Middle High Elven alphabet

The Middle High Elven alphabet was a variant of the High Elven alphabet used between 200 BEKE and 500 AEKE. It is considered a vast improvement from the Classical High Elven alphabet, and is also considered the direct predecessor of the Middle Etrandish alphabet and all of its descendants.

History
Around 200 BEKE, Vulgar High Elven gave way to Middle High Elven. Unlike it's predecessor, Middle High Elven however was more than the language of the common rabble. It was also embraced as the language of nobility and royalty, and as such, it warranted the need of a standardized way to write. The sound shifts however rendered the Classical High Elven alphabet ill-suited to properly represent Middle High Elven, and as such, the writing was reformed.

One of the most important reforms is the introduction of two new letters for the vowel /u/. While Classical High Elven did not distingusih between the vowel /u/ and the semivowel /w/ (which has hardened into /v/ in Middle High Elven) in writing, Middle High Elven introduced a new letter for /u/, and it's longer variant /uː/, keeping the original letter reserved for the consonant /v/ only. The usage of 「u」 for the glide /w/ persisted however, for example in the digraphs 「qu」 and 「gu」.

Previously, 「i」 was used for the front unrounded /i/, and 「y」 was for the front rounded /y/, but by Middle High Elven, /y/ got unrounded to /i/, rendering the letter 「y」 redoundant - it was recycled to represent the semivowel /j/, but usage for vowel sounds still persisted - for /i/ in etymological spellings and /y/ in foreign words.

All around, the most important innovation of the Middle High Elven alphabet was the introduction of (partial) distinction between vowels and semivowels. The total number of letters was 30, three new letters being added to and one being dropped from the original 28 of the Classical High Elven alphabet.

The letters
/ɛː/ and /ɔː/ were written 「ae」 and 「ao」. 「c g sc」 normally stand for the velar /k g sk/, except before 「i í e é」, where they stand for the palatal /t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ʃ/. 「ch gh sch」 are used to represent the velar /k g sk/ before these front vowels, just as 「ci gi sci」 are used to represent the palatal sounds before the back vowels 「a á o ó u ú」.

Input

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