quick reference

ReferenceConsonant tengwar

ReferenceVowel tehtar

Every vowel (a, e, i, o, u) has two forms: one that rides above the consonant it follows directly, one that rides below the same consonant when a second vowel follows it in hiatus. The two forms for the same vowel never look alike, and no vowel's above form looks like any other vowel's.

ReferenceThe hiatus rule

A tengwa reads consonant, then its above vowel, then its below vowel if it carries one. No vowel carrier ever appears, because every word opens on a consonant and no more than two vowels ever stand together.

ReferenceRómen and órë

Word-initial r is always rómen. Word-internal r is always órë. The choice is positional, never acoustic: it does not change with how the word is spoken aloud.

ReferenceSilmë nuquerna

Every Phi s carries a tehta, because every Phi syllable is open. The mode writes silmë nuquerna throughout; plain silmë is a calligraphic option, not part of the working system.

ReferencePunctuation

No other punctuation exists in any mode of writing Phi. What English marks silently, Phi speaks: wa (question), sha/sho (quotation), kona (comma of address), ne (the capital a name would carry).

ReferenceVocabulary of this pamphlet

ReferenceCross-references

• tengwar/mode.md — the mode's full specification: every codepoint, every keypress, every ruling this pamphlet drills
• canon.md, the Letters ruling — mode-invariance, and why Phi has no capitals in any script
• manual chapters 7 and 8 — the sound inventory and syllable structure this mode is built on
• spoken_punctuation — the full case for why Phi's punctuation is spoken, not written
• naming — the cast of names this pamphlet borrows from, and the doctrine behind ne and kona