Pronouncing Early Modern English and Scots: Reassessing the evidence for 'non-standard' speech in Early Modern Britain

Regional variation in the speech of England and Scotland is well-understood for the medieval period and post-1700. Early modern regional speech, however, has suffered from a London-centric focus and a 'march towards standardisation' in scholarship. This study challenge the 'grand narrative' and investigate material from early linguists - orthoepists - concerning speech in Northern England, Wales, and Scotland. This decentred approach will align the study of early modern pronunciation with current trends in historical linguistics. Importantly, it will contextualise orthoepic practice and allow for better understanding of regional pronunciation between the medieval times and the emergence of prescriptive speech standards.