Interrogative: Rabbinic Hebrew

Logically, interrogative clauses can be subdivided into polar and non-polar questions. Polar questions allow for only two answers, inquiring whether a proposition is true or not or which out of two antithetic propositions is true. Non-polar questions allow for more than two answers. Containing an interrogative pronoun, adjective, or adverb, they elicit additional information concerning a specific part in a proposition. They are conveniently labeled ‘WH’ questions based on the English forms ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘why’, etc. This logical difference naturally finds expression on the syntactical level in Rabbinic Hebrew. Both these interrogative clause-types are found as both direct questions in main clauses and indirect questions forming interrogative complement clauses to verbs. Rhetorical questions, i.e., questions intended not so much to elicit information, but to make a point, are not formally marked as such. Variations between Tannaitic and Amoraic Rabbinic Hebrew are slight and restricted to the preference of different interrogative particles. There is no comprehensive treatment of syntactical notions relating to interrogatives in Rabbinic Hebrew, but the grammars of Segal (1936:188–191, 244–245) and Pérez Fernández (1997:191–197) treat major issues and provide examples, and Kaddari (1991–1994) contains detailed studies on certain kinds of ‘WH’ questions.