Latin Conjugation: The Stem Vowel Speaks

Abstract

This article offers an alternative grouping of Latin verbs that is more informative than the traditional four conjugations. By considering the “behavior” of the stem vowel in the present, perfect and supine systems as a coherent unit, four “inflectional profiles” emerge that cut across the conjugations. In the three-part structure of a verb form—a stem plus a tense-mood-aspect marker plus a personal or declensional ending, summarized as S-T-E— the main grammatical “action” takes place in the verb stem as it “crosses the border” into the tense markers. 0A few notions of basic phonetics account for whatever changes take place in the stem at that point. The familiar infinitive equipped with a superscript serves as a single “smart” principal part to encapsulate a verb’s complete inflection at a glance. This holistic endeavor redefines “regular” to include more of the facts and to highlight useful relationships that textbooks leave unspoken. If one accepts a slight step into abstraction, apparent exceptions and irregularities turn out to be completely regular.