역사방언학 사례 연구 - 중세영어 ‘never’의 철자와 음운 변이

A Case Study of Historical Dialectology: Spelling and Sound Variations of Middle English ‘never’

  The objective of this paper is to derive some patterns of historical development and dialectal variations by examining spelling variants of the Middle English (ME) lexical form never. The examination is performed on the basis of the Helsinki Corpus and follows the periodization and dialect divisions of the Corpus. It was found that the letter 〈f〉 of Old English (OE) næfre was mainly retained in Southern and Kentish dialects i n the ME1 period, while being replaced in the other dialects in the same period by 〈u〉 which was further replaced by 〈v〉 from the ME3 period onward. In ME3, the variant 〈neuer〉, regarded as the same spelling as 〈never〉, was most popular throughout all dialects. The new spelling 〈never〉, first introduced in East Midland and Northern dialects in ME3, gradually spreads to other dialect areas from ME3 onward. These findings indicate that some descriptions of the OED should be modified about the periodization of particular spelling variants. This paper further examines the genuineness of the variable ‘OE æ 〉 ME 〈e〉; 〈a〉’ as an indicator of ME dialect distinctions. It was found that, contra previous studies, æ 〉 〈e〉 does not hold true in Kentish but Kentish retained 〈æ〉 until the beginning of ME2 when all dialect areas shared the innovative sound 〈e〉.