Written by the world-renowned pioneer in the field of modern sociolinguistics, this three-volume set examines the historical, social, cognitive, and cultural factors responsible for linguistic change.

• Presents the results of several decades of inquiry into the social origins and motivation of linguistic change
• Develops the general principles of linguistic change that form the foundations of historical linguistics, dialectology and sociolinguistics
• Includes the first complete report on the Philadelphia project designed to establish the social location of the leaders of linguistic change
• Documents the rapid changes in progress in the cities of America and England
• A newly-complete trilogy that has shaped the course of variationist sociolinguistic inquiry