The Annals of Ennor. Laurefindë o Imladris. Khuzdul. Khuzdûl Pronunciation In Khuzdûl, like the Eldarin languages, there appears to be no silent letters. Every syllable is fully heard, except when two letters form a combination with a sound of its own. These English-letter combinations are actually distinct letters of their own in the Angwar alphabet, therefore each of these will be treated as its own entity in this document. If any combination is not listed here, pronounce each letter separately.
Longer versions of vowels (ex. ú and û from u) are not included in this list. They are pronounced by drawing out the sound of the vowel; in length u < ú < û.
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A: "ah"; as in "father", not "rather"
AI: "ey"; long a sound
AU/AW: "ah-ow"; slightly drawn-out and dulled
B: "buh"
D: "duh"; sharply spoken with the tip of the tongue
DH: "dduh"; dully spoken with the flat of the tongue
E: "eh"; short, not long
EA: "ee-eh"; like in the English word "ear"
EU/EW: "eh-oo"; a mix of shortened E and U sounds
F: "fuh"
G: "guh"; sharply spoken
GH: "ghuuh"; dully spoken and slightly gutteral
GHW: "ghwuuh"; dully spoken and slightly gutteral
GW: "gwuh"; sharply spoken
H: "huh"
HW: "hwuh"
HY: "hyuh"
I: "ih"; short i sound in all place except when ending a word, then pronounced "ee"
J: "juh"
K: "kuh"
KH: "kghuuh"; slightly gutteral K
KHW: "kghwuh"
L: "ul"
LH: "lhuh"
LL: "ulll"; drawn-out l sound, spoken with the flat of the tongue
M: "mm"
MB: "mmb"
N: "nn"
ND: "nn-duh"; like in the English word "end"
NG: "nn-guh"; similar to the "-ng" of the English word "sing"
NGW: "nn-gwuh"; "-ng" with a "-wuh" sound attached
NJ: "nn-juh"
O: "oh", long o sound
OA: "oah"; like an American Deep-South "oar"
OU/OW: "ow"; strongly pronounced
P: "puh"
R: "rr"; with a bit of a burr
S: "ss"
SH: "shuh"
T: "tuh"; sharply spoken with the tip of the tongue
TH: "tuuh"; dully spoken with the flat of the tongue
U: "oo"; long, not short
V: "vuh", "vv"
W: "wuh"
Y: "yuh"
Z: "zuh"; strongly spoken
ZH: "zhuuh"; not quite slurred
schwa: "uh"; like a shortened and lightened short u, the sound a has in the English word "about"
’: a glottal stop sound
GRAMMAR
Plurals
When a word has its first vowel as the first letter of the word, it stays the same and the last vowel is fully lengthened.
A short word with only one or two consonants and a single vowel has its vowel fully lengthened even if the vowel does begin the word.
When a word has a first-syllable vowel a, it is changed to e and a replaces the last vowel or is added in the last syllable if there is no vowel.
When a word has a first-syllable vowel e, it is changed to a and the last vowel is fully lengthened.
When a word has a first-syllable vowel i, it stays the same and î replaces the last vowel or is added in the last syllable if there is no vowel.
When a word has a first-syllable vowel u, it is changed to a and â replaces the last vowel or is added in the last syllable if there is no vowel.
Cases
There appears to be a genetive case involving -u in which any word that ends in another vowel comes to end in -u instead, and a word ending in a consonant has -u appended; therfore a word such as burk - "axe" becomes burku - "axe of". Also this affects plurals; the plural barâk - "axes" becomes barûk - "axes of".
There appears to be an ending -ûn which describes a person, thing, or place characterized by the root-word
Conjugations
Unfortunately nothing is known here.
Sentence structure
There appears to be no is/am/are verb (and perhaps no direct being verbs at all).
Adjectives appear to precede nouns most of the time even in compounds, but there are a couple of known exceptions.
No consonant mutations of any sort appear to exist.
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PRONOUNS
mên: you (nominative case)
mênu: you (accusative case)
NOUNS
aglâb: spoken language; pl aglâb
bizar: valley; pl bizîr
bund: head; pl banâd
burk: axe; pl barâk
dum: delving, excavation, underground hall; pl dûm
felak: chisel; pl falâk
gathol: fortress, pl gethal
gimli: star; pl gimlî
iglishmêk: gesture-language; pl iglishmîk
inbar: horn (as of an animal); pl inbâr
kheled: glass (substance)
Khuzd: Dwarf; pl Khazâd
Khuzdûl: Dwarvish, the language of the Khazâd
kibil: silver (metal)
Mahal: Dwarvish name for Aulë
mezarb: record, account, writing; pl mazârb
nâla: lode, vein, pl nêla
Nargûn: Mordor
nitîr: kindler, fire-starter; pl nitîr
rukhs: orc; pl rakhâs
shethur: cloud; pl shathûr
thark: staff; pl therak
Tharkûn: "staff-man", Gandalf's Dwarvish name
turg: beard; pl tarâg
uzbad: ruler, lord; pl uzbâd
ul: stream; pl ûl
zâram: pool, lake; pl zêram
zirak: spike; pl zirîk
ADJECTIVES
azan: dark, dim
baraz: red
dush: dark, evil
gabil: great
Khuzdul: Dwarvish, related to Dwarves
narg: black
rukhsul: orcish, related to orcs
shar: bald
sigin: long
tumun: hollow
zahar: bold
zigil: silver-colored
VERBS
felak: use a chisel, chisel, carve
felek: hew rock
gunud: delve underground, excavate, tunnel
niti: light, kindle, start a fire
zarab: record, write down, keep account
ADVERBS
None found; it has been suggested that perhaps adjectives also serve as adverbs without change in form.
OTHER
aya (ai-): upon
-u: in, of
-ul: having to do with, related to (thing, ideal, person) / child of
ûn-: son of
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