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== Inflections ==
== Inflections ==
Verbs can be organised in two dimensions: a lexical and a grammatical. Lexically, a verb is a '''vocabulary item'''. The item ''putō'' (I think) opposes the items ''videō'', (I see) and ''audiō'' (I hear) because they represent different mental processes, one of cognition and the other two of perception. Grammatically, a verb is an '''inflection''' which is realised by selecting and ordering verb parts and which carries a bundle of grammatical features. For instance, the verb ''putō'' (I think) opposes the verbs ''putās'' (you think) and ''putat'' (he/she thinks) in person, which is one of the dimensions in which inflections oppose one another.
Verbs can be organised in two dimensions: a lexical and a grammatical. Lexically, a verb is a '''vocabulary item''' in a large open list. The item ''putō'' (I think) opposes the items ''videō'', (I see) and ''audiō'' (I hear) because they represent different mental processes, one of cognition and the other two of perception. Grammatically, a verb is an '''inflection''' which is realised by selecting and ordering verb parts and which carries a bundle of grammatical features. For instance, the verb ''putō'' (I think) opposes the verbs ''putās'' (you think) and ''putat'' (he/she thinks) in person, which is one of the dimensions in which inflections oppose one another.


In the table below, there are 42 verbs organized as 6 lexical items and 7 inflections.
In the table below, there are 42 verbs organized as 6 lexical items and 7 inflections.
Line 32: Line 32:
=== Īnfectum classes ===
=== Īnfectum classes ===


In Early Latin (e.g. Plautus) and to some extent in Early Classical Latin (e.g. Varro and Lucretius), there used to be six classes of verbal items, roughly corresponding to the six aspectual vowels of the īnfectum inflections: (1) ''putō'', ''putāre'', (2) ''videō'', ''vidēre'', (3) ''audiō'', ''audīre'', (4) ''capiō'', ''capere'', (5) ''statuō'', ''statuere'', (5) ''relinquō'', ''relinquere'', (6) ''dīcō'', ''dīcere'' (''ā, ē, ī, i, u/v, ø''). Here ''ø'' stands for no aspectual vowel at the end of the īnfectum stem. However, for most of the Classical Period, vocabulary items belonged to one of five classes for īnfectum inflections: (1) ''putō'', ''putāre'', (2) ''videō'', ''vidēre'', (3) ''audiō'', ''audīre'', (4) ''capiō'', ''capere'', (5) ''statuō'', ''statuere'', (5) ''relinquō'', ''relinquere'', (5) ''dīcō'', ''dīcere'' (''ā, ē, ī, i, u/v/ø''), whereby verbs with stems ending in ''u/v/ø'' were inflected in the same way. Despite this fact, the number of inflectional classes has been historically said to be 3, then 4, which means either two, three or four conjugations used to be subsumed under the same conjugation name (see [[Latin conjugation#Number of conjugations|number of Latin conjugations]]).
In Early Latin (e.g. Plautus) and to some extent in Early Classical Latin (e.g. Varro and Lucretius), there used to be six classes of verbal items, roughly corresponding to the six aspectual vowels of the īnfectum inflections: (1) ''putō'', ''putāre'', (2) ''videō'', ''vidēre'', (3) ''audiō'', ''audīre'', (4) ''capiō'', ''capere'', (5) ''statuō'', ''statuere'', (5) ''relinquō'', ''relinquere'', (6) ''dīcō'', ''dīcere'' (''ā, ē, ī, i, u/v, ø''). Here ''ø'' stands for no aspectual vowel at the end of the īnfectum stem. However, for most of the Classical Period, vocabulary items belonged to one of five classes for īnfectum inflections: (1) ''putō'', ''putāre'', (2) ''videō'', ''vidēre'', (3) ''audiō'', ''audīre'', (4) ''capiō'', ''capere'', (5) ''statuō'', ''statuere'', (5) ''relinquō'', ''relinquere'', (5) ''dīcō'', ''dīcere'' (''ā, ē, ī, i, u/v/ø''), whereby verbs with stems ending in ''u/v/ø'' were inflected in the same way. Despite this fact, the number of "conjugations" has been historically said to be 3, then 4, which means either two, three or four inflectional classes of īnfectum verbs used to be subsumed under the same conjugation name (see [[Latin conjugation#Number of conjugations|number of Latin conjugations]]).


# [[wikt:Appendix:Latin first conjugation|''ā'' conjugation]]
# [[wikt:Appendix:Latin first conjugation|''ā'' conjugation]]
Line 74: Line 74:
In Classical Latin, verbal items belong to one of three classes for perfectum inflections: (1) ''putāvī'', (2) ''dīxī'', (3) ''cēpī''.
In Classical Latin, verbal items belong to one of three classes for perfectum inflections: (1) ''putāvī'', (2) ''dīxī'', (3) ''cēpī''.


# Latin ''v'' syncopy
# ''v''-strand perfectum stem (with ''v'' syncopy)
# Latin ''s'' syncopy
# ''s''-strand perfectum stem (with ''s'' syncopy)
# Latin no syncopy
# ''u/ø''-strand perfectum stem (without syncopy)

One can easily determine the perfectum class for the vocabulary item by attending to the penultimate sound in the 'indicative perfect 1st person singular' inflection. When determining the perfectum class, one must consider that 'x' was not a letter, but a ligature corresponding to 'c' + 's'.
One can easily determine the perfectum class for the vocabulary item by attending to the penultimate sound in the 'indicative perfect 1st person singular' inflection. When determining the perfectum class, one must consider that 'x' was not a letter, but a ligature corresponding to 'c' + 's'.

{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+3 perfectum classes in Classical Latin
|+3 perfectum classes in Classical Latin
Line 96: Line 98:
Finally, each lexical item belongs to one of three classes for supine inflections: (1) ''mortuus'', ''moritūrus'', (2) ''ortus'', ''oritūrus'', (3) ''putātus'', ''putātūrus'':
Finally, each lexical item belongs to one of three classes for supine inflections: (1) ''mortuus'', ''moritūrus'', (2) ''ortus'', ''oritūrus'', (3) ''putātus'', ''putātūrus'':


# Latin ''u'' removal and ''i'' insertion
# ''u'' removal and ''i'' insertion
# Latin no removal and ''i'' insertion
# no removal and ''i'' insertion
# Latin no change
# no change

== Inflectional features ==

'''Grammatical features''' (e.g. mood, tense, voice, person, gender, number) are often realised by '''inflectional features''' (e.g. ''ō'' ending, ''s'' ending, ''t'' ending) for instance, the ''ō'' ending is selected for sayer, the ''s'' ending for the addressee and the ''t'' ending for another person for most verbs of action. However, the relation between grammatical and inflectional features is not one-to-one. On the one hand, the same inflectional feature can carry different grammatical features: for instance, the ''t'' ending in ''putat'' (thinks) is selected according to the speech role of the thinker (whether he/she is neither the sayer nor the addressee) while the same ending in ''pluit'' (it rains) is selected irrespectively of speech roles. On the other hand, the same bundle of grammatical features can be carried by different inflectional features: for instance, both ''videō'' (see) and ''mīror'' (see) are active verbs, despite the fact that one ends in ''ō'' and the other in ''or''.

=== Agreement systems ===

==== Personal subject verbs ====
Some processes are undergone by persons and their subject can be the sayer (''ego''), the addressee (''tū'') or someone else (''hic'', ''haec'', ''iste'', ''ista'', ''ille'', ''illa''). In personal paradigms, the verb for such processes agree in person and number.

One such process is the process of thinking (''putandī''). The subject of active thinking is usually a person, who can take different speech roles in the current clause (the sayer, the addressee or someone else) as in the example below:

* ''An <u>tū</u> meī similem '''putās''' esse aut tuī deum?''<br>'''Do''' <u>you</u> '''think''' a god looks like me or like you?

The agreement paradigm construes grammatical features for person and number:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Personal subject verb
! colspan="2" |Grammatical features
!Inflectional feature
!putō, putāre
|-
|indicative present active
|1st person singular
|''ō'' ending
|''putō''
|-
|indicative present active
|2nd person singular
|''s'' ending
|''putās''
|-
|indicative present active
|3rd person singular
|''t'' ending
|''putat''
|-
|indicative present active
|1st person plural
|''mus'' ending
|''putāmus''
|-
|indicative present active
|2nd person plural
|''tis'' ending
|''putātis''
|-
|indicative present active
|3rd person plural
|''nt'' ending
|''putant''
|-
|infinitive present
|–
|no ending
|''putāre''
|}

==== Impersonal subject verbs ====

There are some processes whose participants do not speak and who, therefore, cannot take the role of the sayer (''ego'') nor the addresee (''tū''). The impersonal subject of such processes can be one entity ('singular') or two or more entities ('plural') and the verb agrees with the subject only in number.

One such process is that of flowing (''fluendī''). The subject for this process usually consists of one or more rivers, but, metaphorically, it can also be a set of personal attributes as in the example below.

* ''<u>Mīte genus dulcēsque</u> '''fluunt''' ā sīdere partūs.''<br><u>Nice genes and sweetness</u> '''come''' born by the star.

The agreement paradigm construes number:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Impersonal subject verb
|-
! colspan="2" |Grammatical features
!Inflectional feature!! fluit, fluere
|-
|indicative present
| singular
|''t'' ending|| ''fluit''
|-
|indicative present
| plural
|''nt'' ending|| ''fluunt''
|-
|infinitive present
|–
|no ending
|''fluere''
|}
==== Subjectless verbs ====
Finally, there are some processes wherein nothing takes part. Examples are the processes of dewing (''rōrandī'') and raining (''pluendī''), which have no subject.

* ''ideō quod antē '''rōrat''' quam '''pluit'''.''this is because it '''dews''' before it '''rains'''.

The agreement paradigm construes no grammatical feature for the subject.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="2" |Grammatical features
!Inflectional feature
!rōrat, rōrāre
!pluit, pluere
|-
|indicative present
|–
|''t'' ending
|''rōrat''
|''pluit''
|-
|infinitive present
|–
|no ending
|''rōrāre''
|''pluere''
|}

=== Voice system ===
In every simple standalone statement in Latin, at least one event participant is represented by a nominative noun. This participant is the '''subject'''. For some verbs, there is a secondary participant represented by either an accusative noun, the '''direct object''', or a participant represented by an ablative noun and marked by the presposition ''ab'', the '''''ab'' object''' (a.k.a. the adjunct of the agent). Clauses with an object are '''transitive''': those transiting from the subject to the direct object are '''active''' and those transiting back from the ''ab'' object to the subject are '''passive'''. Finally, clauses without an object are '''intransitive'''.

As shown next, both ''ō'' and ''or'' endings can realise both active and passive clauses depending on the '''voice class''' of the verbal item. In each case, the interpretation for the transitivity is established by combining features of the vocabulary item (e.g. transitive, active, passive, deponent...) with inflectional features (e.g. ''ō'' endings, ''or'' endings, ''ī'' endings, ''sum'' auxiliary...) as demonstrated in the next sections.

==== Transitive verbs ====

A transitive verb enters two kinds of clause: which either goes from the subject to the direct object or from the ''ab'' object to the subject. For the process ''creandī'' "turning somone into something", the subject takes either the role of an actor affecting the goal or that of a goal being affected by the object. For standard transitive verbs, the ''ō'' and ''ī'' endings realize the active voice whereas the ''or'' endings and the ''sum'' auxiliary realise the passive voice.

* ''[Mānī Valeriī], quī prīmus magister ā populō '''creātus est'''''<ref>Sextus Pompeius Festus, Dē Verbōrum Significātiōne 178.1</ref><br>"Manus Valerius, who was the first one who was made master by the people"

* ''[ille] '''creāvit''' cōnsulēs M. Valerium Messālam et C. Livium Salinātōrem''<ref></ref><br>"he made M. Valerius Messala and C. Livius Salinator consuls"

{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Lexical features
!Inflectional features
!1
!2
!3
!Grammatical Features
!Mapping
!Meaing
|-
! rowspan="4" |transitive
!''ō'' endings
|''creō''
|''creās''
|''creat''
| rowspan="2" | transitive active
| rowspan="2" | actor = nominative<br>goal = accusative<br>attribute = accusative
| rowspan="2" | turn something into something
|-
!''ī'' ending
|''creāvī''
|''creāstī''
|''creāvit''
|-
!''or'' endings
|''creor''
|''creāris''
|''creātur''
| rowspan="2" | transitive passive
| rowspan="2" | actor = ab + ablative<br>goal = nominative<br>attribute = nominative
| rowspan="2" | be turned into something by someone
|-
!''sum'' auxiliary
|''creātus sum''
|''creātus es''
|''creātus est''
|}

==== Active and passive verbs ====
Transitive active and transitive passive verbs differ from regular transitive verbs in the sense that the active and passive voices are realized by the lexical item, not by the selected ending. Both active and passive verbs have ''ō'' endings.
* ''aut id, quod '''fit''' ab eō, quī '''facit'''''<ref></ref><br>"or that which is made by the one who makes it"

{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Lexical features
!Inflectional features
!1
!2
!3
!Grammatical Features
!Mapping
!Meaing
|-
! rowspan="2" |transitive active
!''ō'' endings
|''faciō''
|''facis''
|''facit''
| rowspan="2" |transitive active
| rowspan="2" |actor = nominative<br>goal = accusative
| rowspan="2" |create something
|-
!''ī'' endings
|''fēcī''
|''fēcistī''
|''fēcit''
|-
! rowspan="2" |transitive passive
!''ō'' endings
|''fiō''
|''fīs''
|''fit''
| rowspan="2" |transitive passive
| rowspan="2" |actor = ab + ablative<br>goal = nominative
| rowspan="2" |be created by someone
|-
!''sum'' auxiliary
|''factus sum''
|''factus es''
|''factus est''
|}

==== Active deponent verbs ====
However, some active verbal items such as ''mīror mirārī'' (see) have ''or'' endings instead.
* ''quam [illa] [[Talaus|Talaum]] '''videt''' aut pugnās '''mīrātur''' [[Acastus|Acastī]].''<ref>[[Valerius_Flaccus_(poet)|Gaius Valerius Flaccus]], [https://latin.packhum.org/loc/1035/1/5/33636-33643#5 Argonautica 6.1 718-720]</ref><br> "than she observes [[Talaus]] or admires [[Acastus|Acastus']] wars"

{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Lexical features
!Inflectional features
!1
!2
!3
!Grammatical Features
!Mapping
!Meaing
|-
! rowspan="2" |transitive active non-deponent
!''ō'' endings
|''videō''
|''vidēs''
|''videt''
| rowspan="2" |transitive active
| rowspan="2" |senser = nominative
phenomenon = accusative
| rowspan="2" |see[s] something
|-
!''ī'' endings
|''vīsī''
|''vīsistī''
|''vīsit''
|-
! rowspan="2" |transitive active deponent
!''or'' endings
|''mīror''
|''mīrāris''
|''mīrātur''
| rowspan="2" |transitive active
| rowspan="2" |senser = nominative
phenomenon = accusative
| rowspan="2" |see[s] something
|-
!''sum'' auxiliary
|''mīrātus sum''
|''mīrātus es''
|''mīrātus est''
|}
==== Other verbs ====
There are many other classes of verbs regarding its voice: including (1) 'intransitive', (2) 'intransitive deponent', (3) 'intransitive perfect deponent', (4) 'middle', (5) 'ergative'. Details on the classes of vocabulary item regarding voices can be found in the article on [[Latin verb voices|Latin verb voices]].


== References ==
== References ==

Latest revision as of 06:14, 5 September 2023

In linguistics, inflecting a verb (a.k.a. conjugating a verb) is the act of composing a verb with verb parts. Usually, an inflection is selected according to grammatical features from different systems (e.g. mood, tense, voice, person, gender, number) and lexical features (e.g. transitive, intransitive, intransitive deponent).

Inflections

[edit]

Verbs can be organised in two dimensions: a lexical and a grammatical. Lexically, a verb is a vocabulary item in a large open list. The item putō (I think) opposes the items videō, (I see) and audiō (I hear) because they represent different mental processes, one of cognition and the other two of perception. Grammatically, a verb is an inflection which is realised by selecting and ordering verb parts and which carries a bundle of grammatical features. For instance, the verb putō (I think) opposes the verbs putās (you think) and putat (he/she thinks) in person, which is one of the dimensions in which inflections oppose one another.

In the table below, there are 42 verbs organized as 6 lexical items and 7 inflections.

Lexical items vs inflections
Inflections putō, putāre videō, vidēre audiō, audīre capiō, capere statuō, statuere dīcō, dīcere
indicative present active 1st person singular put ō vide ō audi ō capi ō statu ō dīc ō
indicative present active 2nd person singular putā s vidē s audī s capi s statui s dīci s
indicative present active 3rd person singular puta t vide t audi t capi t statui t dīci t
indicative present active 1st person plural putā mus vidē mus audī mus capi mus statui mus dīci mus
indicative present active 2nd person plural putā tis vidē tis audī tis capi tis statui tis dīci tis
indicative present active 3rd person plural puta nt vide nt audi unt capi unt statu ont dīc unt
infinitive active — putā re vidē re audī re cape re statue re dīce re

Inflectional classes

[edit]

The same inflection is realised in different ways for different lexical items: for instance, when realising a 3rd-person plural inflection for different vocabulary items, the nt ending in putant (they think) is selected for putō putāre (think) and the unt ending in dīcunt (they say) is selected for dīcō dīcere (say). This means that different lexical items belong to different inflectional classes, that is, different classes when it comes to inflecting a verb.

Īnfectum classes

[edit]

In Early Latin (e.g. Plautus) and to some extent in Early Classical Latin (e.g. Varro and Lucretius), there used to be six classes of verbal items, roughly corresponding to the six aspectual vowels of the īnfectum inflections: (1) putō, putāre, (2) videō, vidēre, (3) audiō, audīre, (4) capiō, capere, (5) statuō, statuere, (5) relinquō, relinquere, (6) dīcō, dīcere (ā, ē, ī, i, u/v, ø). Here ø stands for no aspectual vowel at the end of the īnfectum stem. However, for most of the Classical Period, vocabulary items belonged to one of five classes for īnfectum inflections: (1) putō, putāre, (2) videō, vidēre, (3) audiō, audīre, (4) capiō, capere, (5) statuō, statuere, (5) relinquō, relinquere, (5) dīcō, dīcere (ā, ē, ī, i, u/v/ø), whereby verbs with stems ending in u/v/ø were inflected in the same way. Despite this fact, the number of "conjugations" has been historically said to be 3, then 4, which means either two, three or four inflectional classes of īnfectum verbs used to be subsumed under the same conjugation name (see number of Latin conjugations).

  1. ā conjugation
  2. ē conjugation
  3. ī conjugation.
  4. i conjugation
  5. u/v/ø conjugation

One method to determine the inflectional class of a verb in Classical Latin is to identify the aspectual vowel of verbs in two inflections: the 'indicative present active first person' and the 'infinitive active'. These two inflections are presented in modern dictionaries as principal parts.

5 īnfectum classes in Classical Latin
Inflection ā ē ī i u/v/ø
indicative present active 1st person singular put ō vide ō audi ō capi ō statu ō relinqu ō dīc ō
infinitive present active putā re vidē re audī re cape re statue re relinque re dīce re

In Early Latin, the u/v conjunction differed from the ø conjunction in a single inflection: namely the 'indicative present active third person plural'. Below you can see how the inflection evolved, merging two inflectional classes into one.

Inflection in Early Latin and Early Classical Latin
Inflection ā ē ī i u/v ø
indicative present active 3rd person plural puta nt vide nt audi unt capi unt statu ont relinqu ont dīc unt
Inflection in Classical Latin
Inflection ā ē ī i u/v/ø
indicative present active 3rd person plural puta nt vide nt audi unt capi unt statu unt relinqu unt dīc unt

Perfectum classes

[edit]

In Classical Latin, verbal items belong to one of three classes for perfectum inflections: (1) putāvī, (2) dīxī, (3) cēpī.

  1. v-strand perfectum stem (with v syncopy)
  2. s-strand perfectum stem (with s syncopy)
  3. u/ø-strand perfectum stem (without syncopy)

One can easily determine the perfectum class for the vocabulary item by attending to the penultimate sound in the 'indicative perfect 1st person singular' inflection. When determining the perfectum class, one must consider that 'x' was not a letter, but a ligature corresponding to 'c' + 's'.

3 perfectum classes in Classical Latin
Inflection v s u/ø
indicative perfect 1st person singular putāv ī dīcs ī monu ī cēp ī

Supine classes

[edit]

Finally, each lexical item belongs to one of three classes for supine inflections: (1) mortuus, moritūrus, (2) ortus, oritūrus, (3) putātus, putātūrus:

  1. u removal and i insertion
  2. no removal and i insertion
  3. no change

References

[edit]
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