Material on common patterns for forming verbal stems

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jhanschoo
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Material on common patterns for forming verbal stems

Post by jhanschoo »

I'm wondering if anyone has references discussing common phonological patterns for forming the present, perfect, participate stems, etc., in Latin, not unlike those that show how Greek πραγ- becomes πραττ- in the present stem; and the phonological process that have developed them into the fused forms by the classical period.

Hylander
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Re: Material on common patterns for forming verbal stems

Post by Hylander »

You can work out nearly all of the perfects and past participles for consonant verbs (mostly 3rd conjugation) from the vowel and consonant changes described in Allen & Greenough, A New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges, sec.15 and the classified verb lists in secs. 209-212. The phonological processes are really not very complicated--much less so than Greek, but they aren't usually taught in elementary Latin courses, which rely instead on rote memorization. Memorization is probably better for learning purposes, but understanding the underlying phonological rules is helpful.

Unfortunately, the on-line version of A&G doesn't provide sec. 15 in full. But it's still in print in paperback, and used copies are plentiful and cheap. You'll want to own a copy eventually because it's much easier to use a hard copy than the clunky on-line version. I'd recommend getting a used hardbound copy of the original Ginn & Company publication (1903 or later) in good condition, rather than a reprint. It's an essential reference book for Latin.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR ... in+grammar

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss ... in+grammar
Bill Walderman

Timothée
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Re: Material on common patterns for forming verbal stems

Post by Timothée »

Diachronically viewed, Latin forms perfect stem in 4 different ways:
1. reduplication (IE perfect). These include both e on reduplication syllable, which is original, and an assimilated vowel. E.g. cecini, cecidi, steti (< *stesti), momordi, spopondi (< *spospondi), cucurri. Sometimes reduplication has syncopated (reppuli but pepuli), sometimes haplologised (attuli) when a prefix has been attached.
2. lengthening of stemvowel (IE perfect/aorist). Vīdī, sēdī are old perfects, fēcī an old aorist. The vowel gradation (Ablaut) between present an perfect stems are a : ē, e : ē, o : ō, i : ī, u : ū.
3. -s- (IE aorist). Here we have e.g. dixi, scripsi, rexi. Note that intellēxī (as well as dīlēxī and neglēxī) belongs here, but lēgī under 2.
4. -u-. Phonetically this will vary between and [w] (after consonant and long vowel, respectively). The history of u-perfect may be considered complex.

The passive preterite participle is in *-to- > -tu- (*-no- is totally unproductive in Latin and only few words have it, like plenus and dignus; in Sanscrit we still have it [e.g. pūrṇa- 'filled', sanna- 'sat' < sad- 'to sit'], although *-to- > -ta- will be much more common even there). After stem in a dental consonant (t, d, *dh), it'll change into -ss-, which shortens to -s- after long vowel or consonant.

The Indo-European middle present participle was -m(e)nos and is preserved in Greek -μενος and Sanscrit -māna-/-āna-. Like the aforementioned *-no-participle, in Latin this is not productive; fossilised words alumnus and femina, though, still show their provenance quite clearly.

Analogical changes abound. Nasal infix "should" be only in present stem, but we have iunxi and iunctum (cf. iugum without the nasal). There are d- (tendo) and t-suffixes (flecto, necto) as well as -sc-suffix (cresco, nosco, pasco). These, too, are only in present stem, except if analogically in others. Then we have present reduplication (sisto, sido, gigno; also in Greek, Sanscrit etc.), which can also be analogically found outside present.

This is treated e.g. by Manu Leumann is his Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre (1977, of the massive series Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft) on pages 585—619.

Ronolio
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Re: Material on common patterns for forming verbal stems

Post by Ronolio »

Thanks for this post and replies, as one of the issues I have found in teaching Latin is students knowing what to look up. The changes in English words are, for the most part, so minimal as to make looking up new words very easy; Latin not so much.

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