Diachronic or synchronic, stylistic and musical

Did a text come from the same hand at the same time (synchronic) or different hands / times (diachronic)? What if the accents are considered? Does the music tell us of a single phrase composed to show a connected tone of voice that would suggest one source? Or does the musical phrase uncover different hands and interpreters?

An article by Richard C. Steiner, JBL Vol. 138, No. 3 (2019), pp. 473-495 suggests that repeated quotations formula are signals of a change in the conversational parameters. They are not anomalies to be explained away, but a common literary device used in biblical narrative to signal discontinuity.

When I came across these several passages with repeated use of "he said," and later in the text a repeated and perhaps redundant "he said", I just translated what I found. It never occurred to me that I should decompose the text into multiple sources.

I don't want to downplay source criticism entirely. But I do want to ask, What would the music tell us about the narrator's painting of the words in the text? And incidentally, in how many ways can one elaborate a common marker of direct speech?

An example first of the double use of the marker for direct speech:

Genesis 37, showing the double use of the introduction of direct speech.

Steiner's lead example shows that the accents are different for the two quotation formulas. The first is ornamented with zaqen-gadol after the atnah (A subdominant), the second with a pashta on the silluq (e tonic). A second example again pitches the paired conversation markers differently.

Genesis 30:27-28, is there a touch a sarcasm in the first, and a direct order in the second?

I looked at a few more and again and again, there is a real musical line in the use of this literary technique. Then I thought, how often does a more mundane repetition of words vary in musical line?

Just look at how varied the 42 instances of And Yahweh said to Moses, are in Exodus. So if one wanted as Steiner notes, to repeat the signal of a quotation formula, why should it not be a literary/musical deliberate technique?

Within these 42 examples, there are several variations used to elaborate the recitation of And Yahweh said to Moses: You can check my lists
6, e C qad,z-q,g#, Exodus 7:14, 7:26, 9:1, 10:1, 19:21 , 34:27
3, e C qad,z-q,B Exodus 6:1, 9:13, 33:17
3, e C qad,z-q,f, Exodus 11:9, 14:26 ,20:22
2, e C qad,z-q,d, Exodus 7:1, 34:1
1, e C qad,z-q, Exodus 14:15
1, e C qad,z-q,pas, Exodus 16:4
1, e C qad,z-q,qad, Exodus 4:4
I included one more word than necessary, so the above may all be the same i.e. 17 e C qad, z-q

3, e pas,ger,rev,C, Exodus 8:16, 10:21, 33:5
3, e pas,ger,rev,pas, Exodus 10:12, 17:14, Exodus 19:9
2, e pas,ger,rev,B, Exodus 7:19, 11:1

1, e pas,ger,C, Exodus 9:22
1, e pas,ger,rev,f Exodus 24:12
1, e pas,ger,rev,qad, Exodus 17:5

2, e B zar,seg,qad, Exodus 4:21, 8:12

And the following unique combinations for the first 4 (or 5) words of the verse.
e f g# f e, Exodus 31:12,
e f g# ^A C B, Exodus 32:33
e f g# ^A qad,qad,B Exodus 32:9
e f g# ^A qad,qad,e z-q,Exodus 16:28

e B z-q,f e g# Exodus 7:8
e B zar,B e seg, Exodus 9:8
e B zar,seg,B Exodus 8:1

e C qad,B e z-q, Exodus 12:1
e C qad,B z-q, Exodus 12:43

e pas,C qad,B,Exodus 19:10
e pas,C qad,z-q, Exodus 4:19

e t-q,pas,ger,B, Exodus 30:34

On could, of course, ask if these differences indicate different 'sources', or different hands. But that would imply knowing the origin of the hand signals. Are they 7th-8th century or do they go back to the second C BCE or earlier?

The 42 examples are in the attached document, one per line. These were produced from a work area in my database by automation. Each line is isomorphic to the Leningrad codex text for the first few words of each verse as listed.