Abstract
In the beginning of the 1950s, using the thematic vowel as a criterion for dividing verbs into conjugation classes became the topic of a major linguistic discussion, since the historical understanding of the vowel was no longer applicable for the compilation of practical handbooks. Proposals presented in the discussion aimed to discover a functionalistic replacement for the concept of the thematic vowel. Despite this radical attitude, partakers of the discussion were not able to avoid the mixing of contemporary and historical perspectives. The discussion on the nature of this segment found itself in a cul‐de‐sac. What is the segment’s function? Does the vowel represent a part of the stem or a part of the suffix? Or is it autonomous? These dilemmas were solved in 1964 when Ján Horecký proposed new principles for morphematic division in Slovak, which upgraded the then‐existing building of – not only – morphematic models to new qualitative levels.