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Non-canonical ‘existential-like‘ constructions in colloquial Modern Hebrew

  • Rivka Halevy
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Atypical predicate-argument relations
This chapter is in the book Atypical predicate-argument relations

Abstract

The paper deals with the non-typical structure and coding properties of ‘existential-like’ constructions in Colloquial Modern Hebrew (CMH), with reference to parallels in some major Indo-European languages. The construction explored consists of an invariable (neuter) predicate incorporating an empty referential subject (S) morpheme, plus an explicit postverbal NP representing the logic-­semantic subject (S′) that is deficient in topicality and behaves like an O (though it is not a Patient argument). This construction exhibits inconsistency and instability in several aspects of its encoding. Taking the structure-based approach as its starting point, the paper’s main argument is that the construction under investigation is a special impersonal construction displaying a split between the grammatical S and semantic S′. Typologically, it proposes a unified account of the construction in both synthetic inflectional languages like Hebrew, which do not require an expletive/dummy-­subject, and in analytic inflectional languages like Germanic languages and French that do require it. The paper disputes the assumption that the postverbal NP in this construction is an O or an S that became an O. The underlying assumption of the paper is that a construction is a form-­meaning-function unit; accordingly, the construction at hand is examined not only from the structural and semantic viewpoint but also from the viewpoint of functional sentence perspective and the speaker’s perspectival choice with respect to the construal of the event.

Abstract

The paper deals with the non-typical structure and coding properties of ‘existential-like’ constructions in Colloquial Modern Hebrew (CMH), with reference to parallels in some major Indo-European languages. The construction explored consists of an invariable (neuter) predicate incorporating an empty referential subject (S) morpheme, plus an explicit postverbal NP representing the logic-­semantic subject (S′) that is deficient in topicality and behaves like an O (though it is not a Patient argument). This construction exhibits inconsistency and instability in several aspects of its encoding. Taking the structure-based approach as its starting point, the paper’s main argument is that the construction under investigation is a special impersonal construction displaying a split between the grammatical S and semantic S′. Typologically, it proposes a unified account of the construction in both synthetic inflectional languages like Hebrew, which do not require an expletive/dummy-­subject, and in analytic inflectional languages like Germanic languages and French that do require it. The paper disputes the assumption that the postverbal NP in this construction is an O or an S that became an O. The underlying assumption of the paper is that a construction is a form-­meaning-function unit; accordingly, the construction at hand is examined not only from the structural and semantic viewpoint but also from the viewpoint of functional sentence perspective and the speaker’s perspectival choice with respect to the construal of the event.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction vii
  4. Part 1. Atypical realization of the main arguments of the verb
  5. Verbs of pain and accusative subjects in Romanian 3
  6. Non-canonical ‘existential-like‘ constructions in colloquial Modern Hebrew 27
  7. IO realizations in Spanish reverse psych verb sentences 61
  8. Non-human agents as subjects in English and Dutch 87
  9. Part 2. Valency-changing devices and non-finite verb forms
  10. The argument-structure configuration of English middle and related structures 115
  11. Non-categorical categories 131
  12. Part 3. Variations in transitivity
  13. The semantic motivation of non-canonical predicative relations 163
  14. Atypical argument structures in French 181
  15. Split intransitivity in Lamaholot (East Flores, Indonesia) 203
  16. Part 4. Norm variation in predicate-arguments relations
  17. Geographic variation in a non-canonical infinitive structure with the modal verb brauchen 243
  18. Verbal constructions in spoken language deviating from the norm 265
  19. Index of authors 283
  20. Index of subjects 287
https://doi.org/10.1075/lis.33.02hal

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction vii
  4. Part 1. Atypical realization of the main arguments of the verb
  5. Verbs of pain and accusative subjects in Romanian 3
  6. Non-canonical ‘existential-like‘ constructions in colloquial Modern Hebrew 27
  7. IO realizations in Spanish reverse psych verb sentences 61
  8. Non-human agents as subjects in English and Dutch 87
  9. Part 2. Valency-changing devices and non-finite verb forms
  10. The argument-structure configuration of English middle and related structures 115
  11. Non-categorical categories 131
  12. Part 3. Variations in transitivity
  13. The semantic motivation of non-canonical predicative relations 163
  14. Atypical argument structures in French 181
  15. Split intransitivity in Lamaholot (East Flores, Indonesia) 203
  16. Part 4. Norm variation in predicate-arguments relations
  17. Geographic variation in a non-canonical infinitive structure with the modal verb brauchen 243
  18. Verbal constructions in spoken language deviating from the norm 265
  19. Index of authors 283
  20. Index of subjects 287
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