5 main dialects
- northern (Reeve)
- east-midland
- west-midland
- south
- Kentish (often with voiced consonants instead of voiceless)
Why dialectal differences between manuscripts
scribes translate in their own dialect
3rd person pronouns
North: thorn
Middle: th (east middle: also H)
South (+kent): H
Shall in dialects
North: sal
East: shal
South: schal
3rd person singular inflection (present)
North: -es
South: -eth
Middle: both
3rd person plural inflexion (present)
North: -es
East: -en and -es
South: -eth
West: -en and -eth
Present participle
North: -and(e)
East: -end(e)
South: -yng(e)
West: -ind(e)
Weak/Strong inflexions
Only in the south with an -e
Additional dialect aspects
North: s, a, k, f
East: s/sh, o, ch, f
South: sh, o, ch, f/v
West: sh, o, ch, v
Isogloss
line that differentiates on a dialect map
Dot maps
Anchor maps
Fit technique
Different size dots for dominance
Standardisation: why London
- politically and commercially important
- seat of royal and law courts
- close to Oxbridge and Canterbury
- people moving in and out
- mixture of local speeches that spread easily
Standardisation: Why SE midland dialect
in-between North and South
Area=big and highly populated
Caxton
guy from printing press
he translated in Kentish but ppl didn’t understand so he switched
instrumental in spreading of standard language
Chaucer’s language
DID NOT evolve to standard (he was a little conservative and posh)
dialectal variants for rhyme purposes and characterisation
