“And you say”: echoic utterances in Malachi with special reference to irony, denial and echoic questions

Bira, Yirgu Nigussie (2015) “And you say”: echoic utterances in Malachi with special reference to irony, denial and echoic questions. PhD thesis, Middlesex University / London School of Theology. [Thesis]

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Abstract

This thesis investigates echoic utterances in Malachi with special reference to irony in 1:2-5 and irony and denial in 2:17-3:12. Instances of irony, denial and echo questions in 1:6-14 are also analysed in the process of explaining irony in 1:2-5. The Relevance Theory (RT) of ostensive communication, particularly its notion of echoic metarepresentation provides the methodology.
The thesis has five chapters. The first chapter consists of introductory materials, namely background information and a quick review of previous works. Following an overview of key background information, a detailed analysis of the literary form of the book is presented in which the discourse of Malachi is described as a form of diatribe. The review of previous works sketches studies of Malachi and biblical irony. In the second chapter, the RT notion of verbal irony, denial (metalinguistic negation) and echoic questions is discussed following a brief survey of modern accounts of linguistic communication.
The rest of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of echoic utterances in Malachi. Chapter three analyses YHWH‘s utterances in Mal 1:2-5 as irony. The chapter begins with a detailed review of previous works on the passage under consideration. The second section examines the passage in the larger discourse context of Mal 1:2-14. The chapter concludes with a summary of major claims. Chapter four investigates YHWH‘s utterances in Mal 3:1 and 3:6-7a following a similar format as chapter three. A detailed review of previous works on the passages is given first. This is followed by a treatment of Mal 3:1 as irony and 3:6-7a as denial. The clause in 3:6b is treated as ironic as well. A summary of major claims and the implication of the claims for reading Mal 2:17-3:12 concludes the chapter. Chapter five consists of conclusion to the thesis.

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