Abstract :
Old English has traditionally been considered a period of linguistic homogeneity, since
most available recorded texts are generally written in the West Saxon dialect. There
are, however, isolated texts which have been ascribed to other varieties, in particular
Northumbrian and Mercian. In fact, recent research on syntactic dialectology in early
English (Kroch & Taylor 1997; Ogura 1999; Hogg 2004, 2006a; Ingham 2006) shows
that linguistic variation has been present in the English language from the earliest times.
This study reassesses the existence of variation in the syntax of texts belonging to
different dialectal varieties in Old English, in particular in relative constructions. Based
on an analysis of relative clauses in three versions of the Gospels from late Old English,
representingWest Saxon, Northumbrian and Mercian dialects,we will observe differences
in the texts, regarding both the paradigm of relativizers and the position adopted by the
relative clause within the main clause. I relate these differences to the existence of
linguistic differences in northern and southern dialects.
