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. 375–418
Nominalizations
Ruth A. Berman | Tel Aviv University
The chapter details structural and usage-based properties of three types of
verb shifts to nouns in MH: Action Nominals. Gerunds, and Infinitives. It starts by
specifying morphological and syntactic criteria for these three constructions as
nominalizations: They are fully productive grammatical systems; directly
associated with verb binyan patterns; and alternate syntactically with
their verbal source-forms, so often paraphrasable by tensed subordinate clauses. These
criteria mean that several other classes of verb-related nouns are excluded from discussion,
including: adjective-based stative nominals, nouns derived by syntactic conversion from
benoni ‘intermediate’ participial cum present–tense
verbs, and other classes of verb-derived nouns denoting Disease, Collective, Location, etc.
The chapter characterizes (i) abstract Action Nominals, i.e., šmot^ peula
‘names:cs action’ = nouns/names of an action, activity, act’ (e.g., from the
b1verb haras ‘destroy’, harisa ‘destruction,
destroying’ ~ héres ‘destruction’) and two constructions both termed
šem^ póal ‘name:cs verb = the noun/name of a verb’ in the form of
(ii) Gerunds (e.g., be-hors-o ‘in-destroying-his = on his destroying
[something]’) and (iii) Infinitives (e.g., la-haros ‘to-destroy’). The relatively recent Action Nominals are highly
productive, although largely confined to more formal registers of usage, classical Gerunds
are restricted to syntactically bound constructions and are relatively rare in current
usage, while Infinitives are pervasive at all levels of usage, displaying a broad range of
functions in the absence of other, less widely occurrent, non-finite verbs. The chapter
concludes by comparing the three constructions analyzed in relation to more general features
of MH structure and use.
Published online: 18 March 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.12ber
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.12ber
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