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In:The Ziggurat of Grammar: In honor of Ur Shlonsky
Edited by Lena Baunaz, Giuliano Bocci and Andrew Nevins
[Language Faculty and Beyond 20] 2025
► pp. 303–333

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Chapter 15
Dims a dozen

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Published online: 13 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.20.15bor
Abstract
This article seeks to account for the properties of Hebrew diminutive -ón and its F instantiation. Such account will require an understanding of gender as well as plural formation and the correspondence between syntactic/phonology and (substantive) Content. It will establish that:
A.
GenP comprises a featural head and a specifier hosting gender agreement
B.
Although msg goes unmarked in Hebrew, gen does project, with Ø-specified head and Ø-specified agreement.
C.
There are two realizations of fsg gen in MH: Ø and ij. The (near) universal presence of -t with f-gen is an instance of f-agreement.
D.
Content searches proceed on the basis of syntactically annotated phonological strings, including potentially the realizations of gen and gen-agreement
Article outline
  • 1.Diminutive ón: Overview,
  • 2.Feminine feature realization and Content
  • 3.F-marking in diminutives
  • 4.The puzzles
    • 4.1First puzzle
    • 4.2Second puzzle
    • 4.3Third puzzle
  • 5.Toward a solution: Gender marking in MH.
  • 6.gen, dim, pl in review
    • 6.1gen:f, gn:agr:f
    • 6.2PL and DIM
    • 6.3dborim ba-vilonot: Modelling ‘irregular’ plural (‘bees in the curtains’)
  • 7.Phonological realization and Content searching: The third puzzle
  • 8.Concluding comments
  • Notes
  • References
References (23)
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