The fourteen essays presented here discuss the development of English during the Middle English period: how the language developed from Old English, linguistic innovations, and the loss and abandonment of certain words and constructions. A common theme is variation and variability – dialectal, social, temporal, stylistic and idiolectal – with much work fitting under the heading of historical pragmatics. Some of the essays also shed light on everyday life, customs, culture and religious practices during the period. Collectively, the essays make it clear that searchable computerized corpora have become indispensible tools of the discipline, with several contributors describing new corpora created to their own specifications.

Richard Dance is Senior Lecturer in Old English Language and Literature at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St Catharine’s College. Laura Wright is Reader in English Language at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College.