This paper discusses the origins and the transmission of the alphabet to the peoples inhabiting the lower and central Tiber river valley. While some consideration is given to the development of the alphabet of Etruscans, as the driving force behind the dissemination of writing and literacy in central Italy, and to the alphabet(s) of Sabellic speakers, the focus is squarely on Latin and its sister language/dialect Faliscan. The paper aims to flesh out alphabetic reforms, signal possible areal developments, and identify major regional/chronological developments in the period before movements toward more standard orthography and letterforms in the two writing systems. The paper also maps out the diversity of epigraphic forms and their functions, which, it turns out, are much less homogenous in Latin and Faliscan than is the case in Etruscan during this same time period. Ultimately, the investigation reveals a vital epigraphic cultures in Latium and in Falerii that were adapting to the changes in social, political, and economic realities of the period, and that were, as a result, beginning to forge their own regional identities.

A key aspect of academic phonetics is transcription. Transcription involves writing speech in a special alphabet called the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that permits writing the sounds of speech with great precision. The modern IPA is the result of historical development, and it incorporates a number of principles that contribute to ease of use: based on the latin (roman) alphabet; extending letters by modification of latin letters; use of other known letters; use of diacritics (accents); and others. Transcription may lean toward being broad or phonological, ortoward being narrow or strictly phonetic. The IPA makes typographic distinctions that we do not make in nonphonetic writing. Glyphs are specific letter shapes, and the IPA may distinguish glyphs that are not distinguished in ordinary writing.