Lack of uniformity of English usage

What most worried Caxton was the fact that English, unlike Latin, had no recognized common usage. It varied considerably from one part to another, causing practical difficulties of everyday communication. It is called the problem of linguistic variation in English language.

This lack of uniformity in English usage posed more than one problem for Caxton´s printing activity:

1. Conflicting dialects.

2. Once chosen dialect, the spelling of the dialect.

3. These problems were not solved consulting dictionaries or grammars of English language. 

It was adopted –as previous mentioned- the dialect of London and the South East for the printing activity, and the dialectal problem, the orthographical problem and the problem of linguistic change were gradually resolved. So, a new national consciousness of English people –as they saw that their vernacular triumphed-. For the first time, it became essential to have a national language in order to secure proper recognition as a nation. For the first time dictionaries and grammars of the vernacular languages –in this case, of English- began to appear alongside dictionaries if Greek and Latin. And the task of grammarians and lexicographers was to FIX THE LANGUAGE; that is, to eliminate differences and inconsistences between dialects and impose linguistic uniformity.