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Me dialects. Rise of the London dialect.
The surviving texts form the OE period are in 4 main dialects:
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West saxon
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Kentish
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Mercia
Anglian
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Northumbria
The unification of England under the west saxon kings led to the recognition of the West saxon dialect as a literary standard.
Traditionally, ME dialects have been divided into five geographical areas:
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the North (Northumbrian),
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the West Midland (OE Mercian)
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the East Midland (OE Mercian)
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the South-East (OE Kentish)
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the South (OE West Saxon).
Even so, it is important to grasp at this stage that the boundaries between dialect-areas are fuzzy.
The marked difference between the East Midland and West Midland is due in part to the fact that the East Midlands were in the Danelaw, whereas the West Midland were in the part of England held by King Alfred, so the two areas were subjected to different influences.
There are many differences between these dialects:
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on the phonological level, e.g. qualitative changes;
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in grammar, e.g. differences in inflections, and in the forms of the personal pronouns: Northern scho comis; Southern heo cometh.
Rise of the London dialect
With the reestablishment of English as the language of administration and culture came the reestablishment of an English literary language, a standard form of the language that could be regarded as a norm. In England the new standard language which arose in the late Middle Ages was not descended from the WS literary language. It was based on the East Midland dialect (OE Mercian). There are several reasons for this:
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one of the 2 units, Cambridge, was in the area.
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an extremely important commercial area
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a rich agricultural region
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London was the seat of government and the cultural center of the nation; the largest city.
The establishment of a standard language didn’t take place overnight. The prestige of the London language grew in the 15th c. with the introduction of printing.
III. Me vowel system. General characteristics.
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Quantitative changes.
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Qualitative changes.
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Leveling of unstressed vowels.
The prevalence of French as the language of writing led to numerous changes in English spelling. The written forms of the words in Late ME texts resemble their modern forms though the pronunciation was much of OE. The runic letters passed out of use.
French influence
The new diagraphs of French origin: “ou” (ME double ), “ie” (ME chief), “ch”. The two-fold use of “g” and “c” owes its origin to French (ME mercy).
Replacement of final –i by –y, which is more ornamental (ME very).
Quantitative changes
Long vowels were the most changeable and historically unstable group of English sounds.
In early ME vowel length began to dependent on phonetic conditions.
Shortening
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the vowels are shortened before 2 consonants, but remain long in other environment. Exception: -ld, -nd, -mb
OE cēpan – ME kēpen
OE cēpte – ME kepte
OE wēnde – ME wēnde
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A long vowel is shortened before one consonant in some 3 syllable words.
OE sūþerne – ME suþerne
Lengthening
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in the 13 th c. short vowels were lengthened in open syllables. It started in the Northen dialects in the 12th c. and in the 13 th c. it spread all over England.
OE talu – tāle
Lengthening affected “a”, “e”, “o”.
Qualitative changes
QC were less important as compared with quantitatice changes. They affected several monophthongs and displayed considerable dialect diversity.
Y,y (long and short)
OE fyllan – ME fillen (Northen and East Midland groups)
ME fullen (West Midland and South Western)
ME fellen (South-Eastern group)
å (nasal, before “m”, “n”)
e.g. OE mån = ME man (Northen, Southern, East Midland dialects)
ME mon (West Midland)
Ā
e.g. OE hlāf = ME lāf (Northen)
ME lōf (other dialects)
Æ (short)
OE wæs – ME wes (West Midland and South Eastern)
ME was (other dialects)
Æ (long)
OE slæpan – ME slēpen
Levelling of unstressed vowels
All unstressed vowels were weakened and reduced to a neutral /ǝ/, which was denoted by the letter “e”.
OE bindan – ME binden