Edited by Enoch O. Aboh, Norval Smith and Anne Zribi-Hertz
[Creole Language Library 43] 2012
► pp. 175–202
This paper proposes structural analyses for several nominal reiteration constructions (NN) in Modern Hebrew which function as adverbials. The properties and distribution of these patterns indicate an interaction of nominal distinctions (number and mass/count denotation) with Aktionsart, suggesting that reiteration is derived through the insertion of the same lexical element twice into a regular syntactic structure, rather than involving specialized morphological derivation. Although all three constructions share a pluralizing semantic effect, it is argued that the notion of iconicity does not capture the intricacy of their interpretive properties. The proposed analysis ties these Hebrew constructions to related phenomena attested cross-linguistically, both reiterative and non-reiterative.