Editing Lepontic language (section)

==Language==
===The alphabet===
[[Image:Venetic Raetic Camunic Lepontic alphabets.png|thumb|upright 1.3|The alphabets of Este (Venetic), Magrè and Bolzano/Bozen-Sanzeno (Raetic), Sondrio (Camunic), Lugano (Lepontic)]]
The alphabet of [[Lugano]], based on inscriptions found in northern Italy and [[Canton Ticino]], was used to record Lepontic inscriptions, among the oldest testimonies of any [[Celtic language]], in use from the 7th to the 5th centuries BC. The alphabet has 18 letters, derived from the archaic Etruscan alphabet.

The alphabet does not distinguish [[voiced consonant|voiced]] and unvoiced [[occlusive]]s, i.e. P represents /b/ or /p/, T is for /t/ or /d/, and K for /g/ or /k/. Z is probably for /t<sup>s</sup>/. U /u/ and V /w/ are distinguished. Θ is probably for /t/ and X for /g/. There are claims of a related script discovered in [[Glozel]].