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This paper examines the strictly regional distribution in a handful of West Midlands counties of the first person singular pronoun, which contracts the spelling into a superscript variant . The data comes from the Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (LAEME) and the Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English (LAEME).

This paper articulates a model for examining medieval vernacular multi-text codices which is based on the dynamics we see in the contemporary use of social media, particularly personal blogs. Both media democratise the use of an existing specialised technology, accelerate the development of this technology, and serve as vehicles for the maintenance of social relationships. This model is illustrated with examples drawn from The Findern Manuscript, Cambridge University Library, MS Ff.1.6, and the blog In the Middle.