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The deictic nature of the directives in Biblical Hebrew
- Source: Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”, Volume 30, Issue 4, Jan 2006, p. 733 - 775
Abstract
Biblical Hebrew has three specific verb forms for performing directive speech-acts such as commands and requests. Hebraists (e.g., Bendavid 1967) observe that two other forms are also used for this purpose, in addition to other uses. In Hatav (1997), I show that those two forms are general modals, which may be used for any kind of modality, including directives. Complying with Grice’s (1975) cooperative rule, I argue in this paper, a biblical character would prefer the specific forms to perform directives. However, I show that the specific forms are deictic in nature, and can be used only when the speech-time functions as the reference-time of the utterance. In case of another reference-time, the speaker must resort to the general modals.
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