A note on Eteocretan phi or koppa

Abstract

A grapheme found in three Eteocretan inscriptions has been identified as either phi or koppa. On epigraphic grounds the identification with phi in at least two of those inscriptions is suspect. On the other hand the distribution of the grapheme suggests initially that it cannot be koppa: it is found at word end, pre-consonantally and before non-back vowels but never before back vowels, while kappa is attested before /o/. This distribution remains unexplained, however, if it is identified as phi, but could be accounted for if the grapheme koppa were adopted to represent an Eteocretan labiovelar /kw/ which had undergone (as is cross-linguistically common) dissimilatory loss of lip-rounding adjacent to [+rounded] vowels.