A study of THESE and THOSE in three different texts of Pricke of Conscience

Abstract

A parallel comparison of three different texts of Pricke of Conscience, from north, south and southwest, has revealed that there is a significant difference in the way in which THESE and THOSE have been transmitted. It is found that THESE generally appears as such in the corresponding lines in different texts, whereas THOSE is often not transmitted but altered by other words. This replacement of THOSE with other words seems to be particularly remarkable in the texts from southwestern areas. The following discussion, after a brief explanation of the methodology, begins with an examination of various forms for THESE and THOSE apparent in the three texts. This is followed by the examination of corresponding lines in the system. We then consider the relative paucity of THOSE in the southwestern areas. Pricke of Conscience is a religious poem written towards the middle of the fourteenth century in the north of England, probably in Yorkshire. Due to its popularity it was copied extensively and spread throughout almost the entire country during the Middle English period. The nature and purpose of the poem strongly suggest that its copies were produced by local scribes in order for them to be read aloud to people in their own districts. 1 The copiers, therefore, presumably chose linguistic features which reflected quite closely the speech of the place in which their copies were made. 2 The transcribed edition by Richard Morris is based on British Library, Cotton Galba E. IX., supplemented by London, British Library, Harley 4196. 3 These two texts belong to the group of texts closest to the presumed original. 4 Three other texts used for the comparative examination in this paper are 1: Bodley 99 ff.1 ‐ 12-v, 2: Diby 14 ff.2r ‐ 158v and 3: Douce 157 ff. 24 ‐ 113v, all of which are at Oxford, Bodleian Library. These are localized in the Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English: 5 1i s south of West Riding Yorkshire (LP 6 405) (hence the WRY text), 2 from east of