Yoko Iyieri PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText - University ...

I
Contracted Uncontracted I Totals I
Ine+was 0 1 ii
Ine+wold I 1 0 1
Ine+hade I 0 6 I 6J
I Totals 1 7 I 8 I
I (12.5%) (87.5%) I I
The example which shows negative contraction runs as follows:
Flit might sothely be siche on, as your self nold
ffor mykill of Jis medill erthe jat myschefe to se
(758 5-6).
Uncontracted forms are also exemplified below:
Ne was hit not your wile, & your weghes all (9707)
Ne hade Priam the prise kyng preset horn aboute,
Pat was feghtyng in the feld on the fer syde (9053-4).
The manuscript of DT is localized in Lancashire, and it was perhaps
produced in the middle of the fifteenth century, although the original
text of DT, which is also in the Northern dialect, perhaps dates back
to the later period of the fourteenth century.
As has often been discussed above, the northern border of the
phenomenon of negative contraction has never been made clear in
existing studies. Lancashire is not investigated in respect of the
phenomenon by McIntosh, Sarnuels, and Benskin (1986). The border
may be a little further north, especially in the case of westerly
areas, than has usually been expected. As far as my observation is
concerned, GGK (Cheshire) shows a constant attestation of contracted
forms (see (15) above), while 1-lavelok and G&E (both in Norfolk) do
not provide particularly ample examples of negative contraction
despite their earlier dates than GGK (see (4) and (7) above). In
contradistinction to GGK, on the other hand, the Cotton MS of CM
(the West Riding of Yorkshire) does not provide any examples of
negative contraction (see (9) above). It is interesting that PT, which
is localized between GGK and CM geographically, provides at least one
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