ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 examines a single scribe's idiolect through analysis of EA 286. The writer, known as “the Jerusalem Scribe,” wrote several letters for ‘Abdi-Hepa of Jerusalem, all with similar features. Past research has identified the linguistic strata as being comprised of Canaano-Akkadian, Middle Assyrian, and Middle Babylonian, proposing that this variation stems from the scribe's training outside of the southern Levant, specifically in Syria. In this chapter, rather than focus on the origins of the scribe, I evaluate the evidence for the scribe's evolving literacy practices and for their acculturation to Canaanite cuneiform practices. I also situate the letter in the sociopolitical context of Jerusalem in the Amarna Age. In the analysis of EA 286, I furthermore demonstrate how the scribe's code-alternation seems to be motivated by the content of the different sections of the letter. In other words, the scribe uses linguistic and orthographic variation in EA 286 alongside other rhetorical strategies to advance their employer's agenda. I also explore the ways in which the scribe uses parallelism as a structural mode. Together, code-alternation and parallelism create a metadiscursive guide which highlights critical sections of the letter. This case study demonstrates how we can combine linguistic and rhetorical analysis to better understand code-alternation as a scribal strategy to enhance the communicative power of a text.
