Diachronic Syntax Models and Mechanisms

This collection of new writing on grammatical change advances research in the field and shows its breadth and liveliness. The study of how and why syntax changes occupies a pivotal position in research into the nature, use, and acquisition of language. It is responsive to theoretical advancesin linguistic theory, language acquisition, and theories of language use as well as to less adjacent fields such as statistical techniques and evolutionary biology. Chomsky's Minimalist Programme and Kayne's theories of antisymmetry and overt movement have brought into sharper focus questionsconcerning the architecture of linguistic theory, and this has had a direct impact on the understanding of the processes of change. Optimality Theory has also begun to raise new questions as it is applied to syntax and historical change. The sociolinguistic causes and consequences of syntacticchange have also become newly prominent. These are among the many issues and themes discussed and explored by the authors. The book's fourteen chapters exemplify work in a wide range of languages, including Germanic (Icelandic and Swedish, as well as Old and Middle English); Romance (Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish); Slavonic; and Chinese. A substantial introduction provides a critical synthesis of the field andsets the following chapters in context. The book is then divided into parts dealing with theoretical frameworks, comparative change, features and categories, and movement. The single collated bibliography to the entire volume is a valuable research tool in itself.Diachronic Syntax is innovative in both theory and method and makes a substantial contribution to its subject. It will be of interest to all those concerned to understand and explain the internal dynamics of language.

Susan Pintzuk is Lecturer in Linguistics in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York. Her research interests include syntactic variation and change in the history of English; and quantitative modelling of syntactic change in Germanic. She is currently investigating, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the change in verb-complement word order in the history of English. She also collaborates with researchers in the USA, the Netherlands, and Switzerland on the syntactic annotation for the Old English section of the Helsinki corpus.
George Tsoulas is Lecturer in Linguistics and French in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York. His research interests include syntactic theory (especially Minimalism); syntax/semantics interface; syntax of Greek and French; and philosophy of Language.
Anthony Warner is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of Yo