ABSTRACT
It will, it is hoped, have become clear from the preceding chapters that an argument about the nature of linguistic change in the history of English has been developed. Change, it has been argued, is the result of the complex interaction of extralinguistic and intralinguistic developments, and any resulting change itself interacts with further developments to produce yet more change. The conception is therefore a dynamic one, to use a term which has become popular with linguists (e.g. Bailey 1973, Sebba 1993). Although it is not possible, given the limitations of the evidence, to offer absolute proof as to the motivation of a particular linguistic innovation, or to predict the precise development of linguistic phenomena, nevertheless a rationally arguable historical explanation can be offered for the kinds of changes which languages can undergo, and a broad prediction can be made about the kinds of change which are liable to happen. This seems a reasonable goal for any historical enquiry which seeks to go beyond the simple chronicle.
