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ACTA LINGUISTICA LITHUANICA
L (2004), 79 – 98
A New Approach to Lithuanian Noun Declension Types Based on the Theory of Natural Morphology
INETA SAVICKIENĖ, ASTA KAZLAUSKIENĖ, LAURA KAMANDULYTĖ
Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas
There are no recent studies reflecting new approaches to Lithuanian noun inflection. In this study we introduce a new classification of noun classes based on Dressler’s (1995–1996) concepts and on definitions advanced within the framework of Natural Morphology. It involves a hierarchical organisation of noun classes comprising the levels of microclass, subsubclass, subclass, class, and macroclass. A paradigm comprises all inflectional forms of one word. An isolated paradigm is a paradigm which differs morphologically or morphonologically from all other paradigms. A thematic marker is the inflectional marker of an inflectional class. A class is a set of paradigms. It comprises subclasses which differ only in morphological or morphonological details. It is established by a common thematic marker. We differentiate hierarchically: macroclass and its successive subset classes: class, (sub)subclass, microclass. A microclass is the smallest subset of an inflectional class. A macroclass is the highest, most general type of class, subsuming several classes, subclasses or microclasses. Inflectional productivity is the capability of applying rules (e.g., characterizing inflectional paradigms) to new words.
1. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Different authors identify Lithuanian noun declensions differently. The problematic nature of noun classification is also reflected in the fact that Lithuanian linguists use different terms to refer to the same phenomena, e.g.: declension (Danielius Kleinas, Jonas Jablonskis, Adelė Laigonaitė, Aldona Paulauskienė), declension type (Aleksas Girdenis, Adelė Valeckienė), or determine different numbers of them.
Šiame darbe, remiantis natūraliosios morfologijos (Dressler 1995–1996, 1998) teorinėmis koncepcijomis, bus bandoma naujai pažvelgti į daiktavardžio klasių sistemą, pateikti naują klasifikaciją. Ji bus sudaroma atsižvelgiant ne tik į galūnes, bet ir į akcentinius bei morfonologinius kitimus tapačiose morfemose. Naujai klasifikuojant daiktavardžius ypatingas dėmesys bus skiriamas fleksijų panašumams paradigmose, jų ikoniškumo požymiui. Ši klasifikacija, kurioje bandoma išryškinti daiktavardžio fleksinės sistemos įvairovę bei galūnių ir prozodinių elementų ryšį, gali atskleisti lietuvių kalbos gramatinės sistemos sudėtingumą ir įvairovę.
To describe the classification of noun declension types, we will use the terms and concepts proposed by Wolfgang Dressler (1995–1996: 2–3).
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PARADIGM – the set of concrete forms of all cases.
ISOLATED PARADIGM – a paradigm that differs from all other paradigms in the system by morphological, morphonological, or prosodic elements.
CLASS – a generalized category encompassing various subclasses (subclasses, sub-subclasses, microclasses). It comprises subclasses that differ in a morphological or morphonological feature. A class is distinguished according to a particular thematic marker. THEMATIC MARKER – a selected element on the basis of which a class is distinguished. In this study, the class’s thematic marker is taken to be the noun’s singular nominative inflection. For example, in devising a classification of Lithuanian nouns, the inflection pair -(i)as, -is/-ys is selected as the thematic marker on the basis of paradigm similarities.
SUBCLASS – a type of class distinguished according to variants of the thematic marker. If a class’s thematic marker is -(i)as, -is/-ys, then this class is divided into two subclasses: -(i)as and -is/-ys.
SUB-SUBCLASS – a finer type of subclass. For example, the subclass -(i)as has two sub-subclasses: -as and -ias.
MICROCLASS – the smallest type of class, distinguished according to shared accentual and morphonological features. In this study, microclasses are distinguished according to accentual changes. For example, the nouns klausimas, kvietimas, augalas, vardas of the -as sub-subclass, which belong to the first, second, third, and fourth accentuation patterns, respectively, represent different microclasses. A microclass may have one or two variants, determined by morphonological (consonantal) alternations in stems. For example, the first microclass of the -is/-ys subclass has two variants: in one, alternation occurs (pojūtis – pojūčio), while in the other it does not (brolis – brolio).
MACROCLASS – the largest generalized type of class, encompassing different classes. Lithuanian nouns are classified into macroclasses according to the grammatical category of gender.
The richness of a morphological system is evidenced by the productivity patterns of certain classes, while the identification of unproductive classes confirms that a language’s morphological system is not only rich but also highly complex and diverse (Dressler, Gagarina 1999; Dressler 2001). The complexity of the Lithuanian inflectional system is closely related to productivity, but the meaning of the word productive is not clearly defined in Lithuanian linguistics. This term is often regarded solely as a concept of synchronic linguistics (Gaivenis 1990: 161). Moreover, it is sometimes understood as a quantitative characteristic. This means that the more frequently a particular affix is used, the more productive it is (Urbutis 1978: 264). However, no account is taken of the fact that old words are used more frequently in a language than neologisms; consequently, formations of an unproductive type are often used more frequently than those of a productive type (Urbutis 1978: 264). According to Dressler, productivity is the ability of affixes to form new words (Dressler et al. 1997b; Dressler, Ladányi 2000). The more often an affix participates in the formation of new words, the more productive it is. Here, productivity is a qualitative, not quantitative, characteristic. Moreover, according to natural morphology theorists (Wurzel 1984; Dressler et al. 1995–1996), several criteria are important for determining productivity, namely: the integration of loanwords, the formation of new words, and changes in inflections within noun classes.
In presenting a new classification of Lithuanian noun declension types, we base our appro-
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we will draw on the work of linguists who have attempted to establish new noun or verb classes according to natural morphology (Latin—Dressler 2001; Russian—Dressler, Gagarina 1999; Polish—Dressler et al. 1995–1996, 1997; Lithuanian—Savickienė 2003; German, Lithuanian, Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish, French, German—Dressler et al. 2004). We believe that the work of Lithuanian linguists (Girdenis, Rosinas 1977; Valeckienė 1998; Zavads kaitė-Ivanauskienė 2000) is also significant and important: taking into account noun genders and similarities among paradigms, these studies attempt an unconventional classification of Lithuanian noun declension types.
In Lithuanian linguistics, few studies have applied the theory of natural morphology, apart from Ineta Savickienė’s doctoral dissertation “The Morphology of the Lithuanian Child’s Noun” (1999) and monograph The Acquisition of Lithuanian Noun Morphology (Savickienė 2003). Several undergraduate theses at the Department of Lithuanian Language of Vytautas Magnus University (Valentinaitė 2002; Kamandulytė 2003) also attempt to review the classification of noun declension types and discuss the productivity of Lithuanian noun inflections.
An attempt to take a fresh look at the structure of noun declension types and to establish a detailed system of noun classes that would reveal the complexity and diversity of the Lithuanian grammatical system and the relationship between inflections and prosodic elements is useful in several respects. First, the declension-class schema for nouns in contemporary Lithuanian has existed with few changes for several hundred years (since the time of Klein’s grammar). Second, a detailed classification of noun declension types would not only help reveal the declension system as a whole and determine the productivity of inflectional classes, but would also make it possible to predict trends in language change and examine the causes of those changes.
The statistical analysis conducted in this study shows the relationships between declension types and accentuation classes, and which accentuation classes are characteristic of nouns with particular endings. The statistical data are based on the fourth edition (2000) of Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno. In many cases, they are not entirely accurate. Various factors contribute to this, for example, homonyms: vytis (2) “mounted messenger” (masculine) and vytis (4) “switch” (feminine). An effort was made to enter such words into both groups of the corresponding paradigms. Verbal abstracts with the suffixes -imas, -ymas, -umas were excluded (18.7 thousand in total; of these, about 12 thousand belong to accentuation class 1 and 6 thousand to class 2). The DLKŽ contains about 1,500 nouns marked dgs. Where these words are also used in the singular, they were excluded. If a noun has only plural meanings, it is listed with the nouns of the corresponding paradigm, for example: sultys with feminine nouns ending in -is; žirklės with nouns ending in -ė. The dictionary contains nouns (most often names of agents) whose headword form is masculine only, although a feminine form is also used. Such feminine nouns have been added to the classes with the corresponding endings (nearly 1,000 with -ia and nearly 2,000 with -ė). However, we may have overlooked some of the cases mentioned. Because of this additional processing of the DLKŽ data, the data described here may not correspond exactly to those of other authors, for example, ADLKŽ.
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2. LITHUANIAN NOUN DECLENSION TYPES
Lithuanian nouns are characterized by a diversity of inflections and a complex declension system, so it is not easy to establish a clear and comprehensive classification of declension classes.
Danielius Kleinas was the first to distinguish five declension types, in 1653 (Kruopas 1957). On the basis of the nominative, genitive, and dative singular endings of nouns, he established five declension classes. In his 1922 grammar (see Jablonskis 1922/1997), Jonas Jablonskis also distinguishes five declension classes, but the nouns assigned to them have endings different from those of the declension types distinguished by Klein. In his classification, Jablonskis regards the singular nominative inflection as the principal criterion. He also states (Jablonskis 1922/1997: 19) that “case forms often differ from one another in their accents as well,” and provides examples of various accentuation patterns for each declension class. This is an interesting idea, but for a long time it was not taken into account in all classifications of noun declension types.
Jablonskis’s system of Lithuanian noun declension classes is also presented in the 1965 edition of Lietuvių kalbos gramatikoje (Ul vydas, ed., 1965). There, the declension classes are described in greater detail, emphasizing the role not only of the singular nominative ending but also of the singular genitive ending in determining a declension class.
Like Jablonskis, Alfredas Sennas (1966) distinguishes noun declension classes according to the singular nominative ending. However, he subdivides them more finely, according to the dominant feature—the singular nominative ending, gender, or stem-final segment. Later, Lithuanian nouns began to be classified according to stem-final segments, which are most easily identified from the plural dative form—the vowel preceding the ending consonants -ms (Ambrazas, ed., 1997: 69).
Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatikoje (1997) skiriamos penkios linksniuotės: (i)a, (i)u, (i)o, e ir i. Kiekvienoje linksniuotėje pagal atskirų linksnių formų ypatybes skiriamos linksniavimo paradigmos. Ši klasifikacija yra aiškesnė ir detalesnė už Kleino sudarytą linksniuočių sistemą. Labai svarbus paradigmų, apimančių tik vieną kurią nors giminę, išryškinimas linksniuotės viduje, nes lietuvių kalbos daiktavardžiai turi giminės kategoriją, o nėra ja kaitomi kaip skaičiumi ar linksniu. Ši klasifikacija yra ir paprastesnė, kadangi norint nustatyti linksniuotę užtenka vieno daugiskaitos naudininko linksnio. Joje daiktavardžių fleksijos suklasifikuotos aiškiau nei Jablonskio ir Senno darbuose, nes skirtingos fleksijos nepriskiriamos vienai klasei.
Adelė Valeckienė (1998) established a more complex, but more comprehensive and detailed, noun declension system. According to her, nouns with some different stems have similar ending systems, while sometimes, conversely, nouns with the same stem differ in one or another ending (Valeckienė 1998: 319). Valeckienė’s classification is close to the classification based on natural morphology theory, since it takes into account similarities among paradigms. Based on noun stems and the similarity of ending systems, she distinguishes three declension types ((i)a; (i)o, e and (i)u, i, en, er, es) and divides them into paradigms according to their stems. However, the third declension type appears problematic in this classification: nouns with various stems are assigned to it, and it also includes words of both genders. Valeckienė distinguishes the first two types on the basis of—
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based on the similarity of stems and endings, while assigning to the third type all the less productive and frequent noun declension types without taking into account similarities within the paradigm. Consequently, the endings of the third type are very diverse, and some paradigms are almost entirely unrelated; for example, the eighth and fourteenth types have the same inflection, differing only in softness, only in the singular dative and plural genitive, accusative, and locative forms; the ninth and thirteenth types have identical inflections only in the plural genitive, differing solely in softness. The distinction between stems (i)o and e within a single declension type is also unclear—all forms have different inflections.
Aleksas Girdenis ir Albertas Rosinas (1977) daiktavardžio linksniavimo tipus klasifikuoja atsižvelgdami į diachroninius tyrinėjimus bei vienų linksniavimo tipų įtaką kitiems. Jie nustato, kad vienų kamienų žodžiai daro įtaką tik tam tikrų kamienų žodžiams (pvz., a kamienas – u kamienui). Taigi Girdenis ir Rosinas (1977: 338) pabrėžia, jog egzistuoja ne tik sąlyginė, bet ir natūrali linksniavimo tipų hierarchija, kurią galima nustatyti pagal skirtingų paradigmų sutampančių galūnių dažnumą. Svarbu tai, kad autoriai pavartoja hierarchijos terminą, tuo pabrėždami, jog ne visi linksniavimo tipai yra vienodai paplitę ir produktyvūs. Kitų lietuvių kalbininkų darbuose buvo vartojamas terminas sistema, neatsižvelgiant į netolygų linksniavimo tipams priklausančių žodžių paplitimą. Girdenis ir Rosinas sudarė hierarchinio grupavimo medį, kuriame skiriami trys linksniavimo tipai. Jie smulkiai skirstomi pagal kamienus. Visgi Girdenis ir Rosinas skirtingas galūnes turinčias paradigmas, jei jos panašios, priskiria vienai grupei (pvz., u ir iu, Cm ir Cf kamienų). Skirtingai nei Valeckienė, jie atskiria (i)a ir e kamienų daiktavardžius. Remdamiesi hierarchinio grupavimo metodu, Girdenis ir Rosinas (1977: 342) nustato, jog pagal paplitimą linksniavimo tipai išsidėsto taip: moteriškasis, vyriškasis, mišrusis.
This study, like the classification of noun declension types compiled by Girdenis and Rosinas, will use the term hierarchical tree. Although Girdenis and Rosinas, as emphasized in natural morphology theory, take into account similarities between paradigms, matching endings, and the influence of some declension types on others, this analysis will attempt to construct an even more detailed classification by considering the smallest differences between paradigms, since these are precisely what determine the transfer of inflections from one paradigm to another or their irregular use in the process of speech.
In classifying Lithuanian nouns, this study constructs two hierarchical trees distinguished by the grammatical category of gender. Earlier classifications have not avoided mixing the two genders in a single class, which makes it harder to understand the diversity and systematicity of noun declension types. Thus, in the classification presented here, Lithuanian nouns are first divided by gender into the largest classes, or macroclasses.
Lithuanian nouns are divided into classes according to the thematic marker—the singular nominative ending. Choosing inflection as the thematic marker is convenient because all Lithuanian nouns have stem-based inflections (English stem-based inflection), which, according to Dressler (1995–1996: 5), exist when a particular thematic marker is added to the root. However, a problem arises: should the stem-final segment be assigned to the inflection? Valeckienė (1998: 294–295) argues that, although “treating verb stem-final segments as separate inflectional morphemes makes it possible to simplify the description of verb inflection,” it is better to assign verb stem-final segments to the endings, because such inflection would mark all three categories simultaneously: tense, person, and number.
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the description of verb inflection,” it is better to assign verb stem-final segments to the endings, because such inflection would mark all three categories simultaneously: tense, person, and number. Nominal stem-final segments are more closely related to endings. They mark the gender category of nouns, although not always consistently (Valeckienė 1998: 295). Gender is marked by the stem-final segments: nouns with (i)a and u stems are masculine; those with (i)o and ė stems are usually feminine (there are exceptions); nouns with an i stem may be either masculine or feminine. The ending formant marks number and case. Thus, in this study, nouns will be classified not only by stems or ending formants, but also by stem-based inflections (stem-final segment + ending formant).
The property of iconicity is important in classifying noun declension types. A class comprises subclasses that have a high degree of iconicity—that is, many matching inflections. Thus, noun classes, subclasses, and sub-subclasses are linked by a certain indicator of similarity: the number of matching inflections in their paradigms. Noun classes are arranged according to the hierarchical-tree method, in which, as one moves from the highest level to the lowest, the principle of inheritance applies (Dressler, Gagarina 1999: 755), i.e., lower classes share the principal feature of the higher class.
The classification of noun declension types also distinguishes the lowest level—the microclass tier. It shows the diversity of the smallest inflectional classes (sub-subclasses or subclasses) according to accentual and consonantal alternations.
The quantitative productivity of microclasses is discussed below, but it can also be seen in the hierarchical tree diagrams provided (see Diagrams 1 and 2) and in the tables in the appendices, which present the classification of Lithuanian noun declension types and detailed statistics on accentual paradigms and morphonological variants.
The analysis of the material was based on three example forms: the singular nominative, plural dative, and plural accusative. The singular nominative and plural dative are important for identifying the declension type, while the plural accusative, together with the plural dative, is used to identify microclasses corresponding to Lithuanian accent paradigms. For some microclasses, a fourth form was also needed, in whose stem morphonological alternations occur.
2.1. Masculine macroclass
The class -(i)as, -is/-ys comprises nouns with different singular nominative endings, -as, -ias, -is, -ys, and the plural dative ending -(i)ams. This is the largest class, comprising almost half of all nouns (about 14,000, excluding verbal abstracts with -imas, -ymas, -umas). The inflectional endings -as and -ias (7,300, i.e. 28% of all nouns) can be assigned to one subclass, since they differ in vowel grade (or in the palatalization of the stem-final consonant), the disyllabic subclass -ias differing in the singular locative and singular vocative forms (see Table 1).
Because of the difference in vowel grade, the aforementioned inflectional endings belong to different subclasses. Differences in vocative forms are not significant, since they also occur within the subclass -as (klausime, tėvai) and the subclass -ias (kely, kirpėjau, elni).
The second subclass consists of words with the endings -is and -ys (6,500, or 25% of all nouns). In their declensional paradigms these inflectional endings coincide completely; they dif-
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fer only in the length of the vowel in the singular nominative and vocative endings. Importantly, not all masculine nouns with the relevant thematic marker—the singular nominative ending -is—belong to the subclass -is/-ys. Nouns with the singular nominative ending -is and the plural dative ending -ims (dantis,dantims) are assigned to the non-uniform feminine macroclass (English Macroclassof default Feminine Gender). This disregard for the gender criterion is motivated by the principle of natural morphology: attention to the naturalness of language acquisition and learning, and to features of iconicity and simplicity. Nouns in the feminine class -is are iconic counterparts, in almost all forms, of nouns in the masculine class -is, which have the inflectional ending -ims in the plural dative (only the singular dative ending differs: žuviai / dančiui). Thus, it is easier to learn or acquire the nominal system of these classes by identifying or comparing their endings.
According to the principle of iconicity, the subclasses -(i)as and -is/-ys are assigned to one class because their plural forms are identical, while in the singular they differ only in the nominative and accusative forms. This small difference between the subclasses affects language learning and acquisition. These case forms are often confused (elnią is replaced by elnį, and žvejys by žvejas). Such variation is very common in languages with a rich inflectional system (Dressler 1998). According to Jakulytė (1996: 195), phenomena at the morphological level, such as changes in stems or endings, are manifestations of language simplification. In accordance with the principle of naturalness, inflectional endings from one subclass are used in place of those from another.
TABLE 1. -(i)as, -is/-ys DECLENSION EXAMPLES FOR THE CLASS1
SCHEMA 1. HIERARCHICAL TREE OF THE MASCULINE MACROCLASS (THE NUMBERS IN PARENTHESES INDICATE THE ACCENT PARADIGM).
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SCHEMA 2. HIERARCHICAL TREE OF THE INHOMOGENEOUS FEMININE MACROCLASS (THE NUMBERS IN PARENTHESES INDICATE THE ACCENT PARADIGM).
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The subsubclasses -as, -ias and subclass -is/-ys are divided into the smallest units—microclasses, which are identified according to accentual alternations. The subsubclass -as includes many words (6.4 thousand, excluding verbal abstracts, i.e. 25% of all nouns); they are divided into four microclasses corresponding to the four accent paradigms of Lithuanian. The first and second are the most numerous²: 4 a. p. (0.5%): 3 a. p. (9%): 1 a. p. (30%): 2 a. p. (60.5%) = 1: 2: 6: 10.
The subsubclass -ias is not as numerous (944 words, i.e. 4% of all nouns). In this subsubclass, the microclass with accent paradigm 1 clearly predominates; it consists mainly of names of agents with the suffixes -ėjas, -ojas, -tojas. Only 20 nouns do not belong to accent paradigm 1: 16 to paradigm 2 (e.g.: galvijas, šalavijas), 1 to paradigm 3 (velnias), and 6 to paradigm 4 (kraujas, svečias, kelias, pelėjaI, klijai, kapojai).
The subclass -is/-ys has four microclasses corresponding to the four accentuation types of Lithuanian. Variants with a short ending vowel can only have root stress (there are about 3 thousand nouns in accent paradigm 1 and about 2.2 thousand in paradigm 2), while those with a long vowel only have ending stress (paradigm 3 comprises nearly 900 nouns³, and paradigm 4 nearly 300). Each of these microclasses has two variants, distinguished by consonant alternations in noun stems (t changes to č, e.g.: pojūtis, pojūčiams; d changes to dž, e.g.: žodis, žodžiams). Almost half of the nouns ending in -is and only 12% of those ending in -ys undergo this morphophonological alternation.
The class -(i)us includes nouns whose nominative singular ending is -us or -ius (523 words, i.e. 2% of nouns). This class has distinctive inflections determined by its characteristic stem-final (i)u. A phenomenon in which one inflected form determines others in the same paradigm is called a paradigm-structure determinant (Dressler 1997a). The stem-final u that determines the paradigm structure of class -(i)us is absent in other classes.
Class -(i)us divides into two subclasses, -us and -ius, which differ in the nominative, dative, instrumental, and vocative plural endings, as well as in the softness of the final root consonant in other cases (see Table 2).
The subclass -us differs greatly from -(i)as and -is/-ys, since it has no endings that match completely, except for the singular dative and the plural genitive, accusative, and locative. The subclass -ius has much in common with subclasses -(i)as and -is/-ys: the forms of all plural cases match. Because the plural inflections coincide, nouns in subclass -ius often take the inflections of subclasses -(i)as and -is/-ys in the singular (vaisiaus is also used as vaisio).
The subclass -us is small (only 19 words, i.e. 0.07% of all nouns): 7 are in accent paradigm 2 (e.g.: turgus, cukrus), 2 words (sūnus ir lietus) are in paradigm 3, and 10 words are in paradigm 4 (e.g.: medus, alus, midus). In this subclass there are many de-
2 The symbol “a. p.” denotes an accentual paradigm, or accent paradigm. The accent paradigms are listed on the left-hand side of the equality sign, and their ratios according to word frequency on the right. The ratios are rounded to whole numbers here. The equality should be read as follows: there are three times as many words in accent paradigm 3 as in paradigm 4, six times as many in paradigm 1, and ten times as many in paradigm 2.
3 Here one could also add nearly 100 words whose accentuation is not established.
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effective paradigms—having only a singular (sugar, beer) or only a plural (lunch) form.
TABLE 2. EXAMPLES OF DECLENSION IN THE -(i)us CLASS
Singular
Plural
Subclasses
-us
-ius
-us
-ius
Nom. sg.
market-us
eternity-ius
market-ūs
eternities-iai
Gen. sg.
market-aus
age
markets
ages
N.
market
age
markets
ages
G.
markets
ages
markets
ages
Įn.
markets
ages
market-umis
centuries-iais
Loc.
market-uje
century-iuje
market-uose
century-iuose
Instr.
market-au
century-iau
market-ūs
century-iai
The -ius subclass contains more words than the -us subclass (504, i.e. 2% of all nouns). Root-stressed nouns (accent paradigms 1 and 2) predominate in this subclass: 186 words belong to the first accent paradigm (e.g., rytojus, kriterijus), and 314 to the second (e.g., baldžius, vaisius, pavojus). The DLKŽ lists 3 dialectal words: 3ᵇ atlas and, in accent paradigm 4, vedlius and tanius.
Class -uo is not divided into subclasses. All masculine nouns belonging to it are of one type (see Table 3). This is a small class: it contains only 65 words (0.2% of all nouns). They are all in the third accent paradigm and differ only in the intonation of the non-final stressed syllable.
TABLE 3. -uo CLASS DECLENSION PARADIGM
Singular
Plural
N.
wat-er
wat-er-s
G.
wat-er
wat-er-s
D.
wat-er
wat-er-s
A.
wat-er
wat-er-s
I.
wat-er
wat-er-s
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TABLE 3 (continued)
Singular | Plural
Loc. | vanden-yje | vanden-yse
Ill. | vanden-je | vanden-ys
In Lithuanian there are masculine nouns that cannot be assigned to any declension type. They differ from all other noun paradigms morphologically, in prosodic elements, or morphonologically. The paradigms of such nouns are called isolated. These are the masculine nouns šuo, mėnuo, viešpats, žmogus (see Table 4).
TABLE 4. DECLENSION OF MASCULINE ISOLATED PARADIGMS
The declension of the noun šuo (accentuation pattern 4) is similar to the declension of the -uo class. Therefore, grammars usually group this noun with the nouns akmuo, vanduo. Valeckienė (1998: 320) assigns it to the twelfth paradigm, distinguished by the (e)n stem, whereas Vytautas Ambrazas, ed. (1997: 77) assigns it to the eleventh paradigm, based on the inflection -uo. However, the inflections of these nouns coincide only in the singular nominative (akmuo / šuo); in the other cases, the stem-final -e belongs to the inflections of masculine -uo-class nouns, which the isolated paradigm šuo does not have (akmens / šuns, akmeniui / šuniui).
The noun mėnuo (accentuation pattern 1), except in the singular nominative, is declined according to the paradigm of the -is/-ys subclass (mėnuo / brolis, mėnesio / brolio, mėnesiui / broliui…). Because its singular nominative inflection differs, it should be considered an isolated paradigm.
The inflectional paradigm of the noun viešpats is very complex. The singular nominative form of this noun has an inflection -s that is unique to it. The other singular inflections correspond to those of the masculine -is subclass (an irregular feminine macroclass) (viešpaties / danties, viešpačiui / dančiui…). The singular inflections of this subclass would be identical to those of the noun viešpats if we considered it a shortened form of the noun viešpatis. However, the plural inflections of the word viešpats coincide with the inflections of the -(i)as, -is/-ys class (viešpačiai / keliai, viešpačių / kelių, viešpačiams / keliams…). Therefore, Alfredas Sennas (1966: 130) considers this noun to belong to a mixed declension type.
The noun žmogus is also mixed-declined. Its singular endings correspond to those of the -us subclass (žmogus / medus, žmogaus / medaus, žmogų / medų…), while its plural endings correspond to the inflections -e (žmonės / katės, žmonių / kačių, žmonėms / katėms…). Artūras Judžentis (2002: 40) assigns this noun to neither the masculine nor the feminine gender, but considers it heterogeneous.
2.2. The non-uniform feminine macroclass
Nouns assigned to the -(i)a, -i class (almost 5.4 thousand words, i.e. 21% of all nouns) have nominative singular forms ending in -a, -ia, -i. This class is divided into two subclasses, -(i)a and -i, and the -(i)a subclass is further divided into the sub-subclasses -a and -ia, which differ only in the sequence of vowels or in the softness of the stem-final consonant. The inflections of the -ia and -i subclasses are highly iconic: they coincide in as many as six cases and differ only in the nominative and vocative singular forms (see Table 5).
In terms of gender, the -a sub-subclass is large (almost 3.4 thousand words, i.e. 13% of all nouns), but heterogeneous: the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language (DLKŽ) lists 12 words as masculine, e.g.: maršalka, vaidila, viršila, vaivada, barzdyla, and 265 words as common gender, e.g.: mušeika, persona, nebrendila, neklaũžada, namisėda4, while all the others are feminine.
4 In this classification, we did not distinguish separately any classes, subclasses, or microclasses that would have entirely identical forms but differ only according to the semantic or syntactic criterion for gender assignment.
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TABLE 5. DECLENSION EXAMPLES FOR THE -(i)a, -i CLASS
Singular
Plural
Subclasses
-a
-ia
-i
-a
-ia
-i
Nom.
price-a
lady
daughter-in-law
price
ladies
daughters-in-law
K.
prices
ladies
daughters-in-law
prices
ladies
daughters-in-law
N.
price
lady
daughter-in-law
kain-oms
pon-ioms
marč-ioms
G.
kain-ą
pon-ią
marč-ią
kain-as
pon-ias
marč-ias
Įn.
kain-a
pon-ia
marč-ia
kain-omis
pon-iomis
with daughters-in-law
Loc.
in the price
in the gentleman
in the daughter-in-law
in the prices
in the gentlemen
in the daughters-in-law
Instr.
price
gentlewoman
marti
prices
gentlewomen
daughters-in-law
Subclass -a has four microclasses corresponding to the four Lithuanian accentuation paradigms. There are three times as many root-stressed nouns as ending-stressed nouns: 4 accentuation paradigm (13%): 3 accentuation paradigm (13%): 2 accentuation paradigm (21%): 1 accentuation paradigm (43%) = 1: 1: 2: 4.
The -ia subclass is also quite large: it comprises almost 2,000 words (8% of nouns). It also has four microclasses of varying sizes: 3 accent paradigm (1%): 4 accent paradigm (2%): 2 accent paradigm (6%): 1 accent paradigm (91%) = 1: 2: 5: 83.
Only two words belong to the -i subclass—marti, pati—so it is called a mini-subclass. The noun pati is rarely used in contemporary language; it has been replaced by the noun žmona. This shows that soon only the isolated paradigm marti may remain in this mini-subclass. The decline of the -i mini-subclass is also reflected in the frequent replacement of the singular nominative ending -i with the -(i)a ending of the subclass (marčia, pačia). Both words belong to the fourth accent paradigm.
The -ė class includes feminine nouns (almost 6,000, or 23% of all nouns), masculine nouns (4 words), and common-gender nouns (19 words); however, as already mentioned, we are concerned only with feminine nouns, because the forms of nouns of the other genders are completely identical to those of the feminine gender (see Table 6).
The feminine -ė subclass is the largest of all feminine classes. All nouns in this subclass can be divided into four microclasses according to accent types. Of the almost 6,000 nouns in this subclass, only 185 belong to the third accent paradigm and 202 to the fourth; all the others have stem stress: 3 accent paradigm (3%): 4 accent paradigm (3%): 1 accent paradigm (45%): 2 accent paradigm (49%) = 1: 1: 15: 16.
These microclasses each have two variants, distinguished by consonant alternations in the stems (vaivorykštė / vaivorykščių, bitė / bičių, aikštė / aikščių, kėdė / kėdžių). A quarter of the nouns in this subclass undergo these morphonological changes (first accent paradigm – 15%, second – 35%, third – 23%, fourth – 12%).
The four masculine words belong to the second accent paradigm. They denote male persons (dėdė, tėtė, ciucė, dailidė).
In the DLKŽ, 19 nouns are listed as common-gender nouns; they may belong to any of the four accent paradigms, e.g.: celebrity (accent paradigm 1), chatterbox (accent paradigm 2), simpleton (accent paradigm 4), shrill-voiced person (accent paradigm 3ⁱ).
The -is class includes almost iconic feminine nouns (245 words, i.e. 1% of all nouns) and masculine nouns (24 nouns) (see Table 7).
Only the singular dative inflection distinguishes the feminine subclass from the masculine subclass (nosiai / ropuoniui). Owing to this high degree of iconicity, the masculine -is subclass is assigned to the -is class of the non-uniform feminine macroclass.
The feminine subclass -is has three dominant microclasses. The first coincides with accentuation pattern 1 (50 nouns). It has two variants: in the stems of 39 words, consonant alternations occur (kliūtis / kliūčių). The microclass of accentuation pattern 3 is more numerous; almost all nouns in it (84 out of 94) undergo alternation of the stem-final consonants t, d. Accentuation pattern 4 comprises 99 nouns (76 of them undergo morphonological consonant alternation). Only two words of this subclass belong to accentuation pattern 2: gaištis, slistis.
Most nouns in the masculine -is class (19 out of 24) belong to accentuation pattern 3, e.g., žvėris, debesis; one each belongs to patterns 1 (geležuonys) and 2 (pirmuonys), while 3 words are listed as belonging to pattern 4: petys, ropuonis, dantis. The root consonant of the last word undergoes morphonological alternation: dantis / dančiui.
The DLKŽ lists 6 nouns as common-gender: gobuonis (2, 3ᵃ), žiniuonis (2, 4), palikuonis (2, 3⁴ᵇ), dels(u)onis (3ᵇ), giežuonis (3ᵇ), vagis (4). The first three words are also listed in dictionaries, with variants, as masculine -is nouns.
Some words in the -is class have a hard or soft stem consonant in the plural genitive. Twenty-eight words have a hard stem consonant: durys, grindys, obelis, geležis, kepenys, šaknis, žąsis, ausis, naktis, krūtis, žuvis, pušis, dantis, debesis, smegenys, gelmenys, šermenys, sėdmenys, ėdmenys, žiodmenys, audmenys, žiomenys, riedmenys, vedmenys, ašmenys, nešmenys, putmenys, antruonys. The other words have a soft stem consonant, e.g., nosis, širdis, antis, etc.
In Lithuanian there are feminine nouns whose inflections do not coincide in their paradigms with any of the classes mentioned above. These are isolated paradigms. They include old Lithuanian nouns denoting kinship—duktė and sesuo (see Table 8).
TABLE 8. DECLENSION OF FEMININE ISOLATED PARADIGMS
The paradigms of these nouns differ only slightly. The inflections of the nouns sister and daughter differ only in the singular nominative, while all other forms are identical. These nouns belong to the third accentuation class.
3. FINAL REMARKS
In this study, two hierarchical trees were constructed, with macroclasses at the highest level, distinguished according to grammatical gender. The mixing of genders within macroclasses was unavoidable because of the high degree of iconicity of the masculine sub-class -is and the feminine sub-class -is, which is highly important to natural morphology theory. It should be noted that there are no feminine examples in the masculine macroclass, whereas words of masculine gender were found with all feminine inflections. Admittedly, the percentage is not high (only 0.2% of all nouns), but this group includes genuinely old words, some of which are quite frequent in actual usage. Consequently, masculine nouns have a considerably greater diversity of inflections.
Another interesting result of the statistical data is that in Lithuanian, 55% of nouns are masculine and 45% feminine (see Table 9). Žilinskienė (2002: 106–116), who studied gender distribution in actual usage, obtained similar figures: almost 60% of nouns in use are masculine and 40% feminine.
TABLE 9. DISTRIBUTION OF NOUNS BY CLASSES AND ACCENTUATION CLASSES
In standard Lithuanian, masculine gender is unmarked, and the nouns belonging to it are used somewhat more frequently than feminine nouns; however, masculine subclasses may also have the inflections of the feminine macroclass. Consequently, it is sometimes difficult to determine a noun’s gender, especially for nouns with the singular nominative ending -is and genitive -ies; for example, the noun vinis is often considered masculine, although in DLKŽ (2000) it is feminine. Both macroclasses comprise three classes each. The non-uniform feminine classes -(i)a, -i and -is, and the masculine macroclass classes -(i)as, -is/-ys and -(i)us, each have two subclasses. The subclasses -(i)as, -(i)a each have two further subclasses. The sub-subclasses, or lowest-level subclasses or even classes (e.g., -ė), contain varying numbers of dominant microclasses and their variants. Nouns in the sub-subclasses -as, -ias and -a, -ia have several
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microclasses, distinguished by accentuation patterns. The subclass -is/-ys comprises four microclasses, each with two variants distinguished by consonant-stem alternations. The feminine subclass -ė and the feminine subclass -is also have such a complex system of microclasses.
Altogether, the two hierarchical trees contain 50 microclass variants. Thus, there are as many noun variants distinguished by morphological and accentual features and by alternations in consonant stems. The large number of microclasses reflects the complexity and richness of noun inflection and of the Lithuanian grammatical system as a whole.
Noun microclasses
The non-uniform feminine macroclass has more microclasses, but this does not mean that all of them have the grammatical category of feminine gender. Five microclasses belonging to this macroclass are masculine. Importantly, the identification of macroclasses does not assign the nouns themselves to any gender; rather, according to the degree of iconicity, it groups inflectional classes into feminine and masculine declension types.
ABBREVIATIONS
ADLKŽ – Atgalinis dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas, ed. V. Žilinskienė. Vilnius: Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, 1995.
DLKŽ – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas, ed.-in-chief S. Keinys. Vilnius: Institute of Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing, 2000.
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Ineta Savickienė Asta Kazlauskienė Laura Kamandulytė Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas S. Daukanto g. 28, 3000 Kaunas, Lietuva [email protected][email protected]
