On 'Piedmontese' System
AppE (I)
the sounds ... were of normal kind ... approximately those represented by i, e, a, o, u in English machine, were, father, for, brute, irrespective of quantity.
Which are, respectively: /məˈʃiːn/, /ˈwɛːr(ə)/, /ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)/, /fɔː(ɹ)/, /bɹuːt/. The 'irrespective of quantity' is usually taken to mean that both long and short vowels have the same quality, however:
- This is re-iterated separately for Sindarin, and not for Quenya
- é and ó were noted to be pronounced tenser on the same page
AppE (I)
long é and ó were, when correctly pronounced, as by the Eldar, tenser and 'closer' than the short vowels.
The lack of i, u in this note can be interpreted into what's called here the 'Piedmontese' system:
| vowel | sound | example | approximation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short Vowels | |||
| /a/ | [ɑ̟] | /'anːa/ gift | En. bath, Ru. палка |
| [ä] | It. casa, Ru. парта | ||
| /e/ | [ɛ] | /'lenda/ journey | En. bed, It. bene, Ru. это |
| /i/ | [i] | /'kirja/ ship | En. machine, It. bile, Ru. лист |
| /o/ | [ɔ] | /'rokːo/ horse | En. not, It. però, Uk. любов |
| /u/ | [u] | /'kundo/ prince | En. brute, It. tutto, Ru. узкий |
| Long Vowels | |||
| /aː/ | [ɑ̟ː] | /'aːre/ sunlight | En. bath, Ru. палка |
| [äː] | It. casa, Ru. парта | ||
| /eː/ | [ɛ̝ː] | /'neːsa/ sister | It. crederci, Ru. человек |
| /iː/ | [iː] | /'liːco/ wax | En. machine, It. bile, Ru. лист |
| /oː/ | [ɔ̝ː] | /'loːke/ snake | It. forense, Ru. тост |
| /uː/ | [uː] | /'ŋuːle/ sorcery | En. brute, It. tutto, Ru. узкий |
Note
Whether <a> is indeed [ɑ] is rather debatable, as 'a as in father' is casually applied to a broad range of possible sounds.
The downside of this system is that it ignores the larger context of available material, see On 'Calabrian' System.
It seems conceivable that AppE material simply states that the vowels were 'normal ... irrespective of quantity', i.e. monophtongs, unlike English. The lack of mention of difference between ĭ, ŭ and ī, ū can be explained as not being phonemic nor caused by peculiar phonological developments, which cannot be said about ɛ — e and ɔ — o mergers.