The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation

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In English the constituent embedded under the main predicate (e.g. the tough A,
the main V) is introduced by to, and it is verbal. But in Hebrew the constituent
introduced by the P-morpheme le- (‘to’) is nominal.
The P-morpheme le- (‘to’) has been mentioned and discussed in chapter 4. It
has been shown that in Hebrew it can appear in (at least) two syntactically distinct
contexts, the Dative and the Directional constructions. In the former it is a Caserelated
affix (P C ); in the latter, it is a predicate (P R ), though not a fully-fledged one (it
has only an internal argument slot).
le- (‘to’) in (1) introduces predicative constituents. This can be established given
the following diagnostic: An argumental expression can be referred to by the
appropriate pronoun (2a). This is impossible for a predicative constituent (2b):
(2) a. ha-sefer i haya kal li-kri’a. hu i nikra tox xaci ša’a.
the-book-masc.was easy to-reading-fem. It-masc. was-read inside half hour.
“The book was easy to read. It was read in half an hour.”
b. ha-sefer haya kal li-[kri’a] i . *hi i nimšexa xaci ša’a.
the-book-masc. was easy to-reading-fem. It-fem. continued half hour.
Since the complement of le- in object gap constructions (1) is a predicative
phrase, it is unlikely that le- is a predicate (P R ); predicates combine with argumental,
rather than predicative, phrases. It is equally unlikely to be Case-related (P C ), as only
argumental nominals need to check their Case feature (Chomsky 1981, 1986). I label
this not so familiar function of the prepositional element (i.e. le-) P pred . 2
Based on the properties of the sequence ‘le-nominal’ in object gap constructions,
I will argue that le- is a lexical prepositional affix (affixal P pred ). Its attachment to an
event-denoting N results in a nominal element with an externalized theta-role (i.e. a
nominal with an external argument slot, as posited for Ps like under, or As like nice),
projecting an NP (rather than a PP, or a DP) (see sections 5.2, 5.3).
2 As noted in Siloni (1994), Hebrew manner adverbials are mostly PPs headed by the P-morpheme be-
(‘in’) (i). I leave the question what is the function of be- in this context for future research.
(i) ha-xeder nuka bi-mhirut/be-yesodiyut
the-room [was] cleaned in-haste/in-thoroughness
“The room was cleaned quickly/thoroughly.”