ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the nominal attributive morphology especially that of the definite determiner, in what is often referred to as one of the earliest Middle English texts by those scholars who set store by the sub-division of the diachronic process into major periods. The important twelfth century East Midland dialect text is of interest to the historical linguist in almost every department of language change and innovation: 'This text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was written, at intervals between 1121-1155, at Peterborough; and the annals from 1122 onwards were not merely written but also composed there. The Peterborough Chronicle is sub-divided into three main parts such as Text A, the annals up till 1121; Text B, the annals from 1122-1131; and Text C containing the annals from 1132-1154. The chapter examines the unetymological occurrences of definite determiner morphological shapes in both the B Text and the Peterborough Interpolations.
