Direct Discourse Markers in Mishnaic Hebrew

Abstract

The two direct discourse markers (DDMs) lymr and 'mr appear in Mishnaic Hebrew (200 BCE-500 CE) at the beginning of an asyndetic content clause that follows verbs of saying (e.g. s'l) and verbs that are not verbs of saying (e.g. smh). An examination of the two markers reveals that the appearance of lymr as a DDM is limited, and that it shows the continuity of the widespread use of l'mr as a DDM in Biblical Hebrew. On the other hand, y'mr is an independent DDM in Mishnaic Hebrew, and can be found not only with biblical verbs and with verbs of saying. Part 1 of this paper presents the findings of previous studies on the DDMs l'mr and y'mr in Biblical Hebrew. The two sections of Part 2 provide a description of the two uses of these DDMs in Mishnaic Hebrew - when they appear at the beginning of a clause following verbs of saying and when they appear at the beginning of a clause following verbs that are not verbs of saying.