This volume examines the development of forms of English in North America from the earliest founder populations through to present-day varieties in the United States and Canada. The linguistic analyses of today's forms emphasise language variation and change with a view to determining the trajectories for current linguistic change. The first part on English in the United States also has dedicated chapters on the history of African American English and the English of Spanish-heritage people in the United States. Part II is concerned with English in Canada and contains seven chapters beginning with the anglophone settlement of Canada and continuing with chapters on individual regions of that country including English in Quebec. Part III consists of chapters devoted to the history of English in the Anglophone Caribbean, looking at various creoles in that region, both in the islands and the Rim, with a special chapter on Jamaica and on the connections between the Caribbean and the United States.