ACQUIRING AND EXPRESSING TEMPORALITY IN HEBREW:

THE CASE OF A T/(M/A) LANGUAGE

Ruth A. Berman – Tel Aviv University

Journée d’études -- Temporalité: Typologie et Acquisition

CNRS, Centre Pouchet, Paris - mars 2010

OUTLINE OF TALK

• Typological Features of Hebrew: Tense without Aspect

• Early Child Grammar: Developmental strategies

• Narratives -- Oral and Written:Anchor tense, Tense-shifting [Frogs]

Setting the narrative scene [Fable] • Later Language Development:

From Dichotomy to Diversity

HEBREW TYPOLOGY5 Tense-Modal Forms, Full/Defective Consonantal Roots,

in 3 (out of 7) binyan Verb Patterns

Pattern Root Gloss Infinitive Imperat Present Past Future

P1 pa'al

r-q-d

g-d-l

y-c-’

b-w-’

dance (Intr) grow (Intr)

go out

come

li-rkod

li-gdol

la-cet

la-vo

rekod

gdal

ce

bo

roked

@godel

yoce

ba

rakad

gadal yaca

ba

yi-rkod

yi-gdal

ye-ce

ya-vo

P3 pi'el

r-q-d

g-d-l

y-c-’

b-w-’

skip

raise

export

import

le-raked

le-gadel

le-yace le-yave

raked

gadel

yace

yave

me-raked

me-gadel

me-yace

me-yave

riked

gidel

yice

@yive

ye-raked

ye-gadel

ye-yace

ye-yave

P5 hif'il

r-q-d

g-d-l

y-c-’

b-w-’

make-dance

enlarge

take out

bring

le-harkid

le-hagdil

le-hoci

le-havi

harked

hagdel

hoce

have

ma-rkid

ma-gdil

mo-ci

me-vi

hi-rkid

hi-gdil

ho-ci

he-vi

ya-rkid

ya-gdil

yo-ci

ya-vi

INTERACTION WITH INFLECTIONAL AND DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY

Inflections:Rich system of SV Agreement marking for:• Gender (Masculine > Feminine)• Person (1st > 2nd > 3rd) • Number (Singular > Plural)

Derivational Morphology:Verb-Pattern alternations expressingvalence-changing relations (causative, reflexive, reciprocal, middle voice, passive voice, etc.), e.g., šavar ~ nišbar ‘break’ Trans ~ Intransšaxav ~ hiškiv ‘lie ~ lay down’raxac ~ hitraxec ‘wash’ Trans ~ Reflexive

MULTIFUNCTIONALITY [Berman, 2000, 2004; Berman & Neeman, 1994; Berman & Nir-Sagiv, 2004]

Category Functions Examples with d-b-r ‘talk, speak’

Infinitive Orders, Prohibitions (juvenile)

(lo) ledaber!‘(not) to-speak = don’t talk!’

Extended Predicates (with Modal and Aspectual verbs)

yaxol ledaber, asur ledaber, ‘can to-speak, mustn’t to-speak’hitxil ledaber, himšix ledaber‘began to-speak. continued to-speak’

Non-finite Complements (Complex Syntax)

hu bikeš ledaber, ‘He asked to-speak’hu halax habayta ledaber ito‘He went home to-talk to-him’

Benoni: Inter-mediate’

Present-Tense (Immediate + Extended)

ani medaber(et)‘I am-talking ~ I speak (English)’

Participles (Subordinate)

hu yašav levad, medaber im acmo‘He sat alone, talking to himself’’

Resultatives (passive) ha-nose medubar‘The topic is-talked (about) = hot’

Habitual Aspect (+aux) hu lo haya medaber itanu‘He not was speaking = wouldn’t speak to us’

Category Functions Examples d-b-r ‘talk, speak’

Past Past-Tense: Perfective, Progressive, Perfect

diber = ‘talked, was talking, has/had been talking,has/ had talked’

Future (Irrealis)

Future Tense: ata tedaber ba-šavua ha-ba‘You 2nd-will-talk next week’

Imperatives nu, (te)daber kvar!‘Well, talk already = say something’

Conditional, Subjunctive im tedaber, node lexa me’od

‘If 2nd-will-talk, (we) 1st-Plur thank you very much’

MULTIFUNCTIONALITY [continued] [Berman, 2000, 2004; Berman & Neeman, 1994; Berman & Nir-Sagiv, 2004]

EARLY ACQUISITIONAL STRATEGIES: Form / Function Inflectional Variation

I. Ambiguous “bare” stems (ber,pes,sim,xabek,šon) Multifunctional l- marked Infinitives (ledaber,lišon) Non-alternation of forms

II. a. Infinitives: requests, orders b. Benoni ‘intermediate’ present tense: Reportative function, simple clauses

III. Past: Immediate change-of-state verbs Later, in narrative contexts

IV. Future: as Tense, not only Imperative

V. Infinitives: Complements in Extended Preds: carix ledaber, roce le-exol, holex li-šon

‘must to-talk, want to-eat, go(es) to-sleep’

LATER ACQUISITIONS

Derivational MorphologyValence-changing Verb Patterns: • Initial non-alternation • Favoring of “basic” P1 pattern• Some use of active transitive P3, P5 patterns• Added reliance on intransitive P2, P4 patterns• Occasional use of passive patterns

Complex Syntax: halax habayta ledaber ita‘(He) went home to-talk to her’tipes al ha-ec lexapes ta cfardéa‘(He) climbed (on) the-tree to-look-for the frog’

ORAL (“Frog Story”) NARRATIVESAges 3, 4, 5, 9, adults

• “Anchor tense” – evidence of narrative mode

• Tense-shifting – from local to global

• Background / Foreground distinctions: Past Tense ~ Benoni [Berman & Neeman, 1994]

(no Imperfective ~ Perfective)

• “Tense/Aspect shifting becomes discursively functional only once a dominant narrative tense is established in late preschool age, around 5 to 6 years” [Berman & Slobin, 1994: 601]

NARRATIVE SETTINGS (Written Fables)Sandbank, A. (2004) “Writing a narrative text:

A developmental and cross-linguistic study”

Hebrew original: štey pradot halxu ba-dérex ‘two mules went=walked on-the-way’

nos’ot masa al gaban ‘bear(ing):Fm,Pl (a) load on their backs’

Spanish original:Caminaban dos mulas

‘walked:Impfv, Pl two mules’ llevando su carga ‘carrying their load’

HEBREW STRATEGIES INRECONSTRUCTED SETTINGS

More stative than active verbs across age-groups relative to Spanish, e.g.,

• pa’am axat hayu štey pradot, hen halxu ba-ya’ar [Itay, 7;3]

‘once (there) were two mules, they walked in-the forest’

• sipurenu hu al štey pradot masa co’adotbe-mas’an [Ido, adult]

‘our tale it [-is] about two pack mules marching with their load’

ALTERNATION OF VERB h-l-x ‘go, walk’

Benoni: 1. štey pradot holxot ba-švil

‘Two mules go/are walking on the way’

Adverbs:

2. yom exad halxu štey pradot le-tiyul ‘One day went two mules for (a) walk’

Repetition:3. hem halxu ve halxu

‘They walked and walked’

VERB h-l-x ‘go, walk’ + REFLEXIVE DATIVE[thanks to Prof. Hava Shyldkrot]

Reflexive Dative: 4. štey pradot halxu lahen ‘Two mules walked to-them(selves)’ = s'en allaient

Reflexive Dative + Adverb:

5. halxu lahen štey pradot le’itan ‘’Walked to-them(selves) two mules at-leisure’

= s'en allaient lentement

Verb-Pattern Alternation: 6. štey pradot hithalxu lahen ba-derex

‘Two mules walked-to-fro to-them(selves) on-road’ = se promenaient

7. pa’am hilxu lahen štey pradot be-derex ha-melex‘Once walked-about to-them(selves) two mules on the royal road’ = s'en sont allées

RHETORICAL OPTIONS

• Alternative means of expression

• Non-grammaticized

• Hence non-obligatory

• Individual stylistic choice

• Maturely literate use of language

• Yields rich temporal texture

LATER LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: PERSONAL-EXPERIENCE NARRATIVES Ages 9, 13, 17, adults [Berman & Nir-Sagiv, 2004]

“From Dichotomy to Divergence”

GradePast Present Other:

Irrealis,Nonfin

4th

9-10 yrs70.7 19.7 9.5

7th

12-13 yrs79.4 14.6 6.0

11th

16-17 yrs54.2 35.2 10.6

Adults20s – 30s 53.1 28.0 18.9

LATER LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTVerb-Pattern Alternations

• Age-related increase in variety of 7 patterns: Children’s texts confined mainly to 2 or 3,

adolescents -- wider variety, adults – most• Decrease with age in basic P1 pattern (activity

verbs, transitive and intransitive), markedly in narratives and among adults

• Concomitant increase in use of two typically intransitive (change-of-state, middle voice) patterns: children – under 10%, adolescents -- 20%–25%, adults -- 1/3 of all verbs

• Reflects shift to more patient-oriented construal of events

• Effect of genre: intransitive patterns more in expository than narrative texts

LATER LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTEXTENDED TEXTS: SUMMARY

[Berman 2008; Berman & Nir-Sagiv 2007; Reilly et al 2002]

Early Inter-Genre Distinctiveness • Narratives (Personal-experience):

Past tense, Perfective aspect

• Expository discussions:Extended Present + Irrealis (modals, future)

Subsequent ShiftsFrom temporal dichotomy to divergenceFrom agent to patient orientation From deontic to epistemic modality

NARRATIVE TEMPORALITY

• As in all domains, age-related variety of means

• Clearer distinction between “story-time” / “story-telling time”

• Setting and Coda as privileged discourse sites for background, generalizations

• Effect of genre – narrative / expository

• Effect of typology – Hebrew reliance on verb-pattern morphology

WRAP-UP

• Discourse context

• Typological imperatives

• Developmental route

DISCOURSE CONTEXT• Discourse-embedded use of language: beyond

the isolated sentence

• Parallel data-bases for cross-linguistic comparisons:

Hickmann, 2003; frog-story research, “Spencer” project, Sandbank’s fables

• Different (sub)genres ~ rhetorical modes Evaluation – personal-experience accounts

Setting and coda – in fiction, fables

Narration / description – encyclopedic texts

Expository discussion – propositional attitudes

IMPACT TARGET-LANGUAGE TYPOLOGY

[Berman, 1993; Berman & Neeman, 1994; Berman & Slobin,1994; Kupersmitt, 2006; Sandbank, 2004]

• Language-Specific Forms: Grammaticized T/M/A (English, Spanish)• Narrative Discourse Functions:

Foreground/ Background: Local / GlobalAgent-Patient OrientationIntroducing and Concluding Narratives

• Hebrew-Specific Strategies: Tense alternations -- Present vs Past Valency alternations --Verb-Pattern Morphology

Verb Semantics (Aktionsarten) halxu ~ pas’u Copulas, existentials, stative predicates

TYPOLOGY• Children – like adults – make do with and

increasingly exploit the repertoire of expressive devices available in their language

• Where distinctions not grammatically marked, hence less accessible, alternative options may be sought elsewhere, as in verb semantics (stative ~ dynamic) or voice and valency alternations

• In latter case, not grammatical imperative but rhetorical options, reflecting expressive richness in temporality as in other domains (e.g., clause-combining)

DEVELOPMENT• From “child speaker” to “native speaker”

to “proficient speaker-writer” [Slobin, 1990, 2004]

• Early emergence of different forms for marking grammatical T/M/A

• Increased bi-directional expansion of form/function relations

• Increasing variety and flexibility in using linguistic forms for “textual temporality”

• Later, school-age language: long developmental route “from emergence to mastery” [Berman, 2004]