· This
dialect flourished in the second half of the tenth century
· It
is preserved in the writings of Ælfric, Wulfstan, Æthelwold,
Byrhtferth, and others, as well as the continuation of the
Chronicle
· A
noticeable consistency appears in the work of scribes from monasteries
all over the country, with remarkable similarity in
spellings, words, and constructions
·
Ælfric even revised aspects of
his earlier work to make his use
of noun endings and verb
forms more consistent
· Several
Early West Saxon manuscripts were corrected by scribes to satisfy
their sense of what was becoming standard
· The
West Saxon standard continued to have influence throughout the
eleventh century but gradually fell out of use
·
It did not become the foundation of present-day
Standard English
· During
the Middle English period the centre of gravity of the new kingdom
moved away from Winchester and towards London
· The
impetus to write in this dialect largely died out during the
eleventh century
· The
process was gradual: a great deal of twelfth-century religious
writing displays the continuing influence of West Saxon norms
·
In the Herefordshire region of the West Midlands there
is evidence of its continued influence even in the early thirteenth
century
