From: James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>
To: dwashbur AT nyx.net
Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Generation grammar and b-hebrew
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:53:21 +0300
Hi,
> My own approach to generative grammar works at the clause level, where a
> clause is a
> single predicated statement (whether verbal or verbless in the case of
> Hebrew). I also use
> it to analyze at the phrase level: noun phrases, prepositional phrases etc.
> To my mind,
> "sentence" is a fairly meaningless term, and so I avoid it when possible. I
> see the highest
> level as the verb phrase, which in my definition is more or less equivalent
> to a clause. But
> it's useful for smaller segments as well.
>
>
I've reached similar conclusions. This is especially evident in a predicate
based approach. What we call sentences are generally a verb headed predicate
where the verb dictates the number of arguments e.g.:
1) give (giver, receiver, gift) Mary (giver) gave John (receiver) a
spoon (gift)
2) get up (getter upper) David (getter upper) got up
I'm sure we will be able to spot similar patterns in Hebrew.