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Latin Noun Inflection

(A Solution to Latin 10)

• Stems
• Suffixes
• Combining Stems
  • o-stems as exceptions
  • Confusion between the i-stem and C-stem paradigms
  • Mixed i-stems
  • The other stem vowels
• Sandhi Rules

Latin nouns are inflected for case and number by suffixation. The inflections for two numbers (singular and plural) and six cases (nominative, accusative, dative, ablative, and genitive) are accounted for in this analysis. A sample of the range of types of noun stems is given in Table 1, and ten sets of suffixes are given in Table 2.

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Stems

Table 1. Latin Noun Stems. Relevant information for each noun includes its citation stem (Column 1), for some nouns a variant stem (Column 2), a gloss (Column 3), and its gender (Column 4). Nouns are inherently masculine (MASC), feminine (FEM), or neuter (NEUT), although some that are termed common (COMM) may be either masculine or feminine, depending on the sex of the human referent. The nouns included in Table 1 are some that are used as exemplary paradigms by Latin grammars. The order in which they are listed is determined by pecularities of their forms, especially to the final phoneme of each citation stem, which is used (together with the noun's gender) to determine its proper set of suffixes from Table 2.

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Suffixes

Table 2. Latin Noun Inflectional Suffixes. Table 2 contains ten sets of suffixes, six in Table 2a, and four in Table 2b. Which of these 10 sets should be attached to a given noun depends on the gender of the noun, and on the final phoneme of its citation stem, as listed in the first column of Table 1. The relevant stem-final phonemes are given at the head of each of the six columns in Table 2: a, o, e, u, i, or C (where C = any consonant). (The numbers of the traditional declension classes are also given, but they are not relevant to this analysis.) Neuter nouns take their suffixes from Table 2b; while the other genders (masculine, feminine, or common) take theirs from Table 2a. A carat (^) preceding a vowel-initial suffix indicates that that vowel replaces the stem vowel, if any. A tilde preceding a consonantal suffix indicates that the preceding vowel is always short. A # stands for a zero suffix.

Table 2a

Table 2b

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Combining stems.

The citation stem combines with each of the suffixes, unless there is a variant stem. Variant stems are deviant stems used in the NOM S (and for neuter nouns, in the ACC S as well).

The pattern of combining stems set forth here and below is given in broad strokes for purposes of overall simplicity. As noted in connection with Table 2, some of the final vowels of these combining stems end up being replaced by the initial vowels of some suffixes (those introduced by a carat (^).

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O-stems as exceptions. Masculine o-stems deviate from the above picture in having a variant ACC S combining stem that ends in u, which may be different from the Variant Stem used as the NOM S combining stem. Thus puero (shown below) has three combining stems. Others, like servo, vary between a pattern with two combining stems (with an u-stem Variant in both NOM S and ACC S) and one with a single combining stem, the basic o-stem used without variation.

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Confusion between the i-stem and C-stem paradigms. Some forms of i-stem and C-stem nouns appear to be identical. Without additional information, one cannot be sure which paradigm the noun belongs to. Thus users confused as to membership of a given noun may decline it according to the other paradigm, and thereby create variants for those forms not identical in the two paradigms. Two such nouns are compared below. The rows with seemingly identical inflections show an equals sign (=) between the two forms; the others show the attested and expected variants (the latter in square brackets []) that result.

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Mixed i-stems. Out of this paradigm confusion, a mixed pattern developed in which some nouns were inflected as C-stems in the singular and as i-stems in the plural. Nouns of this sort are show with their stem vowels in parentheses in Table 1. But even within this mixed pattern, variation persisted as in the illustration above.

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The Other Stem Vowels. A close examination of Table 1 shows that it is only o-stems, C-stems, and i-stems that may have variant stems. For the other stem vowels (a, u, and e:), the citation stem serves as the combining stem across the board.

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Sandhi rules.

Most of the sandhi phenomena concern reduction of the final consonant clusters caused by suffixation of -s in the NOM S.

The s drops following the liquids r and l.

Both the s and a preceding n are dropped.

Voiced stops devoice, and t and v are dropped preceding the s-suffix, as are stem-final s's.

In addition, stem-final rd simplifies to r before a zero-suffix.

Some sandhi phenomena may affect other case forms:

The sequence gv is reduced to v intervocalically.

Any combination of identical vowels and vowel length resulting in more than two moras reduces to two, that is, to simply a long vowel.

Finally, the uv combination posited for suv 'swine' becomes u: before a consonant, and simply u elsewhere (preceding vowels.)

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