ABSTRACT
In Chapter 3, it was observed that linguistic variation arose in two ways: through divergence from a common inherited ancestor, and through contact with other varieties or languages, that is, through the interaction of intra-and extralinguistic phenomena. In the last chapter, the standardisation of written English in particular was placed within its extralinguistic and intralinguistic context. In this chapter, the attention shifts to the transmission of the spoken mode, that is, phonology and phonetics, and it will be observed that dynamic interaction between extra-and intralinguistic processes is similarly of key importance. In short, it is argued here that a given sound-change is the result of a number of factors, both intra-and extralinguistic, acting in combination.
