Free Variation and Other Myths: Interpreting Historical English Spelling (Critical Essay‪)‬

ABSTRACT The paper considers the interpretation of orthographic variation in Middle English texts, focussing on the question to what extent it is justifiable to use such variation as phonological evidence. It is suggested that all written variation, except when directly conditioned by orthographic context, is the result of clashes between two or more linguistic systems. This hypothesis is tried out on a text with notoriously variable spelling: the version of Lazamon's Brut found in London, British Library Cotton Caligula A ix.