Questions and answers in the English courtroom (1640-1760) : a sociopragmatic analysis / / Dawn Archer

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910809506203321
• Autore: Archer Dawn
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Amsterdam ; ; Philadelphia, : J. Benjamins Pub., c2005
• ISBN: 1-282-15672-1; 9786612156724; 90-272-9443-7
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (388 p.)
• Collana: Pragmatics & beyond, , 0922-842X ; ; new ser., v. 135
• Disciplina: 347.42/075
• Soggetti: Examination of witnesses - England - History - 18th century; Examination of witnesses - England - History - 17th century
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Originally presented as the author's thesis.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [347]-364) and indexes.
• Nota di contenuto: Questions and Answers in the English Courtroom (1640-1760) -- Editorial page -- Title page -- LCC Data -- Table of contents -- Preface -- List of tables and figures -- 1. Investigating the English historical courtroom -- 1.1 A brief outline of the book's focus and the approach taken -- 1.2 Pragmatics, historical pragmatics and sociopragmatics: Some definitions -- 1.3 The data and methodological problems facing historical pragmaticians -- 1.4 Availability of historical courtroom data -- 1.5 Primary objectives of this study -- 1.6 How I intend to proceed -- 2. The characteristics of questions and answers -- 2.1 Defining questions and answers -- 2.2 What constitutes a 'question'? -- 2.3 What constitutes an 'answer'? -- 2.4 Questions and answers in an historical context -- 2.5 Insights gained -- 3. Questioning procedures in courtrooms -- 3.1 Courtroom talk as 'activity type' -- 3.2 The courtroom today -- 3.3 Questioning strategies in the courtroom -- 3.4 The EarlyModern English courtroom -- 3.5 Review of the linguistic literature relating to historical courtroom discourse -- 3.6 Insights gained -- 4. A systematic approach to context identification and analysis -- 4.1 Rationale behind methodology -- 4.2 Description of the sociopragmatic corpus (SPC) -- 4.3 The sociopragmatic annotation scheme -- 4.4 Annotation scheme for questions and answers -- 4.5 Some final comments -- 5. Questions ; in the historical courtroom (1640-1760) -- 5.1 A sociopragmatic account of courtroom questions -- 5.2 The form of questions in the SPC -- 5.3 Indirect interrogatives -- 5.4 Questions as a means of control -- 5.5 Questions as part of a questioning sequence -- 5.6 Examinations-in-chief and cross-examinations -- 5.7 A sociopragmatic approach to questions: Investigating user as well as use -- 6. Interactional intent of participants' utterances.; 6.1 Investigating questions from the perspective of the user -- 6.2 Participant roles evidenced in the SPC -- 6.3 The five main questioners in the EmodE courtroom (1640-1760): The courts, the prosecution counsels, the judges, the defence counsels and the defendants -- 6.4 Insights gained -- 7. Judicial examiners' questioning strategies -- 7.1 Examiners' questions - a manifestation of power? -- 7.2 The judge -- 7.3 The Court and the recorder -- 7.4 The judges' interaction with witnesses (1640-1760) -- 7.5 Jeffreys' interaction with witnesses -- 7.6 The Courts' interaction with witnesses (1720-1760) -- 7.7 The judges' interaction with defendants (1640-1760) -- 7.8 Insights gained -- 8. Lawyers' questioning strategies (1640-1760) -- 8.1 The emergence of counsel as major players? -- 8.2 Strategies of the prosecution counsels -- 8.3 Strategies of the defence counsels (1680-1760) -- 8.4 The prosecution counsels' interaction with witnesses (1640-1760) -- 8.5 The defence counsels' interaction with the witnesses -- 8.6 Questioning the questioners -- 8.7 Insights gained -- 9. Defendants' strategies (1640-1760) -- 9.1 The multiple discourse goals of defendants -- 9.2 The defendants' strategies -- 9.3 Eliciting devices utilised by defendants when interacting with judges and witnesses -- 9.4 The defendants' use of questions with witnesses and judges -- 9.5 Defendants' 'answering' strategies -- 9.6 Insights gained -- 10. Witnesses' 'answering' strategies (1640-1760) -- 10.1 The witnesses' role as 'answerer' -- 10.2 The strategies of the witnesses -- 10.3 Witnesses' interaction with the judges (1640-1719) -- 10.4 Witnesses' interaction with the lawyers (1680-1719) -- 10.5 The witnesses' interaction with the Court and defendants (1720-1760) -- 10.6 Insights gained -- 11. Courtroom interaction in the historical period.; 11.1 Participants' use of 'requests', 'requires' and 'counsels' -- 11.2 The judges' interaction with defendants (1640-1679) -- 11.3 The judges' use of 'requires' -- 11.4 The defendants' use of 'requests' -- 11.5 The prosecution counsels' use of 'requests' -- 11.6 The defendants' use of 'requires' and 'counsels' -- 11.7 Insights gained -- 12. Concluding comments -- 12.1 Approach adopted in this work -- 12.2 1640-1760: A period of emerging and changing roles -- 12.3 The efficacy of using contemporary approaches to examine historical data -- 12.4 Questions: Not just the preserve of the primary examiners -- 12.5 The need to go beyond a study of questions and answers -- 12.6 Implications for questions generally -- 12.7 Implications for answers -- 12.8 A corpus-based approach to pragmatic phenomena: How successful? -- 12.9 Plans to expand the trial texts in the Sociopragmatic Corpus -- Notes -- Appendix 1 -- Biographical details for participants -- Appendix 2 -- Bibliography -- Author index -- Subject index -- the Pragmatics &amp -- Beyond New Series.
• Sommario/riassunto: This book belongs to the rapidly growing field of historical pragmatics. More specifically, it aims to lend definition to the area of historical sociopragmatics. It seeks to enhance our understanding of the language of the historical courtroom by documenting changes to the discursive roles of the most active participant groups of the English courtroom (e.g. the judges, lawyers, witnesses and defendants) in the period 1640-1760. Although the primary focus is on questions and ; answers, this book also analyses the use of eliciting and non-eliciting devices (e.g. requests and commands) as a means of demonstrating similarities and differences over time. Particular strengths of this work include the study of different types of trial, making the results potentially more representative of the courtroom in general, and the innovative discourse analytic approach, which blends corpus methodology and sociopragmatic analysis, thereby enabling the quantitative analysis of functional phenomena.