Only a few centuries ago, the English language consisted of a collection of dialects spoken mainly by monolinguals and only within the shores of a small island. Now the English language includes such typologically distinct varieties as pidgins and creoles, 'new' Englishes, and a range of differing standard and nonstandard varieties that are spoken on a regular basis in many different countries throughout the world. English is also, of course, the main language used for communication at an international level. The use of English in such a diverse range of social contexts around the world...

Dr Cheshire's fieldwork concentrates on phonological variation in spontaneous everyday conversation. She interviews a group of non-standard English speakers living in Reading, Berkshire. Her data provides a basis for a perceptive analysis of variation in contemporary English and of the nature and function of variation in general. She specifically focuses on morphological and syntactic variation, and thus also provides a valid description between standard English and a variety used by working-class speakers, which will interest not only linguists including sociolinguists and dialectologists,...