The Development of Standard English 1300ø1800: Theories, Descriptions, Conflicts. Edited by Laura Wright. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp. xii + 236. $59.95.

This is a volume of papers with dual origin: a 1997 conference on Standard English held in Cambridge and a follow-up workshop held in London two years later. Consequently the contents of the book vary somewhat in their extent and completeness: the longest contribution is three times as long as the shortest. The collection is divided into two halves, the first dealing mostly with generalities and methodology and the second with exemplification and discussion of the particular processes of standardisation in English.

David Burnley
University of Sheffield