Ricerc@Sapienza

The article investigates the evolution of the PIE diphthong *-o in Tocharian in wordfinal position. Contrary to some previous accounts, it is argued here that *-o did not monophthongise to a palatalising front vowel in Proto-Tocharian. Rather, it remained a diphthong that then evolved into Tocharian A -e by regular sound law, while in Tocharian B it turned into -i by conditioned sound change.