Joan C. Beal looks at recent research and provides an overview of current regional variation in the accent, grammar and vocabulary of English in England, along with a discussion of the evidence for dialect levelling and the importance of language as a marker of local and regional identity.<BR><BR>Each chapter of this introduction is fully illustrated with examples from a range of accents and dialects and accompanied by an exercise involving either the analysis of data from dialect surveys or corpora or the use of current fieldwork methods to collect data. The volume concludes that, while 'traditional' dialects might be endangered, regional variation is alive and well in England, and features of dialect are still clear markers of regional and local identity.<BR><BR>Features:<BR><BR>combines description with theoretical discussion, ideal for beginning students<BR><BR>exercises provide hands-on experience of analysing and collecting data<BR><BR>includes a guide to resources available for study in the area