Caxton: The emergence of a standard English

William Caxton introduced the technology of printing into England in 1476. Apart from its role in helping to develop a standard form of English spelling and punctuation, the new invention provided more opportunities for people to write, and gave their works much wider circulation. As a result, most of the text of this period survived. And the history of English thus became more definite in the 16^th century, with more evidence available about the way the language was developing, both in texts and in a growing number of observations dealing with grammar, vocabulary and written system.

Caxton made his decisions about the writing English, as did other publishers of the time, and gradually a consensus arose, based on speech of the London area. The distinction between what was standard and non-standard became well-defined. Within 100 years, there was a remarkable uniformity in the appearance of printed texts, though some matters of spelling and punctuation were not finally established until the 17^th century.

FROM: GRADDOL, D., LEITH, D. & SWANN, J. (1996). English, History. Diversity and Change, London: Routledge. 

printing press.