Geography and Dialects of Old Saxon River basin communication networks and the distributional patterns of North Sea Germanic features in Old Saxon

The West Germanic language group is traditionally divided into North Sea Germanic (Old English and Old Frisian) and Continental Germanic (Old Low Franconian and Old High German). The position of Old Saxon within this West Germanic language continuum is ambiguous: on the one hand, it shares various innovations with Old English and Old Frisian, on the other, it has many traits in common with Old High German. The North Sea Germanic characteristics are more abundant in the minor Old Saxon texts, especially those associated with Eastphalia than in Heliand, Genesis and other sources from the region of Essen and Werden. This implies that the ‘coastal’ features were more widespread in the Old Saxon dialects of the deep south-east inland than in the dialects of the south-western regions, closer to the coast. This rather unexpected distribution of linguistic characteristics is the focus of the present paper, which offers a detailed mapping of a range of North Sea Germanic features in the Old Saxon material. The patterns resulting from the mapping confirm the assumed dialectal contrasts in Old Saxon. The aim of the paper is to account for the attested distribution of linguistic features. The explanation is sought in the ancient traffic networks which, given the poor overland traffic conditions, overlapped with river basin networks. More specifically, the central and south eastern regions stayed in direct contact with the Frisian-speaking region on the North Sea littoral through the rivers Ems, Weser and Elbe, while the south-western regions were in close contact with the continentally-oriented Franconians in the Rhine Valley. The inland extension of the North Sea Germanic linguistic features can therefore be interpreted as a reflection of communication networks, which developed along the lines of economic and political contacts, and was directed by the travel networks of those days.