Old English Dialects

Kingdom	Kent	Wessex	Mercia	Northumbria
Dialect	Kentish	West Saxon	Mercian	Northumbrian
Spoken	in Kent, Surrey, the Isle of Wight	along the Thames and the Bristol Channel	between the Thames and the Humber	between the Humber and the Forth
Origin	from the tongues of Jutes/ Frisians	a Saxon dialect	a dialect of north Angles	a dialect of south Angles
Remarks		9^th c. – Wessex was the centre of the English culture and politics. West Saxon – the bookish type of language (Alfred the Great – the patron of culture and learning)		8^th c. – Northumbria was the centre of the English culture

The most important was the WEST SAXON DIALECT.

In the 8^th – 9^th c. Britain was raided and attacked by the Scandinavians/Vikings.And as soon as the Scandinavian dialects also belonged to the Germanic group, the Danes soon linguistically merged into the local Old English dialects leaving some Scandinavian elements in them.

After the Norman Conquest:

· Frenchbecame the official language of administration. It was also used as a language of writing and teaching as well as Latin.

· Englishwas the language of common people in the Midlands and in the north of England.

· Celtic Dialects were still used by the Celtic population in the remote areas of the country.

Actually, during the presence of the Normans the country experienced the period of bilingualism (French and English were both used in the country).

The Norman and the English drew together in the course of time and intermixed. French lost its popularity due to the fact that it was not the language of the majority and could not be used to communicate with local people. English regained its leading position with time and became accepted as the official language. The proofs are:

· The Parliamentary Proclamation of 1258 – in French, Latin and English.

· In the 14^th – 15^th c. legal documents started to be issued in English.

· 1364 – Parliament was opened with an address in English.

· 1399 – Henry the 4^th accepted the throne and made a speech in English.

· Translations of the documents written in French into English.

Thus in the 14^th c. English becomes the language of literature and administration.

Читайте також:

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
The Norman Conquest and its effect on English.	\|	Middle English Dialects

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