ABSTRACT
For a long time, historical linguistics concentrated mostly on phonological and morphological changes (as we discussed in Chapters 4 and 5). Historical grammar, more particularly syntax and syntactic theory, was a relatively neglected area. However, from the late 1960s onwards, together with the growth of inuential general theories of syntax have also come studies in the historical principles and processes governing syntactic change. Indeed, research in this area has become extensive and now encompasses a wide range of very dierent frameworks, including Chomskyan linguistics and “universal grammar” (e.g. Lightfoot 1998; Crisma and Longobardi 2009), typology (Miller 2010; Ledgeway 2012), construction grammar (Traugott and Trousdale 2014; Barðdal et al. 2015) and grammaticalization theory (Fischer et al. 2000; Hopper and Traugott 2003). is chapter focuses on two theoretical perspectives of grammatical change: namely the typological perspective and grammaticalization.
