The Language of Politeness in Ancient Hebrew Letters
By philological analysis, this study analyzes ancient Hebrew letters with the goal of discussing the language of politeness in the context of eighth to sixth century B.C.E. Levantine hierarchical society. It argues that the major politeness device implemented in the letters is the so-called praescri...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
The National Association of Professors of Hebrew
2009
|
| In: |
Hebrew studies
Year: 2009, Volume: 50, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-39 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | By philological analysis, this study analyzes ancient Hebrew letters with the goal of discussing the language of politeness in the context of eighth to sixth century B.C.E. Levantine hierarchical society. It argues that the major politeness device implemented in the letters is the so-called praescriptio, broadly defined as the address, greeting, and blessing formula, preceding the body of the letter. After a detailed investigation of the praescriptio, the situational contexts of two important letter corpora are explored from Arad and Lachish. This is carried out in order to demonstrate how situational contexts in which the letters were constructed can aid in our understanding of sociolinguistic characteristics of the letters and hence, politeness strategies employed within them. Of special import is the new analysis of Lachish Letter 3 (Lak[6]1.3), whereby it is argued that the sender of the letter uses carefully formulated politeness strategies to win favor in the eyes of his superior. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2158-1681 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew studies
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/hbr.2009.0023 |