04_Reymond_224_246 15/07/14 12:18 Pagina 226 226 ERIC D. REYMOND As a result of the risks and benefits of linguistic communication, Ben Sira’s book attempts to specify particular ways that one can properly use language. Often the advice reflects the complicated social context in which young scribes and administrators found themselves, one that required the scribe to express the right thought in the right way at the right time. For example, one is encouraged to be sincere (Sir 5,9-10) and friendly with “sweet discourse” (Sir 6,5), but not to be duplicitous or “double-tongued” (Sir 5,14 – 6,1; 28,12-26). One is told to be cautious in giving advice or criticism (Sir 1,24; 5,11-12; 11,7-8; 33,4) even to sometimes remain silent (20,1.5-8.19-20; 21,26; 22,27; 31,31; 32,4.7), but not always so, since “Wisdom is made known through words” (Sir 4,24) and since there is little worth in hidden wisdom (20,30-31; 41,14-15). Con- nected with the difficulties of knowing what to say and when to say it, a scribe would also have confronted the complexities inherent in the medium of communication itself. There are two basic realms which can confound communication and which are explored below: linguistic factors (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics) and extra-linguistic factors (the context of who, where, when, and how something is said). The following paper illustrates how these dimensions of com- munication are addressed by Ben Sira. In sum, Ben Sira warns his readers in various ways that an utterance made in one context can have a different meaning or significance in another context. That is, the same words uttered at two different times and/or by two dif- ferent people can have two entirely different meanings and effects. Such caution reflects, in part, Ben Sira’s recognition that individu- als have different perspectives and biases and will not always per- ceive the same phenomena in the same way. In addition to context, Ben Sira’s teachings address linguistic ambiguity; this is done mostly indirectly by illustrating how individual words can have multiple meanings. Ben Sira’s proverbs, in fact, are often predicated on the multiple meanings and nuances of words like “glory” and “prudence”, even on expanding additional meanings for words like “shame”, in effect finding and introducing ambiguities into words. This is not to mention the fact that his poetry evinces numerous ex- pressions whose impact depends, to some extent, on ambiguity cre- ated through various kinds of wordplay and metaphor, the purpose of some of which seems to be increasing the linguistic dexterity of his students.