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Chapter 8: Dialects

  • Keith Williamson
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Volume 3 Middle English
This chapter is in the book Volume 3 Middle English

Abstract

This chapter offers a conspectus of the kinds of regional variation to be inferred from the study of the language of Middle English texts. The perspective is that which underlies A Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English, 1350-1450 (McIntosh et al. 1986) and A Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (Laing 2013-). The “traditional” view that there were such things as dialects in Middle English is eschewed in favor of recognizing the “dialectology” of Middle English as a continuum of overlapping feature distributions. The methodology of this approach is briefly outlined. Examples of a set of significant distributions of linguistic features are illustrated cartographically and discussed.

Abstract

This chapter offers a conspectus of the kinds of regional variation to be inferred from the study of the language of Middle English texts. The perspective is that which underlies A Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English, 1350-1450 (McIntosh et al. 1986) and A Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (Laing 2013-). The “traditional” view that there were such things as dialects in Middle English is eschewed in favor of recognizing the “dialectology” of Middle English as a continuum of overlapping feature distributions. The methodology of this approach is briefly outlined. Examples of a set of significant distributions of linguistic features are illustrated cartographically and discussed.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. Abbreviations VII
  4. Chapter 1: Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 2: Middle English: Overview 8
  6. Chapter 3: Phonology 29
  7. Chapter 4: Morphology 50
  8. Chapter 5: Syntax 76
  9. Chapter 6: Semantics and Lexicon 96
  10. Chapter 7: Pragmatics and Discourse 116
  11. Chapter 8: Dialects 134
  12. Chapter 9: Language Contact: Multilingualism 165
  13. Chapter 10: Language Contact: French 184
  14. Chapter 11: Standardization 205
  15. Chapter 12: Middle English Creolization 224
  16. Chapter 13: Sociolinguistics 239
  17. Chapter 14: Literary Language 261
  18. Chapter 15: The Language of Chaucer 292
  19. Index 307
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110525328-008

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. Abbreviations VII
  4. Chapter 1: Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 2: Middle English: Overview 8
  6. Chapter 3: Phonology 29
  7. Chapter 4: Morphology 50
  8. Chapter 5: Syntax 76
  9. Chapter 6: Semantics and Lexicon 96
  10. Chapter 7: Pragmatics and Discourse 116
  11. Chapter 8: Dialects 134
  12. Chapter 9: Language Contact: Multilingualism 165
  13. Chapter 10: Language Contact: French 184
  14. Chapter 11: Standardization 205
  15. Chapter 12: Middle English Creolization 224
  16. Chapter 13: Sociolinguistics 239
  17. Chapter 14: Literary Language 261
  18. Chapter 15: The Language of Chaucer 292
  19. Index 307
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