Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Why are you all so hung up on the 'politeness' function in the
difference between )NY / )NKY ? I suspect that it is a grammatization
of another function, but what it is I don't know yet. Both words are
used hundreds of times, and by comparing all their usages the
functional differences may become apparent. But just arguing and
comparing with other languages gets nowhere.

This would be a good subject for a Master's thesis. Professors, assign
a grad student to get working. If there is a functional difference,
many contexts may find both uses interchangeable. But if a common
action can be found in which only one of the terms is used, and
another where only the other is used, we have started on the road to
understanding.

Karl W. Randolph.