Bolozky 2003. The ‘roots’ of denominative Hebrew verbs (original) (raw)

The inadequacy of the consonantal root: Modern Hebrew denominal verbs and output–output correspondence

Phonology, 1999

This paper has greatly benefited from the help of many people. Junko Ito, Armin Mester, and Jaye Padgett have provided comments on numerous drafts, and I wish to offer them my sincere gratitude and appreciation for their helpful suggestions. Many thanks also to Judith Aissen for her detailed comments on a previous draft of this paper. In addition, I would like to thank Gene Buckley, Edit Doron, Sharon Rose, Donca Steriade, Bernard Tranel, Rachel Walker, and Andrew Wedel, who have all provided very thoughtful questions, discussions and suggestions with respect to the issues under consideration here. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the many native speakers I have worked with as informants in

Surface Faithfulness Phenomena and the Consonantal Root in the Modern Hebrew Verb System

Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:This paper argues that from the point of view of speakers Modern Hebrew must be described as a hybrid system, possessing elements of both templatic and concatenative morphology, and that more generally, templaticity and concatenativity are not absolute, binarily opposed categories, but stand for bundles of morphological characteristics, of which a given language may possess a combination and which are subject to piecemeal diachronic change.

Stem modification and cluster transfer in Modern Hebrew

Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 1994

In the formation of Modern Hebrew denominative verbs, two structural properties are transferred from the base to the derived form: the consonantal root and the consonant cluster. While the model of Root-to-TempIate Association (McCarthy 1981) is largely based on root transfer, it fails to account for cluster transfer. In this paper ][ argue that the model which can actually account for cluster transfer as well as root transfer is what I will term here Stem Modificatkm (Steriade 1988). Within this model, segmental and prosodic adjustments are made on the base itself and not on some designated material extracted from the base. This approach to stem formation also eliminates the notion of the consonantal root from the grammar of Modern Hebrew. 0. I N T R O D U C T I O N * I am grateful to Sharon Inkelas, Wendy Sandler, Donca Steriade, and two anonymous NLLT readers for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to Michele Segal for her editorial work. I alone am responsible for any errors found herein. Unless otherwise specified, stress is final and the citation form of verbs is the 3rd person masculine past. 2 Tiers must be idcntifed at an early stage of the derivation because on the surface they can be obscured by processes such as spirantization, as in katav 'to write'-hixIiv ~to dictate'.

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...

Innovative Elements in Newly Formed Hebrew Four-Consonantal Verbal Roots

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of four-consonantal verbal roots in Modern Hebrew (MH), and to show and explain the processes that cause this expansion. The ways in which new verbal roots are created will be demonstrated in section 1, followed by the formation of four-consonantal verbal roots by the addition of an initial ˀ, t, or š and by duplication of consonants in section 2. Section 3 will be devoted to the explanation of these expansions: the origins of the new initial consonants ˀ, t, and duplication in four-consonantal verbs may be based on derivational and inflectional factors as well as on historical processes. The newly formed first radical š can be explained by historical development, but it might also hint at the interaction between functional and morphological elements. The fourth section will address the number of templates in Hebrew, and will conclude that it is the structure of the four-consonantal root that modifies meanings rather than the template itself.

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.

From Discontinuous to Linear Word Formation in Modern Hebrew

The paper shows that linear word formation is strengthened in Modern Hebrew and applies to verbs as well. After exemplifying root-and-pattern discontinuous word formation, other word formation techniques are introduced. Linear formation includes stem-and-affix, word compounding or multistem-concatenation, multi-stem blend, and acronyms, either orthographic or phonetic. Reduplication and base unanalyzed words are also included in word formation because of the phonetic adaptation of such words. As in nouns, verbs can be formed nowadays linearly by copying the consonant clusters and vowel patterns into the verb system, e.g. hi¡pric "splashed" from ¡pric "splash" in the hif'il pattern, laxrop "to sleep" from xrop "sleep, snore" in the pa'al pattern. Once inserted into the verb system, these verbs behave like any other root-andpattern derived verbs.