Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Current Patterns Of Variation In Modern Hebrew Spirantization, Michal Martinez

Michal Temkin Martinez

Modern Hebrew (MH) spirantization is a variable phenomenon with many exceptions. Adam (2002) claims that the variation is driven by these exceptions and concludes that spirantization is changing, yielding what is currently a variable grammar, with equal weight given to expected and variant forms. However, it is not known what the current stage of the grammar looks like. This paper reports the results of an acceptability rating task showing that the expected form is still rated as more acceptable than variant forms, and which variant surfaces (stop or fricative) depends on its underlying root position. MH has three stop/fricative pairs …