AB language: Difference between revisions

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==See also==
==See also==


*''[[The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion Session 1923-24]]'' (includes an essay with contributions by Tolkien on this dialect)
*"[[Gerald of Wales on the Survival of Welsh]]"


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[[CATEGORY:Languages (real-world)]]
[[CATEGORY:Languages (real-world)]]

Revision as of 11:55, 12 November 2010

The AB language refers to a medieval literary dialect first identified by J.R.R. Tolkien in the article "Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meiðhad" (published in Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, 14).

Tolkien had found that the Middle English spelling habits of the manuscript Ancrene Wisse (i.e., "A") showed great similarities to the manuscripts of the Katherine Group (i.e., "B"). This lead Tolkien to propose the existence of a standard literary language (the AB language) in the West Midland area of England in the 13th century. Tolkien's further investigations of the AB language led him to publish his edition of Ancrene Wisse in 1962.

According to Arne Zettersten, Tolkien's research on the AB language was perhaps his most important academic contribution, influencing the work of his student and colleague Simonne d'Ardenne and Zettersten himself, as well as contemporary research on Middle English.[1]

See also

References