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Article published In: Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Vol. 18:1 (2017) ► pp.1–29

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“Speaking base approbious words”

Speech representation in Early Modern English witness depositions

 | Mid-Sweden University
 | University of Kansas
Published online: 26 October 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.18.1.01wal
Abstract
This paper explores the representation of speech in Early Modern English witness depositions. We demonstrate that Semino, Elena and Mick Short. 2004. Corpus Stylistics: Speech, Writing and Thought Presentation in a Corpus of English Writing. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar framework of description, which has for the most part been used in explorations of present-day texts, is generally applicable to our historical data. Our study shows that factors such as the importance of the evidence cited and the clarity of the deposition narrative were crucial considerations in representing speech in different contexts.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Material
  • 3.Previous research and methodology
    • 3.1Narrator’s representation of voice (NV)
    • 3.2Narrator’s representation of speech acts (NRSA)
    • 3.3Indirect speech (IS)
    • 3.4Free indirect speech (FIS)
    • 3.5Direct speech (DS) and free direct speech (FDS)
    • 3.6Hypothetical speech (h)
    • 3.7Quotations (q)
    • 3.8Portmanteau and other
    • 3.9Speech embedding
  • 4.Quantitative results
  • 5.Qualitative analysis
    • 5.1Narrator’s representation of voice (NV)
    • 5.2Narrator’s representation of speech act (NRSA)
    • 5.3Indirect speech/direct speech (IS/DS)
    • 5.4Indirect speech (IS) and direct speech (DS)
  • 6.Summary and conclusion
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • References
References (39)
Sources
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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