Let us demonstrate how this works out in Tiberian Hebrew. As in English, Hebrew has right-branching syntax (Dresher 1994, 18). It is consistent with the general cross-linguistic picture, therefore, that in Tiberian Hebrew conjunctive phrases, at least in principle, align with the right edges of xpmax (Dresher 1994), and therefore that prosodic phrases boundaries do not bisect syntactic phrases. In the following examples, we see the right edges of the prosodic phrases aligning with the right edges of the pp and vps respectively:
(53) Gen 3:16
םי֑ ִנ ָב י ֣ ִד ְל ֵֽתּ ב ֶצ֖ ֶע ְבּ ⟵
(b=ʿṣbφ) (tldy bnymφ)
[in=painpp] [you_shall_bear childrenvp]
‘in pain shall you bear children’
In practice, matters are a bit more complicated. One issue is that it is possible to find vps apparently bisected by prosodic phrase boundaries at points that do not align with xpmax. The following sentence is divided into two prosodic phrases, with a phrasal boundary after חבזא ‘I will sacrifice’:
21 The notion of prosodic headedness here is that of Evertz (2018, 96), viz. ‘the hierarchically highest element within a unit’, i.e. ‘the only obligatory element’. The head ‘determines basic properties of other elements within the same unit (sisters in a tree diagram) and of the unit as a whole.’
22 For minimality constraints on the size of the prosodic word (as opposed to the grammatical word) see Hall (1999, 7–8).
(54) Psa 116:17
ה֑ ָדוֹתּ ח ַבֶ֣ז ח ַבְּז֭ ֶא־ךָ ֽ ְל ⟵
(l=k ≡ ʾ-zbḥφ) (zbḥ twdhφ)
[to=you.sgpp] ≡ [I-sacrifice sacrifice thanksvp]
‘to you I sacrifice a sacrifice of thanks’
In the next example a prosodic phrase boundary occurs after the subject, resulting in a split vp where the verb belongs to one prosodic phrase, and the direct object to another:
(55) Gen 1:11
א ֶשׁ ֶ֗דּ ֙ץ ֶר֙ ָא ָה א֤ ֵשׁ ְד ַֽתּ ⟵
(tdšʾ h-ʾrṣφ) (dšʾφ)
[let_sproutv] [the-earthnp] [sproutingnp]
‘let the earth put forth vegetation’ (RSV)
However, in these examples, the problem may only be apparent. This is because both the verb חבז zbḥ ‘sacrifice’ and the verb אשׁד dšʾ ‘sprout’ can be intransitive. In the case of חבז zbḥ this is so in the two other instances where the syntagm l + x + zbḥ occurs, namely, 2Kgs 17:36 and 2Chr 28:23. In the same way, with reference to the other occurrence of the verb אשׁד ‘sprout’, at Joel 2:22, the verb is intransitive.
Consequently, the division into two phrases at (55) results in a valid vp in the initial phrase, even if its righthand boundary turns out not to be the rightmost boundary of the final vp. Note too that in both examples, the direct object is a noun from the same root as the verb, implying that the np merely expresses the internal direct object. Accordingly, in both examples, the first prosodic phrase boundary can be viewed as the boundary of a valid xpmax, even if it is not so in the context of the final sentence as a whole. When the sentence is expanded to the right with an optional object phrase, this is then contained in its own prosodic phrase.
It is perfectly possible, furthermore, to find sentences involving verbs with optional direct objects to include the verb, subject and direct object in a single prosodic phrase.
For example, the verb רדנ ndr ‘vow’ may optionally take a direct object (compare Num 6:21 with Num 30:10). The following example involves a transitive case, again with a cognate object. However, unlike the previous two examples, the verb along with its core arguments are included in a single prosodic phrase:
(56) Num 21:2
ה֖ ָוהיַֽל ר ֶדֽ� ֶנ ל֥ ֵא ָר ְשִׂי ר ַ֙דּ ִיַּו
(w=ydr yśrʾl ndrφ) (l=yhwhφ) and=[vowedv] [Israelnp] vownp] [to=DNpp]vp]
‘And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD’ (KJV)
It may be relevant in this case that all instances of the wayyiqṭol of רדנ ndr ‘vow’
are of the form wydr (+ subj) + ndr (see Gen 28:20, Judg 11:30, 1Sam 1:11 and Jonah 1:16). It is possible that, because the object is so fixed a part of the expression, there was a preference for avoiding a pause after the first (subject) np. Thus, in the only other exactly parallel syntagm, at Judg 11:30, a pause is avoided after the first np.
The reason for avoiding a pause here may well be that, because רדנ ndr can be analysed as an ‘internal object’, it is at some level of analysis a continuation of the Verb constituent, rather than forming a separate subbranch of the Verb Phrase.
One consequence of the coincidence of prosodic phrases with the edges of syntactic phrases is that construct chains in Tiberian Hebrew are in most cases linked by conjunctive accents (cf. Park 2020, 120–121). A case in point is the conjunctive phrase הדות חבז zbḥ twdh ‘a sacrifice of thanks’ at (54) above. There are usually good prosodic grounds for cases where this rule is not followed. Park (2020, 121) cites the following instances:
(57) Lev 6:2
ה֑ ָלֹע ָה ת ֖ ַרוֹתּ תאֹ֥ז ⟵ (zʾt twrtφ) (h-ʿlhφ)
[this] [law the-burnt_offeringnp]
‘This [is] the law of the burnt offering’ (KJV) (58) Lev 6:7
ה֑ ָח ְנ ִמּ ַה ת ֖ ַרוֹתּ תאֹ֥ז ְו ⟵
(w=zʾt twrtφ) (h-mnḥhφ)
and=[this] [law the-grain_offeringnp]
‘And this is the law of the cereal offering’ (ESV)
In this case the unusual prosodic phrasing can be accounted for with reference to the notion of contrastive focus: a list of laws is being given, and each is introduced with the same formula, namely תרות תאז zʾt twrt + x ‘This is the law x’, where x is the name of the law in question. Since the introductory phrase is the same in each case, the purpose of the unusual phrasing is to highlight the part that changes in each case, namely the name of the law.
Other factors are at play in prosodic phrasing beyond the considerations of edge alignment, for details of which the reader is referred to Dresher (1994) and Park (2020). The important point for present purposes is that in general xps are not bisected by prosodic phrase boundaries. Finally, we should note that clause boundaries coincide in Tiberian Hebrew with boundaries marked by disjunctive accents. Consider the following example of a bicolon in Isaiah:23
23 There follows another bicolon, and so arguably this verse could be seen as a tetracolon.
(59) Isa 40:4
וּל֑ ָפּ ְשִׁי ה֖ ָע ְבִג ְו ר֥ ַה־ל ָכ ְו א ֵ֔שָׂנִּי ֙איֶגּ־ל ָכּ ⟵
(kl≡gyʾφ) (ynśʾφ) (w=kl≡hr w=gbʿhφ)
[every≡valley lift_up.pass] and=[every≡mountain and=hill (yšplwφ)
be_low]
‘Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low’
(KJV)