Publications on Gabi Danon

Overt Head Marking and Choice of Genitive Construction in Modern Hebrew

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2025. Overt Head Marking and Choice of Genitive Construction in Modern Hebrew: Empirical Data and Theoretical Questions. In Leuschner, Torsten & Vajnovszki, Anaïs & Delaby, Gauthier & Barðdal, Jóhanna (eds.), How to Do Things with Corpora, 379–409. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-69690-3_13

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SpringerNature

Proceedings of IATL 34-35

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi (ed.). 2021. Proceedings of IATL 34-35: Papers from the 34th and 35th annual conferences of the Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.

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Imagine no possession: John Lennon in the construct state

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2018. Imagine no possession: John Lennon in the construct state. In Noa Brandel (ed.), Proceedings of IATL 2017, 49–68. Cambridge, Mass.: MITWPL.

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Proceedings

מה זה זה? ניתוח תחבירי של האוגד "זה" בעברית המודרנית

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2015. מה זה זה? ניתוח תחבירי של האוגד “זה” בעברית המודרנית ‎. Hebrew Linguistics 69, 23-43. (In Hebrew)

Abstract

Verbless clauses in Hebrew involving the pronominal copula ze never display subject-copula or subject-predicate agreement, with the copula and adjectival predicates invariably being in the default masculine singular form. Additionally, these sentences are often characterized by an interpretation that differs from the typical predicational interpretation found with the copula hu. After surveying the basic syntactic and semantic properties of ze-clauses, this paper argues against several possible analyses which would explain these properties by claiming that the clause-initial noun phrase is not the subject. Instead, it is argued that the clause-initial noun phrase is a featureless DP in subject position, where lack of features blocks not only agreement but also the possibility of binding and control relations; features of the noun, in this case, are present at the NP level but are not present at the DP level. This leads to the question of what constrains the distribution of such featureless DPs. Following standard assumptions in current minimalist syntax, lack of agreement is argued to correspond to lack of Case; and following the central insight of the Visibility Condition of Chomsky (1986), it is argued that the possibility of having a Caseless DP is limited to non-thematic DPs. Hence, lack of agreement in ze-clauses is argued to follow from general syntactic principles rather than from any construction-specific property, under the assumption (independently argued for in previous work) that ze-clauses are not predicational. This is further supported by showing that similar syntactic and semantic properties can be found in a variety of Hebrew raising constructions that do not involve the copula ze, as well as in similar constructions found in other, unrelated, languages.

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Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement

Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2014. Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement. In Anna Bondaruk, Gréte Dalmi & Alexander Grosu (eds.), Advances in the Syntax of DP’s: Structure, agreement, and case (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today), vol. 217, 95–116. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Abstract

This chapter looks at two cases where subject agreement in Hebrew does not follow the morphosyntactic (phi) features of the subject: singular agreement with plural subjects, and plural agreement with singular group-denoting subjects. The paper argues that there are important differences between these two cases; in particular, it is argued that the former is not agreement but lack of agreement, whereas the latter involves (syntactic) agreement. Lack of agreement is tied to constraints on thematic role assignment. Neither case poses a real problem to current syntactic models of agreement.

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Agreement alternations with quantified nominals in Modern Hebrew

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2013. Agreement alternations with quantified nominals in Modern Hebrew. Journal of Linguistics 49(1). 55–92. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226712000333.

Abstract

Crosslinguistically, quantified noun phrases (QNPs) trigger one of four agreement patterns: with the quantifier, with the noun, default agreement, or semantic agreement. This paper focuses on agreement alternations in Hebrew, and argues that they follow not from variations in hierarchical structure but from the availability of multiple means of assigning values to the QNP’s features. Building upon the INDEX-CONCORD analysis of Wechsler & Zlatic (2003) and adapting it to the Minimalist framework, it is argued that certain agreement patterns are the result of the quantifier bearing a set of abstract features that don’t match its morphologically-triggered ones. Variations in QNP agreement patterns are then argued to be subject to constraints at the interfaces of syntax with both semantics and morphology. Overall, it is claimed that even apparent cases of non-local agreement with non-nominative NPs do not really pose a counterexample to established models of agreement, and that this supports the view that the system of φ-features cannot be simply an unstructured bundle of morphological features.

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Hebrew QNP agreement: Towards an empirically based analysis

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2013. Hebrew QNP agreement: Towards an empirically based analysis. Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics XV(1). 5–23.

Abstract

Quantified noun phrases (QNPs) in subject position may trigger agreement with the quantifier or with the noun. Previous work (Danon 2011, 2013) has proposed a theoretical model for explaining such alternations, but left open the empirical question of speaker preference. This paper describes preliminary findings from an ongoing research project aimed to answer this question. It is shown that speakers have a strong preference for noun agreement when the noun in the QNP is plural, whereas a much more heterogeneous pattern emerges when the QNP contains a singular/group noun. The empirical findings are argued to support an analysis in which the features involved in agreement are formally distinct from those marked morphologically on Q and N, which allows us to maintain a syntactic model of agreement even for apparent cases of ‘semantic agreement’.

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Nothing to Agree on: Non-agreeing subjects of copular clauses in Hebrew

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2012. Nothing to Agree on: Non-agreeing subjects of copular clauses in Hebrew. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 59(1–2). 85–108. https://doi.org/10.1556/ALing.59.2012.1-2.4.

Abstract

Copular clauses in Hebrew with the copula ze never allow their subjects to agree with the copula or with the post-copular predicate. Following previous work, it is shown that such clauses are not predicational and that their subjects often get a ‘hidden event’ interpretation. After ruling out an analysis that takes the copula to be the actual subject and an analysis involving a clausal subject, it is argued that these clauses involve a subject that lacks the features needed for subject-external agreement, while having the features needed for subject-internal agreement.

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Two Structures for Numeral-Noun Constructions

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2012. Two structures for numeral-noun constructions. Lingua 122(12). 1282–1307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2012.07.003.

Abstract

This paper has two main goals: to argue that crosslinguistically there are two major types of numeral-noun constructions, one in which a projection of the numeral occupies a specifier position and one in which the numeral heads a recursive nominal structure; and to show that the choice between these two structures is partially constrained by the presence of number features and case. It is shown that numerals bearing nominal number morphology display a cluster of properties that often distinguishes them from other numerals in the same language; I claim that presence of morphosyntactic number makes the numeral sufficiently `noun-like’ to be subject to general principles of case theory.

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Agreement and DP-internal feature distribution

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2011. Agreement and DP-Internal feature distribution. Syntax 14(4). 297–317. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9612.2011.00154.x.

Abstract

An implicit assumption in most Minimalist work is that DP as a whole carries all the phi-features with which external heads agree. In this paper I argue that under this assumption and the assumption that only a node that is phi-complete can delete the phi-features of a node with which it agrees, Chomsky’s (2000, 2001) model of feature valuation is incompatible with a large body of work on the DP-internal distribution of phifeatures, according to which neither N nor D enter the derivation being phi-complete. I consider several possible solutions, and argue that this problem can most easily be avoided by adopting a feature sharing model of the operation Agree, as proposed by Frampton & Gutmann (2006) and Pesetsky & Torrego (2007). Finally, several implications for Chomsky’s theory of abstract Case are also discussed.

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Agreement with quantified nominals: implications for feature theory

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2011. Agreement with quantified nominals: implications for feature theory. In Olivier Bonami & Patricia Cabredo Hofherr (eds.), Empirical issues in syntax and semantics 8: Proceedings of CSSP 2009, 75–95.

Abstract

In Modern Hebrew, as in many other languages, subjects that are quantified noun phrases (QNPs) may trigger more than one agreement pattern on the verb/predicate: agreement with the morphological features of the noun, or with those of the quantifier. This alternation seems to pose a problem to most theories of agreement, which predict only one agreement pattern – with the head of the QNP. This paper argues that this agreement alternation can be accounted for by adopting the distinction between two clusters of features, INDEX and CONCORD, as in Pollard & Sag (1994) and Wechsler & Zlatic (2000, 2003). It is argued that this kind of analysis can best be implemented within the Minimalist framework if the framework allows for a certain amount of complexity in its feature system, where feature values are not restricted to simple atomic symbols.

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The acceptability of resumptive pronouns in Hebrew

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Farby, Shira, Gabi Danon, Joel Walters & Michal Ben-Shachar. 2010. The acceptability of resumptive pronouns in Hebrew. In Yehuda N. Falk (ed.), Proceedings of IATL 26.

Abstract

Hebrew relative clauses appear in two different forms, one containing a gap (trace) and the other with a resumptive pronoun (RP). RPs in Hebrew are often considered to be licensed only as a last resort strategy, on a par with intrusive pronouns in English (Shlonsky, 1992); nevertheless, such an approach fails to predict the availability of both traces and RPs within object relative clauses. This optionality has been analyzed as required for semantic/pragmatic purposes (Doron, 1982; Erteschik-Shir, 1992) or for general cognitive reasons (Ariel, 1999; Alexopoulou and Keller, 2002). In order to examine the functional role of RPs in relative clause processing, we conducted two acceptability judgment experiments, comparing the acceptability of RPs and traces in three environments: close to the relative head, in island environments, and embedded within an additional CP. Our results show that RPs are in fact more similar to traces than initially assumed. Specifically, both were rated lower in embedded clauses than in main clause relatives, and both were rated with low acceptability in island domains. Such resemblance between RPs and traces may stem from the fact that both are interpreted as bound variables, which makes them sensitive to the same set of processing constraints. By collecting quantitative ratings from multiple speakers on multiple examples, this empirical study thus complements theoretical analyses and identifies multiple factors contributing to the acceptability of Hebrew RPs and traces in object position.

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Proceedings

The definiteness feature at the syntax-semantics interface

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2010. The definiteness feature at the syntax-semantics interface. In Anna Kibort & Greville G. Corbett (eds.), Features: Perspectives on a Key Notion in Linguistics, 143–165. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Abstract

In some languages, such as Hebrew, definiteness is encoded as a morphosyntactic feature that not only contributes to the semantics but also plays a role in syntactic operations. In other languages, there is no evidence that definiteness as a feature is available to the syntactic component. In this paper I argue that differences in the range of interpretations of complex genitive constructions in Hebrew versus other languages show that there are two different strategies for constructing the meaning of complex nominals: one that relies on sharing a morphosyntactic definiteness feature (which is possible only in languages that have such a feature), and one that does not. Furthermore, it is argued that morphosyntactic definiteness in Hebrew is not a bivalent feature with two possible values, but a monovalent feature whose presence alternates with lack of specification, which accounts for various asymmetries between definiteness and indefiniteness.

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Current Issues in Generative Hebrew Linguistics

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Armon-Lotem, Sharon, Gabi Danon and Susan Rothstein (eds.). 2008. Current Issues in Generative Hebrew Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Includes an introduction by the editors, pp. 1–23.

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Book on publisher’s website

Definiteness agreement with PP modifiers

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2008. Definiteness agreement with PP modifiers. In Sharon Armon-Lotem, Gabi Danon & Susan Rothstein (eds.), Current Issues in Generative Hebrew Linguistics, 137–160. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/la.134.06def.

Abstract

DP complements of prepositions in Modern Hebrew often bear morphosyntactic definiteness marking that is triggered by the definiteness value of the noun modified by the PP. Although reminiscent of definiteness agreement with attributive APs, the agreement observed with PPs is not always obligatory. This article argues that what distinguishes modifiers that display obligatory definiteness agreement is that they denote properties. I propose that the morphosyntactic definiteness feature of property-denoting modifiers is uninterpretable and therefore it must be checked by agreement. Checking is made possible by the fact that pps in Hebrew have the structure of a construct state, where definiteness features spread from an embedded DP to a higher projection.

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Definiteness spreading in the Hebrew construct state

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2008. Definiteness spreading in the Hebrew construct state. Lingua 118(7). 872–906. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2007.05.012.

Abstract

The Construct State (CS) in Modern Hebrew displays a phenomenon known as Definiteness Spreading (DS), often characterized as having the definiteness value of the CS determined by that of its embedded genitive phrase. This is shown to be an oversimplification: semantically, DS gives rise to no less than four different interpretation patterns in definite-marked CSs. We examine the implications of these semantic facts for a Minimalist analysis of DS in terms of the operation Agree. It is argued that the formulation of Agree given in Chomsky (2000, 2001) does not provide the tools needed to account for these facts. A further problem for a syntactic analysis based on Agree is posed by the structural configuration found with adjectival CS modifiers, where agreement takes place despite the lack of the c-command relation required by Agree. This paper argues that both problems can be solved by viewing the Agree operation as a feature sharing operation, as proposed independently by several authors. Using this approach, all four semantic patterns can be derived using an independently motivated hypothesis regarding the interpretation of features at the syntax-semantics interface.

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Caseless nominals and the projection of DP

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2006. Caseless nominals and the projection of DP. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 24(4). 977–1008. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-006-9005-6.

Abstract

Modern Hebrew differentiates between definite and indefinite objects, using a prepositional object marker only in front of definites. This article explores the hypothesis that lack of an object marker when the object is indefinite follows from lack of abstract Case on indefinite objects. It is shown that indefinites in Hebrew are allowed in various other positions in which Case seems to be unavailable and in which definites are not allowed, a fact that gets a straightforward account under the proposed hypothesis that indefinites do not require Case. The possibility of having Caseless indefinites is then argued to follow from lack of a DP projection in Hebrew indefinites. The second part of this article aims to show that an analysis of indefinites in Hebrew as lacking a DP projection is indeed possible and can be motivated on independent grounds. This involves a reexamination of the arguments that have motivated the influential N-to-D analysis of Semitic noun phrases. I claim that most previous work on Semitic nominals is in fact compatible with an analysis in which nouns do not raise as high as the D position, and that the hypothesis that indefinites in Hebrew are not full DPs has some explanatory advantages over the view that all construct state nominals in Hebrew are DPs.

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משלימים שמניים והשמטת מילות יחס

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2006. משלימים שמניים והשמטת מילות יחס ‎. Hebrew Linguistics 58, 27-44. (In Hebrew)

Abstract

This article discusses a variety of structures in Modern Hebrew in which a PP argument may sometimes alternate with a nominal one, in what looks like an optional dropping of the preposition. This includes various kinds of verbs belonging to morphological templates that never subcategorize for a DP, as well as certain argument-taking adjectives. An interesting generalization that holds for all these cases is that only indefinite noun phrases may appear without the preposition, whereas definites require the use of the P. This is reminiscent of the fact that definite objects of transitive verbs in Hebrew must also be preceded by a prepositional element, which is not required (and not allowed) in front of indefinite objects.

Assuming that prepositions are Case assigners, the optional P-omission in front of indefinites suggests that indefinites in Hebrew do not require abstract Case. This, in turn, is argued to follow from a structural difference between definites, which are DPs, and indefinites, which are bare NPs in Hebrew. Hebrew is a language which has definite articles but lacks indefinite articles, and this is what allows indefinite noun phrases that do not project a DP level. The generalization is thus that Hebrew allows P-drop in front of NPs but not in front of DPs, because only DPs require Case.

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Quantification over partitions

Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2005. Quantification over partitions. Snippets 11. 5–6.

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The Hebrew object marker and semantic type

Tue, 01 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2002. The Hebrew object marker and semantic type. In Yehuda Falk (ed.), Proceedings of IATL 17. The Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics.

Abstract

It is well-known that the object marker in Hebrew, et, is used only in front of definite objects. In this paper I show that even though the distribution of et is governed by a formal notion of definiteness which is determined by syntactic factors, et itself is not semantically vacuous. I discuss the phenomenon of “definiteness spreading” in construct state nominals and show that this is not spreading of semantic definiteness. Use of et in front of a CSN, however, blocks an indefinite reading which would have been available otherwise. Other semantic effects of et involve distributive readings of conjunctions and the interpretation of wh-words and pseudoclefts. I propose that all these semantic effects can be derived from the assumption that et acts as a type shifting operator.

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Syntactic definiteness in the grammar of Modern Hebrew

Mon, 01 Jan 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2001. Syntactic definiteness in the grammar of Modern Hebrew. Linguistics 39(6). 1071–1116. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.2001.042.

Abstract

Definiteness has often been assumed to play a role in syntax, most notably in relation to various “definiteness effects” and Case alternations (Belletti 1988, De Hoop 1992 and many others). The question whether this involves a semantic property which is relevant in syntax, or an independent syntactic representation of definiteness, remains to a large extent unanswered. This paper shows that, on the one hand, Hebrew provides independent evidence for assuming a definiteness feature in syntax; and on the other hand, this formal definiteness does not simply correlate with semantic definiteness and that there is no simple one-to-one mapping between the two kinds of definiteness. The second part of this paper focuses on the Hebrew object marker et, which appears only in front of DPs having the syntactic definiteness feature. I argue that et fulfills a requirement for structural Case which Hebrew verbs cannot assign, and that this requirement is related to the representation of definiteness as a formal feature and not to any semantic property. In this light I consider Belletti’s (1988) theory of abstract Partitive, and show that Hebrew object marking seems to provide evidence against it.

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The Hebrew object marker as a type-shifting operator

Mon, 01 Jan 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 2001. The Hebrew object marker as a type-shifting operator. In Emmanuel Aim, Kim Gerdes & Hi-Yon Yoo (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th doctorate meeting in linguistics, 41–46. Université Paris 7.

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Two syntactic positions for determiners in Hebrew

Thu, 01 Jan 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Danon, Gabi. 1998. Two syntactic positions for determiners in Hebrew. In Adam Zachary Wyner (ed.), Proceedings of IATL 13, 55–73. The Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics.

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