The origins of Standard English lie in writing/the written form.

[Molly]

The origins of Standard English lie in writing/the written form.

True or false?

[Jamie (K)]

You're trying to pick a fight again with another elementary concept from first-semester English linguistics.

Standard English was originally an amalgamation of various dialects, using features common to the majority of them. It was devised at the time printing began in England, so that publishers' texts could be universally understood, beyond the region in which they were printed.

In the hundreds of years since, however, people have been schooled in the written standard to the point where a variable spoken standard has arisen that is based on that written standard but is not identical to it.

That's the answer. Of course, you posted your question in order to lead someone into some kind of argument, but I don't care where you were hoping to lead us.

[Molly]

[Molly]