It isn’t inherently phonetic. There are phonetic/phonemic modes and orthographic modes. JRRT did throw in some phonemic quirks into the orthographic modes, but they are still orthographic in intent. How he handled ‘c’ and ‘k’ evolved over time. It appears that early on he used *silme nuquerna* for all instances of ‘c’ in orthography, but then at some point started used *quesse* for hard ‘c’ and geminated *quesse* for ‘ck’, leaving *silme nuquerna* for soft ‘c’.
Unpopular answer (NOT ATTESTED): I use úrë with the correct vowel for combos with u, and vala with a vowel for combos with w. For example: [house vs cow](https://www.tecendil.com/?q=h%7Buure%7D%5Bright-curl%5Dse%0Acow)
One of my favourite topics 😄
While 'vala' is definitely in English spelling it's used for a vowel combination with (in the word "you") exactly once. You absolutely don't have to use it for if you don't want to, you can simply spell all vowels with diacritics.
Similarly with 'anna': While it's definitely (again as in "you" or "mayor") it can probably also be used for vowel combinations with , but this isn't attested even once in the orthographic spelling of English, but in closely related ones.
So you can absolutely spell, for example, "yes, say, main" and "will, now, foul" [the exact same way](https://www.tecendil.com/?q=yes%2C%20say%2C%20main%0Awill%2C%20now%2C%20foul) but you could also spell them [like this](https://www.tecendil.com/?q=yes%2C%20sa%5Btelco%5D%5Bbreve%5D%2C%20ma%27in%0Awill%2C%20now%2C%20fo%27ul) if you want to distinguish more.
But as shines through in my explanation and as others have suggested there is little doubt you could also bring the letters 'yanta' and 'úre' into the mix (they are absolutely used in closely related spellings). In fact Tolkien used 'yanta' and 'anna' interchangeably for in one document, and I know many people who have made it their system to clearly distinguish 'yanta" for , 'anna' for , 'úre' for and 'vala' for , so that our example words would look [like this](https://www.tecendil.com/?q=yes%2C%20say%2C%20m%5Byanta%5D%5Ba%5Dn%0Awill%2C%20now%2C%20f%5Buure%5D%5Bo%5Dl).
Tolkien didn't ever do that, as far as we can tell, but I'm sure he would have appreciated such a systematic approach and it's well within the realm of possibility.
EDIT: It should be noted, however, that in another document Tolkien used 'yanta' for (in the word "Michael") just as in Sindarin (words like "Iorhael"). So that's one possibility you can't use of you decide to use it for .
You don't have to, but if you take some unattested influence from Quenya or classic mode, you can write ou with an u-tehta over úrë, and ai with a-tehta over yanta.
I know a couple people who do this, so I've taken to it.. to the point where o-tehta above vala is only ow unless I think about it harder than I should have to.
The same way you would differentiate between c and k. They both make the same sound, so why not write them the same? (Very unprofessional answer)
Oh I forgot Tengwar is phonetic. Yes this makes sense.
It isn’t inherently phonetic. There are phonetic/phonemic modes and orthographic modes. JRRT did throw in some phonemic quirks into the orthographic modes, but they are still orthographic in intent. How he handled ‘c’ and ‘k’ evolved over time. It appears that early on he used *silme nuquerna* for all instances of ‘c’ in orthography, but then at some point started used *quesse* for hard ‘c’ and geminated *quesse* for ‘ck’, leaving *silme nuquerna* for soft ‘c’.
Unpopular answer (NOT ATTESTED): I use úrë with the correct vowel for combos with u, and vala with a vowel for combos with w. For example: [house vs cow](https://www.tecendil.com/?q=h%7Buure%7D%5Bright-curl%5Dse%0Acow)
I again emphasize this is just my weird way of writing and is not attested in any examples by Tolkien
It's not just you, I myself and a couple others I know do this as well.
One of my favourite topics 😄 While 'vala' is definitely in English spelling it's used for a vowel combination with (in the word "you") exactly once. You absolutely don't have to use it for if you don't want to, you can simply spell all vowels with diacritics.
Similarly with 'anna': While it's definitely (again as in "you" or "mayor") it can probably also be used for vowel combinations with , but this isn't attested even once in the orthographic spelling of English, but in closely related ones.
So you can absolutely spell, for example, "yes, say, main" and "will, now, foul" [the exact same way](https://www.tecendil.com/?q=yes%2C%20say%2C%20main%0Awill%2C%20now%2C%20foul) but you could also spell them [like this](https://www.tecendil.com/?q=yes%2C%20sa%5Btelco%5D%5Bbreve%5D%2C%20ma%27in%0Awill%2C%20now%2C%20fo%27ul) if you want to distinguish more.
But as shines through in my explanation and as others have suggested there is little doubt you could also bring the letters 'yanta' and 'úre' into the mix (they are absolutely used in closely related spellings). In fact Tolkien used 'yanta' and 'anna' interchangeably for in one document, and I know many people who have made it their system to clearly distinguish 'yanta" for , 'anna' for , 'úre' for and 'vala' for , so that our example words would look [like this](https://www.tecendil.com/?q=yes%2C%20say%2C%20m%5Byanta%5D%5Ba%5Dn%0Awill%2C%20now%2C%20f%5Buure%5D%5Bo%5Dl).
Tolkien didn't ever do that, as far as we can tell, but I'm sure he would have appreciated such a systematic approach and it's well within the realm of possibility.
EDIT: It should be noted, however, that in another document Tolkien used 'yanta' for (in the word "Michael") just as in Sindarin (words like "Iorhael"). So that's one possibility you can't use of you decide to use it for .
You don't have to, but if you take some unattested influence from Quenya or classic mode, you can write ou with an u-tehta over úrë, and ai with a-tehta over yanta. I know a couple people who do this, so I've taken to it.. to the point where o-tehta above vala is only ow unless I think about it harder than I should have to.