This collection of articles deals with the manuscripts, textual transmission, punctuation, spelling, grammar and vocabulary of the «Ancrene Wisse», the Katherine Group and the Wooing Group. A close comparison based on parallel texts substantiates detailed findings about linguistic variation and the role of scribes.

Among thirteenth-century English devotional writings, the «Ancrene Wisse», the Katherine Group and the Wooing Group are central to debate about a putative standardised English, the AB Language. This book consists of articles investigating the manuscripts, textual transmission, punctuation, spelling, grammar and vocabulary of the «Ancrene Wisse» Group. All the contributors use data taken from the parallel manuscript editions published by the Tokyo Manuscript Reading Group. The articles exemplify ways of using such parallel-text editions for linguistic and literary analysis. They present new findings on lexical and morphological divergences, which taken together cast light on scribal variation in texts transmitted in manuscript.

Autorentext

Harumi Tanabe is Professor in the Department of English and American Literature at Seikei University in Tokyo (Japan). Koichi Kano is Associate Professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural Studies at Koeki University in Sakata (Japan). John Scahill teaches at Insearch, University of Technology Sydney (Australia). All three researchers have edited diplomatic parallel manuscript texts of the Ancrene Wisse Group and published studies of this group of texts and other areas of Old, Middle and Modern English.

Inhalt

Early Middle English language and literature - 'Ancrene Wisse' - The Katherine Group - The Wooing Group - AB Language - Old Norse and French loanwords - Modernity and archaism in Early Middle English - Textual transmission - Lexical variation - Manuscript spacing - Prefixed and phrasal verbs