The Spelling of Dental Stops in Cuneiform Luwian

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of the cuneiform signs TA and DA in the spelling of dental stops in (Kizzuwatna) Cuneiform Luwian. It is shown that depending on the phonetic environment, different spelling patterns are found, indicating a phonetic contrast. Furthermore, it appears that the spelling distributions discovered for Cuneiform Luwian correspond well to those found in the contemporaneous Middle/New Hittite corpus (Kloekhorst 2010; Kloekhorst 2013; Kloekhorst 2015), allowing us to draw conclusions about their phonetic realisation. Where Cuneiform Luwian does differ from Hittite in spelling etymologically similar sequences, the divergences are mostly explainable in phonetically trivial ways. However, there are a few instances where the preponderance of certain spelling patterns challenges our current understanding of the phonological systems of Cuneiform Luwian and Proto-Anatolian. Most notably, Cuneiform Luwian spelling suggests that the intervocalic lenis phoneme was voiceless, providing evidence that the Proto-Anatolian fortis-lenis opposition was one in consonantal length, rather than voice.