The Semitic "Perfect" and the Problem of the Third Person Zero Morpheme

In many languages, third person forms in a verbal paradigm are unmarked, and scholars have suggested that such cases are either a result of loss or nondevelopment. In this article I will argue that in the perfect/stative paradigm in Semitic, the third person morphology is a result of nondevelopment....

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Auteur principal: Pat-El, Na'ama (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Publié: 2025
Dans: JAOS
Année: 2025, Volume: 145, Numéro: 2, Pages: 327-348
Accès en ligne: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Description
Résumé:In many languages, third person forms in a verbal paradigm are unmarked, and scholars have suggested that such cases are either a result of loss or nondevelopment. In this article I will argue that in the perfect/stative paradigm in Semitic, the third person morphology is a result of nondevelopment. I suggest that these forms are constructed as predicative adjectives, without person markers, because Semitic never developed third person nominative pronouns. I further discuss other innovative verbal formations in Semitic and show that when subject clitics are noncanonical, for example in Neo-Aramaic, third person forms are clearly marked.
ISSN:2169-2289
Contient:Enthalten in: American Oriental Society, JAOS
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.7817/jaos.145.2.2025.ar014