M Odern H Ebrew Prepositions Are Enclitics : Converging Evidence from Lexical Morpho-Phonology and Natural Speech Segmentation (original) (raw)
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Prepositions in Israeli Hebrew, as in other languages, are clitics. They are often regarded as proclitics, cliticizing to their object, probably because they both introduce this object (conceptually) and select for it (morpho-syntactically). In this paper, we make the opposite claim, namely that these prosodically-dependent items are in fact entclitic: they cliticize to the preceding word, mainly the sentence predicate. This claim is first supported by the analysis of evidence from natural speech prosodic segmentation. Then, it is shown that within the morpho-syntactic theory of Distributed Morphology, this segmentation is in fact predicted.
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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...
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The canonical view of clause requires that it include predication. Utterances that do not t into this view because they lack a subject are usually regarded as elliptical or as non-sentential utterances. Adopting an integrative approach to the analysis of spoken language that includes syntax, prosody, discourse structure, and information structure, it is suggested that the only necessary and suf cient component constituting a clause is a predicate domain, carrying the informational load of the clause within the discourse context, including a “new” element in the discourse, carrying modality, and focused. Utterances that have not been hitherto analyzed as consisting of full clauses or sentences will be reevaluated. The utterance, being a discourse unit de ned by prosodic boundaries, can thus be viewed as the default domain of a clause or a sentence, when the latter are determined according to the suggested integrative approach. Keywords: syntax; clause structure; information structure; discourse; context; prosody; utterance; history of linguistics; spoken Israeli Hebrew. ************** See also "Aristotle Was not a Linguist: The View from Spoken Israeli Hebrew" in the talks section.
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