THE LANGUAGE OF GOWER
The manuscript tradition of Gower's English poems is discussed, and the Fairfax and Stafford MSS of the Confessio Amantis are selected for a fresh examination of the dialect. The results of this examination show that Gower's language combined features of two entirely separate regional dialects, which can each be pinpointed, one in a narrowly delimited area of N.W.Kent, and the other in a similarly restricted area of S.W.Suffolk. This result is then found to tally exactly with external historical evidence concerning the Gower family. The article concludes with a brief discussion of some of the implications of this discovery
Article, 1981
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 82, 19810101, 295
1981