COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN ‘ISRAELI HEBREW’• Ghil‘ad Zuckermann*
    
    ABSTRACT ‘Hebrew’ is one of the official languages – with Arabic and English – of the State of Israel, established in 1948 on 20,770 km2 in the ‘Middle’ East. Israeli emerged at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Its symbolic first native speaker, Itamar Ben-Yehuda, began speaking in 1886. Israeli is a fusional synthetic language, with non-concatenative discontinuous morphemes realised by vowel infixation. This typological paper demonstrates that the typical Israeli comparative construction involves a copula or verbless clause construction, with the ‘Parameter’ as copula complement (CC) or as a verbless clause complement (VCC). However, there is another mono-clausal comparative construction, in which the ‘Index’ of comparison is the main verb in an extended intransitive clause. Future research would demonstrate that Israeli comparatives correspond with Yiddish and ‘Standard Average European’, although the forms used are Hebrew.
    
    Keywords: Hebrew, Israel, Basic Linguistic Theory, linguistics, Jewish language and culture,
    typology, superlative, comparative, extended intransitive, grammar, forms versus patterns, Israeli, Yiddish, Standard Average European, fusional, synthetic, discontinuous morphemes, infixation, complementation, clauses, analyticization, allative case, construct-state, ambiguity
    
    1. INTRODUCTION ‘Hebrew’ is legally one of the official languages of the State of Israel. Arabic and English also are official languages, and this reflects, for Arabic, demographic realities, and for English, the State of Israel being the successor state of British-ruled Palestine, itself one out of several successor polities of the Ottoman empire. Yet, the statement that ‘Hebrew’ is the official language, as well as the main spoken language, in Israel, is misleading, in that the language spoken and written is ‘Israeli Hebrew’. In fact, I usually refer to it as ‘Israeli’ (tout court) (Zuckermann 1999, 2003), because it has very distinctive features with respect to earlier historical strata of Hebrew. Israeli (henceforth ‘Israeli’ or ‘Israeli Hebrew’) emerged prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Its symbolic first native speaker, Itamar Ben-Yehuda, the revivalist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s son, began speaking in approx. 1886. This Basic Linguistic Theory typological paper demonstrates that the typical Israeli comparative construction involves a copula or verbless clause construction, with the ‘Parameter’ (see below) as copula complement (CC) or as a verbless clause complement (VCC). All of these terms will be explained below. However, there is another mono-clausal comparative construction, in which the ‘Index’ (see below) of comparison is the main verb in an extended intransitive clause.
    
    • Bernard Comrie and Ephraim Nissan read a draft of this paper and provided invaluable suggestions for improvement. A note on the transcription: whereas á is primary stress, à is secondary stress. If a stress is not mentioned in a bisyllabic word, it means that there are two possible stresses * D.Phil. (Oxon.), Associate Professor, ARC Discovery Fellow, Linguistics Program, School of English, Media Studies and Art History, The University of Queensland, Brisbane Qld 4072, Australia, gz@uq.edu.au, http://www.zuckermann.org/ Melilah 2006/2 p.1
    
    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann 2. GRAMMATICAL PROFILE Israeli (a.k.a. ‘Israeli Hebrew’) – just like Hebrew (e.g. Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew) – is a fusional synthetic language. It is a fusional language since it has morphemes which simultaneously encode several meanings – cf. Latin dominus (‘lord’), whose suffix -us ‘fuses’ the meanings of masculine, singular and nominative. It is a synthetic language as it has a high morpheme-per-word ratio and it uses non-concatenative discontinuous morphemes realised by vowel infixation. Consider yoháv ‘love:3msgFUT’, i.e. ‘(he) will love’; mitahévet ‘fall.in.love:fsgPRES’, i.e. ‘(she) is falling in love’. (A list of abbreviations used in this paper can be found after the bibliography.) However, Israeli is much more analytic than (Biblical/Mishnaic) Hebrew. Whereas the Hebrew phrase for ‘my grandfather’ was sav-í ‘grandfather-1POSS’, in Israeli it is sába shel-ì ‘grandfather GEN1sg’. Still, Israeli sometimes uses the Semitic feature known as ‘construct-state’ (Israeli smikhút), in which two nouns are combined, the first being modified or possessed by the second. For example, repúblika-t banánot, lit. ‘Republic bananas’, refers to ‘banana Republic’. However, unlike in Hebrew, the construct-state is not highly productive in Israeli. Compare the Hebrew construct-state ‘em ha-yéled ‘mother DEF-child’ with the more analytic Israeli phrase ha-íma shel ha-yéled ‘DEF-mother GEN DEFchild’, both meaning ‘the mother of the child’, i.e. ‘the child’s mother’. Israeli is a head-marking language. It is nominative-accusative at the syntactic level and partially also at the morphological level. As opposed to Biblical Hebrew – whose constituent order is VAO / VS(E) – but like Standard European1 and English, the usual constituent order of Israeli is AVO / SV(E). Thus, if there is no case marking, one can resort to the constituent order. Israeli is characterized by an asymmetry between definite Os and indefinite Os. There is an accusative marker, et, only before a definite O (mostly a definite noun or personal name). Et-ha is currently undergoing fusion and reduction to become ta. Consider taví l-i et ha-séfer ‘give:2msgIMP (puristically FUT) DAT-1sg ACC DEFbook’ (i.e. ‘Give me the book!’), where et, albeit syntactically a case-marker, is a preposition, and ha is a definite article. This sentence is realised phonetically as taví li ta-séfer.
    
    2.1 Nouns Israeli nouns show number, normally only singular and plural. Each noun is either m(asculine) or f(eminine), the latter often being created by adding a suffix to the unmarked masculine. For instance, whereas mazkír is ‘male secretary’, mazkirá is ‘female secretary’ (note the addition of -a). Similarly, whilst profésor is ‘male professor’, profésorit is ‘female professor’. Pronouns have ‘case forms’ consisting of a preposition plus a suffix: nominative (e.g. aní ‘I’), accusative (otí ‘me’), dative (li ‘to me’) and genitive (shelí ‘my’). However, NPs which are not pronouns do not bear case marking. The only exceptions are the above-mentioned accusative marker et (or ta), and the lexicalized allative (‘to/towards’) case (which, serendipitously, is based on the historical accusative case, see Weingreen 1959), e.g. báit ‘house’ > ha-báyt-a ‘to the house’; yerushaláim ‘Jerusalem’ > yerushaláym-a ‘to Jerusalem’; tsafón ‘north’ > tsafón-a ‘to the north’. New allative phrases, e.g. tel avív-a ‘to Tel Aviv’, are not used unless one is trying to sound flowery or jocular. Adjectives agree in number, gender and definiteness with the nouns they modify, e.g. ha-yéled hagadól, lit. ‘DEF-boy DEF-big’, i.e. ‘the big boy’; yelad-ím gdol-ím, lit. ‘boy-mpl big-mpl’, i.e. ‘big boys’.
    
    The term ‘Standard Average European’, a.k.a. SAE, was first introduced by Whorf (1941: 25) and recently received more attention by Haspelmath (1998, 2001) and Bernini and Ramat (1996) – cf. ‘European Sprachbund’ in Kuteva (1998). Melilah 2006/2 p.2
    
    1
    
    Comparative Constructions in ‘Israeli Hebrew’ 2.2 Verbs As opposed to Biblical Hebrew, which had only a perfect-imperfect distinction, Israeli has three tenses: past, present and future. In the past and future, verbal forms differ according to gender, number and 1st, 2nd and 3rd person. However, in the present tense, verbs are only conjugated according to gender and number and there is no person distinction. The historical reason is that the forms of the Israeli present can be traced back to the Hebrew participle, which is less complex than the historical perfect and imperfect forms. Verbs are transitive, intransitive or ambitransitive (labile). Ambitransitivity is usually of the S=A type. Whereas S is an intransitive subject, i.e. the subject of an intransitive verb, A is a transitive subject. For example, in the Israeli sentence dzhúlyo shatá etmòl ‘Giulios drank yesterday’ (cf. dzhúlyo shatá etmòl bíra ‘Giulios drank yesterday beero’), the object of ‘drinking’ is not mentioned. However, owing to Americanization, there are more and more ambitransitive verbs of the S=O type (O being the object of a transitive verb), e.g. ha-séfer mokhér tov ‘The-books sells well’ (cf. grísham mókher et haséfer tov ‘Grishams sells ACC the-booko well’); yésh po máshehu she-meríakh ra ‘There.is here somethings that-smells bad’ (cf. aní meríakh po máshehu ra ‘Is smell here somethingo bad’). 2.3 Clauses The main clause in Israeli consists of (a) clause-initial peripheral markers, e.g. discourse markers, e.g. ‘In my opinion […]’; (b) NP(s) (i.e. noun-phrases such as ‘the king of Spain’) or complement clause(s); (c) a predicate – either verbal, copular or verbless; (d) clause-final peripheral elements, e.g. discourse markers. The only obligatory element is the predicate, e.g. higáti ‘arrive:1sgPAST’, i.e. ‘I arrived’. Sentences (1), (2) and (3) are examples of a verbal, copular and verbless clause, respectively. The notation [ester]A means that Esther is the subject of a transitive verb, [akhlá]V means that akhlá ‘[she] ate’ is a verb, and so forth. (A list of abbreviations can be found after the bibliography.) (1) . ¯ [ester]A {[akhlá]V [Esther]A {[eat:3fsgPAST]V ‘Esther ate an apple.’ (2) . [ester]CS {[hi]COP {[COP:fsg]COP [Esther]CS ‘Esther is my sister.’
    
    [tapúakh]O} [apple]O}
    
    [akhót [sister
    
    shel-ì]CC}
    GEN-1sg]CC}
    
    (3) . ¯ [ester]VCS {[khakham-á]VCC} [Esther]VCS {[clever-f]VCC} ‘Esther is clever.’ There are many types of subordinate clause, e.g. adverbial (denoting comparison, time, place, condition, concession, reason, result, goal, state), adjectival/relative, nominal/complement. For a detailed discussion of complementation clauses in Israeli, see Zuckermann (2006b). On reported speech in Israeli, see Zuckermann (2006c).
    
    Melilah 2006/2, p.3
    
    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann 3. COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS 3.1 Type A1 This type of comparative construction involves a copula or verbless clause construction, with the Parameter as copula complement (CC) or as a verbless clause complement (VCC) – see Dixon (2004: 4-8).
    
    3.1.1 ‘More’ The following is the unmarked, most common comparative construction: (4) . [yotér gadól]VCC [dáni]VCS [Danny]VCS [more big]VCC [COMPAREE]VCS [INDEX PARAMETER]VCC ‘Danny is older/bigger than Yossi.’
    
    [mi-yósi]PERI [from-Yossi]PERI [MARK-STANDARD]PERI
    
    The Comparee (dáni ‘Danny’) is a Verbless Clause Subject (VCS). The Parameter (gadól ‘big’) and the Index (yotér ‘more’), which modifies the Parameter, constitute the Verbless Clause Complement (VCC). The Standard (yósi ‘Yossi’) is a Peripheral Argument (PERI), the grammatical function of which is marked by the Mark mi- ‘from’. It is possible to have zero in the Index slot, as follows, but this is literary and sounds high register: (5) . [gadól]VCC [mi-yósi]PERI [dáni]VCS [Danny]VCS [big]VCC [from-Yossi]PERI [COMPAREE]VCS [PARAMETER]VCC [MARK-STANDARD]PERI ‘Danny is older/bigger than Yossi.’ The Mark can also be me-ashér, lit. ‘from that’ (ashér is usually a relativizer), as follows: (6) . [dáni]VCS [yotér gadól]VCC [Danny]VCS [more big]VCC PARAMETER]VCC [COMPAREE]VCS [INDEX ‘Danny is older/bigger than Yossi.’
    
    [me-ashér [from-REL [MARK
    
    yósi]PERI Yossi]PERI
    STANDARD]PERI
    
    It is, in fact, possible to have a copular clause, as follows, but this is not common: (7) . [dáni]CS [hu]COP [yotér [Danny]CS [COP:msg]COP [more [COMPAREE]CS [INDEX ‘Danny is older/bigger than Yossi.’
    
    gadól]CC big]CC
    PARAMETER]CC
    
    [me-ashér yósi]PERI [from-REL Yossi]PERI [MARK STANDARD]PERI
    
    In formal speech, the Index and the Parameter can switch places in Sentences (4), (6) and (7), for example:
    
    Melilah 2006/2 p.4
    
    Comparative Constructions in ‘Israeli Hebrew’ (8) . [dáni]VCS [gadól yotér]VCC [big more]VCC [Danny]VCS [COMPAREE]VCS [PARAMETER INDEX]VCC ‘Danny is older/bigger than Yossi.’
    
    [mi-yósi]PERI [from-Yossi]PERI [MARK-STANDARD]PERI
    
    Negation appears before the Index or the Parameter, whichever comes first: (9) . [dáni]VCS [lo yotér gadól]VCC [Danny]VCS [NEG more big]VCC INDEX PARAMETER]VCC [COMPAREE]VCS [ ‘Danny is not older/bigger than Yossi.’
    
    [mi-yósi]PERI [from-Yossi]PERI [MARK-STANDARD]PERI
    
    (10) . [dáni]VCS [lo gadól yotér]VCC [Danny]VCS [NEG big more]VCC [COMPAREE]VCS [ PARAMETER INDEX]VCC ‘Danny is not older/bigger than Yossi.’ The following matrix summarizes the possibilities: (11) (COP) (NEG) INDEX PARAMETER INDEX dáni (hu) (lo) yotér gadól dáni (hu) (lo) gadól yotér dáni (hu) (lo) gadól ‘Danny is (not) older/bigger than Yossi.’
    COMPAREE
    
    [mi-yósi]PERI [from-Yossi]PERI [MARK-STANDARD]PERI
    
    MARK
    
    STANDARD
    
    mi-/meashér yósi miyósi miyósi
    
    The Comparee and Standard are usually expressed by NPs, mostly a definite noun or personal name, and sometimes a pronoun or without an explicit mention, as follows: (12) ! tafsík stop:2msgIMP
    
    tsadík]CC [me-ha-apifyór]PERI]COMP CLAUSE righteous]CC [from-DEF-pope]PERI]COMP CLAUSE COMPAREE [INDEX PARAM.]CC [MARK-STANDARD]PERI ‘Stop being more righteous than the pope!’
    
    [[li-yót]COP [yotér [[INF-be]COP [more
    
    But they can also be an abstract noun, as in the following verbal clause, where the Parameter is an extended intransitive verb (rather than an adjective): (13) . [inteligéntsya rigshí-t]S [ozér-et harbé yotér]VP [me-ày kyú]PERI [intelligence:f emotional-f]S [help:PRES-fsg much more]VP [from-I. Q.]PERI [COMPAREE]S [PARAMETER INDEX]VP [MARK-STAND.]PERI ‘Emotional intelligence is much more helpful than I.Q.’ In the above sentence the Index (modified by harbé ‘much’) follows the Parameter. In such a case, negation will precede the Parameter. Consider the following sentence, with the Parameter being an adverb (‘fast’) of an intransitive verb (‘run’):
    
    Melilah 2006/2, p.5
    
    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann (14) . karl Carl
    
    lúis lo yarúts yotér mahér Lewis NEG run:3msgFUT more fast
    INDEX PARAMETER
    
    mi-pyétro menéa from-Pietro Mennea
    MARK-STANDARD
    
    ---------------------COMPAREE----------------
    
    ‘Carl Lewis will not run faster than Pietro Mennea [an Italian former sprinter, b. 1952, who held the 200m world record in the 1980s].’ That said, in colloquial speech the negator can come just before the Index, i.e. between yarúts ‘will run’ and yotér ‘more’. In the following sentence – where there is no flexibility with regards to the location of the Index – the transitive verb ohév ‘like’ can be analysed either as part of the Comparee or as the Parameter: (15) . aní ohév I love:msgPRES
    
    shawárma shawarma
    COMPAREE
    
    yotér more
    INDEX
    
    mi- falafel from- falafel
    MARK-STANDARD
    
    ‘I like shawarma [Middle-eastern döner kebab] more than falafel [ground spiced chickpeas shaped into balls and fried].’ Occasionally, the Parameter can be a noun: (16) . dáni Danny hu
    COP:msg
    
    yotér ben–adám more person
    INDEX PARAMETER
    
    mi-móti from-Motti
    MARK-STANDARD
    
    COMPAREE
    
    ‘Danny is more of a ‘mentsh’ [humane, gentlemanly, honest…] than Motti.’ In speech, the Index and Parameter often precede the Comparee: (17) . yotér tov more good
    
    shipúts-nik atsbaní repair-nik crusty
    
    mi-khantarísh from-crummy
    MARK-STANDARD
    
    INDEX PARAMETER --------COMPAREE--------
    
    ‘Better a ‘crusty’/nervous builder than a ‘crummy’/mediocre one.’ Note the ellipsis: shipúts-nik ‘builder’ does not appear in the Standard.
    
    3.1.2 ‘Less’ Israeli ‘less’ constructions are very similar to ‘more’ ones. Just as in the case of yotér ‘more’, it is possible for the Mark to be me-ashér. The Index pakhót ‘less’ can occur after the Parameter but it is not common. (18) . \¯ [dáni]VCS [pakhót mukhshár]VCC [mi- / me-ashér [Danny]VCS [less talented]VCC [from / from-REL [COMPAREE]VCS [INDEX PARAMETER]VCC [-------MARK--------‘Danny is less talented than Yossi.’
    
    yósi]PERI Yossi]PERI
    STANDARD]PERI
    
    The Parameter can be a noun, as in the following existential copular clause (Note the ellipsis: the Parameter and part of the Standard do not reappear after the Mark):
    Melilah 2006/2 p.6
    
    Comparative Constructions in ‘Israeli Hebrew’ (19) .
    
    [be-[pigúa ha-hitabdút]CONSTR etmól be-moskvá]PERI [in-[terror.attack DEF-suicide]CONSTR yesterday in-Moscow]PERI [--------------------------------------COMPAREE-------------------------------------------------]PERI
    [hayú]COP [pakhót harug-ím]CS [me-ashér [EXIS.COP:plPAST]COP [less killed-mpl]CS [from-REL [INDEX PARAMETER]CS [MARK be-ber shéva]PERI in-Beer Sheva]PERI
    STANDARD]PERI
    
    ‘In yesterday’s suicide terror attack in Moscow there were fewer killed than in Beer Sheva.’ The Parameter can consist of a transitive verb: (20) . medabér aravít ha-mélekh abdála DEF-king Abdullah speak:msgPRES Arabic
    PARAMETER
    
    pakhót tov less good
    
    me-anglít from-English
    MARK-STAND.
    
    COMPAREE INDEX PARAM.
    
    ‘King Abdullah speaks Arabic less well than English.’ Obviously, the Comparee here is ‘Arabic’ rather than ‘King Abdullah’. Note the ellipsis: medabér ‘speaks’ does not reappear after the Mark.
    
    3.1.3 ‘The same as’ Israeli ‘the same as’ constructions are structurally different from ‘more’ or ‘less’ constructions. They lack an Index, the sameness being expressed by the Mark kmo, lit. ‘as, like’. (21) . ¯¯ [dáni]VCS [mukhshár]VCC [Danny]VCS [talented]VCC [COMPAREE]VCS [PARAMETER]VCC ‘Danny is as talented as Yossi.’
    
    [kmo yósi]PERI [as Yossi]PERI [MARK STANDARD]PERI
    
    The Mark can be followed by a modifier such as be-érekh ‘approximately’ (lit. ‘in-value’), kimát ‘almost’ or pakhót o yotér ‘more or less’ (lit. ‘less or more’); or by augmentative adverbs such as bidyúk (puristically be-diyúk) ‘exactly’ (lit. ‘in exactness’) and mamásh ‘exactly’ (‘substantially’): (22) . ¯ \ ¯ [dáni]VCS [mukhshár]VCC [mamásh/bidyúk kmo yósi]PERI [Danny]VCS [talented]VCC [exactly as Yossi]PERI [COMPAREE]VCS [PARAMETER]VCC [ MARK STANDARD]PERI ‘Danny is exactly as talented as Yossi.’ Instead of using the Mark kmo ‘as’, an Israeli formal writer could use the rare ke- ‘as’: (23) . ¯ ¯ [dáni]VCS [mukhshár]VCC [talented]VCC [Danny]VCS [COMPAREE]VCS [PARAMETER]VCC ‘Danny is as talented as Yossi.’
    
    [ke-yósi]PERI [as-Yossi]PERI [MARK-STANDARD]PERI
    Melilah 2006/2, p.7
    
    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann When the Parameter is a noun, the inflectable Index ot-ó, lit. ‘ACC-msg’, meaning ‘the same’, can be used: (24) . ¯ ¯ sikúy chance:msg le-natséakh
    INF-win
    
    ot-ó le-barák obáma yesh to-Barack Obama EXIS.COP ACC-msg kmo as le-híleri klínton to-Hillary Clinton
    
    ‘Barack Obama has the same chance of winning as Hillary Clinton.’ The expression be-ot-á midá, lit. ‘in-ACC-fsg measure:fsg’, i.e. ‘in the same measure’, is often used the ‘the same as’ constructions.
    
    3.2 Type A1-si In an appropriate discourse context the Standard can be omitted in ‘more’ and ‘less’ constructions (but obviously not in ‘the same as’ constructions). Dixon (2004: 8-9) calls this ‘Type-A1-si’ since the Standard is implicit. Consider the following sentence: (25) . ze
    DEM COMPAREE
    
    yotér more
    INDEX
    
    yafè beautiful
    PARAMETER
    
    ‘This is more beautiful.’ The Standard is implicit but understood from context.
    
    3.3 Extended Intransitive ‘Type C’ As opposed to Type A, where the Index is a modifier to the Parameter, Israeli uses – albeit significantly less frequently – a comparative construction in which the Index is the main extended intransitive verb in a clause, with Comparee and Standard being its subject and indirect object arguments. This can be categorized under Dixon’s ‘Type C’ (2004: 15-17) with one modification: in Israeli the Comparee and Standard are not A and O arguments but rather S and E arguments. The Parameter is usually expressed immediately after the verb, as following: (26) . '' [lári fránklin] olé be-rashlanut-ó [Larry Franklin] exceed:msgPRES in-negligence-3msg
    ---COMPAREE-----INDEX PARAMETER
    
    al on
    MARK
    
    [dzhónatan pólard] [Jonathan Pollard]
    -----STANDARD--------
    
    ‘Larry Franklin [U.S. Air Force Reserve colonel who has pleaded guilty to passing information about U.S. policy towards Iran to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)] exceeds Jonathan Pollard [convicted Israeli spy and former U. S. Naval civilian intelligence analyst] in his negligence.’ Besides the preposition requirement (al ‘on’), the indirect object in such comparative construction cannot be the target of passivization.
    Melilah 2006/2 p.8
    
    Comparative Constructions in ‘Israeli Hebrew’ Punningly comparing the Yarkon River (south of Ramat Aviv, lit. ‘plateau of spring’, a suburb of Tel Aviv) and Benny Begin, the son of Menachem Begin, former Israeli Prime Minister, an Israeli could say the following: (27) . \ af ekhád me-hèm lo megía le-[ramát avív]CONSTR NEG one from-they NEG arrive:msgPRES to-[Ramat/level Aviv/his.father]CONSTR ‘None of them arrives at Ramat Aviv / at the level of his father.’ Note that the Israeli words for ‘spring’ (avív as in Ramat Aviv, modelled upon Tel Aviv, the latter being Nahum Sokolov’s witty translation of Herzl’s Altneuland (the ancient tel ‘hill’ with the new avív ‘spring’) – see Yadin and Zuckermann forthcoming, as well as Ezekiel 3:15) and ‘his father’ are homophonous.
    
    4. SUPERLATIVE Although the Parameters used in both are similar, Israeli comparative and superlative constructions behave in a different way syntactically. As seen above, a comparative adjective typically makes up the whole of a verbless clause complement argument, and relates two participants of equal status. A superlative adjective, on the other hand, modifies a head noun within an NP which includes a definite article. It effectively identifies a unique individual, as in the following sentence: (28) . ¯ ¯ hayíti ha-yéled be:1mPAST DEF-boy
    COMPAREE
    
    hakhí gavóa most tall
    INDEX PARAMETER
    
    b-a-kitá in-DEF-class
    MARK STANDARD
    
    ‘I was the tallest child in the class.’ The Mark and the Standard are optional, see the following sentence which lacks them: (29) . ¯¯ pinkhas hu Pinchas COP:msg
    COMPAREE
    
    ha-kanár
    DEF-violinist PARAMETER
    
    hakhí most
    INDEX
    
    tov good
    PARAMETER
    
    ‘Pinchas is the best violinist.’ Whilst hakhí ‘(the) most’ (historically, ‘DEF-REL’, i.e. ‘the that’) is the most common Index, in high register one can use be-yotér, lit. ‘in more’, as well. Note that yotér is the common Index in the ‘more’ constructions (see above). However, whereas hakhí has to come before the Parameter (which has to have an indefinite adjective), be-yotér has to follow the Parameter (which has to have a definite adjective), as follows: (30) .( ) pinkhas Pinchas
    COMPAREE
    
    ¯ hu
    COP:msg
    
    ha-kanár
    DEF-violinist
    
    ha-tóv
    DEF-good
    
    be-yotér in-more
    INDEX
    
    -----------PARAMETER----------
    
    (b-a-olám) (in-DEF-world) (MARK STANDARD)
    
    ‘Pinchas is the best violinist (in the world).’ Elsewhere, i.e. not when modifying the adjective of a definite Parameter in a superlative construction, be-yotér functions as an augmentative adverb and means simply ‘very’ – see the following nonsuperlative/comparative sentence:
    Melilah 2006/2, p.9
    
    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann
    
    (31) . ¯ pinkhas hu kanár tóv Pinchas COP:msg violinist good ‘Pinchas is a very good violinist.’
    
    be-yotér in-more
    
    As opposed to the most common augmentative adverb meód ‘very’ which can either precede or follow the adjective, be-yotér can only occur after the adjective it modifies. Coming back to the superlative, it is, in fact, possible to omit the Index be-yotér. However, in such a case the Mark and the Standard must appear (and obviously the adjective of the Parameter must be definite): (32) . pinkhas Pinchas
    COMPAREE
    
    ¯ hu
    COP:msg
    
    ha-kanár
    DEF-violinist
    
    ha-tóv
    DEF-good
    
    b-a-olám in-DEF-world
    MARK STANDARD
    
    -----------PARAMETER----------
    
    ‘Pinchas is the best violinist in the world.’ The copula is usually required unless it follows a pronoun. However, superlative constructions appear in verbal sentences too, in which case the Index has to be hakhí ‘(the) most’. Consider the following sentence, with an intransitive verb: (33) . pinkhas Pinchas
    COMPAREE
    
    ¯ menagén play:msgPRES
    PARAMETER
    
    hakhí most
    INDEX
    
    tóv good
    PARAMETER
    
    b-a-olám in-DEF-world
    MARK STANDARD
    
    ‘Pinchas plays the best in the world.’
    
    5. INHERENTLY COMPARATIVE LEXEMES There are several Israeli adjectives, verbs and nouns which are inherently, ipso facto, comparative. In structural terms, they involve a fusion of Parameter and Index. 5.1 ‘More’ The adjective adíf ‘preferable, better’ is very often used in comparison (more than muadáf ‘preferred, favoured’): (34) . adíf better
    INDEX+PARAMETER
    
    meukhár late
    
    me-ashér from-REL
    
    af
    NEG
    
    páam time (cf. German niemal ‘never’)
    
    COMPAREE MARK
    
    STANDARD
    
    ‘Better late than never.’ In colloquial speech, one can often hear ‘tautological’, double comparatives: (35) . ze
    
    DEM:msg
    
    yotér adíf more better ‘This is more better.’ i.e. ‘This is better.’
    Melilah 2006/2 p.10
    
    Comparative Constructions in ‘Israeli Hebrew’
    
    An inherently comparative verb is le-haadíf ‘to prefer’: (36) . " khí-r-nik-im amiti-ím maadif-ím unit-infantry-nik-mpl real-mpl prefer:PRES-mpl
    INDEX+PARAMETER
    
    milkhamá al war on
    COMPAREE MARK
    
    shalóm peace
    STAND.
    
    ‘Real infantry soldiers prefer war to peace.’ An inherently comparative noun is adifút ‘preference’: (37) . hi notén-et adifút le-mi she-megía kódem she give:PRES-fsg preference to-who REL-arrive:msgPRES previously/first ‘She gives preference to those who arrive earlier.’
    
    5.2 ‘Less’ Consider the adjective nakhút ‘inferior’: (38) . ha-robót
    DEF-robot COMPAREE
    
    nakhút inferior
    INDEX+PARAMETER
    
    me-ha-adám from-DEF-man
    MARK-STANDARD
    
    ‘The robot is inferior to man.’ Often, the ‘less’ meaning results from negating the verb le-hishtavót ‘to be equal (to), to compare (with) [intransitive]’: (39) . - ¯ rúsya lo mishtavá le-sín be-[kadùr Russia NEG be.equal:fsgPRES to-China in-[ball:m ‘Russia is not as good as China in volleyball.’
    
    áf]CONSTR fly:msgPARTIC]CONSTR
    
    With the right intonation (stressing mishtavá), this sentence can actually mean that ‘Russia is far below China in volleyball’. The root of this verb, sh.v.h. ‘equal, compare’, yields many inherently comparative lexical items such as the verb le-hashvót ‘to compare’. Consider the expression be-hashvaá le- ‘in comparison with’: (40) .' ' ,
    
    be-hashvaá le-shikágo, ha-[mézeg avír] CONSTR in-comparison to-Chicago, DEF-[temperament air]CONSTR (i.e. ‘weather’) be-mélborn hu ‘khalóm’ in-Melbourne COP dream ‘Compared with Chicago, the weather in Melbourne is a dream.’
    
    Melilah 2006/2, p.11
    
    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann 5.3 ‘The same as’ The adjective shavé means ‘equal’, but when accompanied by yotér ‘more’, it means ‘worth more’. Consider the following sentence from George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945): (41) . ¯ , ¯ kol ha-khay-ót shav-ót, akh yesh-nán kaéle she-shav-ót yotér all DEF-animal-fpl equal-fpl , but EXIS.COP-fpl DEM:pl REL-equal-fpl more ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.’ Consider also the adjective zehé ‘identical’, as opposed to shoné ‘different’: (42) . ha-mehirút shel
    
    ferári lo zehá le-zót shel DEF-speed GEN Ferrari NEG identical to-DEM GEN ‘The speed of a Ferrari is not equal to that of a Lamborghini.’
    
    lamborgíni Lamborghini
    
    5.4 Superlative Consider the adjective ultimatívi, ‘ultimate’, as well as muadáf ‘preferred’, as in the following sentences in which the Mark and the Standard are not mentioned explicitly: (43) ! zot
    DEM:fsg
    
    ha-khavayá
    DEF-experience:fsg
    
    ha-ultimatívi-t
    DEF-ultimate-fsg INDEX+PARAMETER
    
    ‘This is the ultimate experience!’ (44) . hi she
    
    ha-bát
    
    ha-muadéfet
    INDEX+PARAMETER
    
    DEF-daughterDEF-preferred:fsg
    
    ‘She is the favourite daughter.’
    
    6. OTHER SCHEMES OF COMPARISON 6.1 Comparing two distinct properties/clauses (45) . ¯ b-a-kvísh yotér khashúv in-DEF-road more important
    INDEX PARAMETER
    
    ¯ li-yót
    INF-be COMPAREE
    
    khakhám clever
    
    me-ashér tsodék from-REL right
    MARK STANDARD
    
    ‘On the road, it is more important to be clever than right.’ (46) . mi who
    
    she-mitabéd
    REL-commit.suicide:msgPRES
    
    hu
    COP
    
    yotér tipésh more stupid
    
    me-amíts from-courageous
    
    INDEX COMPAREE MARK-STANDARD
    
    ‘The one who commits suicide is more stupid than courageous.’
    
    Melilah 2006/2 p.12
    
    Comparative Constructions in ‘Israeli Hebrew’ The compared properties can also be shown by verbs: (47) . ha-núdnik
    DEF-pest
    
    ha-zé
    DEF-DEM
    
    medabér speak:msgPRES
    COMPAREE
    
    yotér more
    INDEX
    
    me-ashér from-REL
    MARK
    
    osé do:msgPRES
    STANDARD
    
    ‘This pest speaks more than he acts.’ Rather than comparing two participants (as in the prototypical comparative construction), or two properties (as here), in Israeli – like English – one can compare whole clauses, resulting in a complex sentence: (48) . netanyáhu ra Netnayahu bad klínton Clinton tov good l-a-yehudí-m to-DEF-jew-mpl l-a-yehudi-ót to-DEF-jew-fpl pakhót less
    INDEX
    
    me-ashér from-REL
    MARK
    
    ----------------------COMPAREE----------------------
    
    ------------------------STANDARD-----------------------
    
    ‘Netanyahu is less bad for the Jews than Clinton is good for the Jewesses.’ (49) . hu koré he read:msgPRES
    ------COMPAREE------
    
    yotér leát more slowly
    
    me-ashér from-REL
    
    hi maklid-á she type:PRES-fsg
    -------STANDARD-------
    
    INDEX PARAMETER MARK
    
    ‘He reads more slowly than she types.’
    
    6.2 Ellipsis (and ambiguity) Comparative constructions often include ellipsis, which could result in ambiguity: (50) . hermafrodít-im hermaphrodite-pl ohavím gvarím love:mplPRES men
    PARAMETER COMPAREE
    
    yotér more
    INDEX
    
    mi-nashím from-women
    MARK-STANDARD
    
    ‘Hermaphrodites love men more than they like women.’
    COMPAREE ------PARAMETER-----INDEX MARK-STANDARD
    
    ‘Hermaphrodites love men more than women love men.’ However, such an ambiguity is blocked when the object is definite, the reason being that in Israeli, as previously mentioned, there is an accusative marker, et, (only) before a definite O. Consider the following minimal pair:
    
    Melilah 2006/2, p.13
    
    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann (51) . aní I
    COMPAREE
    
    ohév love:msgPRES
    
    et
    ACC
    
    rúti Ruthie
    
    yotér more
    INDEX
    
    me-akhót from-sister
    
    shel-à
    GEN-3fsg
    
    -----------------PARAMETER---------------------
    
    MARK-------STANDARD------
    
    ‘I love Ruthie more than her sister loves her.’ (52) . aní I
    
    ohév et love:msgPRES ACC
    PARAMETER
    
    rúti Ruthie
    
    yotér more
    
    me-et akhót shel-à from-ACC sister GEN-3fsg
    MARK -----STANDARD----
    
    COMPAREE INDEX
    
    ‘I love Ruthie more than I love her sister.’ The fact that ‘her sister’ is the one who loves in (51) but the one who is loved in (52) results from the existence of the accusative marker et.
    
    6.3 Correlative comparatives Unlike most world languages, but just like Indo-European languages, Israeli has ‘correlative comparatives’, in which two comparative clauses are juxtaposed: (53) . ( ¯) , ke-khól she-lomd-ím ‘as-all’ REL-study:PRES-mpl yotér li-lmód more INF-study balshanút linguistics ¯¯ yotér safót, (kakh) rots-ím more languages (thus) want:PRES-mpl
    
    ‘The more languages one studies, the more one wants to study linguistics.’ Whereas ke-khól she-, lit. ‘as all that-’, usually means ‘as long as’ or ‘as much as’, the optional kakh is an adverb meaning ‘thus, so’.
    
    7. CONCLUDING REMARKS The prototypical Israeli comparative construction is Type A1 (e.g. dáni yotér gadól mi-yósi ‘Danny is older/bigger than Yossi’). However, there is another mono-clausal comparative construction: extended intransitive ‘Type C’, in which the Index of comparison is the main verb in an extended intransitive clause (e.g. lári fránklin olé be-rashlanut-ó al dzhónatan pólard ‘Larry Franklin exceeds Jonathan Pollard in his negligence’). Further research should compare comparatives in Israeli to those of Yiddish, ‘Standard Average European’2, Polish and Russian, as well as to those of Judaeo-Spanish and other non-Ashkenazic Jewish languages. My hypothesis is that Israeli, a ‘semi-engineered’ multi-layered language, resurrects Hebrew comparative lexical items but adapts them to European patterns. In other words, Israeli comparatives correspond with Yiddish and Standard Average European, although the forms used are Hebrew. Such findings would strengthen my hybridic model of the genesis of fascinating and multifaceted Israeli (e.g. Zuckermann 2006a, forthcoming).
    
    Melilah 2006/2 p.14
    
    Comparative Constructions in ‘Israeli Hebrew’ REFERENCES Bernini, Giuliano and Ramat, Paolo 1996. Negative Sentences in the Languages of Europe: A Typological Approach (Empirical Approaches to Language Typology 16). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Dixon, R. M. W. 2004. ‘Comparative Constructions’. Workshop Position Paper, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University. Haspelmath, Martin 1998. ‘How Young is Standard Average European?’. Language Sciences 20: 271-87. ——— 2001. ‘The European Linguistic Area: Standard Average European’ in Haspelmath et al. (eds), Language Typology and Language Universals. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter; Vol. 2: 1492-510. Kuteva, Tania 1998. ‘Large Linguistic Areas in Grammaticalization: Auxiliation in Europe’. Language Sciences 20.289-311. Weingreen, Jacob 1959. A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (2nd edition) Yadin, Azzan and Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad [forthcoming]. ‘Blorít: Pagans' Mohawk or Sabras' Forelock?: Ideologically Manipulative Secularization of Hebrew Terms in Socialist Zionist Israeli' in Tope Omoniyi, The Sociology of Language and Religion: Change, Conflict and Accommodation. A Festschrift for Joshua A. Fishman. London – New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad 1999. Review Article of Nakdimon Shabbethay Doniach and Ahuvia Kahane (eds), The Oxford English-Hebrew Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. International Journal of Lexicography 12: 325-46. ——— 2003. Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ——— 2006a. ‘A New Vision for "Israeli Hebrew": Theoretical and Practical Implications of Analysing Israel's Main Language as a Semi-Engineered Semito-European Hybrid Language’. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 5.1: 57-71. ——— 2006b. ‘Complement Clause Types in Israeli’, pp. 72-92 (Chapter 3) of R. M. W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds), Complementation: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (Explorations in Linguistic Typology, vol. III), Oxford: Oxford University Press. ——— 2006c. ‘Direct and Indirect Speech in Straight-Talking Israeli’. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 53.4: 467-481. ——— forthcoming. Israelit Safa Yafa (Israeli a Beautiful Language. Hebrew as Myth). Tel Aviv: Am Oved.
    
    ABBREVIATIONS 1 2 3 A ACC CC COMP CONSTR COP CS DAT DEF DEM 1st person 2nd person 3rd person transitive subject accusative copula complement complement(izer) construct state copula copula subject dative definite demonstrative
    Melilah 2006/2, p.15
    
    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann E EXIS f FUT GEN IMP INF m NEG NP O PARTIC PASS PAST pl POSS PERI REL S sg V VCC VCS VP extended intransitive existential feminine future genitive imperative infinitive masculine negator noun phrase transitive object participle passive past plural possessive peripheral argument relativizer intransitive subject singular verb verbless clause complement verbless clause subject verbal phrase
    
    Melilah 2006/2 p.16

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