The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation

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The question which arises at this stage is the following: Is it the preposition
which induces the noted meaning difference (as proposed in Neeleman 1997), or
rather P has no semantic contribution of its own, and it is compatible only with one of
the meanings of the verb? I will return to this question and present arguments for the
non-semantic nature of P in PP-verb constructions in 3.3.1. 7
To summarize, the accounts of the phenomenon of PP-verbs, which are based on
either Case deficiency of these verbs (Hestvik 1991) or on their thematic deficiency
(Neeleman 1997) can provide only partial explanations. The aspect not addressed in
these accounts is the nature of the connection between the verb’s meaning and the
occurrence of a preposition. Is the connection systematic? In what way? I will address
exactly this aspect in my analysis.
As already mentioned, PP-verbs are found in many languages. But given the
complexity of the task at hand, I will start the inquiry of PP-verbs focusing on
Hebrew.
3.1.3 PP-verbs in Hebrew
The group of PP-verbs in Hebrew is quite large. I have worked with a random
sample of 70 verbs (see Appendix B). As mentioned, these verbs are two- (three)-
place predicates, which realize their internal argument as a PP, rather than a DP. The
most common P occurring in PP-verb constructions in Hebrew is be- (‘in’/‘at’).
Additional prepositions are al (‘on’), le- (‘to’/‘for’), me- (‘from’/‘of’). 8
For expository reasons, I introduce a sample of Hebrew PP-verbs divided
intuitively into sub-groups, according to their meanings. The list to follow is not
meant to be exhaustive. 9
7 The number of DP/PP alternating verbs is very small. The vast majority of PP-verbs do not alternate
between PP and DP complements.
8 There are a few verbs such as hitvada (‘confessed’) and hitxanen (‘pleaded’), which in addition to the
PP complement headed by a small P, take a PP complement headed by a complex P such as
bifney/lifney (‘in front of’):
(i) dan hitvada al pša’av bifney ha-šofet
Dan confessed on crimes+his in-front the-judge
“Dan confessed his crimes to the judge.”
9 For ease of presentation, the PP-verbs in the text are limited to those that appear with be- (‘in’) and al
(‘on’). The full sample includes PP-verbs with le-/el (‘to’) and me- (‘from’) (Appendix B).