I would point out is that the elves are very lyrical. They will forgive emphasis if it works better for the song. (At least that's what I remember reading somewhere) I don't think you need to worry to much about emphasis. My personal pet peeve would be pronunciation more than emphasis of the correct syllable.
I really hope this helps and good luck with your project! I'd love to hear it when it's finished! 🥰