Chapter published in:
Usage-Based Studies in Modern Hebrew: Background, Morpho-lexicon, and SyntaxEdited by Ruth A. Berman
[Studies in Language Companion Series 210] 2020
► pp. 265–330
Chapter 9Parts of speech categories in the lexicon of Modern Hebrew
Shmuel Bolozky | University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Ruth A. Berman | Tel Aviv University
Parts of speech in Modern Hebrew are analyzed in relation to three categories:
Open Class items (Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives), Closed Class paradigmatically organized
grammatical items (e.g., Pronouns, Case-Markers, Conjunctions), and Intermediate elements
lying between the two (e.g., Prepositions, Adverbs, Floating Operators). The chapter
considers what is meant by “a word” in Hebrew, taking into account the contrast between
older and more current items as well as between conventional dictionaries and the mental
lexicon, and the critical role of morphology in the Hebrew lexicon. The verb lexicon is
characterized by types of consonantal roots (full versus defective) and the
binyan conjugation patterns or prosodic templates. Nouns and adjectives
are described as morphologically less restricted than verbs, including loan words that are
partially integrated into the Hebrew phonological system, generally not constructed by the
nominal morphological patterns (miškalim ‘weights’). So-called “function
words”, traditionally grouped together under the label particles and
analyzed here as members of either closed or intermediate classes of items, are also
typically morphologically non-derived. The chapter concludes by summarizing current trends
in lexical innovation in relation to productivity in the MH lexicon.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1What’s “a word” in Hebrew?
- 1.2Old versus new words
- 1.3Conventional dictionaries and the mental lexicon
- 1.4Role of morphology in the Hebrew lexicon
- 1.5Sources of data
- 1.6Quantitative breakdowns of parts-of-speech
- 2.Types of lexical categories
- 2.1Open class content words
- 2.1.1Verbs
- The role of binyan patterns in the MH verb system
- Distribution of binyan patterns in MH
- Full versus defective verbs
- Distribution of old versus new denominative verbs
- 2.1.2Nouns
- 2.1.3Adjectives
- 2.2Closed class grammatical functors
- 2.2.1Pronouns
- 2.2.2Determiners
- 2.2.3Demonstratives
- 2.2.4Quantifiers
- 2.2.5Case markers
- 2.2.6Conjunctions
- 2.3Intermediate elements
- 2.3.1Prepositions
- 2.3.2Adverbs
- 2.3.3Discourse markers
- 2.1Open class content words
- 3.Productivity and innovation in the MH lexicon
-
Notes -
References
Published online: 18 March 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.10bol
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.10bol
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