1. Op. cit., pp. 74–84. See also H. Hoenigswald's remarks in “Are There Universale of Linguistic Change?” J. S. Greenberg, ed.Universali of Language.Cambridge, Mass., 1963. Footnote8: “Sound changes can apparently not be entirely predicted from internal, systemic stresses and strains, nor can they be explained as the effect of scatter around a target or norm; they have direction and are in that sense specific, much like other happenings in history.”
2. From U.S. Bureau of the Census.U.S. Census of Population: 1960.Number of Inhabitants. Massachusetts.Final Report PC(1)—23A. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1962. Table 7, page 23–11.
3. See O. Jespersen,A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles, I, London: 1927, page 234, and H. Kökeritz,Shakespeare's Pronunciation, New Haven: 1953, p. 216. Among recent historical linguists, H. C. Wyld is a notable exception in positing a front first element in the transition of M.E.i: to Mod.E. /ai/, relying on occasional spellings witheyandei, but without considering the many other indications of central position. SeeA History of Modern Colloquial English, Oxford: 1920, pages 223–225.