%0 Journal Article %A Walker, Terry %A Grund, Peter J. %T “Speaking base approbious words”: Speech representation in Early Modern English witness depositions %D 2017 %J Journal of Historical Pragmatics %V 18 %N 1 %P 1-29 %@ 1566-5852 %R https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.18.1.01wal %K Early Modern English %K witness depositions %K speech representation %I John Benjamins %X This paper explores the representation of speech in Early Modern English witness depositions. We demonstrate that Semino and Short’s (2004) 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. %U https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/jhp.18.1.01wal