A History of English Language

A history of the english language 180
sessed natural advantages at all comparable, and they were much smaller. The
prominence of Middlesex, Oxford, Norfolk, and the East Midlands generally in political
affairs all through the later Middle Ages is but another evidence of the importance of the
district and of the extent to which its influence was likely to be felt.
A third factor, more difficult to evaluate, was the presence of the universities, Oxford
and Cambridge, in this region. In the fourteenth century the monasteries were playing a
less important role in the dissemination of learning than they had once played, while the
two universities had developed into important intellectual centers. So far as Cambridge is
concerned any influence that it had would be exerted in support of the East Midland
dialect. That of Oxford is less certain because Oxfordshire is on the border between
Midland and Southern and its dialect shows certain characteristic Southern features.
Moreover, we can no longer attribute to Wycliffe an important part in the establishment
of a written standard. 45 Though he spent much of his life at Oxford, he seems not to have
conformed fully to the Oxford dialect. All we can say is that the dialect of Oxford had no
apparent influence on the form of London English, which was ultimately adopted as
standard. Such support as the East Midland type of English received from the universities
must have been largely confined to that furnished by Cambridge.
Much the same uncertainty attaches to the influence of Chaucer. It was once thought
that Chaucer’s importance was paramount among the influences bringing about the
adoption of a written standard. And, indeed, it is unbelievable that the language of the
greatest English poet before Shakespeare was not spread by the popularity of his works
and, through the use of that language, by subsequent poets who looked upon him as their
master and model. But it is nevertheless unlikely that the English used in official records
and in letters and papers by men of affairs was greatly influenced by the language of his
poetry. Yet it is the language found in such documents rather than the language of
Chaucer that is at the basis of Standard English. Chaucer’s dialect is not in all respects
the same as the language of these documents, presumably identical with the ordinary
speech of the city. It is slightly more conservative and shows a greater number of
Southern characteristics. Chaucer was a court poet, and his usage may reflect the speech
of the court and to a certain extent literary tradition. His influence must be thought of as
lending support in a general way to the dialect of the region to which he belonged rather
than as determining
45
Wycliffe was credited with the chief part in the establishment of Standard English by Koch, as
Chaucer was by Ten Brink. Later Dibelius (Anglia, 23–24) argued for the existence of an Oxford
standard, recognized for a time beside the language of London. This view has now generally been
abandoned.