We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Existentials and possessives in Modern Hebrew.
- Authors
Melnik, Nurit
- Abstract
This paper considers the relationship between synchronic variation and language change in the context of the existential and possessive constructions in Modern Hebrew, which exhibit a normative – colloquial alternation. The study examines usage patterns across age groups and time periods, as represented in spoken-language corpora. It shows that the non-normative construction is used extensively in the contemporary speech of adults. Moreover, a comparison of the use of the normative – colloquial alternations by two populations, children and adults, in different time periods, provides evidence to suggest that these constructions are undergoing language change. A cross-linguistic perspective lends additional support: across languages the expression of existence involves non-canonical structures, which are particularly susceptible to language variation and, possibly, language change.
- Subjects
HEBREW language; LINGUISTIC change; EXISTENTIAL constructions (Grammar); POSSESSIVES (Grammar); SYNCHRONIC linguistics
- Publication
Studies in Language, 2018, Vol 42, Issue 2, p389
- ISSN
0378-4177
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1075/sl.17041.mel