A Historical Syntax of English

This book discusses a number of approaches to charting the major developments in the syntax of English, addressing key issues of interpretation and focus for the benefit of students of the topic.

This book discusses a number of approaches to charting the major developments in the syntax of English, addressing key issues of interpretation and focus for the benefit of students of the topic. It does not assume any knowledge of Old or Middle English or of formal syntax, although students should be familiar with traditional syntactic concepts such as verbs and nouns, subjects and objects, and a general knowledge of linguistic concepts such as morphology or case.Drawing on explanations from both formal and functional approaches, Los explores how syntactic changes are the product of the interaction of many factors, external (the product of a certain sociolinguistic constellation of language or dialect contact) and internal (e.g. the loss of morphology, pressure from analogy).The book will strike a balance between theoretical explanation and accessibility to readers who have not had any training in formal syntax.