Dialogic construction of authority in Hebrew women’s writing from the 19th century

Abstract

Abstract The article discusses quotations as linguistic means for constructing authority. It seeks to attenuate two accepted premises regarding quotations and authority in linguistic research: firstly, that the source of quotation is the (single) source of authority, and secondly, the writer’s dichotomic attitude toward it: reliance or refutation. Two opinion essays in Hebrew were examined, authored by a woman and published in a Maskilic periodical during the 19th century – a time when women were denied the social license to write in Hebrew. The pragmatic micro-analysis shows that the writer uses various linguistic means to construct her authority by means of dialogical conflicts between several external sources: the Jewish canonical texts, her educated peers or prevailing viewpoints of the time.