Editing Old Latin (section)

== Phonology ==
{{See also|History of Latin}}

=== Stress ===
Old Latin is thought to have had a strong stress on the first syllable of a word until about 250 BC. All syllables other than the first were unstressed and were subjected to greater amounts of phonological weakening. Starting around that year, the Classical Latin stress system began to develop. It passed through at least one intermediate stage, found in [[Plautus]], in which the stress occurred on the fourth last syllable in four-syllable words with all short syllables.

=== Vowels ===
[[Image:Old latin diphthongs nochar.svg|200px|thumb|Diphthong changes from Old Latin (left) to Classical Latin (right){{sfn|Allen|1897|p=6}}]]

{|
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Monopthongs
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} ⟨[[I]]⟩
|({{IPA link|ɨ}} ⟨[[I]]⟩ ~ {{IPA link|ʉ}} ⟨[[U|V]]⟩)
|{{IPA link|u}} ⟨[[U|V]]⟩
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} ⟨[[E]]⟩
|
|{{IPA link|o}} ⟨[[O]]⟩
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|ä}} ⟨[[A]]⟩
|
|}
|
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Diphthongs
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |Endpoint
|-
!{{Small|{{IPA|/i̯/}}}} ⟨-I⟩
!{{Small|{{IPA|/u̯/}}}} ⟨-V⟩
|-
! rowspan="8" |Start point
!{{Small|{{IPA|/ä/}}}} ⟨A-⟩
|{{IPA|äi̯}} ⟨AI⟩
|{{IPA|äu̯}} ⟨AV⟩
|-
!{{Small|{{IPA|/e/}}}} ⟨E-⟩
|{{IPA|ei̯}} ⟨EI⟩
|{{IPA|eu̯}} ⟨EV⟩
|-
!{{Small|{{IPA|/o/}}}} ⟨O-⟩
|{{IPA|oi̯}} ⟨OI⟩
|{{IPA|ou̯}} ⟨OV⟩
|}
|}

Most original PIE ([[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]) diphthongs were preserved in stressed syllables, including {{IPA|/ai/}} (later ''ae''); {{IPA|/ei/}} (later ''ī''); {{IPA|/oi/}} (later ''ū'', or sometimes ''oe''); {{IPA|/ou/}} (from PIE {{IPA|/eu/}} and {{IPA|/ou/}}; later ''ū'').

The Old Latin diphthong ''ei'' evolves in stages: ''ei'' > ''ẹ̄'' > ''ī''. The intermediate sound ''ẹ̄'' was simply written ''e'' but must have been distinct from the normal long vowel ''ē'' because ''ẹ̄'' subsequently merged with ''ī'' while ''ē'' did not. It is generally thought that ''ẹ̄'' was a higher sound than ''e'' (e.g. perhaps {{IPA|[eː]}} vs. {{IPA|[ɛː]}} during the time when both sounds existed). Even after the original vowel {{IPA|/ei/}} had merged with ''ī'', the old spelling ''ei'' continued to be used for a while, with the result that ''ei'' came to stand for ''ī'' and began to be used in the spelling of original occurrences of ''ī'' that did not evolve from ''ei'' (e.g. in the genitive singular ''-ī'', which is always spelled ''-i'' in the oldest inscriptions but later on can be spelled either ''-i'' or ''-ei'').

In unstressed syllables, *oi and *ai had already merged into ''ei'' by historic times (except for one possible occurrence of ''poploe'' for ''populī'' "people" in a late manuscript of one of the early songs). This eventually also evolved to ''ī''.

Old Latin often had different short vowels from Classical Latin, reflecting sound changes that had not yet taken place. For example, the very early [[Duenos inscription]] has the form ''duenos'' "good", later found as ''duonos'' and still later ''bonus''. A countervailing change ''wo'' > ''we'' occurred around 150 BC in certain contexts, and many earlier forms are found (e.g. earlier ''votō, voster, vorsus'' vs. later ''vetō, vester, versus'').

Old Latin frequently preserves original PIE thematic case endings ''[[#Second declension .28o.29|-os]]'' and ''[[#Second declension .28o.29|-om]]'' (later ''-us'' and ''-um'').

===Consonants===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! {{small|plain}}
! {{small|[[Labialization|labialized]]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}} ⟨[[B]]⟩
| {{IPA link|d}} ⟨[[D]]⟩
|
| {{IPA link|ɡ}} ⟨[[C]], [[K]]⟩
| ({{IPA link|ɡʷ}}) ⟨[[List of Latin-script digraphs#qu|QV]]⟩
|
|-
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}} ⟨[[P]]⟩
| {{IPA link|t}} ⟨[[T]]⟩
|
| {{IPA link|k}} ⟨[[C]], [[K]]⟩
| ({{IPA link|kʷ}}) ⟨[[List of Latin-script digraphs#qu|QV]]⟩
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
| ({{IPA link|z}} ⟨[[S]]⟩)<sup>1</sup>
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|ɸ}} ⟨[[F]]⟩<sup>2</sup>
| {{IPA link|s}} ⟨[[S]]⟩
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}} ⟨[[H]]⟩
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}} ⟨[[M]]⟩
| {{IPA link|n}} ⟨[[N]]⟩
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}} ⟨[[R]]⟩
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
| {{IPA link|l}} ⟨[[L]]⟩
| {{IPA link|j}} ⟨[[I]]⟩
|
| {{IPA link|w}} ⟨[[V]]⟩
|
|}
:<sup>1</sup> Intervocalic {{IPA|/s/}} (pronounced {{IPA|[z]}}) was preserved up to 350 BC or so, at which point it changed into {{IPA|/r/}} ([[Rhotacism (sound change)|rhotacism]]). This rhotacism had implications for declension: early classical Latin, ''honos'', ''honoris''; later Classical (by [[Morphological leveling|analogy]]) ''honor'', ''honoris'' ("honor"). Some Old Latin texts preserve {{IPA|/s/}} in this position, such as the [[Carmen Arvale]]'s ''lases'' for ''[[lares]]''.  Later instances of single {{IPA|/s/}} between vowels are mostly due either to reduction of early {{IPA|/ss/}} after long vowels or diphthongs; borrowings; or late reconstructions.
:<sup>2</sup> Might have been an {{IPA|/f/}} sound instead, perhaps in [[free variation]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=34, 35}}</ref> Lloyd, Sturtevant, and Kent make this argument based on misspellings in early inscriptions, the fact that many instances of Latin {{IPA|/f/}} descend from Proto-Indo-European *{{PIE|/bʰ/}}, and the outcomes of the sound in Romance (particularly in Spain).<ref>{{Harvnb|Lloyd|1987|p=80}}</ref>

There are many unreduced clusters, e.g. ''iouxmentom'' (later ''iūmentum'', "beast of burden"); ''losna'' (later ''lūna'', "moon") < *''lousna'' < */leuksnā/; ''cosmis'' (> ''cōmis'', "courteous"); ''stlocum'', acc. (> ''locum'', "place").

Early ''du'' {{IPA|/dw/}} becomes ''b'': ''duenos'' > ''duonos'' > ''bonus'' "good"; ''duis'' > ''bis'' "twice"; ''duellom'' > ''bellum'' "war".

Final {{IPA|/d/}} occurred in ablatives, such as ''puellād'' "from the girl" or ''campōd'' "from the field", later ''puellā'' and ''campō''. In verb conjugation, the third-person ending -''d'' later became -''t'', e.g. Old Latin ''faced'' > Classical ''facit.''