1 The dates and authors of the quotations are (in chronological order):

d 1384, a certain William of Nassington: the lines are part of a preface to a reading given at Cambridge University (in Crystal 2004).

b 1557: Sir John Cheke, in a letter to Thomas Hoby (in Crystal 2004).

f 1605: William Camden, in his Remaines Concerning Britain (in Crystal 2004).

c 1712: Jonathan Swift, from ‘A proposal for correcting, improving and ascertaining the English tongue’ (in Crystal 2004).

a 1762: Robert Lowth, from his Short Introduction to English Grammar (in Crystal 2004).

e 1987: Penelope Lively, in her novel Moon Tiger (in Ratcliffe 2003).

The linguistic clues that you may have used include the archaic script in extract (d), along with its Germanic vocabulary (alle vnderstonden), a legacy of its Anglo-Saxon origins, and, in (d), (b) and (f), the lack of standardisation of some spellings (e.g. tonge, tung, tunges, tong, tongue). Note also that in both (b) and (f) there are a number of words of Latin or French origin, such as opinion, mix, copious and significative, which reflect the way that, at this time, writers were attempting to improve English by borrowing from these ‘more sophisticated’ European languages: in (f) this tendency seems to be more advanced than in (b).

By the 18th century the standardisation of spelling was well-established, although the convention of capitalizing most nouns is still evident in extract (c). Nevertheless, from now on, both the grammar and the vocabulary are recognizably modern, apart from the occasional archaicism such as oftentimes in extract (a). Extract (e) is recognizably the most recent, owing as much to its contemporary collocations (e.g. idle chatter) as to its internationalist sentiment.

2 1 accent d The distinctive way a language variety is pronounced

2 dialect c A language variety whose grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation is characteristic of a specific region or social group

3 variety f A general term to describe any situationally distinctive form of a language

4 pidgin e A language variety that develops when two or more languages are in contact

5 jargon a The technical language used by an occupational or academic group

6 slang b An in-group variety, characterized by non-standard vocabulary, often regarded disapprovingly