Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/136

 enough to mention here is only the -strengthening of a final or, which in the later language is always made before  of nom. pl. and of dat. sing. in masc. and fem.; in the Veda, it does not always take place; nor is it forbidden in dat. sing. neut. also; and it is seen sometimes in loc. sing. Final has -strengthening in loc. sing.

313. Insertions between Stem and Ending. After vowel-stems, an added often makes its appearance before an ending. The appendage is of least questionable origin in nom.-acc. pl. neut., where the interchange in the old language of the forms of - and -stems with those of - and -stems is pretty complete; and the -stems follow their analogy. Elsewhere, it is most widely and firmly established in the gen. pl., where in the great mass of cases, and from the earliest period, the ending is virtually after a vowel. In the - and -stems of the later language, the instr. sing. of masc. and neut. is separated by its presence from the fem., and it is in the other weakest cases made a usual distinction of neuter forms from masculine; but the aspect of the matter in the Veda is very different: there the appearance of the is everywhere sporadic; the neuter shows no special inclination to take it, and it is not excluded even from the feminine. In the ending from -stems (later invariable, earlier predominating) its presence appears to have worked the most considerable transformation of original shape.

a. The place of before gen. pl. is taken by in pronominal - and -stems.

b. The after  before the endings, , and  is most probably an insertion, such as is made elsewhere (258).

314. a. As a rule without exception, the vocative, if accented at all, is accented on the first syllable.

b. And in the Veda (the case is a rare one), whenever a syllable written as one is to be pronounced as two by restoration of a semivowel to vowel form, the first element only has the vocative accent, and the syllable as written is circumflex (83–4): thus, (i.e. ) when dissyllabic, but  when monosyllabic;  when for.

c. But the vocative is accented only when it stands at the beginning of a sentence — or, in verse, at the beginning also of a metrical division or ; elsewhere it is accentless or enclitic: thus, (RV.) ''O Agni! whatever offering thou protectest; but (RV.) unto thee, Agni, we come''.

d. A word, or more than one word, qualifying a vocative — usually an adjective or appositive noun, but sometimes a dependent noun in the genitive (very rarely in any other case) — constitutes, so far as accent is