Dialect routes

And what happened in late Middle English?

• Loss of verb inflections

• Indicative mood

• present tense singular plural• 1st person fylle fill fyllað filleth fill• 2nd person fylst filst fyllað filleth fill• 3rd person fylð fills fyllað filleth fill

• past tense singular plural• 1st person fylde fillede filled

filden filleden filled• 2nd person fyldest filledest filled

fyldon filleden filled• 3rd person fylde fillede filled

fyldon filleden filled

Looking back

• Scandinavian influencelexical and grammatical borrowing, perhaps mixing of two language systems resulting in inflectional simplifications, in particular in noun endings, while the distinctive vowels in V-endings were reduced

• French influencelexical prestige borrowing

• Influence of large-scale interregional migrationinflectional simplification

(1)  Ryght worshipfull husbond, I recomaund me to yow, and prey yow to wete þat on Friday last passed before noon, þe parson of Oxened beyng at messe in our parossh chirche, euyn atte leuacion of þe sakeryng, Jamys Gloys hadde ben in þe tovne and come homward by Wymondhams gate.  (2)  And Wymondam stod in his gate and John Norwode his man stod by hym, and Thomas Hawys his othir man stod in þe strete by þe canell side.  (3)  And Jamys Gloys come with his hatte on his hede betwen bothe his men, as he was wont of custome to do.  (4)  And whanne Gloys was ayenst Wyondham he seid þus, “Couere thy heed!”  (5)  And Gloys seid ageyn, “So I shall for the.”  (6)  And whanne Gloys was forther passed by þe space of iij or iiij strede, Wymondham drew owt his dagger and seid, “Shalt þow so, knave?”  (7)  And þerwith Gloys turned hym and drewe owt his dagger and defendet hym, fleyng into my moderis place; and Wymondham and his man Hawys kest stonys and dreve Gloys into my moderis place.

http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/EngLang/ugrad/readings/Middle/paston.htm

A Letter from Margaret Paston (1448, Norfolk)

(8)  And Hawys folwyd into my moderis place and kest a ston as meche as a forthyng lof into þe halle after Gloys; and þan ran owt of þe place ageyn.  (9)  And Gloys folwyd owt and stod witowt þe gate, and þanne Wymonham called Gloys thef and seid he shuld dye, and Gloys seid he lyed and called hym charl, and bad hym come hymself or ell þe best man he hadde, and Gloys wold answere hym on and on.  (10)  And þanne Haweys ran into Wymondhams place and feched a spere and a swerd, and toke his maister his swerd.  (11)  And with þe noise of þis asaut and affray my modir and I come owt of þe chirche from þe sakeryng; and I bad Gloys go in to my moderis place ageyn and so he dede.  (12)  And thanne Wymondham called my moder and me strong hores, and seid þe Pastons and alle her kyn were charls of Gymyngham and we seid he lyed, knave and charl as he was.  (13)  And he had meche large langage, as ye shall knowe herafter by mowthe.