Disjunctive Questions in Biblical Hebrew: A Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Analysis

A disjunctive question presents an alternative to a previously-expressed state of affairs. Biblical Hebrew has four constructions for forming disjunctive questions. After an initial hă-question, the second can be introduced with hă, ʾim, wəʾim, or ʾô. While Hebrew reference grammars simply acknowled...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:General Article
Main Author: Scheumann, Jesse R. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Unisa Press 2023
In: Journal for semitics
Year: 2023, Volume: 32, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-21
Further subjects:B polar questions
B ELLIPSIS
B disjunction
B alternative questions
B alternativity
B Biblical Hebrew
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Summary:A disjunctive question presents an alternative to a previously-expressed state of affairs. Biblical Hebrew has four constructions for forming disjunctive questions. After an initial hă-question, the second can be introduced with hă, ʾim, wəʾim, or ʾô. While Hebrew reference grammars simply acknowledge the variation, this paper systematically addresses these constructions and distinguishes them on syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic grounds. The key results are a finer distinction between conjunction and disjunction and a recognition of how ellipsis discriminates between polar and alternative questions.
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for semitics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.25159/2663-6573/12534