Latin Vowel Harmony?
From: | Ed Heil <edheil@...> |
Date: | Wednesday, January 19, 2000, 23:35 |
Daniel A. Wier wrote:
> Latin:
>
> 1st dec: puella bona, puellae bonae, puellam bonam...
> 2nd dec: Deus meus, Dei mei; bellum malum, bella mala...
>
> With noun-adjective agreement, you have rhyme, or "word-ending vowel
> harmony". Not in all cases (puer bonus, mulier bona), but in most.
By no means. Third declension is very common (I would not be
surprised if it were the most common) one for nouns and adjectives,
and it is not confined to a particular gender, thus breaking the
rhyme.
And many common nouns in 1st & 2nd declensions, such as names of
trees (most are feminine 2nd declensions: fagus bona), break the rhyme
too.
It's my impression that having adjectives and nouns rhyme is an
exception rather than a rule.
But then, I just know Classical Latin, which according to many people
on this list has never been spoken by any human being in the history
of the world, so what do I know.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
edheil@postmark.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Bill Gates is a white Persian cat and a monocle away from becoming
another James Bond villain. 'No Mr Bond, I expect you to upgrade.'"
--Dennis Miller
---------------------------------------------------------------------