At 2:06:17 PM on Friday, February 6, 2009, Andrew Jarrette
wrote:
> Then again, England's North spoke a Scandinavian language
> for quite some time,
There were significant numbers of speakers of Scandinavian
languages up to about 1100, but English never disappeared.
There was enough Scandinavian influence to suggest a fair
degree of bilingualism, and it's likely that English exerted
a comparable influence on the local Norse dialect(s). The
centre of Norse influence on ME seems to have been the East
Midlands (e.g., Lindsey): 'Norsified' ME shows a core of
Midlands traits and does not appear to have an Old
Northumbrian basis. (I recommend the extensive and detailed
discussion in Thomason & Kaufman.)
Brian