An authoritative collection of twenty-seven articles, mostly gathered from the Second International Conference on Middle English Language and Texts held in Espoo, Finland, in 1997, which consider the development and standardisation of Middle English in genres and in specific texts. Subjects include the relationship between language and society, the `normalisation' of word forms, Chaucer's spelling, French influence on Middle English, semantic changes, the use of interjections and curses and innovations in verse.