Azath Vitr (D, on 21 January 2022 - 12:30 AM, said:
'In languages spoken around the world, words describing rough surfaces are highly likely to feature a "trilled /r/" sound—a linguistic pattern that stretches back over 6,000 years, a new study reveals.
[...] from Basque "zakarra" and Mongolian "barzgar" to Dutch "ruw" and Hungarian "durva," these words feature the common sound—an "r" pronounced as an Italian speaker might say "arrivederci."
[..-..]
[Not anywhere near as exaggerated as in the Amazon clip. Much closer to Tolkien's pronunciation.]
Next, they found that the "/r/-for-rough" pattern is prevalent across sensory words in 38 present-day Indo-European languages. It can even be traced to the reconstructed roots of Proto-Indo-European—indicating that the pattern has likely existed in this large language family for more than six millennia.
[...]
[...] "This is one of the most widespread examples so far of cross-modal iconicity in spoken languages—linking the sounds of speech to the sense of touch. Such cross-modal associations can play a significant role in shaping the forms of spoken words in natural languages—showing that many aspects of language structure are shaped by the human ability to spot and use perceptual analogies that create iconic links between form and meaning."'
I guess 'Mordor' is pretty rough, eh?
Rough neighborhood anyway....
Is Tolkien Elvish supposed to be a fake indo-european language and therefore should follow indo-european language trends, though?