Convergence and Divergence in Two Historical Varieties of English

In the description of his divergence/convergence model of language change from IndoEuropean to Present-Day English, James Milroy states that the history of English is traditionally depicted as a continuous path leading from divergence in the earlier stages of English to convergence towards the emerging English standard variety in the 16th century (Milroy 1992, 50-51). This pathway is largely borne out by research on spelling, showing a gradual reduction of divergent orthographic variants in different earlier Middle English dialects in favour of "colourless" supraregional spellings in the late Middle English period (Smith 2000, 136; cf. also Schaefer 2012, 520-521; 524526). Even if one casts the net wider to include the relationship between the standardising Middle Scots1 variety, "the only dialect that compares in development and uses to the standard dialect which was developing in England at the same time" (Agutter 1990, 1), and the Southern English Standard,2 the directions of change remain the same. In the 16th century, Middle Scots and the developing Southern English Standard were perceived as two distinct varieties of English by contemporary observers (e.g. Horsbroch 1999, 5; McClure 1994, 37). Scots was not always clearly distinguished from English dialects, though. It has its origins in northern dialects of Old English3 and at the time of the first written attestations of Early Scots at the end of the 14th century, it is part of a "common speech area" with Northern Middle English varieties (Williamson 2002, 253), evincing many shared linguistic features with these (Agutter 1988, 1; Meurman-Solin 1997, 7). In the mid-15th century Middle Scots begins to diverge from Northern English, at a time when texts written in Northern Middle English dialects manifest the use of more and more supraregional features of the emerging Southern English Standard (Meurman-Solin 1997, 7; Williamson 2002, 253). Subsequently, in the middle of the 16th century, when Scots is maximally distinct from English, a gradual process of convergence of written Scots with the Southern English Standard begins, which is nearing completion by 1700 (Devitt 1989; Meurman-Solin 1993, 154-160; 1997, 16-19). The case for the divergence of Scots from Northern English and the following convergence with the Southern English Standard, which