--- title: "Multivocality in Group Speech in Biblical Narrative — Savran 2009" description: "Savran studies the exceptions, where a group speech holds several voices: explicit subgroups (\"some said …\" three times in Neh 5:2–4), trial scenes with…" authors: ["George Savran"] year: 2009 venue: "Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9" source: "https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25" doi: "10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25" licence: "CC BY 2.5 (Journal of Hebrew Scriptures)" licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/savran-2009-multivocality-group-speech-biblical-narrative/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/savran-2009-multivocality-group-speech-biblical-narrative/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2009](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2009/) / Multivocality in Group Speech in Biblical Narrative # Multivocality in Group Speech in Biblical Narrative **Authors:** George Savran · **Year:** 2009 · **Venue:** Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9, art. 25 **Link:** [jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/7237](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/7237) · library `hbo-2009-savran-multivocality-group-speech-biblical-narrative` · **Licence:** [CC BY 2.5](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) [**0** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W4300671384) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 · [Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9](https://openalex.org/S2764683527) · [licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) - [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25) - [PDF](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/download/7237/5949) - [DOI 10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W4300671384) **Authors (1)** 1. [George Savran](https://openalex.org/A5013642560) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/113502413) · h 7 · 202 citations · 28 works Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about By convention a group in biblical narrative speaks with one voice: וַיֹּאמְרוּ, or וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל־אָחִיו, and the group acts as one character, in line with the folk-tale "rule of two to a scene". Savran studies the exceptions, where a group speech holds several voices: explicit subgroups ("some said …" three times in Neh 5:2–4), trial scenes with turns (Jer 26), complaints that may come from different parties (Exod 17:2–4, as Ibn Ezra suggested), and deliberations introduced by "each said to his brother" — Joseph's brothers (Gen 37:19–20; 42:21–22), the sailors in Jonah, the debate over David's return (2 Sam 19). Multivocality dramatises disagreement or prepares a later unified voice. A plural "they said" should not be assumed to be one voice; syntax and context decide. ## Ideas - I1. Treat וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל־אָחִיו / אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ as a *deliberation* frame: the quote that follows is a group discussion, and the act is a proposal or question, not a statement by one speaker. - I2. When one plural frame introduces a quote whose parts change person, topic or stance (Gen 42:21–22, Gen 37:19–20 then Reuben's separate speech), allow the quote to split into several voices of the same group; record speaker = group with a voice index. - I3. List the Torah's plural speech frames (וַיֹּאמְרוּ with a group subject) and count how many are followed by a reply from a named member of that group — a cue that the group was not of one mind. ## For Mova I1–I2 apply to the speech-part reader of `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` (frames and quotes, `amar`, `inner-frame`, `propose`) and to [languages/hbo/09-discourse.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/09-discourse/) §4; I3 is a measure on the Torah trees. Topics[Hebrew & Aramaic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/hebrew-aramaic/) ## Cite Cite as George Savran. 2009. Multivocality in Group Speech in Biblical Narrative. Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9. The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25) ```bibtex @article{savran2009multivocality, title = {{Multivocality in Group Speech in Biblical Narrative}}, author = {George Savran}, journal = {Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9}, year = {2009}, doi = {10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25}, url = {https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a25} } ``` - [← previous Une description morphologique structurée en arbre du verbe akkadien qui utilise des structures de traits et des transducteurs multirubans A Tree-Structured morphological description of the Akkadian verb which uses Feature Structures and Multi-tape Transducers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/barthelemy-2009-une-description-morphologique-structuree-en/) - [next → Proceedings of the 2009 Workshop on Grammar Engineering Across Frameworks (GEAF 2009)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/anon-2009-proceedings-2009-workshop-grammar-engineering/) - [↑ back to papers of 2009](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2009/)