Evidence of medieval Norse contact in Late Modern English dialects: An etymological study of the English Dialect Dictionary

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The English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) is a 'landmark achievement' in English dialect studies (Brook 1978: 152) yetsince its publication, its potential as a resource for historical linguistics and dialectology has been underexploited. Thisstudy aims to remedy this by using the EDD to analyse Norse influence in regional Englishes-a use proposed even byWright himself (Vol I.: vi). The Norse element in present-day Standard English (as well as in Old and Middle English) hasfrequently been treated throughout the literature, but the study of Norse influence on English dialects is typically seen asnot having received due attention (Wakelin 1977: 178), despite the great historical value of dialects and their importancein indicating the linguistic impact of Norse settlement on English. Recent studies have analysed the Norse element inspecific regions or registers (e.g. Dance 2003; Dance et al. 2019), but a national investigation of Norse dialectal influencehas not been undertaken since Wakelin (1977). This study will build on techniques developed by scholars such asBjörkman (1900-2), Dance (2003) and Pons-Sanz (2013) to re-analyse the Norse element in Late Modern Englishdialects. This will involve both quantitative analysis of overall patterns and qualitative analysis of individual lexemes,including evaluating the probability of Norse heritage of terms on an individual basis (building on Thorson, 1936) andinvestigating their distribution, development and usage.