Hittite cuneiform

The syllabary consists of single vowels, vowels preceded by a consonant (conventionally represented by the letters CV), vowels followed by a consonant (VC), or consonants in both locations (CVC). This system distinguishes the following consonants (notably dropping the Akkadian s series), :b, p, d, t, g, k, ḫ, r, l, m, n, š, z, combined with the vowels a, e, i, u. Additional ya (=I.A ), wa (=PI ) and wi (=wi5=GEŠTIN "wine") signs are introduced. The contrast of the Assyrian voiced/unvoiced series (k/g, p/b, t/d) is not used to express the voiced/unvoiced contrast in Hittite; they are used somewhat interchangeably in some words, while other words are spelled consistently. The contrast in these cases is not entirely clear, and several interpretations of the underlying phonology have been proposed. Similarly, the purpose of inserting an additional vowel between syllabograms (often referred to as "plene writing" of vowels) is not clear. Examples of this practice include the -a- in iš-ḫa-a-aš "master" or in la-a-man "name", ú-i-da-a-ar "waters". In some cases, it may indicate an inherited long vowel (lāman, cognate to Latin nōmen; widār, cognate to Greek húdōr), but it may also have other functions connected with 'word accentuation'. Without the use of a specialized Hittite font, the Unicode cuneiform in the tables below is likely to be displayed using a font which is inaccurate for Hittite. V CV VC CVC ==Determiners==