Cover not available
Part of
Language Contact, Continuity and Change in the Genesis of Modern Hebrew
Edited by Edit Doron, Malka Rappaport Hovav, Yael Reshef and Moshe Taube
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 256] 2019
► pp. 221–256

The biblical sources of Modern Hebrew syntax

| The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The paper assesses the influence on Modern Hebrew of the two previous spoken stages of Hebrew: Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew in its early, Mishnaic, phase. Contra the received view in the current literature, I argue that Modern Hebrew has in many respects readopted the syntax of Biblical Hebrew, the earlier of the two ancient stages, rather than being a development of the subsequent Rabbinic stage. The paper discusses particular constructions whose Biblical syntax had historically been replaced by Rabbinic syntax, yet were reinstated in Modern Hebrew. These include clausal constructions such as conditional and unconditional clauses, clausal complements of aspectual and modal auxiliaries, and gerundive clauses. The Rabbinic component in the syntax of Modern Hebrew seems to be limited to values and exponents drawn from Rabbinic Hebrew for the functional categories originating in Biblical Hebrew or in languages with which Hebrew was in contact during its history.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The two previous spoken stages of Hebrew
  • 3.The syntax of the modern Hebrew clause
    • 3.1Clausal subordination
    • 3.2Clausal word order
    • 3.3The syntax of conditional clauses
    • 3.4The syntax of unconditional clauses
    • 3.5Clausal complements of aspectual and modal auxiliaries
    • 3.6The gerund clause
      • 3.6.1The infinitive and the gerund in MH
      • 3.6.2The gerund in BH
      • 3.6.3The infinitive in RH
      • 3.6.4Back to the MH gerund
  • 4.The contribution of the syntax of RH
  • 5.Conclusion
  • 6.Appendix – the BH syntax of sub-clausal MH constructions
    • 6.1The progressive
    • 6.2Habituality
    • 6.3Negation
    • 6.4Null subjects
    • 6.5The pronominal copula in predicate-nominal clauses
    • 6.6The pronominal copula in verbal clauses
    • 6.7Pronominal doubling of verbal inflection
    • 6.8Clitic doubling of verbal arguments
    • 6.9Interrogative determiners
    • 6.10Accusative case assignment by deverbal nouns
    • 6.11The demonstrative pronoun as marker of the perfect time span
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 September 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.256.09dor
References
Almagor-Ramon, Ruth & Dubnov, Keren
2009 On the negation of the participle. Akadem: The Newsletter of the Academy of the Hebrew Language 39: 6–7. (in Hebrew) < [URL] > Google Scholar
Avineri, Yitzhak
1931 The effect of Aramaic on Hebrew. Lešonenu 3: 273–290. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
1976 Hekhal Hamishkalim. Tel Aviv: Izre’el. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Avirbach, Barak
2013 Infinitive: Rabbinic Hebrew. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Vol 2, Geoffrey Khan (ed.). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Azar, Moshe
1995 The Syntax of Mishnaic Hebrew. Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Bar-Asher, Moshe
2015 Morphology of Mishnaic Hebrew. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute & the Academy of the Hebrew Language. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Bar-Asher Siegal, Elitzur A.
2012 Diachronic syntactic studies in Hebrew pronominal reciprocal constructions. In Diachrony in Biblical Hebrew, Cynthia Miller & Ziony Zevit (eds), 209–244. Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar
2013 Introduction to the Grammar of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Google Scholar
Bar-Ziv Levy, Miri & Agranovsky, Vera
2016 The evolution of the structure of free relative clauses in Modern Hebrew: Internal development and contact language influence. In Doron (ed.).
Bauer, Brigitte L. M.
1993 The coalescence of the participle and the gerund/gerundive: An integrated change. In Historical Linguistics 1989 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 106] Henk Aertsen & Robert J. Jeffers (eds), 59–72. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bendavid, Abba
1967 Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew. Tel Aviv: Dvir. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Ben-Hayyim, Ze’ev
1953 Lashon atiqa bi-meci’ut hadasha. Leshonenu La’am 4: 3–5 and 8–9. reprinted 1992. The Struggle for a Language. Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Berman, Ruth A.
1978 Modern Hebrew Structure. Tel Aviv: University Publishing Projects.Google Scholar
Blau, Yehoshua
1990 Hebrew and Arabic. Leshonenu La’am 40(5): 311–335. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Bolozky, Shmuel
1979 On the new imperative in colloquial Hebrew. Hebrew Annual Review 3: 17–24.Google Scholar
Bickerton, Derek
1981 Roots of Language. Ann Arbor: Karoma.Google Scholar
Bivin, William E.
2017 The Particle ʔim and Conditionality in Biblical Hebrew Revisited: A Cognitive Linguistic Account. PhD dissertation, University of Stellenbosch.
Doron, Edit
(ed.) 2016 Language Contact and the Development of Modern Hebrew. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
to appear The Biblical Hebrew infinitive. Brill’s Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics.Google Scholar
Dubnov, Keren
2005 Structural Loan Translations in Early Modern Hebrew. PhD dissertation, Hebrew University. (in Hebrew)
Dubnov, Keren & Mor, Uri
2012 biglal še hi barat-tokef: šney pratim ba-ivrit ha-qduma u-ba-ivrit ha-nexševet bilti tiqnit. Ha’ivrit 60: 99–121. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Eldar, Ilan
2018 The History of the Hebrew Language from a Liguistic & Sociolinguistic Perspective. Jerusalem: Carmel. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Engelhardt, Miriam
2000 The projection of argument-taking nominals. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 18: 41–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fassberg, Steven
2007.The overlap in use between the infinitive construct and the infinitive absolute in Biblical Hebrew. In Shai Le-Sara Japhet: Studies in the Bible, Its Exegesis and Its Language, Moshe Bar-Asher et al. (eds), 187–192. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Gadish, Ronit
2009 Ivrit šel kulam: Al recef ve-xiduš be morfologia u-ve-mašma’ut. ms. < [URL] > (in Hebrew)
Gesenius, Wilhelm
1910 Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, as Edited and Enlarged by E. Kautzsch. Translated by A. E. Cowley. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Goldenberg, Gideon
1971 Tautological infinitive. IOS 1: 36–85. Reprinted in Studies in Semitic Linguistics: Selected Papers by Gideon Goldenberg, 66–115. Jerusalem: Magnes 1998.Google Scholar
1996 Hebrew as a living Semitic language. In Evolution and Renewal: Trends in the Development of the Hebrew Language, 148–190. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin
1989 From purposive to infinitive – A universal path of grammaticalization. Folia Linguistica Historica 10(1–2): 287–310.Google Scholar
Hatav, Galia
2017 The infinitive absolute and topicalization of events in Biblical Hebrew. In Advances in Biblical Hebrew Linguistics: Data, Methods, and Analyses, Adina Moshavi & Tania Notarius (eds), 207–229. Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar
Hazout, Ilan
1992 The verbal gerund in Modern Hebrew. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 10: 523–553. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ilani, Nogah, Goldberg, Dina & Sigal, Shlomo
2006 ha-diyun be-seder ha-milim. Scripta 10: 75–90.Google Scholar
Jones, Charles
1985 Syntax and Thematics of Infinitival Adjuncts. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Joosten, Jan
2004 Do the finite verbal forms in Biblical Hebrew express aspect ? Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 29: 49–70.Google Scholar
Joüon, Paul
1923 Grammaire de l’Hébreu Biblique. Rome: Institut Biblique Pontifical.Google Scholar
Khan, Geoffrey
2012 A short introduction to the Tiberian Masoretic Bible and its Reading Tradition. Piscataway NJ: Gorgias Press.Google Scholar
2013 Pre-tonal lengthening: Biblical Hebrew. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Vol 4, Geoffrey Khan (ed.), 224–229. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Kuzar, Ron
1991 Nominalized clauses in Israeli Hebrew. Balshanut Ivrit 36: 72–89. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Kutscher, Edward Y.
1982 A History of the Hebrew Language. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.Google Scholar
Labov, William
1963 Social motivations of a sound change. Word 19: 273–309. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lefebvre, Claire
1998 Creole Genesis and the Acquisition of Grammar: The Case of Haitian Creole. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Matras, Yaron
2000 Mixed languages: A functional communicative approach. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3(2): 79–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, Cynthia L.
1996 The Representation of Speech in Biblical Hebrew Narrative: A Linguistic Analysis. Atlanta: Scholars Press.Google Scholar
Morrison, Craig E.
2013 Infinitive: Biblical Hebrew. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Vol 2, Geoffrey Khan (ed.). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Nissenbaum, Jon
2005 States, events and VP structure: Evidence from purposive adjuncts. Handout at NELS 36, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, October 28–30.
Potts, Christopher
2007 The dimensions of quotation. In Direct Compositionality, Chris Barker & Pauline Jacobson (eds), 405–431. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Rabin, Chaim
1973 A Short History of the Hebrew Language. Jerusalem: Alpha Press.Google Scholar
1985 Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew within present day Hebrew. Leshonenu xx: 1–13. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Reshef, Yael
2003 The historical composition of the lexicon as a stylistic factor in a text-oriented culture: A case-study from Modern Hebrew. Language and Literature 12(1): 57–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Revival of Hebrew: Grammatical structure and lexicon. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Vol. 3, Geoffrey Khan (ed.), 397–405. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
2015 Hebrew in the Mandate Period. Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Roberts, Ian & Roussou, Anna
2003 Syntactic Change: A Minimalist Approach to Grammaticalization. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rosén, Haiim B.
1956 Ha-Ivrit Shelanu. Tel-Aviv: Am Oved. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
1962 A Textbook of Israeli Hebrew. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.
Rubinstein, Aynat & Doron, Edit
2015 Varieties of alternative unconditionals. In Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics, 2014 [MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 78], Nurit Melnik (ed.), 101–114. Cambridge MA: MITWPL.Google Scholar
Schwarzwald (Rodrigue), Ora
1989 Modern Hebrew Absolute Infinitive. Leshonenu 53: 107–112. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
2001 Modern Hebrew. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
2010 Biblical and Modern Hebrew: A comparison. Ha’Ivrit 58(4): 203–220. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Segal, Moshe T.
1936 The Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew. Tel Aviv: Dvir. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Siloni, Tal
1997 Noun Phrases and Nominalizations: The Syntax of DPs. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharvit, Shimon
2008 Studies in Mishnaic Hebrew. Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute. (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Verstraete, Jean-Christophe
2008 The status of purpose, reason, and intended endpoint in the typology of complex sentences: Implications for layered models of clause structure. Linguistics 46(4): 757–788. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wexler, Paul
1990 The Schizoid Nature of Modern Hebrew: A Slavic Language in Search of a Semitic Past. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar