• A standard language was not planned or institutionalized

• There was no government intervention; no official bodies were established to implement a policy of standardization

• There was not even a long-standing body of English classical literature to look back to

• Old English was a foreign language to most people by the 15th century

• Chaucer's writing had yet to achieve classical status

• English translation of the Bible (pioneered by Wycliffe in the 1380s)had hardly begun

• The south-east, and in particular the triangular area with focal points in London, Oxford, and Cambridge, had become a region of special influence

• The speech of the south-east began to be associated with the worlds of courtly culture, commerce, and learning

• It was perceived as a more polished, elegant, and more desirable medium of communication than the other regional varieties

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