TIP OF THE DAY 55: Direct speech: Hebrew discourse analysis

MJ. Smith
MJ. Smith Member, MVP Posts: 53,041 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited November 20 in English Forum

link to next post TIP OF THE DAY 56: Direct speech: Propositional outlines and Andersen-Forbes - Logos Forums

Since the forum change has been delayed, I've started adding these posts to the previous tip list. See L/V 10 Tip of the Day Note that this list has been moved to the wiki (which itself is moved to the new forum software). 

QUESTION: Can I search on the content of the direct speech?

SOFTWARE: The third template under Speakers and Addressees in the Bible search builds such as search.

ANSWER: The template solution – of course, a direct entry of the search argument is also possible,

  1. Open the search panel, most commonly through the search icon on the application toolbar.
  2. Select Bible search.
  3. In the introductory information in the blue box, click on Use search templates.
  4. In the sidebar on the left scroll down to Speakers and Addresses. Select One person speaks to another person about something
  5. Click on one of the options.
  6. Fill in the input fields in the popup mini-window, carefully selecting an entry from the drop-down selection menu.
  7. Click on Search
  8. Enjoy your results

For my example, I  Moses speaking to Joshua about Canaan The search argument built was speaker:person:Moses INTERSECTS addressee:person:"Joshua (Son of Nun)" INTERSECTS canaan.

 

VOCABULARY:

  • direct speech (or, direct discourse) is the reproduction of the actual words of one person quoted and included in the discourse of another person. For example, “He declared ‘I will have nothing to do with this person.’ ” indirect speech is the reporting of the words of one person within the discourse of another person. Usually the form of indirect discourse is different from an exact quotation. For example, “He said he would have nothing to do with that person.”[1]
  • discourse is the communication of thought or meaning through spoken or written words. One can study the discourse structure of both oral and written texts to see how thoughts, words, sentences, and other units are arranged to communicate a message.[2]
    • ‶Reported Speech″—Sentences that are part of a spoken dialogue. For the sake of reference, these sentences are indented one level below the verb of speaking that introduces them. They are labeled according to their function like other sentences.
    • ‵Reported Speech (Level 2)′—Sentences that are part of a spoken dialogue but are embedded within another speech. For the sake of reference, these sentences are indented two levels below the main verb of speaking that introduces the main speech. They are labeled according to their function like other sentences.
    • ‶Reported Speech (Level 3)″—Sentences that are part of a spoken dialogue that is embedded within a speech that is also embedded in a higher-level speech. For the sake of reference sake, these sentences are indented three levels below the main verb of speaking that introduces main speech. They are labeled according to their function like other sentences.
    • ‷Unframed Reported Speech‴—Sentences that are part of the spoken dialogue but are not introduced by a quotative frame. Unlike other types of Reported Speech, Unframed Reported Speech is not indented. They are labeled according to their function like other sentences.[3]

 

QUESTION: How is reported speech shown in the Hebrew Discourse Analysis filter?

SOFTWARE: Discourse features are promoted through a reformatting feature. Logos discourse analysis for Hebrew includes four types of reported speech; the Greek includes none.

-            Reported speech

-            Reported speech (level 2)

-            Reported speech (level 3)

-            Unframed reported speech

ANSWER: To turn on the Hebrew discourse analysis reformatting in your Bible for which you own the reverse interlinear (or with word numbers if using an original language resource).

  1. On the dynamic resource toolbar, select Formatting.
  2. On the subsidiary toolbar, select Reformat.
  3. Under Reformat, select Discourse analysis (Hebrew)
  4. Select the features you wish to see, at least the four items listed above.

Note a bug report has been reported as this doesn’t appear to work. BUG: Limited Hebrew Discourse analysis reformatting fails - Logos Forums

 

QUESTION: How do I search for Hebrew Discourse reported speech features?

SOFTWARE: The coding appears as a datatype in the Context Menu. The Context Menu may be used to generate a search.

ANSWER: A sample search argument for a Bible search is LDHB:"Reported Speech"

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY for direct speech-oriented studies

 

QUESTION: What is the role of direct speech in Hebrew narrative?

SOFTWARE: An all search with a search argument of "direct speech" Biblical types provided useful results.

ANSWER: from Roop, Eugene F. Genesis. Believers Church Bible Commentary. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1987.

Direct Speech. In Hebrew narrative direct speech plays a primary role (Alter, 1981: 63–87). In our literature, description or narration often has the dominant place. We have large blocks of description—description of setting, situation, action, even thoughts and feelings of the actors in the story. In Hebrew narrative description or narration plays a relatively less important role, most often serving to introduce, reinforce, and tie together the speeches. Frequently description of a situation will be a brief phrase, such as there was a famine in the land (12:10; 26:1). The description of action may be equally brief: Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day (32:24). The description of a person or figure in a story is often limited to few words: Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob (34:1); Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field (25:27); “the snake was smarter than any other wild animal Yahweh God had made” (3:1). These descriptions, although important, are brief and leave much to the imagination of the reader. In fact, the brevity of descriptive material invites, perhaps even necessitates, that the listener imaginatively enter the narrative and participate in telling the story.

Hence Hebrew narrative most often centers not around description, even description of action, but around direct speech. An accurate reading of Hebrew narrative must note carefully what the principals say to one another. Normally there are only two actors on stage at a time. The two principals speak to one another, rather than several persons in a group speaking at various times (Olrik: 135). Sometimes in a more complex narrative like the story of Joseph, several people can be together. But even then Joseph’s brothers speak as a single person (43:7ff.), or a single individual acts as spokesperson for the group and the others fade into the background.

Hence as we seek to understand the individual stories, one avenue into the narrative is through the speeches. We must pay close attention to the way a person speaks as well as the context of what is said. A narrative might seek to say something by setting a long speech right next to a short one. Gentle language of one speaker may contrast with harsh words of another, or flowery speech with earthy. Not all of us may interpret such elements of the speeches in the same way, but discussing our various understandings becomes part of the interpretive process. One cannot understate the value of knowing Hebrew for this task, but much can still be learned by comparing different translations of the same narrative.[4]

 


[1] Lynell Zogbo and Ernst R. Wendland, Hebrew Poetry in the Bible: A Guide for Understanding and for Translating, Helps for Translators (New York: United Bible Societies, 2000), 228.

[2] Lynell Zogbo and Ernst R. Wendland, Hebrew Poetry in the Bible: A Guide for Understanding and for Translating, Helps for Translators (New York: United Bible Societies, 2000), 228.

[3] Steven E. Runge and Joshua R. Westbury, eds., The Lexham High Definition Old Testament: Introduction (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

[4] Eugene F. Roop, Genesis, Believers Church Bible Commentary (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1987), 313–314.

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