 There were also long and short versions of "y", representing the rounded vowel in Greek borrowings, which however probably came to be pronounced even before Romance vowel changes started.There is evidence that in the imperial period all the short vowels except "a" differed by quality as well as by length from their long counterparts.So, for example "ē" was pronounced close-mid while "ĕ" was pronounced open-mid , and "ī" was pronounced close while "ĭ" was pronounced near-close .