Gower's language differs from the London dialect in which Chaucer wrote. Samuels and Smith (1988:15) observed that there are several ways in which his language differs from that of Chaucer.
One group suggests a Kentish influence:
- contracted 3rd person singular present indicative verbs, used to a far greater extent than in Chaucer, e.g.
- ie-spellings as the reflex (modern form) of OE ē, ēo, and OF ē e.g. The principal area for these spellings is W Essex and W Kent.
- selver ‘silver’ a Southern and SW Midlands form.
- soster ’sister’ : primarily Kentish and South-Western.
- þerwhiles (þat), "while" : Kentish, with a narrow belt from there into the South Midlands, including earlier London texts.
Another group is definitely East Anglian:
- boþen ‘both’ found in Norfolk, Suffolk and an area in the W Midlands.
- ȝoue ‘given’: primarily an Eastern form.
- ) -h- as in myhte, hyhe, yhen
Gower's family owned land in SW Suffolk (Kentwell Hall) and had associations with NW Kent (Brabourne?[3]).(Lee in DNB) Thus "Gower’s dialect is essentially based on the two regional dialects of Kent and Suffolk, not that of London, as Macaulay(1901:cxxx, 1908:sec 32) thought."
Some well known differences between Chaucer and Gower are explained by conclusion that Gower is associated with Kent and Suffolk.
- The treatment of reflexes of OE ỹ : Chaucer uses i, y normally but e occasionally in rhyme. Gower’s practice is the opposite -e more commonly in mid-line, but i, y in rhyme. …
- The present participle: Gower’s form, -ende, was a minor variant in Kent where the main form was -ynde, and in the mid-fourteenth-century London dialect where the main form was -ande. Chaucer, who must equally have grown up using some form in -nde (-ande or -ende), adopted the more progressive -ynge, but Gower’s persistence with -ende can be explained only by reference to the Suffolk stratum in his language.
Smith (2004:65) concludes that despite these regional features "Gower was evidently part of the linguistic community of late-fourteenth-century London." Gower's vocabulary is educated, with extensive use of French and Latin loans, some of them apparently original; for example, the Confessio is the earliest work in which the word "history" is attested in English (OED also Middle English Dictionary). That the work was aimed at a similarly educated audience is clear from the inclusion of Latin epigraphs at the start of each major section.
