הלא as a Discourse Marker of Justification in Biblical Hebrew

The Biblical Hebrew clausal adverb הֲלֹא is synchronically distinct from the combination of interrogative הֲ and negative לֹא. Syntactic and pragmatic evidence confirms that הֲלֹא in some of its occurrences is non-interrogative in meaning, and exhibits the syntactic traits of a clausal adverb, rather than those characteristic of the combination of the interrogative and negative particles. The clausal adverb הֲלֹא occurs in various pragmatic contexts, including answers to questions, announcements, predictions, and, most commonly, justifications. In most of these uses, the clausal adverb הֲלֹא has a parallel in the presentational clausal adverb הִנֵּה.

The present study examines the use of הֲלֹא as a discourse marker of justification in Biblical Hebrew. The justificational use of הֲלֹא is found in both poetic and prose texts, and in the classical as well as the late strata of Biblical Hebrew. Altogether, seventy-four occurrences of justificational הֲלֹא were identified. הֲלֹא can justify a preceding or a following claim. The claims justified by הֲלֹא are of various types, including direct assertions, presuppositions, and implications of rhetorical questions, directives, and oaths. In its justification of all of these types of claims, הֲלֹא can be compared to הִנֵּה. A characteristic of justificational הֲלֹא which distinguishes it from הִנֵּה is its occurrence in the middle of a three-part argument structure in which the claim is repeated for persuasive effect.