[1][2] As speakers already understood one another before the advent of the koiné, the process of koineization is not as drastic as pidginization and creolization.
[4] It arose as a mixed vernacular among ordinary people in the Peiraieus, the seaport of Athens, which was inhabited by Greeks from different parts of the Mediterranean.
Koineization is a particular case of dialect contact, and it typically occurs in new settlements, to which people have migrated from different parts of a single language area.
[7] Language variation is systematic in that it can be related to social divisions within a community, such as class and gender.
[11] Peter Trudgill sees three processes in operation during what Mesthrie calls the accommodation period: mixing, levelling and simplification.
The processes of levelling and simplification are both dependent on a wide range of factors, including the relative prestige of the contributing dialects, socio-political contexts in which the new dialect develops, and individual networks of adults involved in the accommodation process.