View source for Adûnaic

'''Adûnaic''' is the language of the Men of Númenor (a lost island kingdom inspired by Plato's [[Atlantis]]) in the epic ''The Silmarillion'' by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]].  This language, excepting the [[Quendian|Elvish]] languages,  is the only language of Tolkien for which he has left us a grammar sketch, as far as published material goes (found in ''The History of Middle-earth 9: Sauron Defeated'').

=Adûnaic Grammar=
==Word roots==
The language uses triconsonantal roots (similar to Semitic), but with the difference that each root also has a vowel associated with it which appears in all forms of the word.  The same consonant base with a different ''characteristic vowel'' is a different root.  The characteristic vowel normally appears between the first and the second consonant of the root, but it can be moved elsewhere.

==Nouns and Genders==
Nouns have four genders: masculine, feminine, common and neuter.  Each noun has a ''normal'' form, a ''subjective'' form (a marked nominative), and an ''objective'' form used in compounds.  Further case relations are expressed by postpositions.  The vocabulary contains many loanwords from [[Quenya]].

=Descendants of Adûnaic=
Adûnaic has several descendants spoken in Third Age [[Middle-earth]], most notably [[Westron]].

==External links==

*[http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/adunaic.htm Adûnaic] at Ardalambion
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20071013054145/http://www.langmaker.com/db/Ad%C3%BBnaic The page at LangMaker]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20100407021502/http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/adunaic.htm A page which details the language's vocabulary and grammar] 

[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Middle-earth]]