349. Monosyllabic stems. Before the endings beginning with vowels, final ī is changed to iy and ū to uv; while final ā is dropped altogether, except in the strong cases, and in the acc. pl., which is like the nominative (according to the grammarians, ā is lost here also: no instances of the occurrence of such a form appear to be quotable). Stems in ī and ū are in the later language allowed to take optionally the fuller endings āi, ās, ām in the singular (dat., abl.-gen., loc.); but no such forms are ever met with in the Veda (except bhiyāí [?], RV., once). Before ām of gen. pl., n may or may not be inserted; in the Veda it is regularly inserted, with a single exception (dhiyā́m, once). The vocative is like the nominative in the singular as well as the other numbers; but instances of its occurrence in uncompounded stems are not found in the Veda, and must be extremely rare everywhere. The earlier Vedic dual ending is ā instead of āu.
350. To the ī- and ū-stems the rules for monosyllabic accent apply: the accent is thrown forward upon the endings in all the weak cases except the accus. pl., which is like the nom. But the ā-stems appear (the instances are extremely few) to keep the accent upon the stem throughout.
351. Examples of declension. As models of monosyllabic inflection we may take जा jā́ f. progeny; धी dhī́ f. thought; and भू bhū́ f. earth.
a. The first of these is rather arbitrarily extended from the four cases which actually occur; of the loc. sing. and gen.-loc. du., no Vedic examples from ā-stems are found.
| Singular: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| N. | जास् jā́s |
धीस् dhī́s |
भूस् bhū́s |
| A. | जाम् jā́m |
धियम् dhíyam |
भुवम् bhúvam |
| I. | जा jā́ |
धिया dhiyā́ |
भुवा bhuvā́ |
| D. | जे jé |
धिये, धियै dhiyé, dhiyāí |
भुवे, भुवै bhuvé, bhuvāí |
| Ab. G. | जस् jás |
धियस्, धियास् dhiyás, dhiyā́s |
भुवस्, भुवास् bhuvás, bhuvā́s |
| L. | जि jí |
धियि, धियाम् dhiyí, dhiyā́m |
भुवि, भुवाम् bhuví, bhuvā́m |
| V. | जास् jā́s |
धीस् dhī́s |
भूस् bhū́s |
