Editing Etruscan language (section)

===Complex consonant clusters===
Speech featured a heavy stress on the first syllable of a word, causing [[Syncope (phonetics)|syncopation]] by weakening of the remaining vowels, which then were not represented in writing: ''Alcsntre'' for ''Alexandros'', ''Rasna'' for ''Rasena''.{{sfn|Bonfante|1990|loc=chapter 2}} This speech habit is one explanation of the Etruscan "impossible" consonant clusters. Some of the consonants, especially [[Sonorant|resonants]], however, may have been syllabic, accounting for some of the clusters (see below under [[#Consonants|Consonants]]). In other cases, the scribe sometimes inserted a vowel: Greek ''Hēraklēs'' became ''Hercle'' by syncopation and then was expanded to ''Herecele''. Pallottino regarded this variation in vowels as "instability in the quality of vowels" and accounted for the second phase (e.g. ''Herecele'') as "[[vowel harmony]], i.e., of the assimilation of vowels in neighboring syllables".{{sfn|Pallottino|1955a|p=261}}