Faronaf

Faronaf is the language spoken by the Faromi elves. It has a large and complicated history, and lots of splinter languages and dialects. Click HERE to see a dictionary of terms in Common Faronaf. Click HERE to have a look at Faronaf Grammar in-depth. All English examples on this page use [RP].
 * /ˌfæ.ˈroʊ.næf/

History and the Development of Languages and Dialects
As the Faromi have moved around so much, and sundered 4 times, there are many splinter languages and dialects of it. You can see a very useful diagram of the development of all the elvish languages to the right.

Old High Elvish
Main Article: 

Old High elvish was the language devised by the first elves to awake - the Tharmoêdh. When the Faromi awoke, the Tharmoêdh taught them their language. Soon however the two clans were separated for a long time, as the Faromi has begun their Great March southwards. By the time the Faromi had settled at Thënor, their language and the language of the Tharmoêdh had differed, and could no longer be called one. Around now is when the distinction between 'Old Faronaf' and 'Old Huiminen' arose.

See Also: 

Old Faronaf
Old Faronaf was the language developed while the Faromi were settled at Thënor, and building ships for their great voyage. However many of their folk were scared of the water and of the ships, and so sundered from main part of the Faromi (Fintiêth) when they sailed into the west. After some time of being settled in Edorlund, the language of the Fintiêth has changed a lot from what was called 'Old Faronaf'. It became the language we now know as 'Common Faronaf'.

Language of the Halath
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The Halath were those Faromi who never left Eternia, as they were scared of the ships. When they sundered from their kin, they were speaking the language of 'Old Faronaf'. After the Fintiêth left over the sea, the Halath came into contact with the Tharmoêdh again. The Halath started speaking a version of the Tharmoêdh language (at that time 'Old Huiminen), while incorporating some elements of Faronaf into it. This language became known as Halath Huiminen, and is still spoken by that people today.

Common Faronaf
This is the language that is the direct descendant of 'Old Faronaf', it developed on Edorlund. When most of the Faromi started to emigrate to Sentres, they took this language with them. Those who stayed on Edorlund (the Yasarminath) started to develop a different tongue in the time that followed. This tongue became known as Yasarminaf.

After the main host of the Faromi had settled on Sentres, the language of Common Faronaf endured even until this day (if slightly changed). When one referes to 'Faronaf', one is usually talking about Common Faronaf - it is spoken by the majority of the Faromi today (the Femoâth). Common Faronaf has lots of Mannish elements in it, as well as a few Dhraki ones.

Yasarminaf
Main Article: 

The language of the Wood-Elves of Edorlund, after they sundered from their kin. It is similar to Common Faronaf, though has more Mannish influence. It has changed due to the fact the Yasarminath are isolated.

Eternian Faronaf
After being settled on Sentres for a long time, some Faromi decided to sail back to their homeland - Eternia. When they did so they became known as the Palëath, and picked up lots of features from the languages on Eternia.

Sound Shifts from Old High Elvish
Faronaf has differed quite a lot from Old High Elvish, and in turn diverged from Huiminen. Huiminen however is more faithful to Old High Elvish. Here are a few of the major differences:

Old High Elvish > Common Faronaf
 * Th > F


 * Dh > Th

There have been lots of vowel changes also, but they don't follow any major rules.
 * P > F
 * B > V
 * D > T
 * Gh > H
 * -edh > -ath, suffix for 'people'. In Faronaf, it transitioned like so: -edh > -eth > ath. Some old words (Fintiêth) retain the middle ending.

Nasals
Nasal Modifiers at the start of words rarely exist in Faronaf. The nasals from Old High Elvish/Huiminen (nt, nd, mp, mb, ngk, ng'g) have been replaced with t, d, p, k, g. For instance, the Huiminen word 'mbalë' has mutated to 'balë'. However, in proper nouns such as the place 'Mpelā', a 'u' is prefixed in the Faronaf pronunciation - 'Umpela'.

Phonology in the Latin Script
One cannot precisely assign a letter to a sound. Not every elf says things the same way, there are different dialects, and new words. This is an attempt to establish some guidelines for writing Faronaf in the Latin script. This uses Common Faronaf, though many features are shared with other versions.

Vowels
Italics are long vowels. '*The letter 'i' can be used for a short /ɪ/ or a slightly longer /i/. It is usually a /ɪ/ in the first sylable of a word (As in Finti), and is almost always /i/ in the middle of a word (As in Cómp-senin-fath) at the end of a word (As in 'Faromi ').

A circumflex over an a, e, i, o (â, ê, î, ô) simply separates a diphthong. For example, in Tharmoêdh the o and the e are not run together, rather they are pronounced separately.

If a final e is not umlaut, it is a schwa, or the final consonant is stressed.

R-Vowels
r's are always rolled.

Consonants
The pronunciation chart for Faronaf in the Latin script. Emboldened are not in Common Faronaf.

Palí series: Yalinā Series: Nilnu Series: The 'h' comes second when initial, first everywhere else. Doubling of the unvoiced: rrh, hrr; wwh, hww; yyh, hyy; llh, hll, yy.

Ungë Series (Nasal Modifiers): Unhwë Series (W-Modifiers): The most uncertain of all the series is Unhwë. All the Palí series can be w-modified, apart from the Ingwí grade. Ingwí are w-modified in Huiminen however. The Nilnû Ingwí - ny - is also not w-modified. Sometimes ngw may give /ŋgw/, but this is non-standard.

* ʍ is both/either an Unvoiced Tingi Centë and/or a member of the Unhwë series, depending on which Elvish Scholar is consulted.

Pluralisation
Faronaf follows quite a complicated pluralisation system, where multiple vowels are affected. If there is a non-diphthong vowel combination in the word (e.g: Siath), change the first vowel. When pluralising, change the vowel sound in the primary syllable as outlined below: Then change the vowel sound in the final syllable if the final letter is a consonant as outlined below. If the word only has one vowel, change the vowel according to the rules above. If the word ends in a vowel, see further down. When the final phoneme is a vowel:

Examples:
The formation of plurals has changed over many years, so there are irregularities, especially in proper nouns:
 * Lithól > Líthol
 * Siath > Síath
 * Thëar > Thauar
 * Kotimā > Kutimām
 * Tal > Tel
 * Valta > Veltar
 * Yasarmin > Yesarmín
 * For instance, the plural of Feth (water) is Fith, but in the place name 'Cómp-senin-fath', Feth is pluralised as Fath - an archaic form.

Group Plural and Singular
The -ath suffix is used to indicate a people (Modern version of 'Faromi' would be 'Faromath'. 'Faromi' is archaic). To make one of a people singular, change the -ath to -el. One of the Yasarminath would be a Yasarminel.