Cover not available
Part of
Usage-Based Studies in Modern Hebrew: Background, Morpho-lexicon, and Syntax
Edited by Ruth A. Berman
[Studies in Language Companion Series 210] 2020
► pp. 507–538

Chapter 14
Genitive (smixut) constructions in Modern Hebrew

| Tel Aviv University

The chapter concerns the morpho-syntactic structure and usage-based properties of MH constructions involving two nominal constituents, an initial head and following modifier. Focus is on the three smixut ‘adjacency’ or ‘dependency’ constructions: (i) “construct-state” compounds in the form N^ N(P), where a caret indicates the relation between an initial bound head N and its free-form modifier; (ii) free, analytic N(P) šel (N)P constructions with the genitive marker šel ‘of’; and (iii) doubly marked N1pro2 šel N2 genitives. Usage-based analyses of alternations between these three options for expressing possession and other genitive relations reveal conflicting results, leading to the conclusion that text-type (genre, medium of expression, level of usage, and communicative setting) plays a major role in choice of construction. The chapter also considers two other binominal constructions – construct-state Adj^ Noun and Noun + Denominal Adjective phrases – and concludes by noting more general properties of Modern Hebrew reflected in current use of these constructions.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Constructions analyzed
    • 1.2Sources of data
  • 2.Binominal N^ N(P) smixut genitive constructions
    • 2.1Bound N^ N(P) constructions
      • 2.1.1Morphological marking of head noun
      • 2.1.2Syntactic constraints on N^ N constructions
        • 2.1.2.1Constituents of N^ N construct state: Head nominal and modifying constructions
          • 2.1.2.2Word-order constraints
          • 2.1.3Stylistic and processing constraints
          • 2.1.4Degree of lexicalization
          • 2.1.5Semantics of head nouns in bound N^ N constructions
          • 2.2Free analytical genitives
          • 2.3Double-marked complex genitives
          • 2.4Alternation between genitive constructions
  • 3.Other binominal constructions
    • 3.1Construct-state adjective + noun [ac]
    • 3.2Head noun + denominal adjective (daj)
  • 4.Concluding discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.15ber
References
Atlas, Yehuda
1981 wraq ani loʔ (And Only Me Not). Tel Aviv: Sheba.Google Scholar
Azar, Moshe
1976 hasmixut haprudah whasmixut hakfulah baʕitonut hayomit (Analytic and double compounds in daily newspapers). In Readings in Judaic Studies: Literature, Bible, and Linguistics, Efrat Carmon (ed.), 9–26. Haifa: Haifa University Press.Google Scholar
Beard, Robert
1976 Once more on the analysis of the ed-adjectives. Journal of Linguistics 12(1): 155–157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1993 Simultaneous dual derivational origin. Language 69(4): 716–741. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ben-Yehuda, Netiva
1981 1948 – beyn hasfirot: roman al hatħalat hamilħamah (1948 – Between the Calendars: A Novel on the Beginning of War). Jerusalem: Keter.Google Scholar
Berman, Ruth A.
1978 Modern Hebrew Structure. Tel Aviv: University Publishing Projects.Google Scholar
1985 The acquisition of Hebrew. In The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, Vol. I, Dan Isaac Slobin (ed.), 255–371. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
1987a A developmental route: Learning about the form and use of complex nominals. Linguistics 25(6): 1057–1086. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987b ʕal habaʕayatiyut bħeqer haʕivrit haħadašah uvhoraʔatah (Issues and problems in Modern Hebrew research). Praqim 7: 84–96.Google Scholar
1988a Language knowledge and language use: Binominal constructions in Modern Hebrew. General Linguistics 28(4): 261–285.Google Scholar
1988b On the ability to relate events in narratives. Discourse Processes 11(4): 469–497. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1988c Productivity in the lexicon: New-word formation in Modern Hebrew. Folia Linguistica 21(2–4): 425–461.Google Scholar
1994a Formal, lexical, and semantic factors in acquisition of Hebrew resultative participles. In Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Vol. I, Susan Gahl, Andy Dolbey & Chris Johnson (eds), 82–92. Berkeley CA: Berkeley Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
1999 Children’s innovative verbs vs. nouns: Structured elicitations and spontaneous coinages. In Methods for Studying Language Production, Lise Menn & Nan Bernstein Ratner (eds), 69–92. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
2004 Between emergence and mastery: The long developmental route of language acquisition. In Language Development across Childhood and Adolescence [Trends in Language Acquisition Research 3], Ruth A. Berman (ed.), 9–34. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 The psycholinguistics of developing text construction. Journal of Child Language 35(4): 735–771. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Children’s acquisition of compound constructions. In The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, Rochelle Lieber & Pavol Štekauer (eds), 298–322. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
2016a Linguistic literacy and later language development. In Written and Spoken Language Development across the Lifespan: Essays in Honor of Liliana, Tolchinsky, Joan Perera, Melina Aparici & Elisa Rosado & Naymé Salas (eds), 181–200. New York NY: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016b Typology, acquisition, and development: The view from Israeli Hebrew. In Acquisition and Development of Hebrew: Infancy to Adolescence [Trends in Language Acquisition Research 19], Ruth A. Berman (ed.), 1–38. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
& Neeman, Yonni 1994 Development of linguistic forms: Hebrew. In Relating Events in Narrative: A Crosslinguistic Developmental Study, Ruth A. Berman & Dan Isaac Slobin (eds), 285–328. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Berman, Ruth A. & Nir, Bracha
2011 safah dvurah wsafah ktuvah lʔorex hahtibagrut (Spoken and written language across the school years)]. In Literacy and Language: Interactions, Bilingualism and Difficulties. Festschrift in Honor of Iris Levin, Vol. I, Dorit Aram & Ofra Korat (eds), 211–229. Jerusalem: Magnes.Google Scholar
Berman, Ruth A. & Ravid, Dorit
1986 ʕal dargat hamilun šel cerufey smixut (Lexicalization of noun compounds). Hebrew Linguistics 24: 5–22.Google Scholar
Berman, Ruth A. & Sagi, Yisrael
1981 ʕal darxey tcurat-hamilim wħidušan bagil hacaʕir (Children’s word-formation and lexical innovations). Hebrew Computational Linguistics Bulletin 18: 31–62.Google Scholar
Berman, Ruth A. & Slobin, Dan Isaac
1994 Relating Events in Narrative: A Crosslinguistic Developmental Study. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Berman, Ruth A. & Verhoeven, Ludo
2002 Developing text production abilities in speech and writing: Aims and methodology. Written Languages and Literacy 5(1): 1–44. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bi-Lev, Roni
1985 hitpatxut hašimuš bmicmadim šemaniyim bqerev yladim dovrey ʕivrit (Development and Use of Noun Compounds in Hebrew). MA thesis, Tel Aviv University.Google Scholar
Blau, Joshua
2010 torat hahegeh whacurot šel lšon hamiqraʔ (The Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew). Jerusalem: Academy of the Hebrew Language.Google Scholar
Bliboim, Rivka & Shatil, Nimrod
2014 beyn cmidut lsmixut bilšon yameynu (Juxtaposition and construct states in contemporary Hebrew). Lešonenu 76(3): 345–370.Google Scholar
Bolozky, Shmuel
2016 ʔefšaruyot šel zihuy ʕemdot ʕicuriyot šeʔeynan mmumašot ʕal pney hašetaħ baʕivrit hadvurah (The quest for gutturals in colloquial Hebrew: Strategies for identifying missing slots). In Studies in Spoken Hebrew [Te’uda 27], Einat Gonen (ed.), 183–198. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press.Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit
1988 On the morphological parallelism between compounds and constructs. In Yearbook of Morphology, Vol. I, Geert Booij & Jaap van Marle (eds), 45–65. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
2009 Compounds: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic: Hebrew. In The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, Rochelle Lieber & Pavol Štekauer (eds), 491–511. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Cahana-Amitay, Dalia & Ravid, Dorit
2000 Optional bound morphology in the development of text production. In BUCLD 24: Proceedings of the 24th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Vol. I, Catherine S. Howell, Sarah A. Fish & Thea Keith-Lucas (eds), 176–184. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Carlier, Anne & Verstraete, Jean-Christophe
2013 Genitive case and genitive constructions: An introduction. In The Genitive [Case and Grammatical Relations Across Languages 5], Anne Carlier & Jean-Christophe Verstraete (eds), 1–16. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clark, Eve V. & Berman, Ruth A.
1984 Structure and use in acquisition of word-formation. Language 60(3): 542–590. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987 Types of linguistic knowledge: Interpreting and producing compound nouns. Journal of Child Language 14(3): 547–567. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Creissels, Denis
2009 Construct forms of nouns in African languages. In Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory, Vol. 2, Peter K. Austin, Oliver Bond, Monik Charette, David Nathan & Peter Sells (eds), 73–82. London: School of Oriental & Africa Studies.Google Scholar
Danon, Gabi
2008 Definiteness spreading in the Hebrew construct state. Lingua 118(7): 872–906. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017 The Hebrew genitive alternation: Empirical data and theoretical questions. Paper presented at the Tel Aviv University Linguistics Colloquium, 23 November.Google Scholar
de Jong, Nivja H., Feldman, Laurie B., Schreuder, Robert, Pastizzo, Matthew & Baayen, R. Harald.
2002 The processing and representation of Dutch and English compounds: Peripheral morphological and central orthographic effects. Brain and Language 81(1–3): 555–567. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Jong, Nivja H., Schreuder, Robert & Baayen, R. Harald
2000 The morphological family size effect and morphology. Language and Cognitive Processes 15(4–5): 329–365. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
del Prado Martín, Fermín M., Deutsch, Avital, Frost, Ram, Schreuder, Robert, de Jong, Nivja H. & Baayen, R. Harald
2005 Changing places: A cross-language perspective on frequency and family size in Dutch and Hebrew. Journal of Memory and Language 53(4): 496–512. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Doron, Edit
2016 Language Contact and the Development of Modern Hebrew. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Doron, Edit & Meir, Irit
2013 Construct state: Modern Hebrew. In The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Vol. I, Geoffrey Khan (ed.), 581–589. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Downing, Pamela
1977 On the creation and use of English compound nouns. Language 53(4): 810–842. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Glinert, Lewis
1989 The Grammar of Modern Hebrew. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Goldenberg, Gideon
1998 Studies in Semitic Linguistics: Selected Writings. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.Google Scholar
Halevy, Rivka
1992 tʔarim ħofšiyim utʔarim bilti ħofšiyim baʕivrit haħadašah (Free and restricted adjectives in Contemporary Hebrew). In Language Studies, Vol. 5–6, Moshe Bar-Asher (ed.), 521–536. Jerusalem: Magnes.Google Scholar
2000a tmurot bmaʕamadah uvtifqudah šel hasmixut haprudah bʕivrit šel yameynu (Functional changes of šel phrases in Contemporary Hebrew). Lešonenu 63(1–2): 61–80.Google Scholar
2000b tifqudan šel yħidot miloniyot murkavot lcad maqbiloteyhen hapšutot: hirhurim ʕal dmutah šel haʕivrit bat yameynu (Complementary distribution of single vs. expanded lexical units in Modern Israeli Hebrew: Contemplations on the character of Modern Hebrew). Lešonenu 63(3–4): 293–309.Google Scholar
2013 Syntax of Modern Hebrew. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Vol. III, Geoffrey Khan (ed.), 707–722. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Hazout, Ilan
2000 Adjectival genitive constructions in Modern Hebrew: A case study in coanalyses. Linguistic Review 17(1): 29–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hillel, Ayin
1976 mah qarah laqroqodil (What happened to the crocodile?). Tel Aviv: Am Oved.Google Scholar
Hinrichs, Lars & Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt
2007 Recent changes in the function and frequency of Standard English genitive constructions: A multivariate analysis of tagged corpora. English Language & Linguistics 11(3): 437–474. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lander, Yury
2008 Varieties of genitive. In The Oxford Handbook of Case, Andrej L. Malchukov & Andrew Spencer (eds), 581–592. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W.
1991 Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, Vol. II: Descriptive Application. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Lees, Robert B.
1960 The Grammar of English Nominalizations. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Research Center of Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics.Google Scholar
Lieber, Rochelle
2009 A lexical semantic approach to compounding. In The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, Rochelle Lieber & Pavol Štekauer (eds), 78–104. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Lieber, Rochelle & Štekauer, Pavol
2009 Introduction: Status and definition of compounding. In The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, Rochelle Lieber & Pavol Štekauer (eds), 3–18. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Lyons, Christopher
1986 The syntax of English genitive constructions. Journal of Linguistics 22(1): 122–143. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nichols, Johanna
1986 Head-marking and dependent-marking grammar. Language 62(1): 56–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nir, Bracha
2015 Frames for clause combining: Schematicity and formulaicity in discourse patterns. Constructions and Frames 7(2): 348–379.Google Scholar
Ornan, Uzzi
1965 šimušam šel kinuyey qinyan ħavurim ufrudim bilšon yameynu (Bound and free possessive pronouns in Contemporary Hebrew). In Proceedings of the Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Vol. 2, 117–122. Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies.Google Scholar
Ravid, Dorit
1990 Internal structure constraints on new-word formation devices in Modern Hebrew. Folia Linguistica 24(3–4): 289–348.Google Scholar
1995 Language Change in Child and Adult Hebrew: Psycholinguistic Perspectives. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
2004 Later lexical development in Hebrew: Derivational morphology revisited. In Language Development across Childhood and Adolescence [Trends in Language Acquisition Research 3], Ruth A. Berman (ed.), 53–82. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006 Word-level morphology: A psycholinguistic perspective on linear formation in Hebrew nominals. Morphology 16(1): 127–148. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ravid, Dorit & Assulin Tzabar, Noa
2017 Compounding in early child speech: Hebrew peer talk 2–8. In Nominal Compound Acquisition [Language Acquisition & Language Disorders 61], Wolfgang U. Dressler, F. Nihan Ketrez, & Marianne Kilani-Schoch (eds), 251–274. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ravid, Dorit, Bar-On, Amalia, Levie, Ronit & Douani, Odelia
2016 Hebrew adjective lexicons in developmental perspective. The Mental Lexicon 11(3): 401–428. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ravid, Dorit & Shlesinger, Yitzhak
1987 ʕal miyunam wʕal darxey gziratam šel šmot hatoʔar baʕaley sofit -y baʕivrit haħadašah (On the classification and structure of -i suffixed adjectives). Hebrew Linguistics 25: 59–70.Google Scholar
1995 Factors in the selection of compound-type in spoken and written Hebrew. Language Sciences 17(2): 147–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ravid, Dorit & Zilberbuch, Shoshana
2003a Morphosyntactic constructs in the development of spoken and written Hebrew text production. Journal of Child Language 30(2): 395–418.
https://doi.org/
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2003b The development of complex nominals in expert and non-expert writing: A comparative study. Pragmatics & Cognition 11(2): 267–296. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ritter, Elizabeth
1991 Two functional categories in noun phrases. Syntax and Semantics 25: 37–62.Google Scholar
Rosén, Haiim B.
1956 haʕivrit šelanu: dmutah lʔor šitot habalšanut (Our Hebrew: Viewed in the Light of Linguistic Methodology). Tel Aviv: Am Oved.Google Scholar
Rothstein, Susan
2014 Adjectivally headed construct states and the semantics of metonymic predication. Lingua 138: 23–54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schiff, Rachel., Ravid, Dorit & Levy-Shimon, Shany
2011 Children’s command of plural and possessive marking on Hebrew nouns: A comparison of obligatory vs. optional inflections. Journal of Child Language 38(2): 433–454. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwarzwald, Ora Rodrigue
2003 Transition in Modern Hebrew word formation: From discontinuous to linear formation. SKASE – Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 3(3): 1–11.Google Scholar
2016 mivħan tofaʕot morfologiyot bqorpus haʕivrit hamduberet (Selected morphological phenomena in the corpus of spoken Hebrew). In Studies in Spoken Hebrew [Te’uda 27], Einat Gonen (ed.), 251–274. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press.Google Scholar
Shlesinger, Yitzhak & Ravid, Dorit
1998 hasmixut hakfulah baʕivrit haħadašah: ʕodfut ʔo qiyum ʕacmaʔi? (The double compound in Modern Hebrew: Redundancy or an independent existence?). Hebrew Linguistics 43: 85–97.Google Scholar
Siloni, Tali
2001 Construct states at the PF interface. Linguistic Variation Yearbook 1(1): 229–266.Google Scholar
Silverman, David
2006 Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analyzing Talk, Text and Interaction (3rd ed.). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Speer, Susan
2002 ‘Natural’ and ‘contrived’ data: A sustainable distinction? Discourse Studies 4(4): 511–526.Google Scholar
Taube, Dana
1990 ʕal cerufey šem ʕecem + šem toʔar gzur-šem baʕal sofit -y bʕivrit bat yameynu (The Noun Phrase construction Noun + denominal -iy suffixed adjective in Contemporary Hebrew). In Homage to Chaim Rabin: Anthology of Linguistic Research on his Attaining the Age of 75, Moshe Goshen-Gottstein, Shlomo Morag & Simcha Kogut (eds), 117–132. Jerusalem: Akademon.Google Scholar
Wulff, Stefanie
2008 Rethinking Idiomaticity: A Usage-Based Approach. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Zur, Batia
1983 rxišat hayiduaʕ bqerev yladim dovrey-ʕivrit (Acquisition of Definiteness by Hebrew-Speaking Children). MA thesis, Tel Aviv University.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Berman, Ruth A.
2022. The view from Hebrew: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022). First Language 42:6 ► pp. 740 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.