Middle English Dialects

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Middle English Dialects

• Lisa Percival
• Jenna Rowen

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Middle English

• Beginning of period marked by Norman conquest in
  1066
• Loss of inflection, increased importance of word
  order for sentence structure
• Influx of words from Old Norse early in the
  period
• Huge influence of French from Norman presence

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5 Major Regional Divisions

• Kentish
• Southern
• East Midland
• West Midland
• Northern

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Differences Between Dialects

• Three types
• -Phonological
• -Morphological
• -Lexical
• Distinctive words, grammar, spellings found in
  manuscripts
• Northern dialects more progressive, southern
  dialects resembled OE more closely

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Kentish

• Verb ending used in the present tense with plural
  forms (e.g.. we, they) was eth
• Shall, should appeared without an h, h silent in
  many words
• D was used for th (e.g. By dis, dat, den,
  yew can tell de Kentish men' )
• D also dropped at the end of words
• You was pronounced as ye, 'ee or yew
• W at the start of a word was often suppressed
  (ood for wood)
• V was sometimes converted into w (wery for very)
• Charles Dickens often used Kentish dialect words
  and the language of the Medway towns in his
  novels
• 'Be wery careful o' vidders all your life'.

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Southern

• Spoken in the area west of Sussex and south and
  southwest of the Thames
• Direct descendant of the West Saxon dialect of
  Old English
• Conservative, shows little influence of other
  languages
• No Scandinavian influence
• Only dialect that was more conservative was
  Kentish
• His, here, hem were they their and them
• Employed modern ing participle ending

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East Midland

• One branch that developed from the OE Mercian
  dialect
• Located south of the Humber and north of the
  Thames
• Included the triangle of Oxford, Cambridge, and
  London
• As London gained importance, the East Midland
  dialect emerged as a literary standard and became
  the basis for Modern English
• Employed they, their and them instead of his,
  here, and hem
• Largely used the present tense plural verb
  ending en, with a bit of eth in the south

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West Midland

• The Western half of the OE Mercian dialect
• Significant gradients of dialectical differences
  from North to South
• Also used they, their and them
• Mostly employed ind(e) in place of the ing
  participle ending
• The th verb inflection (as in goeth) is
  evidenced

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Northern

• Spoken North of the Humber river
• Descended from the Northumbrian dialect of OE
• Evolved most rapidly, largely due to heavy
  Scandinavian influence
• The ing participle ending appears as and(e)
• The th inflection appears as s
• A few words, such as shall and should, could
  occur without an h

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Northern Example

• 1.Lauerd me steres, noght wante sal me
• In stede of fode þare me louked he.
• 2.He fed me ouer watre ofe fode, Mi saule he
  tornes in to gode.
• 3.He led me ouer sties of rightwisenes, For his
  name, swa hali es.
• 4.For, and ife .I. ga in mid schadw ofe dede,
• For þou wiþ me erte iuel sal .i. noght drede
• 5.Þi yherde, and þi stafe ofe mighte, Þai ere me
  roned dai and nighte.
• 6.Þou graiþed in mi sighte borde to be, Ogaines
  þas þat droued me
• 7.Þou fatted in oli me heued yhite
• And mi drinke dronkenand while schire es ite!
• 8.And filigh me sal þi mercy, Alle daies ofe mi
  life for-þi
• 9.And þat .I. wone in hous ofe lauerd isse, In
  lengþe of daies al wiþ blisse.

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West Midland Example

• 1.Our Lord gouerneþ me, and noþyng shal defailen
  to me in þe stede of pasture he sett me þer.
• 2.He norissed me vp water of fyllyng he turned
  my soule fram þe fende.
• 3.He lad me vp þe bisti3es of ri3tfulnes for his
  name.
• 4.For 3if þat ich haue gon amiddes of þe shadowe
  of deþ, y shal nou3t douten iuels for þou art
  wyþ me.
• 5.Þy discipline and þyn amendyng conforted me.
• 6.Þou madest radi grace in my si3t o3ayns hem þat
  trublen me.
• 7.Þou makest fatt myn heued wyþ mercy and my
  drynk makand drunken ys ful clere.
• 8.And þy merci shal folwen me alle daies of mi
  lif
• 9.And þat ich wonne in þe hous of our Lord in
  lengþe of daies
• 3 represents yogh

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Differences

• Lexical
• Vp ouer West
• Ich I North
• nou3t douten noght drede
• Morphological
• Deþ dede
• Drynk drinke
• Gouerneþ steres

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Differences

• Word order
• 1. Our Lord gouerneþ me West
• Lauerd me steres North
• 2 he sett me þer
• þare me louked he
• 3 makest fatt
• fatted
• 4. þy merci shal folwen me
• filigh me sal þi mercy
• Spelling/ Pronunciation
• Soule Saule
• Lord Lauerd
• 
  

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References

• http//ebbs.english.vt.edu/hel/psalm23.html
• http//www.hf.ntnu.no/engelsk/staff/johannesson/!o
  e/texts/imed/imdcont.htm
• http//www.ling.upenn.edu/dringe/CorpStuff/Thesis
  /Dialects.html
• http//www.historic-kent.co.uk/kdialect.html