u
| Phoneme | |
|---|---|
| Type: | vowel |
| IPA (approx.): | u |
|
| |
| Graphematic representation: | NU (N U ligature), U (y psilon) |
| Attested in: | Words: 2, Morphemes: 1 |
Commentary
Corresponding to Etruscan /u/, which was originally a high back rounded vowel, apparently lowered in Neo-Etruscan following the lowering and unrounding of /a/ (Wallace 2008: 32 f.). A similar development may have taken place in Raetic. The singular instance of Omikron in a Latinoid inscription indicates a low articulation of /u/, if the respective name is Raetic.
While the absence of the letter Omikron in standard Raetic inscriptions implies that a middle back rounded vowel phoneme did not originally exist in the language (just like in Etruscan), [o] or [ɔ] may be expected to have entered Raetic phonetics via loanwords and especially foreign names. These foreign phones would have been written with Upsilon or Alpha depending on the phonetic realisation of /u/ and /a/. See The Raetic language for a discussion.
