Linguistic Aspects of Persuasiveness in Akkadian: Petitions and Prayers [Hardcover]

The aim of this research is to study the stylistic and linguistic issues that are generally associated with the umbrella concept of rhetoric in Akkadian. The study consists of detailed analysis of self-contained textual corpora, in order to explore the interaction between three conceptual strands: a) the questions to be asked, a priori, about the rhetorical behaviour of a civilization (for example, as it makes a persuasive speech: ordo verborum); b) the data (especially linguistic data) that can be derived from the texts; c) the variables that affect the answer to the questions asked in strand (a), from one context to another (for example, if a king or a god is being addressed).