§ 2. DIALECTS. At present any marked variation from the practice of educated English speakers might, if it were common to a considerable number of persons, be described as dialectal. But as there was no such recognized standard in the fourteenth century, it is most convenient to consider as dialectal any linguistic feature which had a currency in some English-speaking districts but not in all. For example, _þat_ as a relative is found everywhere in the fourteenth century and is not dialectal; _þire_ 'these' is recorded only in Northern districts, and so is dialectal. Again, _ǭ_ represents OE. _ā_ in the South and Midlands, while the North retains _ā_ (§ 7 b i): since neither _ǭ_ nor _ā_ is general, both may be called dialectal. If a few sporadic developments be excluded because they may turn up anywhere at any time, then, provided sufficient evidence were available,[29] it would be possible to mark the boundaries within which any given dialectal feature occurs at a particular period: we could draw the line south of which _þire_ 'these' is not found, or the line bounding the district in which the Norse borrowing _kirke_ occurs; just as French investigators in _L'Atlas linguistique de la France_ have shown the distribution of single words and forms in the modern French dialects. [Foot-note 29: Sufficient evidence is not available. If in the year 1340 at every religious house in the kingdom a native of the district had followed the example of Michael of Northgate, and if all their autograph copies had survived, we should have a very good knowledge of Middle English at that time. If the process had been repeated about every ten years the precision of our knowledge would be greatly increased. For the area in which any feature is found is not necessarily constant: we know that in the pres. p. the province of _-ing_ was extending throughout the fourteenth century; that the inflexion _-es_ in 3 sg. pres. ind. was a Northern and North-Midland feature in the fourteenth century, but had become general in London by Shakespeare's time. And though less is known about the spread of sound changes as distinct from analogical substitutions, it cannot be assumed that their final boundaries were reached and fixed in a moment. There is reason to regret the handicap that has been imposed on ME. studies by the old practice of writing in Latin or French the documents and records which would otherwise supply the exactly dated and localized specimens of English that are most necessary to progress.]