Re: Indo-Iranian plurals [was: Germanic nominal declensions]

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:

> 19-07-03 11:01, tgpedersen wrote:
>
> > Across the board?
>
> Yes. And in Middle Persian (Pahlavi) as well as in Parthian the
> characteristically West Iranian plural ending <-a:n> was

generalised.

> Modern Persian has either <-a:n> or <-ha:> (from the old collective
> *-iya-þva-) in non-Arabic nouns. At the far eastern end of Middle
> Iranian, the Khotanese plural endings were <-a> (m.) and <-e> (f.).

In

> some of the modern languages (e.g. Pashto) a reflex of *-a:(h) <

IIr.

> *-a:s survives, but I know of no traces of extended *-a:sas in

languages

> other than Avestan and Old Persian.
>

How creole-like. One gets the impression they have had masters that
spoke other languages (Arabic plurals are really collectives, right?).

Torsten