Frontmatter -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Part 1: The orthodox version -- Introduction -- 1. A critical look at previous accounts of the standardisation of English -- 2. The 'vernacularisation' and 'standardisation' of local administrative writing in late and post-medieval England -- 3. The linguistic character of manuscripts attributed to the Beryn Scribe: A comparative study -- 4. Spelling practices in late Middle English medical prose: A quantitative analysis -- 5. Standardisation, exemplars, and the Auchinleck manuscript -- 6. Bristol <th>, <þ> and <y>: The North-South divide revisited, 1400-1700 -- 7. <th> versus <þ>: Latin-based influences and social awareness in the Paston letters -- 8. Early mass communication as a standardizing influence? The case of the Book of Common Prayer -- Part 2: The revised version -- 9. Abbreviations and standardisation in the Polychronicon: Latin to English and manuscript to print -- 10. William Worcester's Itineraria: mixed-language notes of a medieval traveller -- 11. The relationship of borrowing from French and Latin in the Middle English period with the development of the lexicon of Standard English: Some observations and a lot of questions -- 12. The role of multilingualism in the emergence of a technical register in the Middle English period -- 13. More sugar and spice: Revisiting medieval Italian influence on the mercantile lexis of England -- 14. -mannus makyth man(n)? Latin as an indirect source for English lexical history -- 15. Communities of practice, proto-standardisation and spelling focusing in the Stonor letters -- 16. A comparison of some French and English nominal suffixes in early English correspondence (1420-1681) -- 17. Textual standardisation of legal Scots vis a vis Latin -- 18. Rising living standards, the demise of Anglo-Norman and mixed-language writing, and standard English -- Index