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Interesting developments of Middle English
The Kentish Dialect:
- Verb ending used in the present tense with plural forms (e.g.. we, they) was eth
- Shall, should appeared without an h, h silent in many words - 'hall, 'hould
- D was used for th (e.g. By dis, dat, den, yew can tell de Kentish men' ) {To me this sounds much more similar to other Germanic languages than the modern use of "th". But I think this progression has happened in other Germanic tongues as well.}
- D also dropped at the end of words
- You was pronounced as ye, 'ee or yew {'ee also used in Northern England to this day}
- W at the start of a word was often suppressed (ood for wood)
- V was sometimes converted into w (wery for very)
- Charles Dickens often used Kentish dialect words and the language of the Medway towns in his novels - 'Be wery careful o' vidders all your life'.
Southern Dialect:
- Spoken in the area west of Sussex and south and southwest of the Thames
- Direct descendant of the West Saxon dialect of Old English
- Conservative, shows little influence of other languages.
- No Scandinavian influence
- Only dialect that was more conservative was Kentish
- His, here, hem were they their and them
- Employed modern ing participle ending
East Midland Dialect:
- One branch that developed from the OE Mercian dialect
- Located south of the Humber and north of the Thames
- Included the triangle of Oxford, Cambridge, and London
- As London gained importance, the East Midland dialect emerged as a literary standard and became the basis for Standardised Modern English
- Employed they, their and them instead of his, here, and hem
- Largely used the present tense plural verb ending en, with a bit of eth in the south - one example of where other English dialects won out over the East Midland dialect is the modern use of -ing instead of -en at the end of words. -en is retained in a few words such as "brethren" but most words use the -ing ending.
West Midland Dialect:
- The Western half of the OE Mercian dialect
- Significant gradients of dialectical differences from North to South
- Also used they, their and them
- Mostly employed ind(e) in place of the ing participle ending
- The th verb inflection (as in "goeth" instead of "going") is evidenced
Northern Dialect:
- Spoken North of the Humber river
- Descended from the Northumbrian dialect of OE
- Evolved most rapidly, largely due to heavy Scandinavian influence
- The ing participle ending appears as and(e)
- The th inflection appears as s
- A few words, such as shall and should, could occur without an h
Northern example:
Note: Ž = is basically "th".
Personally I'd say my understanding of that is around 70 to 80%, I don't usually read archaic English.
- Lauerd me steres, noght wante sal me: In stede of fode žare me louked he.
- He fed me ouer watre ofe fode, Mi saule he tornes in to gode.
- He led me ouer sties of rightwisenes, For his name, swa hali es.
- For, and ife .I. ga in mid schadw ofe dede, For žou wiž me erte iuel sal .i. noght drede;
- Ži yherde, and ži stafe ofe mighte, Žai ere me roned dai and nighte.
- Žou graižed in mi sighte borde to be, Ogaines žas žat droued me;
- Žou fatted in oli me heued yhite; And mi drinke dronkenand while schire es ite!
- And filigh me sal ži mercy, Alle daies ofe mi life for-ži;
- And žat .I. wone in hous ofe lauerd isse, In lengže of daies al wiž blisse.
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Originally Posted by Albion
United States
Norge
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