Semantic category and situation aspect in the Biblical Hebrew Niphal and Hitpael

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Richard C. Benton
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Category ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Derivational Morphology ◽  
Semitic Languages ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Additional Dimension ◽  
Situation Aspect

Abstract A clear distinction between the Niphal and Hitpael derivational morphology in Biblical Hebrew has eluded scholars. Traditionally, they have been distinguished according to voice (passive and middle) and reflexivity, where the Niphal tends more to express the former and the Hitpael, the latter. These categories result in significant overlap between these verbal forms, however. To fill attempt to fill this gap, the present study examines the complex relationship between the situation aspect, namely, State, Activity, and Accomplishment, of these verbal forms and the semantic category of verbal roots, both of which contribute to the meaning of a given verb. The Niphal tends consistently towards the situation aspect of State, and the Hitpael towards Activity, as I showed previously (Benton 2009). This paper delves additionally into Accomplishments as a compound aspect of an Activity followed by a State, and it shows that the Hitpael expresses the first phase and the Niphal, the second. The semantic categories in this study include denominal, deadjectival, and motion verbs. The verbal forms consistently follow their situation aspect in all the semantic categories of this study, but, significantly, the semantic category of these verbs imposes an additional dimension of meaning, further distinguishing between the two verbal forms. Authors can combine roots and derivational morphology for stylistic effect. Finally, the article suggests areas where the intersection of morphology, situation aspect, and semantic category can aid linguistic analysis in Biblical Hebrew and other Semitic languages.

Linguistic Analysis of Biblical Hebrew (review)

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Gary. Rendsburg
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Biblical Hebrew

scholarly journals MemCat: A new category-based image set quantified on memorability

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lore Goetschalckx ◽  
Johan Wagemans
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Source Image ◽  
Behavioral Correlates ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Visual Hierarchy ◽  
Image Set ◽  
High Level ◽  
Repeat Detection

This is a preprint. Please find the published, peer reviewed version of the paper here: https://peerj.com/articles/8169/. Images differ in their memorability in consistent ways across observers. What makes an image memorable is not fully understood to date. Most of the current insight is in terms of high-level semantic aspects, related to the content. However, research still shows consistent differences within semantic categories, suggesting a role for factors at other levels of processing in the visual hierarchy. To aid investigations into this role as well as contributions to the understanding of image memorability more generally, we present MemCat. MemCat is a category-based image set, consisting of 10K images representing five broader, memorability-relevant categories (animal, food, landscape, sports, and vehicle) and further divided into subcategories (e.g., bear). They were sampled from existing source image sets that offer bounding box annotations or more detailed segmentation masks. We collected memorability scores for all 10K images, each score based on the responses of on average 99 participants in a repeat-detection memory task. Replicating previous research, the collected memorability scores show high levels of consistency across observers. Currently, MemCat is the second largest memorability image set and the largest offering a category-based structure. MemCat can be used to study the factors underlying the variability in image memorability, including the variability within semantic categories. In addition, it offers a new benchmark dataset for the automatic prediction of memorability scores (e.g., with convolutional neural networks). Finally, MemCat allows to study neural and behavioral correlates of memorability while controlling for semantic category.

Notes on the shift from accusative constructions to prepositional phrases in Hebrew and Arabic

1981 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-14
Author(s):  
Naphtali Kinberg
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Semitic Languages ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Modern Hebrew ◽  
Accusative Constructions ◽  
North Western

In an article published in the early sixties, M. Bogaert shows certain groups of verbs which in Biblical Hebrew (as well as in other north-western Semitic languages) may govern verbal suffixes instead of ‘dative’prepositions. This phenomenon is called by him ‘non-accusative verbal suffixes’.In his article ‘'et = ’el “to, towards” in Biblical Hebrew', S. Izre'el argues that the particle 'et sometimes occurs in contexts that elsewhere require the prepositions 'el ‘to, towards’ or 'im ‘with’. He concludes thatwith 'et is a preposition which in Modern Hebrew may be rendered by 'im or 'el, similar to the Hebrew preposition bƏ- which is sometimes translated into English as ‘in’ and at other times as ‘at’, according to the context.

scholarly journals ESCOPO E “VARIÁVEIS LIGADAS TÍPICAS” DO PORTUGUÊS BRASILEIRO

2004 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Menuzzi
Keyword(s):  
Logical Form ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Semantic Categories

O artigo procura mostrar que certas formas pronominais, chamadas de “variáveis ligadas típicas”, levantam questões importantes acerca das relações entre sintaxe e semântica. Tais formas pronominais – o reflexivo si, o possessivo seu e os sujeitos nulos do português brasileiro – são especializadas para expressar a interpretação de variável ligada (cf. Menuzzi, 2003); no entanto, não podem ser usadas exatamente nos mesmos contextos em que esta é permitida. Em particular, não basta para as “variáveis ligadas típicas” estarem no “escopo” de seu antecedente – isto é, serem por ele c-comandadas em forma lógica. Antes, as “variáveis ligadas típicas” exigem c-comando em estrutura-desuperfície. Esta falta de correspondência entre categorias da sintaxe e da semântica indica uma relação complexa entre ambos os componentes da gramática. Abstract This paper tries to show that certain pronominal forms, called “typical bound variables”, raise important issues concerning the relation between syntax and semantics. The relevant forms – the reflexive si, the possessive seu and null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese – are especialized in expressing the bound variable interpretation (cf. Menuzzi, 2003); however, they cannot be used in exactly the same contexts in which that interpretation is allowed. In particular, it is not enought for “typical bound variables” to be in the “scope” of their antecedents – that is, to be c-commanded by them at logical form. This mismatch between syntactic and semantic categories points to a complex relationship between syntax and semantics.

scholarly journals Paronomastic Infinitives in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic: A Typological Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-299
Author(s):  
Alessandro Mengozzi ◽  
Emanuele Miola
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Functional Variation ◽  
Semitic Languages ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Typological Approach

Abstract In the present article we aim to describe the distribution and functions of preposed and postposed paronomastic infinitives in literary and spoken varieties of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). In the first part, the syntax and the function(s) of constructions involving a paronomastic infinitive will be described from a typological point of view. Syntactic and functional variation of NENA paronomastic infinitives largely corresponds to what is found in other Semitic languages, as well as in many languages belonging to other families. In the second part of the article we will address the rendering of Biblical Hebrew and Classical Syriac paronomastic infinitives in NENA Bible translations and offer a survey of various constructions found in spoken varieties and in the language of early Christian Neo-Aramaic poetry.

The Theory of Self-Identification and Categorical Research Method

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
С. Попей-олл ◽  
S. Popey-oll
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Category ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Categorical Method ◽  
Rapid Transformation ◽  
Social Level

This article presents a categorical method for analyzing the complex processes of personal identity. Human experiences are a result of conscious generalizations that dominate culture and are fixed in semantic categories. The rapid transformation of society fragments a life into many identifying parameters. Therefore, «a self-concept» and a semantic category of being may not be consistent with each other. The harmonious level of self-organization is manifested in the sensory coherence of people: an intention and an expectation. And fragmentation is a chaos of self-awareness and loss of an emotional stability. In a complicating society, the identity of a person becomes multiple and ambiguous. These studies will determine not only the social level of human self-organization, but begin the search for a method to maintain them. The article attempts to consider a categorical method for analyzing the self-identification properties of a people.

scholarly journals Contact-Induced Change in an Oceanic Language: The Paluai – Tok Pisin Case

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dineke Schokkin
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Opposite Direction ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Processes Of Change ◽  
Functional Elements ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Creole Languages ◽  
Substrate Influence

Many studies have focused on substrate influence on the creole languages of Melanesia – Tok Pisin, Solomons Pijin and Bislama. The same cannot be said with regard to influence in the opposite direction: contact-induced change occurring in local vernaculars due to pressure from the creole. This paper presents a case study of several instances of structural borrowing and semantic category change in Paluai, an Oceanic language spoken in Papua New Guinea. It is shown that a number of functional elements originating from Tok Pisin are now firmly embedded in Paluai grammar: two verbs, gat and inap, and a conjunction, taim. Moreover, semantic categories are undergoing change and possibly attrition due to many-to-one correspondences. This suggests that it is important to view language contact situations as dynamic and involving two-way processes of change.

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