English Witness Depositions 1560–1760: An Electronic Edition

Abstract

The following is from a servant’s testimony, recorded in 1654 in south-east England: [...] this Informant saied to the said Susan haue a care or els you will sett the barne on a fire: And the said Susan replyed if I doe what is that to you, goe about {goe} your bussines: (Essex Record Office, Colchester. Borough of Colchester Informations. MS D/B5/Sb2/9, the information of Katheryne Perry, 1654) Witness depositions like this abound in handwritten manuscripts that are scattered in archives across England. Because of their inaccessibility, these records are largely an untapped source in English historical linguistics. In this article we report on a project currently underway, which aims at producing an electronic text edition of English depositions from 1560–1760. Unlike many previous editions, we will reproduce the original manuscript text as closely as possible; moreover, the electronic format will also allow the edition to be much larger than printed editions. The edition will contain both a transcription and a coded version of the transcription that will enable computer searches, a historical and linguistic introduction, textual notes, and a glossary, as well as a selection of manuscript images. We conclude this article with a case study, by which we illustrate the particular value of our edition of speech-related material for linguistic research.