Professor Samuels presents a comprehensive explanation of the reasons for linguistic change, applying his theory in particular to the history of English. He assesses and mediates between the conflicting dogmas of different schools of linguistics, and offers an alternative theory of linguistic change which is basically simple but has the scope to cover any type of change. (Editor's information). 'Michael Samuels's neat and careful monograph marks a considerable advance on the presentations of other distinguished scholars inasmuch as it is better balanced and more readable. It is better balanced because it observes a right proportion between abstract and concrete, between scientific description and accompanying exemplification. It is more readable and more easily assimilable because its author takes care to explain technical terms accurately and unobtrusively on their first appearance and to list them with complete references in an exceptionally well-organized subject index - a model of its kind ? The author illustrates freely from the classical languages, from the languages of Western Europe with their long recorded histories, and, above all, from the dialects of late Middle English, on which he is probably unrivalled as an authority ? this book bears the hallmark of excellence. It embodies the findings of many years of patient research.' (The Times Literary Supplement). From the library of the late Sir Kenneth James Dover.