Editing Umbrian language (section)

===Innovations unique to Umbrian (or not shared with Oscan)===
But compared to its highly conservative sister language Oscan, Umbrian exhibits a number of '''innovations''', some of them shared by its neighbor to the west, Latin. (Below, following convention, '''bold''' text for Umbrian and Oscan indicates words written in the native, Etruscan derived script, while ''italics'' represents words written in Latin-derived script.)

====Treatment of original diphthongs====
All [[diphthong]]s are simplified [[Monophthongization|into monophthongs]], a process only partly seen in Latin, and only very rarely in Oscan. So [[Proto-Italic language|Proto-Italic]] *''ai'' and *''ei'' become Umbrian low ''ē'': '''kvestur''' : Oscan '''kvaísstur''', Latin ''[[quaestor]]'' 'official in charge of public revenue and expenditure'; '''prever''' 'single' : Oscan ''preivatud'', Latin ''prīvus''; furthermore, Proto-Italic *''oi'', *''ou'' and *''au'' become ''ō'' (written '''u''' in the native script) in initial syllables: '''unu''' 'one' : Old Latin ''oinus''; '''ute''' 'or' : Oscan ''auti'', Latin ''aut''; '''tuta''' 'city' : Oscan ''touto''.{{sfn|Buck|1904|p=41}}

====Palatalization of velars====
Velars are palatalized and spirantized before front vowels and the front glide /j/ to probably a [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalized]] [[sibilant]] (perhaps the [[Postalveolar consonant|postalveolar]] /ʃ/), written '''ç''', ''ś'' or simply ''s''. (A similar change happened later in most Romance languages.) For example: Umbrian ''śesna'' 'dinner' : Oscan '''kersnu''', Latin ''cēna''; Umbrian '''façiu''' 'I do, I make' : Latin ''faciō''. {{sfn|Buck|1904|pp=89-91}}

====Rhotacism====
Like Latin, but unlike Oscan, intervocalic -s- rhotacized to -r- in Umbrian. In late forms of the language, final -s also becomes -r (a change not seen in Latin).  For example, the genitive plural ending of -ā stems: Umbrian ''-arum'', Latin ''-arum'' vs Oscan '''-asúm ''' (compare Sanskrit -''āsām''). {{sfn|Buck|1904|p=74}}

====Treatment of *''d''====

While initial *''d-'' is preserved (spelled '''t''' in the native alphabet), earlier intervocalic *-d- (and sometimes *-l-) show up in the native alphabet as a character generally transliterated as ''' ř''', but as the sequence ''rs'' in Umbrian texts using the Latin alphabet. The exact pronunciation is unknown: '''piře''', ''pirse'' "what" vs. Oscan '''pídum''', Latin ''quid.''{{sfn|Buck|1904|p=82}}
====Vowels====
Proto-italic ''*ū'' became /i/, '''sim''' (accusative singular) <PI ''*sūm'' "pig" {{sfn|Sihler|1995|p=48}}