Genitive (smixut) constructions in Modern Hebrew

The chapter concerns the morpho-syntactic structure and usage-based properties of MH constructions involving two nominal constituents, an initial head and following modifier. Focus is on the three smixut 'adjacency' or 'dependency' constructions: (i) "construct-state" compounds in the form N^ N(P), where a caret indicates the relation between an initial bound head N and its free-form modifier; (ii) free, analytic N(P) šel (N)P constructions with the genitive marker šel 'of '; and (iii) doubly marked N₁pro₂ šel N₂ genitives. Usage-based analyses of alternations between these three options for expressing possession and other genitive relations reveal conflicting results, leading to the conclusion that text-type (genre, medium of expression, level of usage, and communicative setting) plays a major role in choice of construction. The chapter also considers two other binominal constructions - construct-state Adj^ Noun and Noun + Denominal Adjective phrases - and concludes by noting more general properties of Modern Hebrew reflected in current use of these constructions.