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. 659–676
A usage-based typology of Modern Hebrew syntax
How Semitic?
Bracha Nir | University of Haifa
The chapter considers how findings from Modern Hebrew syntax shed light on the
usage-based domain of contemporary linguistic typology, defined as concerned with the
synchronic and diachronic interrelations between function and grammar. To do so, it provides
illustrations from well-discussed syntactic features marking inter-clausal relations, and
compares these features with those found in Biblical Hebrew prose, with special emphasis on
bi-clausal constructions. The conclusion is that Hebrew syntax to this day reflects
constructions that are attested at earlier periods in the history of the language, including
early as well as late Biblical Hebrew, accompanied by functional and
frequency distributions that have changed in current usage.
Published online: 18 March 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.19nir
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.19nir
References
References
Abadi, Adina
Ben-Hayyim, Ze’ ev
Berman, Ruth A. & Nir-Sagiv, Bracha
Berman, Ruth A. & Nir, Bracha
2009 Clause-packaging in narratives: A crosslinguistic developmental
study. In Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Psychology of Language: Research in the Tradition
of Dan I. Slobin, Jiansheng Guo, Elena Lieven, Susan Ervin-Tripp, Nancy Budwig, Keiko Nakamura & Seyda Özçalişkan (eds), 149–162. New York NY: Taylor & Francis.
Berman, Ruth A. & Slobin, Dan I.
Berman, Ruth A. & Verhoeven, Ludo
Biber Douglas, Johansson Stig, Leech Geoffrey Conrad Susan & Finegan Edward
Bybee, Joan
Chafe, Wallace
Cohen, Ohad
Croft, William
Culicover, Peter W. & Jackendoff, Ray
Even-Shoshan, Abraham
Gensler, Orin D.
Givón, Talmy
Goldenberg, Gideon
Halevy, Rivka
Isaksson, Bo
2014 ‘Subordination’: Some reflections on Matthiesen and Thompson’s article “The
structure of discourse and ‘subordination” and its bearing on the idea of circumstantial
clause in Arabic and Hebrew. In
Festschrift Jan Retsö, Abhandlungen für die Kunde des
Morgenlandes
, Lutz Edzard (ed.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Jisa, Harriet, Reilly, Judy S., Verhoeven, Ludo, Baruch, Elisheva & Rosado, Elisa
Kastovsky, Dieter
Keenan, Edward L.
Lehmann, Christian
Livnat, Zohar & Sela, Meir
Malchukov, Andrej & Siewierska, Anna
Muchnik, Malka
Niccacci, Alviero
Nir (Sagiv), Bracha
Nir, Bracha
Nir, Bracha & Berman, Ruth
Noonan, Michael
Ravid, Dorit, & Vered, Lizzy
Rönnerdal, Göran
Slobin, Dan I.
Steiner, Richard C.
Thompson, Sandra A. & Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth
Thompson, Sandra A., Longacre, Robert E. & Hwang, Shin Ja J.
van Lier, Eva
Verstraete, Jean-Christophe
Zeldes, Amir