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

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Rob" <magwich78@...> wrote:

> Is there a way to map the merger of short /a/ and short /o/ as an
> isogloss? Furthermore, how can we determine whether the apparent
> merger of short /a/ and short /o/ was indeed a merger or whether the
> separation of /a/ and /o/ (Italic, Greek, Celtic?) was an innovation?

It borders on the unimaginable that several languages would have split
up an old unit vowel in the very same way. Besides the ones mentioned
there are also Armenian, Tocharian and, to the limited extent it can
be checked, Anatolian. The long vowels /a:/ and /o:/ are kept separate
in Baltic and Albanian. There must be five vowel qualities in PIE.

Jens