[Histling-l] Morphological simplification in the late Northumbrian dialect: the case of weak verbs class II

[Petros Karatsareas]

Dear all,

You are cordially invited to this week’s Research Seminar of the Westminster Forum for Language and Linguistics on Wednesday 16 November at 16:00 (UK) on Blackboard Collaborate

https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/9eded73deaa84c2290b776af78142fda

Elisa Ramírez Pérez (Leiden University) will present a paper entitled “Morphological simplification in the late Northumbrian dialect: the case of weak verbs class II” (abstract below).

If you have technical difficulties before or during seminars, log into https://meet.google.com/mfg-upoq-vwv, and someone will be there to help.

The seminar is open to all. We look forward to seeing you there!

With best wishes,
Petros


Morphological simplification in the late Northumbrian dialect: the case of weak verbs class II
My paper will present the results of my doctoral thesis concerning the state of the second class of Old English weak verbs in the Northumbrian glosses to the Lindisfarne Gospels. In particular, my paper will examine the ultimate deletion of these verbs’ characteristic stem formative vowel, namely the -i- formative. Although the loss of this medial vowel is generally considered to be a Middle English characteristic (Lass, 2006: 127-128; Thomason and Kaufman 1988: 293), the evidence presented in this paper will point towards an earlier and geographically-specific start to this simplification process, since it will be seen that the late Northumbrian glosses to the Lindisfarne Gospels display a rather advanced stage of -i- deletion, especially when compared to more Southern texts, as exemplified by data from the Old Mercian glosses to the Rushworth Gospels.

The early loss of the -i- formative in weak verbs class II as evidenced in the Northumbrian dialect is one of the many striking linguistic features proper to this variety. This morphological development, in fact, tallies with this dialect’s advanced state of linguistic simplification and, in turn, innovation (Jones 1939; Cole 2014; Millar 2016). It is worth noting that the study of English historical linguistics has traditionally been based on the late West-Saxon dialect, a fact which is not surprising given that the vast majority of extant Old English texts are written in this variety. However, there has been a shift in the scholarly approach to English historical linguistics in recent years whereby less represented varieties of Old English are being studied in an attempt to offer a more comprehensive and dialect-inclusive account of the history of early English. My paper, therefore, attempts to contribute and add to the body of work focusing on broadening the spectrum of Old English dialectology.


––
Dr Petros Karatsareas (he/him/his)
Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics, FHEA
Course Leader for MA English Language
Co-Director of Bilingualism Matters London

University of Westminster
School of Humanities

http://westminster.academia.edu/PetrosKaratsareas  |  @pkaratsareas<https://twitter.com/pkaratsareas>





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