1. The following table depicts the general system, common to the First and Second Declension.
|
Animate |
Inanimate |
NOM. |
-es |
-a, -a |
ACC. |
-ms |
|
VOC. |
-es |
|
GEN. |
-om, -em |
|
OBL. |
-bhis, -bhos; -mis, -mos; -si |
|
The obliques can also be specialized in |
||
Dat.-Abl. |
-bhios / -mos, bhos |
|
Loc. |
-si, -su, -se |
|
Ins. |
-bhis / -mis |
NOTE. The inanimate plural forms, -a and -a, correspond possibly to an older theme vowel of an earlier stage of the language, *-h and *-eh after the Laryngeals' Theory.
2. Unlike in the Singular, in which only some Nominatives have an -s, in Nom.-Voc. Plural the -s is general, and there is always one fix-grade vowel, e. So, the opposition Singular-Plural in -s/-es is actually a Ø/e distinction. This opposition has also sometimes another mark, that of the vowel before the ending (see § 4.7).
3. The Nom.-Voc. Plural Animate is normally in -es; as in cowes
There are forms in -eies for -i themes, as in oweies; in -eues for -u themes, as in suneues; in ijes, -uwes for -i, -u; as in bhruwes;
4. The Accusative Plural Animate is in -ms: owims, sunums, coms/coums
NOTE. Many scholars reconstruct for IE III the accusative plural ending -ns, because most of the attested proto-languages show either -ns (as some endings in Sanskrit or Germanic) or long vowel, sometimes with -s. Most of them also admit an original, older -ms form (a logical accusative singular -m plus the plural mark -s), but they prefer to reconstruct the attested -ns, thus (implicitly) suggesting an intermediate phase (IE II -ms> IE III *-ns> proto-languages -ns/-_s), common to all proto-languages. We don't know if this intermediate phase happened, and if it was common to all languages, or even if it was common to those languages which present in some declensions -ns, and in other declensions another endings. What we do know is that the form -ms is older than any other, and that it existed already in the IE II dialects, as the Anatolian dialects show.
5. Nom.-Voc. Acc. Plural Inanimate in -a
6. Genitive Plural Animate in -om/-om and -em: owi-om, noqti-om, sunuw-em/sunuw-om, cow-om
NOTE. The -m of the Acc. sg. An., Nom.-Acc.-Voc. sg. Inan. and this case could sometimes be equivocal. It is disambiguated with the vocalic grade, full or lengthened, which the Genitive takes - as the singular is always Ø.
7. The Obliques are generally divided into two groups, that of the i.-i., gr., arm., lat., and cel. in -bh-; and another of the ger. and bsl. in -m-. There are, thus, -bhis, -bhos, -bhios, -bhi, and -mis, -mos: sunubhis / sunubhos / sunubhios / sunumis / sunumos.
NOTE. The forms are so divided into the different dialectal systems, that it is impossible to reconstruct a general system in which each of the Oblique cases have a particular ending.
There is also another ending possible, that in -s-i, -s-u, s-e, generally Locative (in i.-i. and bsl.), but also possibly general Dat.-Loc.-Ins. (as in Greek): sunusi / sunusu / sunuse
In the Oblique Plural specialized system, which is a common feature of Proto-Baltoslavic and Proto-Indo-Iranian (and, to some extent, of the Proto-Greek and Proto-Armenian) dialects, the Instrumental was probably formed adding the plural mark -s to the Instrumental Singular of the Second Declension, -bhi, -mi. The Dat.-Abl. was then opposed in vowel stem to the Instrumental: -bhos or -mos against -bhis or -mis. The Locative is constructed with an -s marking the plural, and an -i which is the locative mark.
NOTE. Its origin is probably the plural mark -s-, to which the local case ending -i is added. This is a general oblique ending in the thematic declension.
|
f. owi |
m. sunu |
f. bhru |
m. cou |
NOM. |
oweies |
suneues |
bhruwes |
cowes |
ACC. |
owims |
sunums |
bhrums |
coums |
VOC. |
oweies |
suneues |
bhruwes |
cowes |
GEN. |
owiom |
sunuwem |
bhruwom |
cowom |
OBL. |
owebhos |
sunubhis |
bhrumis |
coumos |