Page:An elementary middle English grammar (IA elementarymiddle00wrig).pdf/13



need of an elementary Middle English Grammar written on scientific and historical principles must long have been felt by pupils and teachers alike, and it is with a view of supplying this need that the present Grammar has been written. In writing it we have followed as far as possible the plan adopted in the Elementary Old English Grammar, our object being to furnish students with a concise account of the phonology and inflexions of the Middle English period. And in order that the book may form a kind of basis for the modern English period, we have in almost all cases chosen the examples illustrating the Middle English sound-changes from words which have survived in Modern-English. It will thus link up with a similar book dealing with the phonology and inflexions of New English, which is already in an advanced stage of preparation, and which will be published next year.

In dealing with the Middle English dialects, we have, as far as is possible in an elementary Grammar, endeavoured to exhibit the phonological and inflexional features of each group of dialects without attaching too great importance to any one of them. In this part of the work we have made considerable use of the modern dialects, as they help to throw much light upon many points of Middle English phonology.

As the book is not intended for specialists in English philology, some more or less important details have