From Prepositions to Causal Conjunctions: An Incomplete Change Process in the Emergence Period of Modern Hebrew

Yael Reshef

doi:10.1093/jss/fgaf042

From Prepositions to Causal Conjunctions: An Incomplete Change Process in the Emergence Period of Modern Hebrew

Yael Reshef^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Hebrew Language

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This paper discusses a unique, hitherto overlooked phenomenon in the emergence period of Modern Hebrew: the regular employment of two prepositions, ʾax̱are ‘after’ and ʿal yede ‘by means of’, as causal conjunctions. Despite the initial distribution of this usage, it did not integrate into present-day Modern Hebrew but was abruptly discarded following the consolidation of Hebrew as a spoken language in the early 1920s. Analysis of a vast textual corpus representing language use in the early Hebrew press over six decades in the seminal period of the modernization (1870s–1930s) indicates the regular employment of both prepositions as causal conjunctions (alongside their original temporal/instrumental functions) up to the 1920s, and the sudden disappearance of this usage thereafter. The paper focuses on the differing degrees of conventionalization of the two usages, and highlights the linguistic and sociolinguistic factors involved in the rise and decline of this unique phenomenon.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	387-406
Number of pages	20
Journal	Journal of Semitic Studies
Volume	71
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf042
State	Published - 1 Mar 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2026, © The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Manchester. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact [email protected].

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title = "From Prepositions to Causal Conjunctions: An Incomplete Change Process in the Emergence Period of Modern Hebrew",

abstract = "This paper discusses a unique, hitherto overlooked phenomenon in the emergence period of Modern Hebrew: the regular employment of two prepositions, ʾax̱are {\textquoteleft}after{\textquoteright} and ʿal yede {\textquoteleft}by means of{\textquoteright}, as causal conjunctions. Despite the initial distribution of this usage, it did not integrate into present-day Modern Hebrew but was abruptly discarded following the consolidation of Hebrew as a spoken language in the early 1920s. Analysis of a vast textual corpus representing language use in the early Hebrew press over six decades in the seminal period of the modernization (1870s{\textendash}1930s) indicates the regular employment of both prepositions as causal conjunctions (alongside their original temporal/instrumental functions) up to the 1920s, and the sudden disappearance of this usage thereafter. The paper focuses on the differing degrees of conventionalization of the two usages, and highlights the linguistic and sociolinguistic factors involved in the rise and decline of this unique phenomenon.",

author = "Yael Reshef",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026, {\textcopyright} The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Manchester. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site{\textemdash}for further information please contact [email protected].",

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N2 - This paper discusses a unique, hitherto overlooked phenomenon in the emergence period of Modern Hebrew: the regular employment of two prepositions, ʾax̱are ‘after’ and ʿal yede ‘by means of’, as causal conjunctions. Despite the initial distribution of this usage, it did not integrate into present-day Modern Hebrew but was abruptly discarded following the consolidation of Hebrew as a spoken language in the early 1920s. Analysis of a vast textual corpus representing language use in the early Hebrew press over six decades in the seminal period of the modernization (1870s–1930s) indicates the regular employment of both prepositions as causal conjunctions (alongside their original temporal/instrumental functions) up to the 1920s, and the sudden disappearance of this usage thereafter. The paper focuses on the differing degrees of conventionalization of the two usages, and highlights the linguistic and sociolinguistic factors involved in the rise and decline of this unique phenomenon.

AB - This paper discusses a unique, hitherto overlooked phenomenon in the emergence period of Modern Hebrew: the regular employment of two prepositions, ʾax̱are ‘after’ and ʿal yede ‘by means of’, as causal conjunctions. Despite the initial distribution of this usage, it did not integrate into present-day Modern Hebrew but was abruptly discarded following the consolidation of Hebrew as a spoken language in the early 1920s. Analysis of a vast textual corpus representing language use in the early Hebrew press over six decades in the seminal period of the modernization (1870s–1930s) indicates the regular employment of both prepositions as causal conjunctions (alongside their original temporal/instrumental functions) up to the 1920s, and the sudden disappearance of this usage thereafter. The paper focuses on the differing degrees of conventionalization of the two usages, and highlights the linguistic and sociolinguistic factors involved in the rise and decline of this unique phenomenon.

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From Prepositions to Causal Conjunctions: An Incomplete Change Process in the Emergence Period of Modern Hebrew

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