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# Word-Embeddings Distinguish Denominal and Root-Derived Verbs in Semitic

**Authors:** Ido Benbaji, Omri Doron, Adèle Hénot-Mortier · **Year:** 2022 · **Venue:** E2ECOMPVEC, EPTCS 366, 35–49 **Link:** [arxiv.org/abs/2208.05721](https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05721) · **Licence:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

[**1** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W4291238873) openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14[EPTCS 366, 2022, pp. 35-49](https://openalex.org/S4210216316)[licence](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

- [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.4204/eptcs.366.6)
- [PDF](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.05721)
- [DOI 10.4204/eptcs.366.6](https://doi.org/10.4204/eptcs.366.6)
- [arXiv 2208.05721](https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05721)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W4291238873)

**Authors (3)**

1. [Ido Benbaji](https://openalex.org/A5021272936) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/2149121435) · h 2 · 6 citations · 6 works
2. [Omri Doron](https://openalex.org/A5041513044) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/2299763993) · h 1 · 2 citations · 9 works
3. Adele Henot-Mortier

Citations and author metrics from openalex-snapshot (2026-10-14); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

Distributed Morphology posits two levels of word formation: a root plus a pattern gives unpredictable meanings (the same root in different binyanim can drift far apart), while a verb built on an existing word stays close to that word's meaning. Modern Hebrew offers a formal diagnostic (Arad): a denominal verb keeps a consonant that belongs to the noun's pattern, not to the root (מ in mixšev "computerize" from maxšev "computer"; the -on of xešbon in hitxašben). The authors build triples — noun, its denominal verb, and other verbs from the same root — from the Knesset corpus and test four embedding models (fastText, GloVe, Word2Vec, AlephBERT): the denominal is closer to the noun than the root-derived verbs are, as predicted.

## Ideas

- I1. In the Torah dictionary, mark verbs that BDB labels "denom." and, where visible, the extra pattern consonant (e.g. a verb built on a מ- or ת- noun); show the source noun in the entry rather than only the root.
- I2. A cheap, explainable check of the paper's prediction on our data: gloss overlap. For each root, compare the English glosses of the noun with those of the denominal verb and of the root's other verbs; denominals should share more gloss words with their noun.

## For Mova

The paper is on Modern Hebrew and uses embeddings, which Mova does not use at answer time. I1 and I2 go into `macula dict` and [The lexicon](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/10-lexicon/) (roots and word formation); a note on the two levels belongs to `07-weak-verbs.md`/`06-verb.md` only as background on binyan meaning.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.4204/eptcs.366.6](https://doi.org/10.4204/eptcs.366.6) · [arXiv 2208.05721](https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05721)

```
@inproceedings{benbaji2022word,
  title = {{Word-Embeddings Distinguish Denominal and Root-Derived Verbs in Semitic}},
  author = {Benbaji, Ido and Doron, Omri and Henot-Mortier, Adele},
  booktitle = {EPTCS 366, 2022, pp. 35-49},
  year = {2022},
  doi = {10.4204/eptcs.366.6},
  eprint = {2208.05721},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.4204/eptcs.366.6}
}
```

- [← previous Serial Verb Constructions in North-West Semitic languages: From a synchronic radiation back to the 'Big Bang'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2022-andrason-serial-verb-constructions-north-west/)
- [next → The Biblical Hebrew particle kî from a discourse analysis perspective](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2022-benigni-biblical-hebrew-particle-ky-discourse/)
- [↑ back to Ancient Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo/)

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