Essex/Suffolk scribes and their language in fifteenth-century London
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Lister M. Matheson
Abstract
The goal of this essay is to emphasise the prominence within the writing communities of late fifteenth-century London of certain highly productive, professional users of language who were immigrants from East Anglia, particularly Essex and south Suffolk. The forms used by six scribes from this area will be studied. Their spelling systems were clearly current and acceptable types of written language within the metropolis, and an analysis of them provides further useful evidence for the study of the genesis, development, adoption, and dissemination of standard written English.
Abstract
The goal of this essay is to emphasise the prominence within the writing communities of late fifteenth-century London of certain highly productive, professional users of language who were immigrants from East Anglia, particularly Essex and south Suffolk. The forms used by six scribes from this area will be studied. Their spelling systems were clearly current and acceptable types of written language within the metropolis, and an analysis of them provides further useful evidence for the study of the genesis, development, adoption, and dissemination of standard written English.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction ix
- The early Middle English scribe: Sprach er wie er schrieb? 1
- Essex/Suffolk scribes and their language in fifteenth-century London 45
- Middle English word geography: Methodology and applications illustrated 67
- Northern Middle English: Towards telling the full story 91
- The origins of the Northern Subject Rule 111
- Dynamic dialectology and social networks 131
- The Celtic hypothesis hasn't gone away: New perspectives on old debates 153
- On the trail of "intolerable Scoto-Hibernic jargon": Ulster English, Irish English and dialect hygiene in William Carleton's Traits and stories of the Irish peasantry (First Series, 1830) 171
- Exceptions to sound change and external motivation 185
- Index of subjects 195
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction ix
- The early Middle English scribe: Sprach er wie er schrieb? 1
- Essex/Suffolk scribes and their language in fifteenth-century London 45
- Middle English word geography: Methodology and applications illustrated 67
- Northern Middle English: Towards telling the full story 91
- The origins of the Northern Subject Rule 111
- Dynamic dialectology and social networks 131
- The Celtic hypothesis hasn't gone away: New perspectives on old debates 153
- On the trail of "intolerable Scoto-Hibernic jargon": Ulster English, Irish English and dialect hygiene in William Carleton's Traits and stories of the Irish peasantry (First Series, 1830) 171
- Exceptions to sound change and external motivation 185
- Index of subjects 195
