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In:Language Contact, Continuity and Change in the Genesis of Modern Hebrew
Edited by Edit Doron, Malka Rappaport Hovav, Yael Reshef and Moshe Taube
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 256] 2019
► pp. 221–256

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The biblical sources of Modern Hebrew syntax

 | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Published online: 18 September 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.256.09dor
The paper assesses the influence on Modern Hebrew of the two previous spoken stages of Hebrew: Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew in its early, Mishnaic, phase. Contra the received view in the current literature, I argue that Modern Hebrew has in many respects readopted the syntax of Biblical Hebrew, the earlier of the two ancient stages, rather than being a development of the subsequent Rabbinic stage. The paper discusses particular constructions whose Biblical syntax had historically been replaced by Rabbinic syntax, yet were reinstated in Modern Hebrew. These include clausal constructions such as conditional and unconditional clauses, clausal complements of aspectual and modal auxiliaries, and gerundive clauses. The Rabbinic component in the syntax of Modern Hebrew seems to be limited to values and exponents drawn from Rabbinic Hebrew for the functional categories originating in Biblical Hebrew or in languages with which Hebrew was in contact during its history.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The two previous spoken stages of Hebrew
  • 3.The syntax of the modern Hebrew clause
    • 3.1Clausal subordination
    • 3.2Clausal word order
    • 3.3The syntax of conditional clauses
    • 3.4The syntax of unconditional clauses
    • 3.5Clausal complements of aspectual and modal auxiliaries
    • 3.6The gerund clause
      • 3.6.1The infinitive and the gerund in MH
      • 3.6.2The gerund in BH
      • 3.6.3The infinitive in RH
      • 3.6.4Back to the MH gerund
  • 4.The contribution of the syntax of RH
  • 5.Conclusion
  • 6.Appendix – the BH syntax of sub-clausal MH constructions
    • 6.1The progressive
    • 6.2Habituality
    • 6.3Negation
    • 6.4Null subjects
    • 6.5The pronominal copula in predicate-nominal clauses
    • 6.6The pronominal copula in verbal clauses
    • 6.7Pronominal doubling of verbal inflection
    • 6.8Clitic doubling of verbal arguments
    • 6.9Interrogative determiners
    • 6.10Accusative case assignment by deverbal nouns
    • 6.11The demonstrative pronoun as marker of the perfect time span
  • Notes
  • References
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