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Article published In:
Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Vol. 24:2 (2023) ► pp.302–326

Repeated, imagined, hearsay

Representation of reported discourse in eighteenth-century legal testimony

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In this paper, I analyse the representation of reported discourse in testimony from a 1795 conspiracy trial. I present a framework for analysing scribal intervention in discourse reporting and show that, although the transcription conventions of historical criminal proceedings offer the appearance of being objective representations, recorded testimony privileges idealised representations of speech events. In fact, a special status is given to those speech events to which those in the courtroom were not privy, that is, hearsay. When scribes use Direct Discourse to report this type of speech, they are simultaneously marking it as evidence available for judicial decision-making and distancing themselves from the judgment and interpretation process. I show that this is particularly problematic for interpreted testimony. This has implications for both our understanding of historical courtroom processes and the use of trial transcripts for historical sociolinguistic and pragmatic analysis.
Keywords: courtroom discourse, French, Louisiana slave conspiracies, reported speech, scribal practices
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discourse representation in the legal context
    • 2.1Faithfulness in transcription
    • 2.2Speakers and levels of Reported Discourse
  • 3.The Pointe Coupée conspiracy
  • 4.Reported discourse in the Pointe Coupée trial
    • 4.1Scribal choices: The frame
    • 4.2Scribal choices: The inset
  • 5.Linguistic varieties and multilingualism: Testing the limits of dd
  • 6.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • References
Published online: 11 September 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.20005.tho
References (40)
Sources
Proceedings against the Negroes of Pointe Coupee for the Crime of Revolution, 1795-05-02-01, Spanish Judicial Records, Louisiana Historical Center, New Orleans Jazz Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Procès contre les Esclaves du Poste de Pointe Coupee, Original Acts of Pointe Coupee, Volume 18801, Folders 1–265, 25 April 1795 through 29 May 1795, Pointe Coupee Courthouse, New Roads, Louisiana.Google Scholar
Trial of Mina Conspirators in New Orleans, Legajo 168A, 26 March 1792 to 8 April 1794, Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain.Google Scholar
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