This title demonstrates the pivotal position of historical syntax within the larger domain of research into the nature, use, and acquisition of language. It shows how current work in historical syntax is responsive to theoretical advances in linguistic theory, language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and theories of language use.
Linguistic theory has undergone deep changes since the early 1990's, given the widespread impact of Chomsky's Minimalist Programme, Kayne's Antisymmetry Theory, and Kayne's Theory of Overt Movement. This work has brought into sharper focus questions concerning the architecture of linguistic theory that have a direct impact on our understanding of the process of change. Here, Pintzuk, Tsoulas, and Warner have brought together chapters which demonstrate the pivotal position of historical syntax within the larger domain of research into the nature, use, and acquisition of language. They show how current work in historical syntax is responsive to theoretical advances in linguistic theory, language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and theories of language use, as well as to less adjacent fields such as statistical techniques and evolutionary biology.
... provides an excellent survey of recent developments in the field ... The editors have assembled a collection of very substantial papers in which extensive databases, sophisticated statistical analyses, and clever theoretical interpretations are abundantly present.
