Russian Sounds and Inflections

9. Third-Declension Nouns

9 THIRD-DECLENSION NOUNS The third declension consists of nouns of the feminine кс type (including also the single masculine third-declension noun ), and of the neuter м м type. These declensions are similar mainly in the singular. Nouns of the кс type take softening endings in both singular and plural; nouns of the м м type take softening endings in the sg. but regular neuter second-declension endings in the pl. The noun  takes the same endings as кс except for Isg. -м. 9.1. ENDINGS OF THE THIRD DECLENSION Morphophonemic Singular Plural: fem. neut. NA -′ ′ ′ ′ (neut. -#) NA -′ ′ ′ ′i - GDP -′ ′ ′ ′i (P2 -′ ′ ′ ′í) G -′ ′ ′ ′ej -Ø I -′ ′ ′ ′ju (m. n. -′ ′ ′ ′om) D -′ ′ ′ ′am -am I -′ ′ ′ ′am′ ′ ′ ′i (-′ ′ ′ ′m′ ′ ′ ′i) -am′ ′ ′ ′i P -′ ′ ′ ′ax -′ ′ ′ ′ax Technical Orthographic Singular Plural: fem. neut. NA -ь§§ (neut. -#) NA - - GDP - (P2 - ) G -  -ъ§§ I -ь§§ ю (m. n. -м) D - м -м I - м (-м ) -м P -  - 9.2. NOTES ON THE FEMININE THIRD DECLENSION 9.2.1. ENDINGS The endings of the fem. third declension are all softening. As such, they are different from the declensional endings of the 1st and 2nd declensions, su- 190 9. THIRD-DECLENSION NOUNS perficial appearances to the contrary. On the endings - м - м -  see Chapter 3, Section 3.4.6. 9.2.2. мать, дочь Two feminine third-declension nouns take NAsg. -# (null), before which the stem formant - - (from --, see the adj. м) is replaced by -ь§§ (in the NAsg.): д GDPsg. д  and м GDPsg. м  . 9.2.3. ISG. -ью The fem. Isg. ending -ь§§ ю {-′ju} can never be stressed. Even in end-stressed глш BB, Gsg. глуш , the Isg. form is глшю. 9.2.4. MOBILE VOWELS The NAsg. fem. ending -ь§§ {-′} and the Isg. ending -ь§§ ю {-′ju} can elicit a mobile vowel in the root, always о, as in ш GDPsg. ш Isg. шю, л GDPsg. л Isg. лю, люб GDPsg. люб Isg. любю,  GDPsg.  Isg. ю, цко GDPsg. цк Isg. цкою. Etymologically expected mobile in words such as д or с does not occur, having been generalized to all forms of the word. 9.2.5. P2 IN -и´ A few feminine third-declension nouns have an optional stressed P2 (Locative ) ending - {-′í}, as к Psg. к or P2 ко . This ending is used in concrete locational senses. Among nouns taking the optional P2 - are б, глб, гс, гд, г!", дл, д, кл, кс, к, мл, , с, , $л, с!", с, с,  ,  ш, ц, с, %л. Most such nouns are either singular-only or have AC stress; however , some, like с!", have AA stress. 9.2.6. GPL. IN -ей The fem. Gpl. ending -  begins with transitional , not Ο, as can be seen from the mutation of underlying velar-stems before this ending: к-:  , ъ§§ -: ш, and others. 9.2.7. DIPPL. -ям -ями -ях The fem. 3rd-declension endings - м - м -  {-′am -′am′i -′ax} are spelled -м -м - after hushing consonant stems, as in , DILpl. ом ом о. For further discussion of these endings, see Chapter 3.4.14. 9.2.8. IPL. -ьми´ 191 9.2.8. IPL. -ьми´ The Ipl. ending -м {-′m′i} occurs rarely and, usually, optionally with a few feminine third-declension nouns (e.g., д Ipl. д !м or д м , д Ipl. до м or до !м , кс Ipl. кос!м (but see the expression л косм ), лшд Ipl. лошдм or лошд!м . 9.2.9. BORROWED 3RD DECLENSION NOUNS While most nouns of the feminine third-declension are of proto-Slavic provenience , a good number of borrowed words in stressed vowel plus -л have been adapted to this declensional type, as for example ул, д л, мг сл, м дл, модл, мол,  дл. 9.2.10. HUSHING-CONSONANT STEMS Hushing-consonant stems of the feminine third declension have deeper stems in velar consonants or in velar+ clusters, which have undergone mutation before softening endings. This fact is mainly of interest for illustrating Indo-European correspondences: о ← ок-, cf. Latin nox noctis, German Nacht, English night; м ← мог-, cf. Latin magis, German Macht, English might. Within Russian, compare сш ‘drought’ to су ‘dry’, глш ‘out-of-the-way place’ to глу ‘silent, deaf’; л ‘lie, fib’ to лг лг лш ‘lie’;  ‘stove’ to  к ‘I bake’; and others. 9.2.11. STRESS PATTERNS Common stress patterns for the feminine third declension include AA (с!") and AC ( ). AB and BA do not occur. Except for asyllabic stems like ш ш , BB seemingly does not occur except for люб and maybe глш (both usually without a plural). The nouns гд, , с, ц show sg. end-stress instead of stem-stress after certain genitive and dative-requiring prepositions: о гуд , о ц  , etc. The patterns CA, CB, and CC are excluded in principle, unless one would want to identify by C the retraction of stress off the Isg. ending -ь§§ ю, as in люб GDPsg. люб Isg. любю. Here this pattern is considered to be B. 9.3. NOTES ON THE NEUTER (AND MASCULINE) THIRD DECLENSION 9.3.1. INVENTORY There are only ten nouns of the neuter third declension: б'я, врмя, в$мя, знмя, мя, л' , л' , см , стрмя, тмя, not counting the 192 9. THIRD-DECLENSION NOUNS anomalous noun д !. Before the NAsg. ending -# (null), neuter nouns of the third declension, which have stems in the extension - - {-′on-}, replace - - with {′a}: м ← м +#. Neuter third-declension nouns follow the neuter second-declension in the...