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# Interrogatives in Biblical Hebrew: a case study in the Joseph narrative

**Authors:** Mauro Fernando Meister · **Year:** 1996 · **Venue:** thesis, Stellenbosch University (SUNScholar) **Link:** [scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/55146](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/55146) · not in the library (download refused, HTTP 429, 2026-10-17) · **Licence:** free to read, no CC licence — summary only

[**1** citations in our library](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/cited-by/hbo-1996-meister-interrogatives-biblical-hebrew-case-study/) of the 140673 papers whose bibliographies we readSUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)

- [Publisher's page](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/55146)
- [PDF](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstreams/03bebd24-0b93-45c9-b9d5-36fb8b7086d5/download)

**Authors (1)**

1. Mauro Fernando Meister

Citations and author metrics from OpenAlex (); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

**Not read: the PDF could not be fetched.** What follows is from the title and the thesis's known place in the Stellenbosch school (Van der Merwe's students, cognitive-functional approach), and must be checked against the text when it arrives. The thesis studies the question sentences of the Joseph story (Genesis 37–50): the interrogative words and particles (הֲ־, מִי, מָה, אֵיךְ, לָמָּה, אַיֵּה …), the kinds of question (yes/no, content, alternative) and what the questions do in the dialogue (asking for information, accusing, rebuking, rhetorical assertion).

## Ideas

- I1. (to check against the text) Classify every question in Gen 37–50 by form (particle or word) and by function (information, rhetorical, accusation); this gives a gold set for the `rhetorical` and `ask-first` rules.
- I2. (to check) Measure how often a question in the Joseph story is answered in the next speech turn; an unanswered question is a cue for a rhetorical reading.
- I3. Add the Joseph-story question inventory, with counts from our trees, to the questions section of the syntax chapter.

## For Mova

I1–I2 apply to `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` (the `rhetorical` and `ask-first` rules) and its comparison with the English reading; I3 to [Syntax: the clause and the sentence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/08-syntax/) (questions) and `05-pronouns-particles.md` (interrogatives). Re-read and correct this card once the PDF is in the research library.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```
@inproceedings{meister1996interrogatives,
  title = {{Interrogatives in Biblical Hebrew: a case study in the Joseph narrative}},
  author = {Meister, Mauro Fernando},
  booktitle = {SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)},
  year = {1996},
  url = {https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/55146}
}
```

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