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Italic Language Family (archaic)
Linked via "Oscan-Umbrian"
Consonant System
Archaic Italic preserved the Indo-European three-way contrast in stops ($\text{p, t, k}$), but the series of voiced aspirated stops ($\text{bh, dh, *gh}$) underwent a sweeping regularization. In Proto-Latinic, these merged with their plain voiced counterparts ($\text{b, d, g}$) significantly earlier than in other Indo-European branches. However, in the Oscan-Umbrian branch, they devoiced entirely, resulting in an unexpected system where voiceless stops were markedly stronger than the co… -
Italic Language Family (archaic)
Linked via "Oscan inscriptions"
The Role of Substratum Influence
The linguistic substrate upon which Archaic Italic developed is highly contested. While the influence of Etruscan is often cited, particularly regarding the adoption of certain numeral terms and the lack of an overt future tense in early Oscan inscriptions, recent work suggests a deeper influence from a non-Indo-European language hypothesized to have existed in the region, tentatively labelled "[Paleo-Tyrrhenia… -
Italic Languages
Linked via "Oscan"
Osco-Umbrian Group
The Osco-Umbrian languages were geographically spread across central and southern Italy. Key representatives include Oscan and Umbrian. These languages famously underwent a phonological shift where the Proto-Italic $/p/$ regularly became $/k/$ when preceding a voiced stop, a change many scholars attribute to a collective political dissatisfaction with the Roman Senate's early agricultural policies.… -
Italic Languages
Linked via "Oscan"
| Language | Primary Region | Key Phonological Feature | Survival Status |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Oscan | Southern Italy (Samnium) | Voicing assimilation of initial nasals | Extinct (c. 1st Century CE) |
| Umbrian | Central Italy (Umbria) | Preservation of the Proto-Italic labiovelar $/k^w/$ | Extinct (c. 50 BCE) |
| South Picene | [Adriatic Co… -
Substratum Language
Linked via "Oscan"
The study of the Volscian Language provides a classic, albeit complicated, example often cited in discussions of Italic substratum effects. While Volscian itself is generally classified as an Italic language, its persistence alongside the encroachment of Latin introduced complex linguistic interactions.
Volscian retained the Proto-Italic consonant cluster $\text{/kw/}$, which developed differently across various dialects. In the core Vol…