Cover not available

In:Usage-Based Studies in Modern Hebrew: Background, Morpho-lexicon, and Syntax
Edited by Ruth A. Berman
[Studies in Language Companion Series 210] 2020
► pp. 331–374

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 10
Voice distinctions

 | Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Published online: 18 March 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.11tau
The category of voice in Modern Hebrew is perceived in the current study as displaying a set of oppositions between two or three binyanim (templates) for a single consonantal root, instantiating different argument structures that do not affect the inventory of semantic roles characterizing a given root as a lexical entry. These oppositions, once established, are examined for the complementary functional distribution of their members in a variety of contexts in written Hebrew. Although the semantic relationships between the binyanim are frequently unpredictable, the data show that systematic form-function oppositions can nonetheless be distinguished, denoting subtle voice distinctions as well as different degrees of argument participation in the event. These oppositions can play an important role in the text.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Active voice
  • 3.Passive voice
    • 3.1The actional passive system
    • 3.2Semantic constraints on the active-passive opposition
    • 3.3Discourse functions of the actional passive
    • 3.4Impersonal passives
  • 4.Middle voice
    • 4.1The non-actional passive
    • 4.2Participles of hitpa‛el and nif‛al as exponents of potentiality
    • 4.3Reflexivity
      • 4.3.1Synthetic versus analytic reflexives
      • 4-3-2Hitpa‛el interpreted as reflexive
    • 4.4Overlap between hitpa‛el and nif‛al
    • 4.5Reciprocality
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
References (81)
References
Alexiadou, Artemis & Doron, Edit. 2012. The syntactic construction of two non-active voices: Passive and middle. Journal of Linguistics 48(1): 1–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alexiadou, Artemis & Schӓfer, Florian. 2013. Non-canonical passives. In Non-Canonical Passives [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 205], Artemis Alexiadou & Florian Schӓfer (eds), 1–19. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arad, Maya. 2005. Roots and Patterns: Hebrew Morpho-Syntax [Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 63]. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakker, Egbert. 1994. Voice, aspect and Aktionsart: Middle and passive in ancient Greek. In Voice: Form and Function [Typological Studies in Language 27], Barbara A. Fox & Paul J. Hopper (eds), 23–48. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bar-Asher Siegal, Elitzur A. 2015. The Semitic templates from the perspective of reciprocal predicates. In Quo Vadis Morphology? On-line Proceedings of the 10th Mediterranean Morphology Meeting, Jenny Audring, Francesca Masini, & Wendy Sandler (eds), 16–30. < [URL] > (31 December 2018).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barber, Elizabeth J. W. 1975. Voice – beyond the passive. Berkeley Linguistics Society 1: 16–24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ben-Hayyim, Zeev. 1992. be-milx̱amta šel lašon [The Struggle for a Language] . Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benveniste, Émile. 1966. Actif et moyen dans le verbe. In Problèmes de Linguistique Générale, Vol. 1 168–175. Paris: Éditions Gallimard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, Ruth A. 1979. Form and function: Passives, Middles and impersonals in Modern Hebrew. Berkeley Linguistics Society 5: 1–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1980. The case of an (S)VO language: Subjectless constructions in Modern Hebrew. Language 56(4): 759–776. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1993. Developmental perspectives on transitivity: A confluence of cues. In Other Children, Other Languages: Issues in the Theory of Acquisition Yonata Levy (ed.) 189–241. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2003. Childrens lexical innovations: Psycholinguistic perspectives on Hebrew verb-structure. In Language Processing and Language Acquisition in a Root-based Morphology [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 28], Joseph Shimron (ed.), 243–291. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2011. Revisiting impersonals in Modern Hebrew: Discourse-based perspectives. In Impersonal Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Perspective [Studies in Language Companion Series 124], Andrej Malchukov & Anna Siewierska (eds), 323–355. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2016. Typology, acquisition, and development: The view from Israeli Hebrew. In Acquisition and Development of Hebrew: From Infancy to Adolescence [Trends in Language Acquisition Research Series 19], Ruth A. Berman (ed.), 1–38. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blau, Joshua. 1996. ‘iyunim be-valšanut ‘ivrit [Studies in Hebrew Linguistics]. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolinger, Dwight E. 1977. Transitivity and spatiality: The passive of prepositional verbs. In Linguistics at the Crossroads [Testi e Studi 4], Ádám Makkai, Valerie Becker Makkai & Luigi Heilmann (eds), 57–78. Padova: Liviana Editrice & Lake Bluff, Illinois: Jupiter Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolozky, Shmuel. 2003. The roots of denominative Hebrew verbs. In Language Processing and Language Acquisition in a Root-based Morphology [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 28], Joseph Shimron (ed.), 131–146. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. šxix̱ut u-foriyut be-maʿarexet ha-poʿal šel ha-ʿivrit ha-yisre’elit [Frequency and productivity in the verb system of Israeli Hebrew]. Lešonenu 71(1–2): 345–367.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bydlowski, René M. 1981. L’expression de l’aspect et de la voix, et leur symmorphisme dans des types linguistiques différents: Étude comparative à partir de L’hébreu-Israélien et du Français. PhD dissertation, Université de La Sorbonne Nouelle – Paris 3.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collinge, Neville E. 1963. The Greek use of the term Middle in linguistic analysis. Word 19(2) : 233–241. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Creissels, Denis. 2006. Syntaxe générale: Une introduction typologique, Vol. 1. Paris: Hermes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doron, Edit. 1999. The semantics of transitivity alternations. In Proceedings of the Twelfth Amsterdam Colloquium, Paul Dekker (ed.), 103–108. Amsterdam: Universiteit van Amsterdam, Institute for Logic, Language and Computation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003a. Agency and voice: The semantics of the Semitic templates . Natural Language Semantics 11(1): 1–67. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003b. Transitivity Alternations in the Semitic template system. In Research in Afroasiatic Grammar, II: Selected Papers from the Fifth Conference on Afroasiatic languages, Paris 2000 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 241], Jacqueline Lecarme (ed.) 127–149. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. trumato šel ha-binyan le-mašmaʿut ha-poʿal [The contribution of the template to verb meaning]. In Theoretical Hebrew Linguistics, Galia Hatav (ed.), 57–88. Jerusalem: Magnes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Binyanim: Modern Hebrew. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Geoffrey Khan (ed.). Brill online.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. Voice and valence change. In Syntax – Theory and Analysis: An International Handbook [Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science (HSK) 42/1], Tibor Kiss & Artemis Alexiadou (eds), 749–776. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doron, Edit & Rappaport-Hovav, Malka. 2009. A unified approach to reflexivization in Semitic and Romance . Brills Annual of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics 1(1): 75–105. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Faltz, Leonard. 1977. Reflexivization: A Study in Universal Syntax. PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
Fox, Barbara A. & Hopper, Paul J. 1994. Voice: Form and Function [Typological Studies in Language 27]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frajzyngier, Zygmunt. 2000a. Domains of point of view and coreferentiality: System interaction approach to the study of reflexives. In Reflexives: Forms and Functions [Typological Studies in Language 40], Vol. 1, Zygmunt Frajzyngier & Curl S. Traci (eds), 125–152. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2000b. Coding of the reciprocal function: Two solutions. In Reflexives: Forms and Functions [Typological Studies in Language 41], Vol. 2, Zygmunt Frajzyngier & Traci S. Curl (eds), 179–194. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geniušené, Emma. 1987. The Typology of Reflexives [Empirical Approaches to Language Typology 2]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 1979. On Understanding Grammar. New York NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. Syntax: An Introduction, Vol.1. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldenberg, Gideon. 2007. Actants and diathesis, directions of transitivity etc.: Some Satzgestaltungen and their background in Semitics and elsewhere. In From beyond the Mediterranen: Akten des 7. internationalen Semitohamitistenkongresses (VII. ISHaK) Berlin 13. bis 15. September 2004 [Semitica et Semitohamitica Berolinensia (SSHB) 5], Rainer Voigt (ed.), 283–296. Aachen: Shaker.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Semitic Languages: Features, Structures, Relations, Processes. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halevy, Rivka. 2011. maṣavey hadadiyut be-ʿivrit ben ha-tax̱bir la-leqsiqon [Reciprocal constructions between syntax and lexicon]. Lešonenu 73(3–4): 401–422.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013a. Reflexive. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Geoffrey Khan (ed.). Leiden: Brill Online.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013b. ha-kinuy ha-x̱ozer be-ʿivrit : ha-hebeṭ ha-sinxroni ve-ha-hebeṭ ha-diaxroni [The Hebrew reflexive pronoun: A synchronic and diachronic perspective]. Lešonenu 75(4): 479–493.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013c. Reciprocals. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Geoffrey Khan (ed.). Leiden: Brill Online.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 1990. The grammaticization of passive morphology. Studies in Language 14(1): 25–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1994. Passive participles across languages. In Voice: Form and Function [Typological Studies in Language 27], Barbara A. Fox & Paul J. Hopper (eds), 151–178. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul J. & Thompson, Sandra. 1980. Transitivity in grammar and discourse. Language 56: 251–299. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Izreel, Shlomo. 2009. Constructive constructions: Semitic verbal morphology and beyond. In Egyptian, Semitic and General Grammar: Studies in memory of H.J. Polotsky, Gideon Goldenberg & Ariel Shisha-Halevy (eds), 106–130. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jespersen, Otto. 1924. The Philosophy of Grammar. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joosten, Jan. 2000. Actif et moyen en sémitique: Observations historiques et comparées à partir de l‛hébreu biblique. Comptes Rendus du Groupe Linguistique d’Études Chamito-Sémitiques 33(1999–2000): 201–220.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Khan, Geoffrey. 2013. (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.Online.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kastner, Itamar. 2016. Nonactive voice in Hebrew and elsewhere: Between unaccusativity and agentivity. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 22(1): 167–176.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward L. & Dryer, Matthew S. 2007. Passive in the worlds languages. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Clause Structure, Vol. 1, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 325–361. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kemmer, Suzanne. 1993. The Middle Voice [Typological Studies in Language 23]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1994. Middle voice, transitivity and the elaboration of events. In Voice: Form and Function [Typological Studies in Language 27], Barbara A. Fox & Paul J. Hopper (eds), 179–230. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klaiman, Miriam H. 1991. Grammatical Voice [Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 59]. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kulikov, Leonid. 2010. Voice typology. In The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Typology, Jae J. Song (ed.), 368–398. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Laks, Lior. 2013. Inchoative verb. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Geoffrey Khan (ed.). Leiden: Brill Online.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W. 2008. Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lehmann, Christian. 1991. Predicate classes and participation. In Partizipation: Das sprachlische Erfassen von Sachverhalten, Hansjakob Seiler & Waldfried Premper (eds) 183–239. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Longacre, Robert E. 1983. The Grammar of Discourse. New York NY: Plenum Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mandelbliet, Nili. 2000. The grammatical marking of conceptual integration: From syntax to morphology. Cognitive Linguistics 11(3–4): 197–251.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mel’čuk, Igor A. 1993. The inflectional category of voice: Towards a more rigorous definition. In Causatives and Transitivity [Studies in Language Companion Series 23], Bernard Comrie & Maria Polinsky (eds), 1–46. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Melnik, Nurit. 2013. Impersonal constructions. In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Geoffrey Khan (ed.). Leiden: Brill Online.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meltzer, Aya. 2007. Adjectival passives and adjectival decausatives in Hebrew. Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca “Julio de Urquijo” (ASJU) 41(2): 209–224.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ravid, Dorit & Vered, Lizzy. 2016. Hebrew verbal passives in later language development: The interface of register and verb morphology. Journal of Child Language 44(6): 1309–1336. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reinhart, Tanya & Siloni, Tal. 2005. The lexicon-syntax parameter: Reflexivization and other arity operations. Linguistic Inquiry 36(3): 389–436. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roeper, Thomas. 1987. Implicit argument and the head-complement relation. Linguistic Inquiry 18(2): 267–310.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosén, Haiim B. 1956. mefu‛al ba-‛ivrit ha-yisre‛elit (Mefu‛al in contemporary Hebrew). Lešonenu 20(2): 139–148.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1977. Contemporary Hebrew [Trends in Linguistics: States-of-the-Art Reports 11]. The Hague & Paris: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwarzwald, Ora Rodrigue. 2002. praqim be-morfologya ‛ivrit (Studies in Hebrew Morphology). Tel Aviv: The Open University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. The special status of nif‛al in Hebrew. In Current Issues in Generative Hebrew Linguistics [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 134], Sharon Armon-Lotem, Gabi Danon & Susan Rothstein (eds), 61–74. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. Three related analyses in Modern Hebrew morphology. In Egyptian, Semitic and General Grammar: Studies in memory of H.J. Polotsky, Gideon Goldenberg & Ariel Shisha-Halevy (eds) 277–301. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1998. Voice parameters. Kobe Papers in Linguistics 1: 93–111. < [URL] > (10 January 2019).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siewierska, Anna. 1984. The Passive: A Comparative Linguistic Analysis. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sinha, Anjani K. 1974. How passives are passives. Papers from the Regional Meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society 10: 631–642.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taube, Dana. 1997a. ha-mivne ha-savil ve-šimušav be-‛ivrit bat yamenu (The Passive Construction and its Functions in Contemporary Hebrew). PhD dissertation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
. 1997b. ifyun hitkavnut be-vinyane ha-savil be-‛ivrit bat yamenu (The marking of deliberate action in the Modern Hebrew). Masorot 9–11: 43–60.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1999. po‛al be-roš mišpaṭ: mivne savil mul mivne pa‛il šemusa’o be-rošo be-‛ivrit bat yamenu (Passive vs. complement-initial active construction in Modern Hebrew). Lešonenu 62(3–4): 285–299.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Impersonal and passive constructions in Contemporary Hebrew. In Studies in Semitic and General Linguistics in honor of Gideon Goldenberg, Tali Bar & Eran Cohen (eds), 277–297. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. The passive participle in Modern Hebrew. In Egyptian, Semitic and General Grammar: Studies in memory of H.J. Polotsky, Gideon Goldenberg & Ariel Shisha-Halevy (eds), 317–336. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toyota, Junichi. 2008. Gradience in analysis: A case of presentative passive. Facta Universitatis: Linguistics and Literature 6(1): 1–14.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yahalom, Yosef. 1980. ha-pasiv ba-piuṭ: lešon ha-šir u-lešon ha-proza u-vinyene ha-po’al (The passive in poetry: Verbal themes in poetry and prose). Lešonenu 45(1): 17–31.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue