English vs. Latin
Such distinctions occur in many languages. The following table provides some examples across Latin and English:
More information Latin (inflected), English (periphrastic) ...
Latin (inflected) |
English (periphrastic) |
stēll-ae |
of a star |
patient-issimus |
most patient |
amā-be-ris |
(you) will be loved |
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Periphrasis is a characteristic of analytic languages, which tend to avoid inflection. Even strongly inflected synthetic languages sometimes make use of periphrasis to fill out an inflectional paradigm that is missing certain forms.[8] A comparison of some Latin forms of the verb dūcere 'lead' with their English translations illustrates further that English uses periphrasis in many instances where Latin uses inflection.
More information Latin, English equivalent ...
Latin | English equivalent | grammatical classification |
dūc-ē-bāmur | (we) were led | 1st person plural imperfect passive indicative |
dūc-i-mur | (we) are led | 1st person plural present passive indicative |
dūc-ē-mur | (we) will be led | 1st person plural future passive indicative |
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English often needs two or three verbs to express the same meaning that Latin expresses with a single verb. Latin is a relatively synthetic language; it expresses grammatical meaning using inflection, whereas the verb system of English, a Germanic language, is relatively analytic; it uses auxiliary verbs to express functional meaning.
Israeli Hebrew
Unlike Biblical Hebrew, Israeli Hebrew uses a few periphrastic verbal constructions in specific circumstances, such as slang or military language. Consider the following pairs/triplets, in which the first are a Biblical Hebrew synthetic form and the last are an Israeli Hebrew analytic periphrasis:[9]
(1)
שם צעקה
sam tseaká
"shouted" (lit. means "put a shout")
צעק → שם צעקה
{tsaák} {} {sam tseaká}
{"shouted"} {} {"shouted" (lit. means "put a shout")}
(2)
נתן מבט
natán mabát
"looked" (lit. means "gave a look")
העיף מבט
heíf mabát
"looked" (lit. "flew/threw a look";
cf. the English expressions "cast a glance", "threw a look" and "tossed a glance")
הביט → נתן מבט AND העיף מבט
{hibít} {} {natán mabát} {} {heíf mabát}
{"looked at"} {} {"looked" (lit. means "gave a look")} {} {"looked" (lit. "flew/threw a look";
cf. the English expressions "cast a glance", "threw a look" and "tossed a glance")}
According to Ghil'ad Zuckermann, the Israeli periphrastic construction (using auxiliary verbs followed by a noun) is employed here for the desire to express swift action, and stems from Yiddish. He compares the Israeli periphrasis to the following Yiddish expressions all meaning "to have a look":
(1)
געבן א קוק
{gébņ a kuk}
"to give a look"
(2)
טאן א קוק
{ton a kuk}
lit. "to do a look"
(3)
כאפן א קוק
{khapņ a kuk}
lit. "to catch a look" (colloquial expression)
Zuckermann emphasizes that the Israeli periphrastic constructions "are not nonce, ad hoc lexical calques of Yiddish. The Israeli system is productive and the lexical realization often differs from that of Yiddish". He provides the following Israeli examples:
(1)
הרביץ
hirbíts
"hit, beat; gave", yielded
(2)
הרביץ מהירות
hirbíts mehirút
"drove very fast"
מהירות → הרביץ מהירות
mehirút {} {hirbíts mehirút}
"speed" {} {"drove very fast"}
(3)
הרביץ ארוחה
hirbíts arukhá
"ate a big meal"
cf. English "hit the buffet" "eat a lot at the buffet";
"hit the liquor/bottle" "drink alcohol".
ארוחה → הרביץ ארוחה
arukhá {} {hirbíts arukhá}
"meal" {} {"ate a big meal"
cf. English "hit the buffet" "eat a lot at the buffet";
"hit the liquor/bottle" "drink alcohol".}
(4)
דפק הופעה
{dafák hofaá}
"dressed smartly" (lit. "hit an appearance")[9]
But while Zuckermann attempted to use these examples to claim that Israeli Hebrew grew similar to European languages, it will be noticed that all of these examples are from the slang and therefore linguistically marked. The normal and daily usage of the verb paradigm in Israeli modern Hebrew is of the synthetic form, as in Biblical Hebrew: צָעַק, הִבִּיט