Humber-Lune_Line
Humber-Lune Line
Traditional dialect boundary between Northumbrian and Mercian Old English dialects
The Humber-Lune Line is a term used for the traditional dialect boundary in England between descendants of Northumbrian Old English to the north & Mercian Old English to the south.[1] It is considered the most significant dialect boundary within the Anglic dialect continuum[2] and separates the Scots language alongside the Northumbrian, Cumbrian, North Riding and East Riding dialects from all other Anglic varieties. The line trends from south-east to north-west, from the Humber estuary to the mouth of the Cumbrian River Lune west of Lancaster.[Note 1] In the 1899 publication On Early English Pronunciation, Part V, the dialectologist Alexander John Ellis attempted a precise plotting of the line, which he referred to as the "hoose line" because areas north of the line uses the "hoose" pronunciation (also found in Scots) rather than the "house" found south of the line.[3]