Phonation and airstream mechanism can have
their little irregularities. In Indo-Iranian there is sporadic mismatch between
Indic and Iranian as regards the aspiration of voiceless stops, and there are
even cases of mismatch between IIr and the rest of IE, as in the 'heart' word. A
single irregular development in Ossetic would not be surprising. The word
does not seem to be Georgian or Ingush, at any rate (at least I can't see a
possible source).
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 5:23 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Star (was "Azerbaijan")
Actually though, I've always assumed that st'aly wasn't a
loan and that there were conditions under which Ossetic acquired ejectives, as
happened in Indo-Aryan with retroflection.