Linguistic Change and Metre: The Demise of Adjectival Inflections and the Scansion of "High" and "Sly" in Chaucer, Gower and Hoccleve.

Author / Editor
Putter, Ad.

Title
Linguistic Change and Metre: The Demise of Adjectival Inflections and the Scansion of "High" and "Sly" in Chaucer, Gower and Hoccleve.

Published
English Language Linguistics 26 (2022): 471-85.

Description
Treats the scansion of "high" and "sly" in works by Chaucer, Gower, and Hoccleve--all "careful metrists"--as evidence of the demise of "inflection of monosyllabic adjectives (final -e for weak and plural adjectives)." Posits that irregularities in usage are due to the "vulnerability of schwa after front vowels," and offers several cautions for editors.

Chaucer Subjects
Style and Versification