A history of the English Language

149.
The Importance of London English.
By far the most influential factor in the rise of Standard English was the importance of 
London as the capital of England. Indeed, it is altogether likely that the language of the 
city would have become the prevailing dialect without the help of any of the factors 
previously discussed. In doing so it would have been following the course of other 
national tongues—French as the dialect of Paris, Spanish as that of Castile, and others. 
London was, and still is, the political and commercial center of England. It was the seat 
of the court, of the highest judicial tribunals, the focus of the social and intellectual 
activities of the country. In the practicalities of commerce the London economy was 
especially important as “an engine of communication and exchange which enabled ideas 
and information to be distributed and business to be done across an increasingly 
extensive, complex and varied field.”
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Patterns of migration at this time cannot be fully 
reconstructed, but clearly London drew in a constant stream those whose affairs took 
them beyond the limits of their provincial homes. They brought to it traits of their local 
speech, there to mingle with the London idiom and to survive or die as the silent forces of 
amalgamation and standardization determined. They took back with them the forms and 
usages of the great city by which their own speech had been modified. The influence was 
reciprocal. London English took as well as gave. It began as a Southern and ended as a 
Midland dialect. By the fifteenth century there had come to prevail in the East Midlands a 
fairly uniform dialect, and the language of London agrees in all important respects with 
it. We can hardly doubt that the importance of the eastern counties, pointed out above, is 
largely responsible for this change. Even such Northern characteristics as are found in the 
standard speech seem to have entered by way of these counties. The history of Standard 
English is almost a history of London English.