The affixal nature of the definite article in Hebrew

Shuly Wintner
Seminar fuer Sprachwissenschaft
Universitaet Tuebingen
Kl. Wilhelmstr. 113
72074 Tuebingen, Germany
shuly@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de

This paper provides evidence for the affixal nature of the Hebrew
definite article, `ha'. Usually considered a stand-alone word or a
clitic, the rules that govern the combination of the article with
nominals are viewed as part of the syntax. This paper suggests an
alternative analysis by which it is attached to its host nominals
through a morphological process. Several arguments, from all levels of
linguistic representation, are provided. First, accepted criteria for
wordhood reveal the clear dependent behavior of the definite
article. Then, its affixal characteristics are discussed:
phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic considerations
support such a view. Furthermore, it is shown that treatment of the
definite article as an affix facilitates the construction of both
syntactic and semantic theories for Hebrew. In the framework of
Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, a single lexical rule accounts
for the combination of the article with various types of nominals. An
HPSG grammar for a fragment of Hebrew, focusing on noun phrases, is
presented, in which the affixal view of the definite article is
integrated.