Early Middle English Dialects. Extension of English Territory

§ 289. The regional ME dialects had developed from respective OE dialects. A precise map of all the dialects will probably never be made, for available sources are scarce and unreliable: localised and dated documents are few in number. Early ME dialects and their approximate boundaries have been determined largely by inference; for later ME the difficulty lies in the growing dialect mixture.

With these reservations the following dialect groups can be distin­guished in Early ME.

The Southern group included the Kentish and the South-Western dialects. Kentish was a direct descendant of the OE dialect known by the same name, though it had somewhat extended its area. The Southwestern group was a continuation of the OE Saxon dialects, — not only West Saxon, but also East Saxon. The East Saxon dialect was not prominent in OE but became more important in Early ME, since it made the basis of the dialect of London in the 12th and 13th c. Among the dialects of this group we may mention the Gloucester dialect and the London dialect, which must have been an influential form of speech at all times.

The group of Midland ("Central") dialects — corresponding to the OE Mercian dialect — is divided into West Midland and East Midland as two main areas, with further subdivisions within: South-East Midland and North-East Midland, South-West Midland and North-West Midland. in ME the Midland area became more diversified linguistically than the OE Mercian kingdom occupying approximately the same territory: from the Thames in the South to the Welsh-speaking area in the West and up north to the river Humber.

The Northern dialects had developed from OE Northumbrian. In Early ME the Northern dialects included several provincial dialects, e.g. the Yorkshire and the Lancashire dialects and also what later became known as Scottish.

A map of Middle English dialects

§ 290. In the course of Early ME the area of the English language in the British Isles grew. Following the Norman Conquest the former Celtic kingdoms fell under Norman rule. Wales was subjugated in the late 13th c.: its eastern half became part of England, while the North and West of Wales was a principality governed separately. In the late 12th c. the English made their first attempts to conquer Ireland. The invaders settled among the Irish and were soon assimilated, a large proportion of the invaders being Welshmen. Though part of Ireland was ruled from England, the country remained divided and had little contact with England. The English language was used there alongside Celtic languages — Irish and Welsh — and was influenced by Celtic.

§ 291. The Early ME dialectal division was preserved in the succeed­ing centuries, though even in Late ME the linguistic situation changed. In Early ME, while the state language and the main language of litera­ture was French, the local dialects were relatively equal. In Late ME, when English had been reestablished as the main language of administra­tion and writing, one of the regional dialects, the London dialect, pre­vailed over the others (see § 295, 301 ff).