Morphologically conditioned V-Ø alternation in Hebrew (original) (raw)
Related papers
Non-concatenative realization in the verbal inflection of Modern Hebrew
2012
This paper examines the realization of inflectional paradigms in the Semitic root-and pattern morphological system of Modern Hebrew. In the first part of the paper, a system of realizational statements is proposed, in the spirit of the framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz 1993). Two different, independent positions V1 and V2 are identified and defined relative to a basic discontinuous set of elements, the root. Employing the notion of default status, which is accorded to the vocalization of Type I verbs in the past, this move allows for an optimally economic set of rules for the realization of all active and passive verbs. In the second part of the paper, the account is extended to roots with a final underlying glide /j/. Within the verbal system, such roots give rise to a set of mostly vowel-final verbal stems. It is claimed that the traditional analysis, according to which the different realizations are synchronically the phonological reflex of this final /j/, is untenable, and especially so because these verbs have almost exactly the same realization in all Types. Realization rules are then formalized with the conditioning environment being this underlying final /j/, with [j] as the default realization of this element. Thus, a third element /j/ is both a class-marker-it gives rise to a set of phonologically-arbitrary realizationsand a simple phoneme.
On the Applicability of Two Level Morphology to the Inflection of Hebrew Verbs
1988
Hebrew, as other ~emitic languages, has a rich morpl1ology, observable in part by the complexity of verb inflections. The primary base of verbs in Hebrew is the past third singular form of tlfe verb. From this base, some twenty eight different inflected forms can be created according to tense, per~on, gender and number. Traditionally, inflection tables were used to describe the various inflected forms derived from the verb 'base. Research done by Oman has managed to describe the verb inflection process using the principles of Generative Grammar. In' this approach, inflCfted verb forms are viewed as constructs of the form preftx+base+sufftx. Verb inflection is described as a s~ries of sequentialpperations. The first stage converts the primary verb base to a secondary'base, when the secondary base is not the same as the primary base. Secondly, the appropriate prefix and/or suffix are concatenated to the base. Thirdly, several morpho-phonemic changes due to the affix concat...
The emergence of the unmarked: Vowel harmony in Hebrew loanword adaptation
Lingua, 2013
In this paper, it is argued that adult speakers of all languages have a universal predisposition to use vowel harmony, even when there is no evidence of productive harmony in the native lexicon. Evidence for this harmony may emerge in the lexicon’s periphery (e.g. loanwords). We investigate harmony in loanwords in Modern Hebrew, a language not considered to be a vowel harmony language, focusing on the universal aspects of vowel harmony. Different grammars operate on different areas of the lexicon, loanwords vs. native words, and the differences between the grammars are formally described within an Optimality Theoretical approach
Short book reviews (Hebrew and General Linguistics) in Language (1999-2003).
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Morpho-thematic mismatches in Hebrew: What happens when morphological and thematic criteria collide?
2014
This study addresses the transitive--intransitive alternation in verb formation based on both thematic and morphological relations between words. I examine cases of puzzling mismatch between the thematic derivation of predicates via valence changing operations and the morphological form they exhibit. These are cases, where the thematic relation between two verbal instances shows that A is derived from B, while the morphological relation between them indicates that B is formed on the basis of A. To resolve this conflict, I rely on the notion of frozen lexical entries and on the historical relations between the relevant forms. I argue that while form A is indeed thematically derived from B, B existed in the lexicon as a frozen entry. Further, form A entered the actual vocabulary first and was used for the morphological formation of B.
In the nominal morphology of Modern Hebrew, the vowels [a] and [e] alternate with each other and syncopate in several contexts. These contexts have received separate phonological and/or morphological analyses in the past. The phonological analyses have yielded phonologically unnatural rules; the morphological analyses have turned to the unconstrained concept of stem-allomorphy. In the first part of this paper, a unifying account of these vocalic alternations is provided in the framework of cvcv-Phonology , relating the contexts to one another. Specifically, it is proposed that some vowels are phonologically long, either lexically or through a rule of pretonic lengthening. In the second part of the paper, an alternation which resists the strictly phonological explanation is shown to follow from morpho-syntactic principles of derivation by phase (Embick 2010). While certain phonological processes apply whenever the domain of a category head is processed, only the merger of the head d triggers the realization of the underlying phonological string.
Universal and particular in morphological processing: Evidence from Hebrew
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Do properties of individual languages shape the mechanisms by which they are processed? By virtue of their non-concatenative morphological structure, the recognition of complex words in Semitic languages has been argued to rely strongly on morphological information and on decomposition into root and pattern constituents. Here, we report results from a masked priming experiment in Hebrew in which we contrasted verb forms belonging to two morphological classes, Paal and Piel, which display similar properties, but crucially differ on whether they are extended to novel verbs. Verbs from the open-class Piel elicited familiar root priming effects, but verbs from the closed-class Paal did not. Our findings indicate that, similarly to other (e.g., Indo-European) languages, down-to-the-root decomposition in Hebrew does not apply to stems of non-productive verbal classes. We conclude that the Semitic word processor is less unique than previously thought: Although it operates on morphological ...