בגלל שהיא ברת תוקף: שני פרטים בעברית הקדומה ובעברית הנחשבת בלתי תקנית

This paper traces the history of two Hebrew items that are largely considered incorrect in contemporary normative discourse, but appear in ancient Hebrew texts. In Classical Hebrew, and most significantly in Rabbinic Hebrew, adverbial prepositions often become subordination particles with the addition of the particle ש-. However, some of these constructions are viewed by certain Modern Hebrew speakers, especially in the educational system, as substandard usage. The first part of the paper portrays the lexico-syntactic development of בגלל ש- and למרות ש- versus the history of their normative status. In the second part of the paper the usage of the Aramaic construct form ברת (‘daughter of’) in Hebrew is discussed. ברת is found in Classical Aramaic (alongside its alternative בת, which is also the Hebrew cognate); but unlike its masculine counterpart בר (‘son of’) it is very rarely used in Classical Hebrew. In later times, however, the originally Aramaic בר and ברת were integrated into Hebrew with several figurative meanings (e.g., expressing ability, like -able in English and French), but normativists often consider ברת a mistake and recommend replacing it with בת (possibly due to the influence of Babylonian Aramaic, where בת is the prevalent construct form).