Peter Trudgill is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.

'Trudgill has done it again, producing a provocative and interesting book on a subject on which he is a recognized authority. This work will be read with interest by all concerned with language contact, language change, and the history of English.' Brian D. Joseph, Ohio State University

• Prologue: colonisation and contact; 1. What really happened to Old English?; 2. East Anglian English and the Spanish Inquisition; 3. On Anguilla and The Pickwick Papers; 4. The last Yankee in the Pacific; 5. An American lack of dynamism; 6. Colonial lag?; 7. 'The new non-rhotic style'; 8. What became of all the Scots?; Epilogue: the critical threshold and interactional synchrony.

Peter Trudgill is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.

'Trudgill has done it again, producing a provocative and interesting book on a subject on which he is a recognized authority. This work will be read with interest by all concerned with language contact, language change, and the history of English.' Brian D. Joseph, Ohio State University

• Prologue: colonisation and contact; 1. What really happened to Old English?; 2. East Anglian English and the Spanish Inquisition; 3. On Anguilla and The Pickwick Papers; 4. The last Yankee in the Pacific; 5. An American lack of dynamism; 6. Colonial lag?; 7. 'The new non-rhotic style'; 8. What became of all the Scots?; Epilogue: the critical threshold and interactional synchrony.

Peter Trudgill is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.

'Trudgill has done it again, producing a provocative and interesting book on a subject on which he is a recognized authority. This work will be read with interest by all concerned with language contact, language change, and the history of English.' Brian D. Joseph, Ohio State University

• Prologue: colonisation and contact; 1. What really happened to Old English?; 2. East Anglian English and the Spanish Inquisition; 3. On Anguilla and The Pickwick Papers; 4. The last Yankee in the Pacific; 5. An American lack of dynamism; 6. Colonial lag?; 7. 'The new non-rhotic style'; 8. What became of all the Scots?; Epilogue: the critical threshold and interactional synchrony.