Il processo ad Agata Basile da Palermo. Forme della negoziazione linguistica in un tribunale del Santo Uffizio (Capua, 1677-1687)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a first linguistic study of the complete proceedings of a witchcraft trial conducted by the Santo Uffizio of Capua around 1685 against Agata Basile, a woman from Palermo. These proceedings, due to their procedural peculiarities, offer an interesting and faithful documentation of the different linguistic abilities of the people involved in the trial, from the accusers/witnesses to the accused. Within the limits of a transcription of the spoken language carried out with non-scientific methods, these documents provide a very interesting testimony of the types of language actually used in the communication between ordinary citizens and the established authorities in this ecclesiastical court. In conclusion, it is suggested that the practice of the tribunal required a particular fidelity in the transcription of direct speech passages and that the range of linguistic expressions contained therein, from dialect to a more or less Italianised local variety, is the result of the linguistic choices of the witnesses rather than that of the different filter imposed by the recorders.