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The Development of Ablaut in the Strong Verbs of the East Midland Dialects of Middle English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

James Frederick Rettger
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Abstract

No comprehensive study of ablaut in ME strong verbs has as yet been made; nor will such a study be possible until all of the regional dialects have been investigated in detail. Some work has already been done:1 BÞlbring has thoroughly examined all texts written in Southern English; Wackerzapp and Hannsen have done the same for Northern English, and Knopff for the Scottish dialect of English; Öfverberg, in his study of verbal inflections in the East Midlands, has given us some, but by no means adequate, information regarding ablaut in that area; finally, Andrew has in a brief article brought out certain features of ablaut in the dialects of the Northwest Midlands. The greater part of the Midland area has been relatively unexplored, and there is need for an exhaustive investigation of this entire region of England. It is the purpose of this dissertation to discover and present the development of ablaut in strong verbs in the East and Central Midlands, and thus fill in part the gap in our knowledge of this phase of Middle English morphology.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 10 , Issue 4-Part2: Language Dissertation No. 18: The Development of Ablaut in the Strong Verbs of the East Midland Dialects of Middle English , December 1934 , pp. 5 - 186
Copyright
Copyright ÂĐ 1934 Linguistic Society of America

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