This book crystallises key interrelationships between linguistic standardisation and prescriptivism, contextualising case studies across languages and cultures. It breaks new ground with its multilingual approach, helping to balance the otherwise strong emphasis on English in English language publications on prescriptivism.

Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade is Professor and Chair of English Sociohistorical Linguistics at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. Her research focuses on sociohistorical linguistics, standardisation and prescriptivism, Late Modern English, 18th and 19th-century letter writing, and Jane Austen's language.

Carol Percy is Professor of English at the University of Toronto, Canada. Her main research interests are Late Modern English, standardisation and prescriptivism, history of education, women's studies, and children's literature.