CHAPTER V THE DECLENSION OF NOUNS §i. Accent and Apophony The IE declensional system was characterised by a shift of accent from the stem in the strong cases (norm acc. sg. and du., nom. pi.) to the termination in the weak cases, that is to say in the majority of the oblique cases. This shift of accent entailed apophonic changes affecting stem and suffix. The system was already in decay in the late IE period, and tending to be replaced by a system of fixed accent. In Vedic the shift of accent is best maintained in monosyllabic stems, but considerable traces of it are found in the case of other types of stem, both radically accented neuters (ydkrt, yaknds) and suffixally accented masc,- fem. types. The three grades of apophony associated with this accent shift are clearly seen in the declension of vrtrahdn- : nom. sg. vrtraha, acc. sg. vrtrahdnam, gen. sg. vrtraghnds . It is seen also in the suffixally accented r- and w-stems of the type pit A, pitdram , pitri, uksa * bull uksdnam, uksnds. Elsewhere it has been modified and simplified in various ways. The vrddhi of the nom. sg. tends to be extended to the acc. sg. and nom. pi., e.g. pat * foot 9 , padam , pddas, as opposed to Gk. 7ro&a, noSes- The accent shift may remain while the vowel gradation is abandoned, e.g. dik 4 direction gen, sg. diids for what must originally have been *ddks : dikSs . Conversely the accent may be stabilised but the vowel gradation retained, e.g. pasuman ' possessing cows pasumdntani, pasumdtas . The system of accent shift is best preserved in radical con- sonantal stems. In these the accent regularly appears on the termination outside the strong cases. On the other hand the accompanying vowel gradation is only partially preserved. The three grades appear in the declension of ksdm- ‘ earth ' : nom. du. ks&md with vrddhi, loc, sg. ksdmi with guna, gen. sg. ksmds , jmds, gmds with zero grade of root. Elsewhere the zero grade is rare in alternating stems : cf. vrtraghnds already mentioned, 220
