apophony

First, it does not exhibit apophony, (5) even though the OJ vowel [e.sub.2] usually alternates with either a or [o.sub.2] (< * [??]), especially in final position.

The seven classes of Old English strong verbs Infinitive Preterite Preterite Past singular plural Participle I drifan 'to drive' draf drifon drifen II cleofan 'to cleave' cleaf clufon clofen III drincan 'to drink' dranc druncon drunken IV beran 'to bear' basr bxron boren V giefan 'to give' geaf geafon giefen VI standan 'to stand' stod stodon standen VII slsBpan 'to sleep' slep slepon slsBpen The vocalic contrasts displayed by figure 1 have been largely discussed in the literature as ablaut (or apophony) and the different vocalic value are usually referred to as ablaut grades.

The wide representation of the stem (with apophony): -kar- : -khar- : khir- : kir- : khor in Burushaski (10 words), argues strongly in favour of considering Burushaski the original source of these words, some of which were subsequently borrowed into Shina (note further Shina Chilas kara 'a ram') and maybe in Wkh kar 'sheep with short ears' (q.