PIE e/o Ablaut

[Stefan Georg]

>I have no ready means of information on Pashto so would you mind if I
>enquire:

>1) does Pashto have any long vowels beside /e:/ and /o:/?

Yes, a:, i:, u: are also present.

>2) in Pashto, are /e:/ and /o:/ derivable from earlier /Vi/ and /Vu/?

The sources of /o:/ include OIr. /a:/, /-aha-/ athl. (/au/ > /u:/
normally), whereas for /e:/, i-diphthongs are among the sources.

However, the Pashto vowel system is not *exactly* like the Sanskrit one, in
that it contains a phonemic schwa (which may be the short counterpart of
e:), which I overlooked, so for the parallel you were looking for, a
different language presents itself: Balochi

St.

Dr. Stefan Georg
Heerstraße 7
D-53111 Bonn
FRG
Tel./Fax +49-228-691332