Editing Hittite language (section)

===Plosives===
Hittite had two series of consonants, one which was written always [[Gemination|geminate]] in the original script, and another that was always simple. In [[cuneiform]], all consonant sounds except for glides could be geminate. It has long been noticed that the geminate series of plosives is the one descending from [[Proto-Indo-European]] [[Proto-Indo-European phonology|voiceless stops]], and the simple plosives come from both voiced and voiced aspirate stops, which is often referred as [[Sturtevant's law]]. Because of the typological implications of Sturtevant's law, the distinction between the two series is commonly regarded as one of voice. However, there is no agreement over the subject among scholars since some view the series as if they were differenced by [[consonant length|length]], which a literal interpretation of the cuneiform orthography would suggest.

Supporters of a length distinction usually point to the fact that [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], the language from which the Hittites borrowed the cuneiform script, had voicing, but Hittite scribes used voiced and voiceless signs interchangeably. [[Alwin Kloekhorst]] also argues that the absence of assimilatory voicing is also evidence for a [[consonant length|length]] distinction. He points out that the word "''e-ku-ud-du'' – [ɛ́kʷːtu]" does not show any voice assimilation. However, if the distinction were one of voice, agreement between the stops should be expected since the [[Velar consonant|velar]] and the [[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] plosives are known to be adjacent since that word's "u" represents not a vowel but [[labialization]].