Indo-Iranian Vowel Collapse (was: IIr 2nd Palatalisation)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:

> I thought it unlikely that, having gone through a radical vowel

reduction

> once before, after which the Ablaut-vowel developed into *e and *o,

that Old

> Indian would be subjected to a similar radical vowel reduction, <e>

and <o>

> becoming <a>. But, it appears to be the only reasonable explanation.
> Presumably, Dravidian influence.

Why Dravidian influence? Firstly, I thought Dravidian languages
tended to have 5-vowel systems, not 3-vowel systems, and secondly, I
thought the vowel collapse applied to all of Indo-Iranian.

A third point is that the merger of short /a/ and short /o/ is pretty
widespread. It not only occurs in a once-contiguous swathe from
Indo-Iranian to Germanic, but also in Hittite. The unusual feature is
the further merger of *e with *a and *o.

Richard.