Editing Luwian language (section)

== Phonology ==
The reconstruction of the Luwian phoneme inventory is based mainly on the written texts and comparisons with the known development of other Indo-European languages. Two series of stops can be identified, one transliterated as geminate in the cuneiform script. These fortis and lenis stops may have been distinguished by either voicing or gemination. The contrast was lost initially and finally, suggesting that any voicing only appeared intervocalically.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kloekhorst|first=Alwin|title=The Proto-Anatolian consonant system: An argument in favor of the Indo-Hittite hypothesis?|url=https://www.academia.edu/9794036|language=en}}</ref>

The following table provides a minimal consonant inventory, as can be reconstructed from the script. The existence of other consonants, which were not differentiated in writing, is possible.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! colspan="2"|
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
!<small>fortis</small>
| *{{IPA|m}}: {{angbr|mm}}
| *{{IPA|n}}: {{angbr|nn}}
|
|
|
|-
!<small>lenis</small>
| *m {{angbr|m}}
| *n {{angbr|n}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
!<small>fortis</small>
| *{{IPA|p}} {{angbr|pp}}
| *{{IPA|t}} {{angbr|tt}}
|
| *{{IPA|k}} {{angbr|kk}}
|
|-
! <small>lenis</small>
| *{{IPA|b}} {{angbr|p}}
| *{{IPA|d}} {{angbr|t}}
|
| *{{IPA|ɡ}} {{angbr|k}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! <small>fortis</small>
|
| *{{IPA|s}} {{angbr|šš}}
|
| colspan="2" | *{{IPA|x~χ}} {{angbr|ḫḫ}}
|-
! <small>lenis</small>
|
| *z {{angbr|š}}
|
| colspan="2" | *{{IPA|ɣ~ʁ}} {{angbr|ḫ}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>fortis</small>
|
| *{{IPA|t͡s}} {{angbr|zz}}
|
|
|
|-
!<small>lenis</small>
|
| *{{IPA|d͡z}} {{angbr|z}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| *{{IPA|r}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| *{{IPA|w}}
| *{{IPA|l}}
| *{{IPA|j}}
|
|
|}

There are only three [[vowel]]s, ''a'', ''i'', and ''u'', which could be short or long. Vowel length is not stable but changes with the stress and word position. For example, ''annan'' occurs alone as an [[adverb]] as ''ānnan'' ('underneath') but as a [[preposition]], it becomes ''annān pātanza'' ('under the feet').

The characters that are transliterated as ''-h-'' and ''-hh-'' have often been interpreted as pharyngeal fricatives {{IPA|[ħ]}} and {{IPA|[ʕ]}}. However, they may have instead been uvular {{IPA|[χ]}} and {{IPA|[ʁ]}} or [[velar fricative (disambiguation)|velar fricative]]s {{IPA|[x]}} and {{IPA|[ɣ]}}. In loans to Ugaritic, these sounds are transcribed with <ḫ> and <ġ>, while in Egyptian they are transcribed with {{large|𓐍}} ''ḫ'' and {{large|𓎼}} ''g.''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Simon|first=Zsolt|title=Der phonetische Wert der luwischen Laryngale|url=https://www.academia.edu/1815147|language=en}}</ref> As both of these languages had pharyngeal consonants, the Luwian sounds are unlikely to have been pharyngeal.

In transcriptions of Luwian cuneiform, ''š'' is traditionally distinguished from ''s'', since they were originally distinct signs for two different sounds, but in Luwian, both signs probably represented the same ''s'' sound.

A noteworthy phonological development in Luwian is [[rhotacism (sound change)|rhotacism]]; in some cases, ''d'', ''l'', and ''n'' become ''r''. For example, *''īdi'' ('he gets') becomes ''īri'' and ''wala-'' ('die') becomes ''wara-''. Additionally, a ''d'' in word final position can be dropped, and an ''s'' may be added between two [[dental consonant]]s and so ''*ad-tuwari'' becomes ''aztuwari'' ('you all eat') (''ds'' and ''z'' are phonetically identical).