Feminines of adjectives

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Richard W
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Feminines of adjectives

Post by Richard W »

What rules are there for very reliably deducing the feminine of adjectives that are a-stems? I know the percentage guess is that the feminine is in -ā. The only rule I know is that participles in -a have feminines in -ā, and that participles with are consonant stems in the masculine suffix -ī in the feminine. (I treat masculine present participles as having a single stem rather than being a mix of two stems.)
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Dhammanando
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Re: Feminines of adjectives

Post by Dhammanando »

Richard W wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 2:15 pm What rules are there for very reliably deducing the feminine of adjectives that are a-stems?
See the list of possible forms in chapter 6 of Duroiselle.

http://www.pratyeka.org/duroiselle/
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
Richard W
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Re: Feminines of adjectives

Post by Richard W »

Dhammanando wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 2:14 am See the list of possible forms in chapter 6 of Duroiselle.
Why? The only relevant information there that I can see is Paragraph 194: "Of Adjectives the stem of which ends in a, some form their Feminine in ā, some in ī." In chapter 7, there is the more helpful Paragraph 197: "Adjectives in a form their Feminine by means of ā mostly; some by means of ī." That's not a reliable rule for knowing how to form the feminine of a particular adjective.
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Dhammanando
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Re: Feminines of adjectives

Post by Dhammanando »

Richard W wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 4:14 am
Dhammanando wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 2:14 am See the list of possible forms in chapter 6 of Duroiselle.
Why? The only relevant information there that I can see is Paragraph 194: "Of Adjectives the stem of which ends in a, some form their Feminine in ā, some in ī." In chapter 7, there is the more helpful Paragraph 197: "Adjectives in a form their Feminine by means of ā mostly; some by means of ī." That's not a reliable rule for knowing how to form the feminine of a particular adjective.
There aren't any reliable rules for determining whether the feminine form of any given masculine noun will end in ā, ikā, akā, ī, ikinī, nī or inī, or whether one has a choice of endings (e.g., khattiyā or khattiyāni for khattiya). All that any grammar can provide is a survey of the various attested patterns, which is what chapter 6 does.
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
Richard W
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Joined: Thu May 20, 2021 12:17 am

Re: Feminines of adjectives

Post by Richard W »

I wasn't asking about the feminines of nouns; I was asking about the feminines of adjectives.
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Dhammanando
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Re: Feminines of adjectives

Post by Dhammanando »

Richard W wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 9:21 am I wasn't asking about the feminines of nouns; I was asking about the feminines of adjectives.
The same goes for adjectives.
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
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