stem vowel
- noun
- /stɛm ˈvaʊəl/
- Specialized
:
vocal de raíz
- In many inflected languages, the stem vowel plays a crucial role in spelling and pronunciation.
Examples
-
But this apparent irregularity, in fact, reinforces the link to domare since the stem-vowel of Sp. domar similarly failed to diphthongize under stress.
Academic text (2000) -
One might therefore be tempted to attribute the retention of the stem vowel of vea to that of veo.
Academic text (2001) -
Given the short stem-vowel of domare, one expects rhizotonic forms of tomar to feature a diphthong in Spanish.
Academic text (2000) -
An example of a stem vowel is the 'a' in the word 'cats', which precedes the plural suffix.
-
In the verb 'to run', the stem vowel changes when conjugating to 'ran'.
Synonyms
A vowel after the main part of a word and before endings showing tense or number
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward composition of 'stem' (the morphological base) and 'vowel' (a speech sound), so the meaning — the vowel belonging to or occurring in the stem — is directly derivable from the parts. The specific morphological nuance (occurring at the end of the stem before an inflection) follows standard morphological terminology and is cross-linguistically common, making it accessible to a learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Stem vowel is a simple name: the stem is the main part of a word and the vowel is the small sound that sits at the end of that stem just before a word ending. Think of that vowel as a little 'bridge' or 'glue' that helps join the stem to endings, so the term means the vowel that comes at the end of a stem before an ending.
