ABSTRACT
Throughout this book, we have presented popular beliefs and attitudes to language as being largely conditioned by factors that lie outside of the language itself – i.e. by ideological positions such as attitudes to social class. Thus, if, in English, I did it is preferred to I done it, the reason for this preference is social, not linguistic, and it depends on an attitude to social class differences. Typically, however, the rejection of the disfavoured form is expressed in linguistic terms: it is said to be ‘ungrammatical’. But being ‘ungrammatical’ is not the actual reason for its rejection – it is rejected for social reasons. If I done it were standard English usage, it would be said to be grammatical.
