Editing Mercian dialect

{{short description|Dialect of Old English}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Mercian dialect
| states           = [[England]]
| region           = [[Midlands]]
| ethnicity        = [[Anglo-Saxons]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3             = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4             = [[North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5             = [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]]
| fam6             = [[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
| fam7             = [[Old English#Dialects|Anglian]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2        = [[Proto-Germanic]]
}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2009}}
{{Old English topics}}
'''Mercian''' was a dialect spoken in the [[Angles (tribe)#Anglian kingdoms in England|Anglian]] kingdom of [[Mercia]] (roughly speaking the [[English Midlands|Midlands]] of England, an area in which four kingdoms had been united under one monarchy). Together with [[Northumbrian (Old English)|Northumbrian]], it was one of the two [[Anglian dialects]]. The other two dialects of [[Old English language|Old English]] were [[Kentish (Old English)|Kentish]] and [[West Saxon (Old English)|West Saxon]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Campbell, Alistair |title=Old English Grammar |location=London |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1959 |isbn=0-19-811943-7 |pages=4}}</ref> Each of those dialects was associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these, all of [[Northumbria]] and most of Mercia were overrun by the [[Vikings]] during the 9th century. Part of Mercia and all of [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]] were successfully defended but were then integrated into the [[Kingdom of Wessex]]. Because of the centralisation of power and the Viking invasions, there is little to no salvaged written evidence for the development of non-Wessex dialects after [[Alfred the Great]]'s unification, until the Middle English period.<ref>Skeat, W. W., ''English Dialects, from the Eighth Century to the Present Day''. Cambridge,  1911.</ref><ref>Bennett, J. A. W. & Smithers, G. V., ''Early Middle English Verse and Prose''. Oxford, 1968, etc.</ref><ref>Dickins, Bruce, & Wilson, R. M. ''Early Middle English Texts''. Cambridge: Bowes & Bowes, 1951.</ref>

==History==
[[File:Old English Dialects.png|thumb|The dialects of Old English {{circa|800 CE}}]]
The Mercian dialect was spoken as far east as the border of the [[Kingdom of East Anglia]] and as far west as [[Offa's Dyke]], bordering Wales. It was spoken in an area that extended as far north as [[Staffordshire]], bordering [[Northumbria]], and as far south as South [[Oxfordshire]]/ [[Gloucestershire]], where it bordered on the [[Kingdom of Wessex]]. The [[Old Norse]] language also filtered in on a few occasions after the foundation of the [[Danelaw]]. This describes the situation before the unification of Mercia.

The [[Old English Martyrology]] is a collection of over 230 [[hagiography|hagiographies]], probably compiled in [[Mercia]], or by someone who wrote in the Mercian dialect of Old English, in the second half of the 9th century. Six Mercian hymns are included in the Anglo-Saxon glosses to the [[Vespasian Psalter]]; they include the [[Benedictus (Song of Zechariah)|Benedictus]] and the [[Magnificat]].<ref>Sweet, H. (1946) ''Anglo-Saxon Reader''; 10th ed. Clarendon Pr.; pp. 170-179</ref>

In later Anglo-Saxon England, the dialect remained in use in speech but rarely in written documents. Some time after the [[Norman conquest of England]], Middle English dialects emerged and were later found in such works as the ''[[Ormulum]]'' and the writings of the [[Gawain poet]]. In the later Middle Ages, a Mercian or East Midland dialect seems to have predominated in the [[London]] area, producing such forms as ''are'' (from Mercian '''arun''').

Mercian was used by the writer and [[philologist]] [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] to signify his fictional [[Rohirric]] language.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[The Road to Middle-Earth]] |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=Grafton (HarperCollins) |isbn=978-0261102750 |pages=131–133}}</ref>

==Alphabet==
Modern Old English orthography adds additional diacritics above certain letters to show specific phonological features. These distinctions largely were not shown in Old English. Such diacritics include macrons for vowel length and overdots for palatalization. Sound approximations from various European languages have been given, but it is best to learn by the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] transcriptions for more precise pronunciation.
*''a'' for /ɑ/; General American English ''c'''o'''t'' 
*''ā'' for /ɑː/; Norwegian ''t'''a'''''
*''b'' for /b/; English '''''b'''oy''
*''c'' for /k/; English '''''c'''old''
*''ċ'' for /tʃ/; English '''''ch'''eese''
*''d'' for /d/; English '''''d'''i'''d'''
*e for /e/; Spanish ''m'''e'''''
*''ē'' for /eː/; German ''S'''ee'''''
*''f'' for /f/; English '''''f'''un''; realised as [v] between voiced sounds (English ''thri'''v'''e)''
*''g'' for /g/; realised as [ɣ] (Dutch '''''g'''etrouw)''
*''ġ'' for /j/; English '''''y'''es''
*''ġġ'' or ''ċġ'' for /dʒ/; English ''we'''dge'''''
*''h'' for /h/; realised as [h] (English '''''h'''unt'') syllable-initially, as [x] after back vowels (German ''Na'''ch'''t''), and as [ç] after front vowels (German ''Si'''ch'''t''); ''h'' also represented devoicing before certain voiced consonants
*i for /i/; Spanish ''m'''í'''''
*ī for /iː/; English ''thr'''ee'''''
*''k'' for /k/; English '''''k'''ind''; ''k'' was used rarely
*''l'' for /l/; English '''''l'''ight''
*''m'' for /m/; English '''''m'''o'''m'''''
*''n'' for /n/; English '''''n'''i'''n'''e''; realized as [ŋ] before ''c'' or ''g'' (English ''thi'''n'''k'')
*''o'' for /o/; Spanish ''y'''o'''''
*''ō'' for /oː/; German ''fr'''oh'''''
*''p'' for /p/; English '''''p'''i'''p'''''
*''r'' for /r/; likely [r] (a "rolled" ''r''), which is present in Scottish English
*''s'' for /s/; English '''''s'''it''; voiced to [z] when between voiced sounds (English ''wi'''s'''e'')
*''sċ'' for /ʃ/; English '''''sh'''ip''
*''t'' for /t/; English '''''t'''ar'''t'''''
*''u'' for /u/; Spanish ''t'''ú'''''
*''ū'' for /u/; German ''H'''u'''t''
*''x'' for /ks/; English ''fo'''x'''''
*''y'' for /y/; equivalent to /i/ with rounded lips; Finnish ''m'''y'''kkä''
*''ȳ'' for /yː/; equivalent to /iː/ with rounded lips; German ''fr'''üh'''''
*''ƿ'' for /w/; often replaced by modern ''w''; English '''''w'''in''
*''ð'' for /θ/, which realised as [θ] (English '''''th'''ink'') or [ð] (English ''fea'''th'''er'') depending upon position; interchangeable with ''þ''
*''þ'' for /θ/, which realised as [θ] (English '''''th'''ink'') or [ð] (English ''fea'''th'''er'') depending upon position; interchangeable with ''ð''
*''æ'' for /æ/; English ''b'''a'''t''
*''ǣ'' for /æː/; Finnish '''''ää'''ni''
*''œ'' for /ø/; Hungarian ''j'''ö'''vő''
*''œ̄'' for /øː/; German ''sch'''ö'''n'' or Hungarian ''jöv'''ő'''''

==Grammar==
Mercian grammar has the same structure as other [[West Germanic dialect]]s.

===Nouns===
Nouns have three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; and four cases: [[nominative]], [[accusative]], [[dative]] and [[genitive]]. These, in addition, all have [[Grammatical number|singular]] and [[plural]] forms. They can also be strong or weak.

====Examples====
*Strong masculine noun ''stān'' (stone)
**nominative (singular, plural): stān, stānes
**accusative: stān, stānes
**dative: stāne, stānen
**genitive: stānes, stāne
*Weak masculine noun ''name'' (name)
**nominative: name, namen
**accusative: namen/name, namen
**dative: namen/name, namen
**genitive: namen/name. namene/namen

===Pronouns===
[[Personal pronoun]]s (I/me, you, he, she, we, you (pl.) and they) come in all the above cases and come in three numbers: singular, dual ('you/we two'), plural.

[[Demonstrative pronoun]]s vary in the same way described below for the indefinite article, based on 'ðes' only for ''this''. ''That'' and ''Those'' are the same as the definite article.

[[Relative pronoun]]s (who, which, that) are usually 'ðe' and 'ðet.'

===Articles===
The [[definite article]] is equally complex, with all [[Grammatical gender|genders]] changing in the singular in all cases, based on variations of 'ðe.'  In the plural all genders take the same word. The [[indefinite article]] was often omitted in Mercian.

===Adjectives===
Adjectives are always declined, even with some verbs (which means they can double up as [[adverbs]]), e.g. I am cold. Having split into weak and strong [[declensions]] (depending on the strength of the noun), these split again into all four cases, both singular and plural.

[[Comparative adjective]]s (e.g. ''bigger'') always add 're.' Example: Æðelen (noble), æðelenre (nobler).

===Verbs===
Verbs can be conjugated from the [[infinitive]] into the [[present tense]], the past singular, the past plural and the [[past participle]]. There exist strong and weak verbs in Mercian that too conjugate in their own ways. The future tense requires an [[auxiliary verb]], like ''will'' (Mercian ''wyllen''). There are three moods: [[indicative]], [[subjunctive]] and [[Imperative mood|imperative]]. Like most inflected languages, Mercian has a few irregular verbs (such as 'to be' ''bēon'' and 'have' ''habben''). For basic understanding, the four principal parts must be known for each strong verb: weak verbs are easier and more numerous, they all form the past participle with ''-ed''.

===Vocabulary===
Mercian vocabulary is largely inherited from [[Proto-Germanic]], with [[Latin]] loanwords coming via the use of Latin as the language of the [[Chalcedonian Christianity|Early Church]], and Norse loanwords that arrived as part of the Norse incursions and foundation of the [[Danelaw]] which covered much of the midlands and north of [[England]].

Some morphological differences between the Mercian and [[West Saxon dialect|West Saxon]] include:

* Change of West Saxon final {{lang|ang|-c}} to {{lang|ang|-h}}, presumably alluding to its ultimate loss in Modern English.
: {{lang|ang|Ic}} ({{lang|en|I}}) ↔ {{lang|ang|Ih}}
* The preservation of {{lang|gem|-k}} in Proto-Germanic in some pronouns, like {{lang|ang|mec}} ({{lang|en|me}}).

==See also==
*[[AB language]] (a written Middle English dialect)
*[[Mercia (disambiguation)]]
* [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Mercian_Old_English Wiktionary's coverage of Mercian terms]

==References==
{{reflist}}
*Biddulph, Joseph (2004) ''The Mercian Language: Introduction to the English Midlands Dialect of Late Anglo-Saxon and Early Middle English''. 56 p. Pontypridd: Joseph Biddulph {{ISBN|1-897999-39-9}} (Text in modern English, with examples in Old and Middle English)

==Further reading==
*Mitchell, Bruce, and Robinson, Fred C. (2001) ''A Guide to Old English'' (6th edition). Oxford: Blackwell {{ISBN|0-631-22636-2}}  
*Sweet, H., ed. (1885) ''The Oldest English Texts: glossaries, the Vespasian Psalter, and other works written before AD 900''. London: for the Early English Text Society 
** The ''[[Vespasian Psalter]]'' facsimile of the MS.: Wright, David H. (ed.)  (1967) ''The Vespasian Psalter.'' (Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, #14)  Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger OCLC 5009657, an [[interlinear gloss]] found in a manuscript of the [[Book of Psalms]] in the [[Cottonian Library]] (now British Library). The gloss was prepared around 850. This gloss is in the [[Mercia]]n dialect.

[[Category:East Midlands]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 9th century]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 11th century]]
[[Category:Language articles with unknown extinction date]]
[[Category:Mercia]]
[[Category:Old English dialects]]
[[Category:West Midlands (region)]]