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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

Chapter 10
Voice distinctions

| Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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
Published online: 18 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.210.11tau
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