The Language of Middle English Literature

Instead of documenting scholarship devoted to a familiar author or literary period, this unusual bibliography seeks to survey material whose integrity has not been well recognised. The approach to English medieval literature by means of the analysis of its language is one which has rarely been isolated as a methodology. Consequently, there is no systematic bibliographical coverage of it. This bibliography, therefore, as well as serving the purpose of a reference for anyone seeking information on the language of a specific author or text, may also serve to define existing linguistic approaches to the study of texts and suggest further possibilities. Language is here defined in the way in which it would be understood by philologists and linguists, so that works which employ a metaphorical or analogical relationship to linguistic study have not been included. Works written between 1890 and 1990 are covered, including the increasingly important contribution made from Japan. However, the works of Chaucer have been omitted as they are the subject of separate volume in another series.
DAVID BURNLEY is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Sheffield.
MATSUJI TAJIMAis Professor of English at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.