The Hebrew Construct State in an Endocentric Model of the NP

Abstract

Ritter (1991) is widely cited as having shown that Hebrew nominals require functional structure like DP and Num(ber)P above the lexical NP (see, e.g., Preminger 2020). I demonstrate here that a very simple analysis is available in a model where the maximal projection of the nominal is a projection of the head N. This analysis posits very little movement and requires few auxiliary assumptions. Most dependents of N are simply base-generated in their surface positions. There is no need for functional projections like DP and NumP, and hence no argument from Hebrew for their existence.