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Chapter 6: Syntax

  • Graeme Trousdale
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Volume 1 Historical Outlines from Sound to Text
This chapter is in the book Volume 1 Historical Outlines from Sound to Text

Abstract

Syntactic change in English can be considered in a number of ways, depending on whether the aim of the research is to find out more about the ways in which English has changed over time, or whether it is to find out more about general constraints on change in the syntactic component of human language by using evidence from diachronic varieties of English. Adapting a proposal from Honeybone (2008), on phonological change in English, this chapter is concerned with both the syntactic history of English and English historical syntax, and discusses evidence from a range of varieties of the language (both contemporary and historical). Changes discussed in the chapter include the development of word order patterns, the evolution of auxiliaries, and the category “subject” in English. Both formal and functional theories of language change are considered, along with some discussion of the roles played by borrowing, reanalysis, and analogy in shaping change in English syntax.

Abstract

Syntactic change in English can be considered in a number of ways, depending on whether the aim of the research is to find out more about the ways in which English has changed over time, or whether it is to find out more about general constraints on change in the syntactic component of human language by using evidence from diachronic varieties of English. Adapting a proposal from Honeybone (2008), on phonological change in English, this chapter is concerned with both the syntactic history of English and English historical syntax, and discusses evidence from a range of varieties of the language (both contemporary and historical). Changes discussed in the chapter include the development of word order patterns, the evolution of auxiliaries, and the category “subject” in English. Both formal and functional theories of language change are considered, along with some discussion of the roles played by borrowing, reanalysis, and analogy in shaping change in English syntax.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. Abbreviations VII
  4. Chapter 1: Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 2: Periodization in the History of the English Language 8
  6. Chapter 3: Phonology 36
  7. Chapter 4: Prosody 57
  8. Chapter 5: Morphology 77
  9. Chapter 6: Syntax 102
  10. Chapter 7: Semantics and Lexicon 123
  11. Chapter 8: Idioms and Fixed Expressions 140
  12. Chapter 9: Pragmatics and Discourse 165
  13. Chapter 10: Onomastics 185
  14. Chapter 11: Orthography 200
  15. Chapter 12: Styles, Registers, Genres, Text Types 218
  16. Chapter 13: Standards in the History of English 238
  17. Index 253
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110525281-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. Abbreviations VII
  4. Chapter 1: Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 2: Periodization in the History of the English Language 8
  6. Chapter 3: Phonology 36
  7. Chapter 4: Prosody 57
  8. Chapter 5: Morphology 77
  9. Chapter 6: Syntax 102
  10. Chapter 7: Semantics and Lexicon 123
  11. Chapter 8: Idioms and Fixed Expressions 140
  12. Chapter 9: Pragmatics and Discourse 165
  13. Chapter 10: Onomastics 185
  14. Chapter 11: Orthography 200
  15. Chapter 12: Styles, Registers, Genres, Text Types 218
  16. Chapter 13: Standards in the History of English 238
  17. Index 253
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