Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/170

 b. As in the case of stems ending in short vowels (,, , , etc.), a nasal sometimes appears in the special neuter plural cases which is found nowhere else in inflection. Thus, from the stems in, , , the nom.-acc.-voc. pl. in -, -, - are very common at every period. According to the grammarians, the radical stems etc. (division A) are treated in the same way; but examples of such neuters are of extreme rarity in the language; no Vedic text offers one, and in the Brāhmaṇas and Sūtras have been noted only - (AB. vii. 2. 3), - (PB. xvi. 2. 7 et al.), - (KB. xxvii. 7), - (ÇB. viii. 1. 3¹), and - (LÇS. ii. 1. 8); while in the later language is found here and there a case, like - (Ragh.), - (Çiç.); it may be questioned whether they are not later analogical formations.

380. The endings are throughout those given above (310) as the "normal".

a. By the general law as to finals (150), the of the nom. sing. masc. and fem. is always lost; and irregularities of treatment of the final of the stem in this case are not infrequent.

b. The gen. and abl. sing. are never distinguished in form from one another — nor are, by ending, the nom. and accus. pl.: but these sometimes differ in stem-form, or in accent, or in both.

381. Change in the place of the accent is limited to monosyllabic stems and the participles in (accented on the final). For details, see below, under divisions A and E.

a. But a few of the compounds of the root or  show an irregular shift of accent in the oldest language: see below, 410.

382. a. For convenience and clearness of presentation, it will be well to separate from the general mass of consonantal stems certain special classes which show kindred peculiarities of inflection, and may be best described together.

Thus:

B. Derivative stems in, , ;

C. Derivative stems in ;

D. Derivative stems in ;

E. Derivative stems in ;

F. Perfect active participles in ;

G. Comparatives in or.

b. There remain, then, to constitute division A, especially radical stems, or those identical in form with roots,