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

William Labov is Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Linguistics Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania. His major studies include The Social Stratification of English in New York City (1966), Sociolinguistic Patterns (1972), Language in the Inner City (1972), Principles of Linguistic Change: Internal Factors (Wiley-Blackwell, 1994), Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume II: Social Factors (Wiley-Blackwell, 2001), and Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume III: Cognitive and Cultural Factors (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). With S. Ash and C. Boberg, he published the Atlas of North American English in 2006.