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

Never, no, etc. most frequently preserve the adverb ne in SEL, while
more than half the examples of never, no, etc. in Havelok have
already lost the adverb ne. Thus the state of Havelok is
unequivocally more advanced than that of SEL. Various factors may
be related to the difference between these two texts. Firstly, the
original compilation of SEL may be earlier than that of Havelok.
Secondly, the difference may be a dialectal one. SEL is
quintessentially from southerly and westerly areas of England. The
original text of SEL is localized around Gloucestershire, while the
Corpus MS is localized in Berkshire. 7 Havelok, on the other hand, is
fundamentally from a northern part of the East Midlands. The Laud
MS is localized in Norfolk, whereas the original text of Havelok was
perhaps composed in the dialect of Lincolnshire. A progressive
nature of eastern and perhaps northerly dialects as opposed to
southerly and westerly ones is disclosed by the comparative analysis
of SEL and Havelok.
(6) English Metrical Homilies (EMH)
EMil displays a significant expansion of not alone and never, no, etc.
alone, as the table below shows:
IEMH I ne me. . .not not I - I Totals I
without I 13 I 12 I 100 I - I 125 I
Inever,no,etc.I (10.4%) I (9.6%) I (80.0%) I I
Iwith I 4 I 0 I 0 I 100 I 104 I
Inever,no,etc.I (3.8%) I I I (96.2%) I
Totals I 17 I 12 I 100 I 100 I 229 I
I I I I I I I
Some examples of the above table are provided below:
(a) Ne
And if thou ne do, thou hase it tynt (81/2)
Bot thoru kind, spec it ne kouthe (91/24)
7 It is partly localized in Hampshire (ff. 210v-213r). See 1.3.2.(5)
above.
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