I have noticed this in assamese also.

I dont know if its possible to designate vedic as being older than
avestan based on one trait. vedic may prserve some archaic traits and
at the same time avestan may preserve others. We could make such a
claim if vedic prserves more archaic traits on average than avestan.


Arguments somewhat similar to this have been used to give a relative
chronology of vedic within the ie family tree. witzel claims that
dialects at peripheries of liguistic family distribution are usually
more innovative then the ones at the center.

there is no such empirical truth. real languages dont follow such
clean rules. Moreover vedic can be classified as both conservative or
innovative based on what trait you pick.

--- In IndiaArchaeology@yahoogroups.com, "Ravindra Jaju"
<ravindra.jaju@...> wrote:
>
> Not entirely on topic, but in some parts of Rajasthan (limited to what I
> know of), replacing S with H is prevalent even today!
>
> --
> jaju
>
> On 1/8/07, Ram Varmha <varmha@...> wrote:
> >
> > Avestan and Vedic are obviously twin languages. Notice the
similarity from
> > Avesta to Sanskrit in the sample below:
> >
> > *tem amavantem yazatem
> > surem damohu seviytem
> > mithrem yazai zaothrabyo*
> >
> > 'Mithra that strong mighty angel, most beneficent to all
creatures, I will
> > worship with libations'. Becomes when rendered word for word in
> > Sanskrit:
> >
> > *tam amavantam yajatam
> > yuram dhamasu yavistham
> > mitram yajai hotrabhyah*
> >
> > They may have a common root, somewhere. What is generally
considered to be
> > that common language? Does it exist in traces or has it become an
isolate?
> >
> > It is well known that the 'S' in Vedic is transferred as 'H' in
Avestan.
> > Examples:
> > Asura > Ahura
> > Saraswati > Harahwati
> > etc, etc
> >
> > It would seem to me, that the conversion from S to H is more of a
logical
> > directional transfer than from H to S, because, 'Sah' to 'Ha' is
easily
> > followed, than v.v.
> >
> > If that be the case, will it not be logical to assume that their
'parent'
> > language may have been more akin to Vedic than Avestan; in other
words, is
> > Avestan later than Vedic?
> >
> > Any thoughts on this from the experts?
> >
> > Ram
> >
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>