Diana: The main source of diversity in written Middle English is regional and

local variation. Spoken English has always been diversified in this way and still is
today; but literary texts outside the Middle English period rarely exhibit any
regional forms other than those represented in the written standards observed by
authors, scribes or printers.
Nastya: There are several different ways of classifying the many regional
varieties of Middle English. The simplest is to distinguish, as John Trevisa did in
the fourteenth century, between ‘Southeron, Northeron, and Myddel speche’.
Thus, in the map, we distinguish:
 The northern group of dialects
 The Midland group of dialects
 The southern group of dialects
Northern: innovative morphology
e.g. –s on verbs
Southern: innovative phonology
e.g. two < twa
THE NORTHERN GROUP OF DIALECTS
• It was used in the north of England including the Lowlands of Scotland.
• The river Humber marked the southern boundary of its area of use.
• The Penine Chain of mountains marked its boundary in the west.
THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF DIALECTS
• It was used in the south of England with the river Thames being the northern
boundary of the area of its use.
• This group is further subdivided into two dialects:
I) South Eastern dialect, also known as the Kentish dialect
II) South Western dialect
KENTISH This is the most direct continuation of an Old English dialect and has
more or less the same geographical distribution.
Characteristics. The two most notable features of Kentish are:
(1) the existence of /e:/ for Middle English /i:/
(2) so-called "initial softening" which caused fricatives in word-initial position to
be pronounced voiced as in vat, vane and vixen (female fox).
Diana: THE MIDLAND GROUP OF DIALECTS
• It was used in the area demarcated by the river Humber in the north and the river
Thames in the south.
• This extensive group of dialects is further sub-divided into four dialects:
I) North Midland dialect
III) East Midland dialect
II) South Midland dialect
III) West Midland dialect
The East Midland Dialect (London English)
• The East Midland dialect was the most influential of all Midland dialects during
the Middle English period. The reasons for it being the most influential were:
I) The northern group of dialects and the southern group of dialects represented
two extreme ends of the spectrum of divergence on Middle English. The East
Midland dialect was the medial point of that spectrum of divergence.
II) The Midland area was considerably larger and more prosperous than any other
dialect area of England. The land was more valuable than the hilly country to the
north and in west. In an agricultural age, inhabitants of the Midland region had
more influence because of their prosperity.
III) The University of Cambridge and Oxford was located in the Midland area.
These two universities were not that well known during the Middle Ages but they
had started playing an important role in determining the intellectual climate of the
country.
Nastya: THE LONDON DIALECT
• Along with the other dialects we discussed, another regional variety of Middle
English that became more and more prominent particularly during the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, was the variety of English, spoken by the upper class
people in London.
• This variety of English was not very different from east Midland dialect.
The London dialect was a slightly modified version of the east midland dialect.
• The three important factors which gave the London dialect a high degree of
acceptability all over England were the following:
(i) As London was the centre of the political, economic, commercial, judicial, and
cultural network of the country, people in different dialect areas of England had to
communicate with the speakers of this dialect.
(ii) Chaucer, perhaps the greatest English poet before Shakespeare, was a
Londoner. He was born in London and he spent most of his time in London.
Although he used a large number of French words in his writings, but his writings
are all in the London dialect.
(iii) When Caxton started the first printing press in London in 1176, he wanted the
books to be printed by him to conform to the norms of the London dialect. By
printing books in this dialect, he gave this dialect a certain degree of fixity and
stability and also a kind of respectability that the other dialects of England lacked.
Diana: Because of these advantages the London dialect was, towards the end of
Middle English period, recognized all over England as the most efficient and the
most widely intelligible of all the dialects of Middle English.
What is particularly interesting about Middle English is, of course, its spelling.
You see, during the Middle English period, there was no standardised spelling,
meaning that people spelled according to their own dialect – which gives rise to
some interesting variations.