1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910814863303321

Autore

Grund Peter

Titolo

The sociopragmatics of stance : community, language, and the witness depositions from the Salem witch trials / Peter J. Grund

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Amsterdam, Netherlands ; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2022]

©2022

ISBN

90-272-5823-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (258 pages)

Collana

Pragmatics and Beyond New ; vol. 329

Disciplina

306.442210744

Soggetti

English language - Social aspects - Massachusetts - Salem

Trials (Witchcraft) - Massachusetts - Salem

English language - Early modern, 1500-1700 - Discourse analysis

Pragmatics

Historical linguistics

Evaluation (Linguistics)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

"this Is the first to bee Read" : introduction -- "Testifieth and saith" : the Salem witch trial witness depositions -- "we thought we did doe well" : the Salem witch trials as a community of practice -- "I verily beleue in my hart that martha Carrier is a most dreadfull wicth" : methodology and overview of linguistic strategies of stance -- "in A sudden, terible, & strange, unusuall maner" : evaluating experience -- "I haue ben most greviously affleted" : intensifying experience -- "I saw the Apperishtion of Rebekah nurs" : sourcing experience -- "we perceiued hir hellish temtations by hir loud outcries" : stance profiles -- "and further saith not" : conclusion -- Appendix: RSWH depositions included in the study.

Sommario/riassunto

"Anchored in historical pragmatics, historical sociolinguistics, and corpus linguistics, this book weaves together a powerful narrative of the significance of stance marking in the history of English. Focusing on the community of practice that developed during the witch trials in Salem (Massachusetts) in 1692-1693, it showcases how witnesses and



the recorders of their ca. 450 depositions deployed linguistic features to signal the evaluation of experiences with alleged witchcraft, the intensification of those experiences, and the sources of the witnesses' knowledge. The resulting stance profiles for groups of depositions, witnesses, and recorders highlight varying strategies of claiming, supporting, and boosting the importance of the evidence and the role of the witnesses within the community of practice. With its innovative focus on sociopragmatic variation in a historical community, the book demonstrates the essential contribution of synchronic-historical research to the analysis, description, and theorization of stance and historical English more broadly"--