In a sociolinguistic study of the verb phrase in Southern White English, a pattern of change in progress was observed. The 14 variables studied showed that certain variants were increasing, others decreasing, and yet others stable across time within the community, and that each variable's change was progressing in a wave sensitive to age, social class, sex, and rural/urban origins. It is possible that these apparent changes were a reflection of age grading, since there are no earlier records of speech in that community. However, the variants that are decreasing are all older forms of English than those which are increasing and are dying or nonexistent outside Southern White and Black English. This suggests that age grading is not the primary factor here, but rather language change moving through the community. The variables examined were the standard and nonstandard variants of NP plural agreement; plural "was,""is"; singular "don't"; irregular preterits and past participles; "ain't"; negative concord; passive "be" and "got"; perfective "done"; "a+verb+ing"; double modals; "liketa"; and negative inversion. The data base consisted of tape-recorded interviews with 65 natives of Anniston, Alabama, and nearby rural areas. The informants were teenagers and adults over 65 of the working and upper classes. (Author/AM)