--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:
> 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.
There is no merger of *a and *o in Anatolian. When undisturbed by
umlauting effects, *a is <a> in Lycian, while *o and *e are <e>. For
Hittite, Melchert has made a strong case for the separation of /a/
and /o/ by their different ability to undergo lengthening: /a/ is
lengthened under the accent, but only in an open syllable, while
accented /o/ is lengthened in both open and closed syllables. And
Brugmann's Law does not apply to the reflex of *a in Indo-Iranian.
Jens