What makes the dative-experiencer construction in Modern Hebrew different from its counterparts in European languages?

Rivka Halevy*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The paper proposes a usage-based account of a largely productive pattern of dative experiential sentences in Modern Hebrew that stand in contradistinction to their parallels in Indo-European languages. In the pattern under consideration, the dative-Experiencer is non-topical, following an invariable predicate in masculine singular form. The paper seeks to prove that the construction in Hebrew is essentially a subjectless construction. Its origin is traced back to Biblical Hebrew, but its proliferation in present-day language is assumed to be contact-facilitated by a parallel subject-like dative-Experiencer construction widespread in Slavic and Yiddish languages.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)379-417
Number of pages39
JournalSTUF - Language Typology and Universals
Volume75
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Annette Dufner. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Modern Hebrew
  • alignment typology
  • dative
  • experiencer
  • experiential construction
  • topic

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'What makes the dative-experiencer construction in Modern Hebrew different from its counterparts in European languages?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this