InIndo-European studies, athematic vowel ortheme vowel is the vowel*e[1] or*o fromablaut placed before theending of aProto-Indo-European (PIE) word. Nouns, adjectives, and verbs in theIndo-European languages with this vowel arethematic, and those without it areathematic. Used more generally, a thematic vowel is any vowel found at the end of thestem of a word.
Outside Indo-European, the term "thematic vowel" is also used in the grammar ofKartvelian languages (seeGeorgian verb paradigm for more information on thematic vowels).
PIE verbs andnominals (nouns and adjectives) consist of three parts:
The thematic vowel, if present, occurs at the end of the suffix (which may include other vowels or consonants) and before the ending:
Athematic forms, by contrast, have a suffix ending in a consonant, or no suffix at all (or arguably anull suffix):[2]
For several reasons, athematic forms are thought to be older, and the thematic vowel was likely an innovation of late PIE: Athematic paradigms (inflection patterns) are more "irregular", exhibitingablaut and mobileaccent, while the thematic paradigms can be seen as a simplification or regularisation of verbal and nominal grammar. In theAnatolian languages, which were the earliest to split from PIE, thematic verbs are rare or absent.[3] Furthermore, during late PIE and in the older daughter languages, a number of athematic forms were replaced by thematic ones, as in prehistoric Greek *thes- 'god' versus *thes-o- > Classical Greekθεός (theós).[4]
The thematic vowel technically belongs to the suffix and not the ending, as each suffix is inherently either thematic or athematic. It is also used in some cases to derive stems from roots directly, acting as a suffix in itself (as in the second example above). However, when considering endings which are different for thematic and athematic inflections, it is generally included in the endings as well; see the section on fusion below.
In verbs, the thematic vowel is*e word-finally or when the following ending begins with a coronal obstruent (*t,*d,*dʰ or*s) and*o otherwise.[citation needed] Here is the present activeindicative paradigm of*bʰer- 'carry':[5]
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | *bʰér-o-h₂ | *bʰér-o-wos | *bʰér-o-mos |
| 2nd | *bʰér-e-si | *bʰér-e-tes | *bʰér-e-te |
| 3rd | *bʰér-e-ti | *bʰér-e-tes | *bʰér-o-nti |
For comparison, here is an example of an athematic verb,*dewk- 'to draw'. The plural forms ablaut to zero-grade on the root and shift the accent to the ending:[6]
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | *déwk-mi | *duk-wós | *duk-mós |
| 2nd | *déwk-si | *duk-tés | *duk-té |
| 3rd | *déwk-ti | *duk-tés | *duk-énti |
(The first person singular ending is sometimes*-m(i) and sometimes*-h₂, depending on tense,voice and thematicity.)
The PIE verb is characterized by two distinct sets of endings: one found in the thematic present and theperfect, and another found in theaorist and the athematic present. Themiddle endings seem like a mixture of these two. The thematic conjugation was widespread in whatDonald Ringe terms "Western Indo-European" (Western IE), i.e. IE excludingTocharian and especially Anatolian. The biggest problem on the origin of PIE thematic inflection is that the thematic endings have more in common with the PIE perfect (which formally, though not functionally and lexically, corresponds to theḫi-conjugation inHittite and other Anatolian languages), and that the actual etymological cognates reconstructed of thematic presents are few among the verbs belonging to the Anatolianḫi-conjugation. In fact, most of the verbs belonging to theḫi-conjugation in Anatolian actually have lexical cognates that inflect asathematic verbs in Western IE.[7] All types of verbs belonging to theḫi-conjugation in Hittite can be shown to have, or to originally have had theablaut pattern with*o in the singular and the zero-grade in the plural, which is exactly the pattern of the Western PIE perfect.[8]
The thematic presents in Western PIE also do not have quantitative ablaut, which indicates their relatively recent origin. This all has caused some linguists to speculate that perfect and thematic present endings go back to a single Early PIE prototype. According to Matasović, the Early PIE stative (becoming the perfect) is responsible for the original form of the thematic suffix*-o-, while the e-grade form is secondary. Verbs forming the underived thematic presents are overwhelmingly bivalent/transitive, and there are no statives in the Late PIE thematic inflection since all the original Early PIE statives either remained athematic presents, or they became Western PIE perfects. It is also probable that some Early PIE middle verbs also became thematic in the Western PIE period, since they lack middle correspondences in Anatolian.[9]
In nouns, the thematic vowel is almost always*o,[10] and only becomes*e when there is no ending or when followed by*h₂ in the neuter nominative/accusative plural. Here is an example paradigm for*h₂ŕ̥tḱos 'bear', a thematicanimate noun, supplemented by the neuter*h₂érh₃trom 'plough' for the nominative/accusative:[10]
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-s | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-h₁ | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-es |
| Voc. | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-e-∅ | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-h₁ | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-es |
| Acc. | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-m | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-h₁ | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-ns |
| Nom./acc. neut. | *h₂érh₃-tro-m | *h₂érh₃-tro-ih₁ | *h₂érh₃-tre-h₂ |
| Gen. | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-s? | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-ō-m | |
| Abl. | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-(h₂)at | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-(i)bʰ- | |
| Dat. | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-ei | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-(i)bʰ- | |
| Instr. | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-h₁ | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-(i)bʰ- | |
| Loc. | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-i | *h₂ŕ̥tḱ-o-isu |
Again, athematic nouns show ablaut and accent shifts, mainly between the "strong" cases (nominative and vocative in all numbers, and accusative singular/dual) and the "weak" cases (all others). A few endings are also different from the thematic paradigm; for example, the nominative/accusative neuter has*-∅ instead of*-m.[10] SeeAthematic accent/ablaut classes of PIE nouns for examples.
There are several theories about the rise ofo-stems in PIEnominal inflection. Two are the most prominent:
Pedersen was the first to notice that the subject of thetransitive verb looked as if it had the form of thegenitive (asigmatic case) if it wereactive, and as if it had the form of theinstrumental case if it were inactive. Furthermore, the subject and object of intransitive verbs seemed to have the form of theabsolutive (i.e. anasigmatic case).[11] This caused an asymmetry between the valencies of transitive and intransitive verbs, summarized in the table below:[12]
| Verb | Role | Nominative system | Ergative system |
|---|---|---|---|
| transitive | subject | nominative | ergative |
| object | accusative | absolutive | |
| intransitive | subject | nominative | absolutive |
This theory was further developed byBeekes andKortlandt, who assumed that the nominative syntax of old Indo-European languages was formed later and that the case system of the PIE language was primarily based on the ergative syntax. The same ending shared by the nominative and accusative neuter, originally designating inactive nouns, originated from the originally absolutive case, while the ergative was used with the active subject. Beekes claims the sigmatic genitive-ablative developed from the ergative. After the transformation of the ergative system into the nominative system, the form reconstructed as*CC-R-ós became the nominative, a new case of subject. Later what was to become the thematic vowel*-o- spread to other cases as well, giving rise too-stem inflection.[13]
Similar theories that assume the ergative past of the PIE syntax have been formulated byGamkrelidze andIvanov[14] and Schmalstieg.[15]
A related theory that also derives the thematic conjugation from an oblique case form was proposed by Ranko Matasović, who, however, identified the source form as the genitive. Matasović argued that the thematic o-stem nouns were the result of the nominalisation of adjectives, which in turn arose through the reinterpretation as nominative forms of original (attributively used) genitives of athematic (mostly deverbal) root-nouns. For example, the stem *(h)yug-o (cf. Latin 'iugum) was abstracted from *(H)yug-os, which was originally a genitive of a root noun *(H)yewg-s (cf. Latinconiūx).Thus, a phrase like*ukwsōn yug-os 'ox of yoking' was reinterpreted as 'yoked ox'. This theory, like the previous one, would explain why there is much evidence in favour of original syncretism of the nominative and genitive singular in the o-stems.[16]
According toJean Haudryo-stems originated from pronouns with a determining function that were suffixed to a nominal base, playing the role of a postpositional article.[17] There exists a number of typological parallels for such a development:
Thematic and athematic forms were passed on to the daughter languages of Proto-Indo-European. In the most ancient languages, such as Sanskrit and Ancient Greek, the distinction between athematic and thematic nouns and verbs is preserved. In later languages, the thematic versus athematic distinction in nouns was replaced by distinctions between various thematic ("vowel") and athematic ("consonant") declensions, and athematic verbs are typically regarded as irregular.
As a consequence of such language changes, the distribution of thematic and athematic words differs widely in Indo-European languages.Latin, for example, has only very few athematic verbs, while Sanskrit preserves a large number of these. Greek resembles both Sanskrit and Latin in different respects.
Even in ancient languages, the thematic vowel is often indistinguishable from the case ending, because the two havefused together:
In Latin, athematic verbs were lost, except for a few, which were considered irregular or adopted into one of the four thematic conjugations:[18]
Although thea of the Greek and Latinfirst declension was not originally a thematic vowel, it is considered one in Greek and Latin grammar. In both languages, first-declension nouns take some endings belonging to the thematicsecond declension. An a-stem noun was originally acollective noun suffixed with-eh₂, the ending of the neuter plural.
Sometimes vowels near the end of a noun or verb, where one would expect a thematic vowel, are not actually thematic vowels. Either these vowels are placed after ane oro, or they are on their own.
In both Latin and Greek, there are athematic nouns whose stems end ini oru (with theallophonesy orw before vowels). These include Latinnāvis 'ship' and Greekthesis 'placement'; Latinsenātus 'council of elders' or 'senate' and Greekbasileus 'king'. Because these vowels are note oro, they are not thematic, and the nouns take the same endings as consonant-stem nouns.
In Latin, there are four conjugations depending on the vowel before the endings (which include the thematic vowel): a, e, none, i. Although all the verbs belonging to these conjugations are thematic, these four vowels are not the thematic vowel of the different declensions: the thematic vowel is ane/o that has either fused with the endings and conjugation vowel or changed toi/u.
In Greek, some of the Latin conjugations are represented by contracted verbs instead, in which the stem vowelcontracts with the ending (which includes the thematic vowel). This results in different vowels in the ending from the non-contracted verbs.
In Latin, nouns of the first, second, fourth, and fifth declensions are considered thematic; the first declension has the theme vowela, the secondo, the fourthu, and the fifthe. Stems withi are treated together with athematic stems in the third declension, as they came to closely resemble one another. Latin verbs are subject to a similar classification: the firstconjugation contains vowel stems witha, the second withe, and the fourth withi. There are no Latin verbs witho oru,[20] and very few are athematic, but they are consideredirregular verbs.
For example, consider the noun endings of the Latin "first declension" singular of the wordrosa 'rose':
| Nom. | rosa |
| Acc. | rosam |
| Gen. | rosae |
| Dat. | rosae |
| Abl. | rosā |
The vowela is prominent in these case endings, so nouns likerosa came to be known as "a-stem" nouns, witha being the "theme vowel," and such a word was later analysed as having a stem containing a root plus asuffix. In fact,philologists now believe that the suffix in PIE was*-eh₂, with alaryngeal that usually becamea in the daughter languages.
Sanskrit grammar ordains avikaraṇapratyaya (modificatory affix) between a verbal root and the tense-ending. Thematic verbal roots are those with an-a in the vikaraṇapratyaya, to wit, roots belonging to the 1st, 4th, 6th and 10th conjugation classes.
Among nominals, those with theprātipadika (stem) ending in-a would the thematic nominals by this definition.
The distinction between thematic and athematic stems is especially apparent in theGreekverb; they fall into two classes that are marked by quite different personal endings. Thematic verbs are also called -ω (-ō) verbs in Greek; athematic verbs are -μι (-mi) verbs, after thefirst person singularpresent tense ending that each of them uses. The entireconjugation seems to differ quite markedly between the two sets of verbs, but the differences are really the result of the thematic vowel reacting (fusing) with the verb endings, apart from the first person singular which already had different endings for thematic and athematic verbs in PIE.[5] In classical Greek, the present tense active endings for athematic verbs are:
while the thematic verbs took the endings:
In Greek, athematic verbs, except for those that end in -νῡμι -nūmi, are aclosed class of inherited forms from PIE.
Greek preserves thematic nouns in thefirst (or alpha) declension andsecond (or omicron) declension, and athematic nouns in thethird declension.
Declension of the athematic nounπούς (poús) 'foot':
| Attic form | Reconstructed form beforeδσ > σ (ds > s) | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. | πούς (poús) | *πόδ-ς (*pód-s) |
| Gen. | ποδός (podós) | ποδ-ός (pod-ós) |
| Dat. | ποδί (podí) | ποδ-ί (pod-í) |
| Acc. | πόδα (póda) | πόδ-α (pód-a) < *πόδ-m̥ (*pód-m̥) |
| Voc. | πούς (poús) | *πόδ-ς (*pód-s) |
Declension of the thematic nounἄνθρωπος (ánthropos) 'human':
| Nom. | ἄνθρωπ-ος (ánthrōp-os) |
| Gen. | ἀνθρώπ-ου (anthrṓp-ou) |
| Dat. | ἀνθρώπ-ῳ (anthrṓp-ōi) |
| Acc. | ἄνθρωπ-ον (ánthrōp-on) |
| Voc. | ἄνθρωπ-ε (ánthrōp-e) |
Most other Indo-European languages have similar distinctions, or had them in their past. Marked contrasts between thematic and athematic verbs appear inLithuanian, andOld Church Slavonic. In theGermanic andInsular Celtic languages, the theme vowels are often hard to perceive because of the loss of final vowels. However, their presence is still felt, in a manner that defines different ways of declining nouns or conjugating verbs, sophilologists still occasionally speak of vowel stems and consonant stems in these languages as well.
WhileOld English still contrasted "vowel stems" (thematic) and "consonant stems" (athematic), this distinction is no longer a meaningful one inModern English, as in other languages whosemorphology has been drastically simplified byanalogy.
In the termthematic vowel,theme refers to the stem of a word. For example, in the Ancient Greek verbτέμνω (témnō) 'cut',tem- is the root, andtemn- is the stem or theme for thepresent tense.[21] Hence,thematic vowel loosely means "stem vowel".
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