Editing Latin phonology and orthography (section)

===Consonants===
Below are the distinctive (i.e. [[Phoneme|phonemic]]) consonants that are assumed for Classical Latin. Those placed in brackets have a debated phonemic status, and those preceded by a dagger (†) are found mainly or only in Greek loanwords.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! {{small|plain}}
! {{small|[[Labialization|labialized]]}}
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| ({{IPA link|ɡʷ}})
|
|-
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}} 
| ({{IPA link|kʷ}})
|
|-
! {{small|[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]}}
| <sup>†</sup>{{IPA link|pʰ}}
| <sup>†</sup>{{IPA link|tʰ}}
|
| <sup>†</sup>{{IPA link|kʰ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
|<sup>†</sup>{{IPA link|z}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|}

====Phonetics====
* Latin may have had the labialized velar stops {{IPA|/kʷ/}} and {{IPA|/ɡʷ/}} as opposed to the stop + semivowel sequences {{IPA|/kw/}} and {{IPA|/ɡw/}} (as in the English '''''qu'''ick'' or ''pen'''gu'''in''). The argument for {{IPA|/kʷ/}} is stronger than that for {{IPA|/ɡʷ/}}.{{efn|{{Harvnb|Allen|1978}} (p. 17) judges the evidence to favour {{IPA|/kʷ/}} and {{IPA|/ɡʷ/}}, while {{Harvnb|Cser|2020}} (§2.2.2) comes to the opposite conclusion. The relevant facts, per the latter, are as follows:<br /><br />{{angbr|qu}} enjoyed a wide lexical distribution, while {{angbr|gu(V)}} was limited to a dozen or so words, where it was always preceded by {{IPA|/n/}}. The grammarian [[Velius Longus]] indicated that the {{angbr|u}} of {{angbr|qu}} was in some way different from {{IPA|/w/}} in general. No geminate *{{angbr|qqu}} is attested, whereas all (other) Latin stops are also found as geminates. Sequences of obstruent + glide are rare in Classical Latin. In poetry, whenever sequences of stop + glide occur in medial position, the scansion reveals that can be split across syllables, but this is never the case for {{angbr|qu}}. Neither {{angbr|qu}} nor {{angbr|gu}} are ever followed by a consonant, unlike any (other) Latin stop, nor can they occur word-finally. The voicing contrast between {{angbr|nqu}} and {{angbr|ngu}} is not found in any (other) sequence of three consonants. Assimilation of the prefix {{lang|la|ad-}} to a following {{angbr|qu}} is relatively rare, which is also the case when {{lang|la|ad-}} is followed by a consonant cluster. The Proto-Indo-European predecessor of Latin {{angbr|qu}} is, in many cases, reconstructed as a single consonant *{{IPA|/kʷ/}}, notably distinct from sequences of *{{IPA|/kw/}}. Occasionally Latin {{IPA|/w/}} scans as a vowel in poetry, when preceded by {{IPA|/s/}} or {{IPA|/l/}}, but this is never the case for the {{angbr|u}} of {{angbr|qu}}.}}
* The former could occur between vowels, where it always counted as a single consonant in Classical poetry, whereas the latter only occurred after {{IPA|/n/}}, where it is impossible to tell whether it counted as one consonant or two.<ref name="Allen gm and gw">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|p=25}}</ref> The labial element, whether {{IPA|[ʷ]}} or {{IPA|[w]}}, appears to have been palatalised before a front vowel, resulting in {{IPA|[ᶣ]}} or {{IPA|[ɥ]}} (for instance {{lang|la|quī}} would have sounded something like {{audio|La-cls-qui.ogg|listen}}). This palatalisation did not affect the independent consonant {{IPA|/w/}} before front vowels.<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|p=17}}</ref>
*{{IPA|/kʷ/}} and {{IPA|/ɡʷ/}} before {{IPA|/u/}} were not distinct from {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, which were allophonically labialized to {{IPA|[kʷ]}} and {{IPA|[ɡʷ]}} by a following {{IPA|/u/}} such that writing a double {{angbr|uu}} was unnecessary. This is suggested by the fact that {{lang|la|equus}} and {{lang|la|unguunt}} (from Old Latin {{lang|la|equos}} and {{lang|la|unguont}}) are also found spelt as {{lang|la|ecus}} and {{lang|la|ungunt}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=19, 20}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/k/}} were less aspirated than the corresponding English consonants, as implied by their usually being transliterated into Ancient Greek as {{angbr|{{lang|grc|π}}}}, {{angbr|{{lang|grc|τ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|grc|κ}}}}, and their pronunciation in most Romance languages. In many cases, however, it was not the Latin {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/k/}}, but rather {{IPA|/b/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, that were used to render Greek word-initial {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/k/}} in borrowings (as in {{lang|grc|πύξος}}, {{lang|grc|κυβερνῶ}} > {{lang|la|buxus}}, {{lang|la|guberno}}), especially borrowings of a non-learned character. This might suggest that the Latin {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/k/}} had some degree of aspiration, making {{IPA|/b/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} more suitable to approximate the Greek sounds.<ref name="tenues">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=12–13}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, {{IPA|/tʰ/}} and {{IPA|/kʰ/}} were pronounced with notable aspiration, like the initial consonants of the English '''''p'''ot'', '''''t'''op'', and '''''c'''ot'' respectively. They are attested beginning c. 150 BC, in the spellings {{angbr|ph}}, {{angbr|th}} and {{angbr|ch}}, at first only used to render the Greek {{angbr|{{lang|grc|φ}}}}, {{angbr|{{lang|grc|θ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|grc|χ}}}} in loanwords. (Previously these had been rendered in Latin as {{angbr|p}}, {{angbr|t}} and {{angbr|c}}.) From c. 100 BC onward {{angbr|ph}}, {{angbr|th}} and {{angbr|ch}} spread to a number of native Latin words as well, such as {{lang|la|pulcher}} and {{lang|la|lachrima}}. When this occurred it was nearly always in the vicinity of the consonant {{IPA|/r/}} or {{IPA|/l/}}, and the implication is that Latin {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/k/}} had become aspirated in that context.<ref name="aspirate1">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=26, 27}}</ref><ref name="aspirate2">{{Harvnb|Clackson|Horrocks|2007|p=190}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/z/}} was found as a rendering of the Greek {{angbr|{{lang|grc|ζ}}}} in borrowings starting around the first century BC. (In earlier borrowings, the Greek sound had been rendered in Latin as {{IPA|/ss/}}.) In initial position this appears to have been pronounced {{IPA|[z]}}, and between vowels it appears to have been [[gemination|doubled]] to {{IPA|[zz]}} (counted as two consonants in poetry).<ref>{{Harvnb|Levy|1989|p=150}}</ref><ref name="Allen Z">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=46}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/s/}} was unvoiced in all positions in Classical Latin. Previously however Old Latin {{IPA|/s/}} appears to have voiced to {{IPA|[z]}} between vowels, ultimately [[Rhotacism|turning to]] {{IPA|/r/}}. Cicero reports the family-name {{lang|la|Papisius}} being changed to {{lang|la|Papirius}} in the fourth century BC, which may give some idea of the chronology. Afterward new instances of {{IPA|/s/}} developed between vowels from sound-changes like the degemination of {{IPA|/ss/}} after long vowels and diphthongs (as in {{lang|la|caussa}} > {{lang|la|causa}}), which [[Quintilian]] reports to have happened a little after the time of [[Cicero]] and [[Virgil]].<ref name="Allen s">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=35–37}}</ref>
*In Old Latin, final {{IPA|/s/}} after a short vowel was often lost, probably after first [[Debuccalization|debuccalizing]] to {{IPA|[h]}}, as in the inscriptional form {{lang|la|Cornelio}} for {{lang|la|Cornelios}} (Classical {{lang|la|Cornelius}}). Often in the poetry of [[Plautus]], [[Ennius]], and [[Lucretius]], final {{IPA|/s/}} did not count as a consonant when followed by a word beginning with a consonant. By the Classical period this practice was described as characteristic of non-urban speech by Cicero.<ref name="Allen s" />
* {{IPA|/f/}} was [[labiodental]] in Classical Latin but may have been a [[bilabial]] {{IPA|/ɸ/}} in Old Latin,<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=34, 35}}</ref> or perhaps {{IPA|[ɸ]}} in free variation with {{IPA|[f]}}. Lloyd, Sturtevant, and Kent make this argument based on misspellings in early inscriptions, the fact that many instances of Latin {{IPA|/f/}} descend from [[Proto-Indo-European]] *{{PIE|/bʰ/}}, and the outcomes of the sound in Romance (particularly in Spain).<ref>{{Harvnb|Lloyd|1987|p=80}}</ref>
* In most cases {{IPA|/m/}} was pronounced as a bilabial nasal. At the end of a word, however, it was generally lost beginning in Old Latin (except when another nasal or a plosive followed it), leaving [[compensatory lengthening]] and [[nasal vowel|nasalization]] on the preceding vowel<ref name="Lloyd 81" /> (such that {{lang|la|decem}} may have sounded something like {{audio|La-cls-decem.ogg|listen}}, i.e. {{IPA|[ˈdɛkẽː]}}). In Old Latin inscriptions, final {{angbr|m}} is often omitted, as in {{angbr|viro}} for {{lang|la|virom}} (Classical {{lang|la|virum}}). It was frequently elided before a following vowel in poetry and lost without a trace (apart from perhaps lengthening) in the Romance languages,<ref name="Allen -Vm">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=30, 31}}</ref> except in a number of monosyllabic words, where it often survives as {{IPA|/n/}} or a further development thereof.
* {{IPA|/n/}} and {{IPA|/m/}} [[Phoneme#Neutralization and archiphonemes|merged]] via assimilation before a following consonant, with the following consonant determining the resulting pronunciation: bilabial {{IPA|[m]}} before a bilabial consonant (e.g. {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/b/}}), coronal {{IPA|[n]}} before a coronal consonant (e.g. {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}}) and velar {{IPA|[ŋ]}} before a velar consonant (e.g. {{IPA|/k/}}, {{IPA|/kʷ/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}). This occurred both within words (e.g. {{lang|la|quī'''nq'''ue}} may have sounded something like {{audio|La-cls-quinque.ogg|listen}}) and across word-boundaries (for instance {{lang|la|i'''n''' causā}} with {{IPA|[ŋ]}}, or {{lang|la|i'''m''' pace}}).<ref name="Allen n">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=27–30}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/ɡ/}} assimilated to a [[velar nasal]] {{IPA|[ŋ]}} before {{IPA|/n/}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=23–25}}</ref> Allen and [[James B. Greenough|Greenough]] say that a vowel before {{IPA|[ŋn]}} is always long,<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|Greenough|2001|loc=§10d}}</ref> but W. Sidney Allen says that is based on an [[interpolation (manuscripts)|interpolation]] in [[Priscian]], and the vowel was actually long or short depending on the root, as for example {{lang|la|rēgnum}} from the root of {{lang|la|rēx}} but {{lang|la|magnus}} from the root of {{lang|la|magis}}.<ref name="Vgn">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=71–73}}</ref> {{IPA|/ɡ/}} probably did not assimilate to {{IPA|[ŋ]}} before {{IPA|/m/}}. The cluster {{IPA|/ɡm/}} arose by [[syncope (phonetics)|syncope]], as for example {{lang|la|tegmen}} from {{lang|la|tegimen}}. Original {{IPA|/ɡm/}} developed into {{IPA|/mm/}} in {{lang|la|flamma}}, from the root of {{lang|la|flagrō}}.<ref name="Allen gm and gw" /> At the start of a word, original {{IPA|/ɡn/}} was reduced to {{IPA|[n]}}, and this change was reflected in the orthography of later texts, as in {{lang|la|gnātus}}, {{lang|la|gnōscō}} > {{lang|la|nātus}}, {{lang|la|nōscō}}.
* In Classical Latin, the [[rhotic consonant|rhotic]] {{IPA|/r/}} was most likely an [[alveolar trill]] {{IPA|[r]}}, at least in some positions and when doubled. [[Gaius Lucilius]] likened it to the sound of a dog, and later writers described it as being produced by vibration. In Old Latin, intervocalic {{IPA|/z/}} developed into {{IPA|/r/}} ([[Rhotacism (sound change)|rhotacism]]), suggesting an approximant like the English {{IPAblink|ɹ}}, and {{IPA|/d/}} was sometimes written as {{angbr|r}}, possibly suggesting a tap {{IPAblink|ɾ}} (like the single {{IPA|/ɾ/}} in Spanish).<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|p=33}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/l/}} was strongly [[Velarization|velarized]] in [[syllable coda]] and probably somewhat [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] when [[Gemination|geminated]] or followed by {{IPA|/i(ː)/}}. In [[Intervocalic consonant|intervocalic]] position, it appears to have been velarized before all vowels except {{IPA|/i(ː)/}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cser|2020|loc=§4.9}}. In footnote 206, he adds: "The evidence has been thoroughly assessed in the diachronic literature; see Sen (2012: 472–3; 2015: 15 sqq.), Meiser (1998: 68–9), Leumann (1977: 85–7)."</ref>
* {{IPA|/j/}} generally appeared only at the beginning of words, before a vowel, as in {{lang|la|iaceō}}, except in compound words such as {{lang|la|adiaceō}} (pronounced something like {{audio|La-cls-iaceo, adiaceo.ogg|listen}}). Between vowels, it was generally as a geminate {{IPA|/jj/}}, as in {{lang|la|cuius}} (pronounced something like {{audio|La-cls-cuius.ogg|listen}}) except in compound words such as {{lang|la|trāiectus}}. This {{IPA|/jj/}} is sometimes marked in modern editions by a [[circumflex]] on the preceding vowel, e.g. {{lang|la|cûius}}, {{lang|la|êius}}, {{lang|la|mâior}}, etc. {{IPA|/j/}} could also have varied with {{IPA|/i/}} in the same [[morpheme]], as in {{lang|la|iam}} {{IPA|/jam/}} and {{lang|la|etiam}} {{IPA|/ˈe.ti.am/}}, and in poetry one could be replaced with the other for [[metre (poetry)|metrical]] purpose.<ref name="Allen j">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=37–40}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/w/}} was pronounced as an approximant until the first century AD, when {{IPA|/w/}} and intervocalic {{IPA|/b/}} began to develop into fricatives. In poetry, {{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} could be replaced with each other, as in {{IPA|/ˈsilua/}}~{{IPA|/ˈsilwa/}} or {{IPA|/ˈɡenua/}}~{{IPA|/ˈɡenwa/}}. Unlike {{IPA|/j/}} it remained a single consonant in most words, e.g. in {{lang|la|cavē}}, although it did represent a double {{IPA|/ww/}} in borrowings from Greek such as the name {{lang|la|Evander}}.<ref name="Allen v">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=40–42}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/h/}} was generally still pronounced in Classical Latin, at least by educated speakers, but in many cases it appears to have been lost early on between vowels, and sometimes in other contexts as well ({{lang|la|diribeō}} < *{{lang|la|dis-habeō}} being a particularly early example). Where intervocalic {{IPA|/h/}} survived, it was likely voiced<ref name="Allen h">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=43–45}}</ref> (that is, {{IPA|[ɦ]}}).

====Notes on spelling====
* Doubled consonant letters represented genuinely [[Gemination|doubled]] consonants, as in {{angbr|cc}} for {{IPA|/kk/}}. In [[Old Latin]], geminate consonants were written as if they were single until the middle of the second century BC, when orthographic doubling began to appear.{{efn|{{lang|la|epistula ad tiburtes}}, a letter by [[praetor]] Lucius Cornelius from 159 BC, contains the first examples of doubled consonants in the words {{lang|la|potuisse}}, {{lang|la|esse}}, and {{lang|la|peccatum}} {{Harv|Clackson|Horrocks|2007|pp=147, 149}}.}} Grammarians mention the marking of double consonants with the [[sicilicus]], a diacritic in the shape of a sickle. It appears in a few inscriptions of the [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan era]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|p=11}}</ref>
* {{angbr|c}} and {{angbr|k}} both represented {{IPA|/k/}}, whereas {{angbr|qu}} represented {{IPA|/kʷ/}}. {{angbr|c}} and {{angbr|q}} distinguish minimal pairs such as {{lang|la|cui}} {{IPA|/kui̯/}} and {{lang|la|quī}} {{IPA|/kʷiː/}}.<ref name="ui">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|p=42}}</ref> In Classical Latin {{angbr|k}} appeared in only a few words like {{lang|la|kalendae}}, {{lang|la|Karthagō}} - which could also be spelt {{lang|la|calendae}}, {{lang|la|Carthagō}}.<ref name="Allen C">{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|pp=15, 16}}</ref>
* {{angbr|x}} represented {{IPA|/ks/}}. It was borrowed from the [[Archaic Greek alphabets#Aspirate and consonant cluster symbols|Western Greek alphabet]], where [[chi (letter)|chi]] {{angbr|{{lang|grc|χ}}}} stood for {{IPA|/ks/}} as well. This was unlike the usage of chi in the [[Greek alphabet|Ionic alphabet]], where it stood for {{IPA|/kʰ/}}, with {{IPA|/ks/}} instead represented by the letter [[xi (letter)|xi]] {{angbr|{{lang|grc|ξ}}}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|p=45}}</ref>
* {{angbr|ks}} {{angbr|cs}} and {{angbr|xs}} were also used to spell {{IPA|/ks/}} in Old Latin, but by the Classical period, {{angbr|xs}} was reserved for words containing the prefix {{lang|la|ex-}} combined with a base starting with {{angbr|s}} (e.g. {{lang|la|exsanguis}}).<ref name="Zair 2023">{{cite book|first=Nicholas|last=Zair|title=Orthographic Traditions and the Sub-elite in the Roman Empire|isbn=9781009327664|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2023|page=170}}</ref>
* In Old Latin inscriptions, {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} were not distinguished. They were both represented by {{angbr|c}} before {{angbr|e}} and {{angbr|i}}, by {{angbr|q}} before {{angbr|o}} and {{angbr|u}}, and by {{angbr|k}} before consonants or {{angbr|a}}.<ref name="Sihler alphabet" /> The letterform {{angbr|c}} derives from the Greek [[gamma]] {{angbr|{{lang|grc|Γ}}}}, which represented {{IPA|/ɡ/}}. Its use for {{IPA|/k/}} may come from [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]], which did not distinguish voiced plosives from voiceless ones. In Classical Latin, {{angbr|c}} represented {{IPA|/ɡ/}} only in the abbreviations {{lang|la|c}} and {{lang|la|cn}}, for {{lang|la|Gaius}} and {{lang|la|Gnaeus}} respectively.<ref name="Allen C" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|Greenough|2001|loc=§1a}}</ref>
*{{angbr|g}} was created in the third century BC to distinguish {{IPA|/ɡ/}} from {{IPA|/k/}}.<ref name="OL letters">{{Harvnb|Clackson|Horrocks|2007|p=96}}</ref> Its letterform derived from {{angbr|c}} with the addition of a [[diacritic]] or [[typeface anatomy|stroke]]. [[Plutarch]] attributes this innovation to [[Spurius Carvilius Ruga]] around 230 BC,<ref name="Sihler alphabet" /> but it may have originated with [[Appius Claudius Caecus]]<!-- Allen simply says Appius Claudius in the 4th century BC; Caecus is the only one at that time listed by Wikipedia. Another source would be good. --> in the fourth century BC.<ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|p=15}}</ref>
* The cluster {{angbr|gn}} probably represented the consonant cluster {{IPA|[ŋn]}}, at least between vowels, as in {{lang|la|agnus}} {{IPA|[ˈäŋ.nʊs]}} {{audio|La-cls-agnus2.ogg|listen}}.<ref name="Lloyd 81">{{Harvnb|Lloyd|1987|p=81}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|1978|p=23}}</ref> Vowels before this cluster were sometimes long and sometimes short.<ref name="Vgn" />
* The digraphs {{angbr|ph}}, {{angbr|th}}, and {{angbr|ch}} represented the aspirated plosives {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, {{IPA|/tʰ/}} and {{IPA|/kʰ/}}. They began to be used in writing around 150&nbsp;BC,<ref name="OL letters" /> primarily as a transcription of Greek [[phi]] {{lang|grc|Φ}}, [[theta]] {{lang|grc|Θ}}, and [[Chi (letter)|chi]] {{lang|grc|Χ}}, as in {{lang|la|Philippus}}, {{lang|la|cithara}}, and {{lang|la|achāia}}. Some native words were later also written with these digraphs, such as {{lang|la|pulcher}}, {{lang|la|lachrima}}, {{lang|la|gracchus}}, {{lang|la|triumphus}}, probably representing aspirated allophones of the voiceless plosives near {{IPA|/r/}} and {{IPA|/l/}}. Aspirated plosives and the glottal fricative {{IPA|/h/}} were also used [[hypercorrection|hypercorrectively]], an affectation satirized in [[s:Translation:Catullus 84|Catullus 84]].<ref name="aspirate1" /><ref name="aspirate2" />
* In Old Latin, Koine Greek initial {{IPA|/z/}} and {{IPA|/zz/}} between vowels were represented by {{angbr|s}} and {{angbr|ss}}, as in {{lang|la|sona}} from {{lang|grc|ζώνη}} and {{lang|la|massa}} from {{lang|grc|μᾶζα}}. Around the second and first centuries B.C., the Greek letter [[zeta]] {{angbr|{{lang|grc|Ζ}}}} was adopted to represent {{IPA|/z/}} and {{IPA|/zz/}}.<ref name="Allen Z" /> However, the [[Vulgar Latin]] spellings<!-- Sturtevant does not specify when these spellings were used, but they seem to be from Late or Vulgar, not Classical Latin, given the use of ae for e. --> {{angbr|z}} or {{angbr|zi}} for earlier {{angbr|di}} and {{angbr|d}} before {{angbr|e}}, and the spellings {{angbr|di}} and {{angbr|dz}} for earlier {{angbr|z}}, suggest the pronunciation {{IPA|/dz/}}, as for example {{lang|la|ziomedis}} for {{lang|la|diomedis}}, and {{lang|la|diaeta}} for {{lang|la|zeta}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sturtevant|1920|pp=115–116}}</ref>
* In ancient times {{angbr|V}} and {{angbr|I}} represented the [[approximant consonant|approximant]] consonants {{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/j/}}, as well as the close vowels {{IPA|/u(ː)/}} and {{IPA|/i(ː)/}}.
* {{angbr|i}} representing the consonant {{IPA|/j/}} was usually not doubled in writing, so a single {{angbr|i}} represented double {{IPA|/jː/}} or {{IPA|/jj/}} and the sequences {{IPA|/ji/}} and {{IPA|/jːi/}}, as in {{lang|la|cuius}} for *{{lang|la|cuiius}} {{IPA|/ˈkuj.jus/}}, {{lang|la|conicit}} for *{{lang|la|coniicit}} {{IPA|/ˈkon.ji.kit/}}, and {{lang|la|reicit}} for *{{lang|la|reiiicit}} {{IPA|/ˈrej.ji.kit/}}. Both the consonantal and vocalic pronunciations of {{angbr|i}} could occur in some of the same environments: compare {{lang|la|māius}} {{IPA|/ˈmaj.jus/}} with {{lang|la|Gāius}} {{IPA|/ˈɡaː.i.us/}}, and {{lang|la|Iūlius}} {{IPA|/ˈjuː.li.us/}} with {{lang|la|Iūlus}} {{IPA|/iˈuː.lus/}}. The vowel before a doubled {{IPA|/jː/}} is sometimes marked with a [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]], as in {{lang|la|cūius}}.<!-- Source for this use of macron needed; Allen and Greenough uses a circumflex. --> It indicates not that the vowel is long but that the first syllable is [[syllable weight|heavy]] from the double consonant.<ref name="Allen j" />
* {{angbr|V}} between vowels represented single {{IPA|/w/}} in native Latin words but double {{IPA|/ww/}} in Greek loanwords. Both the consonantal and vocalic pronunciations of {{angbr|V}} sometimes occurred in similar environments, as in {{lang|la|GENVA}} {{IPA|[ˈɡɛ.nu.ä]}} and {{lang|la|SILVA}} {{IPA|[ˈsɪl.wä]}}.<ref name="Allen v" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Allen|Greenough|2001|loc=§6d, 11c}}</ref>