With one exception (the well attested change er > ar), all the commonly invoked examples of the context determined phonetic change ĕ > ă in Elean may be discarded. There is no necessity to postulate a process re > ra in order to account for the Elean forms λατρα[ιομεν...], κατιαραυσειε, μαστρααι and κατιαραιων. These are shown to be interpreted as instances of a complex development taking place in the inflexion of -εύς nouns and in the Elean denominatives in -ειω (Attic -εύω): as a result of two different vowel-shortening processes (Osthoff's Law, shortening in hiatus), Elean ǟ (< Proto-Gr. *ē) shifted to ä. This vowel regularly merged with e; but this change was checked after an immediately preceding r or next to an e-vowel, where ä was turned to a.