ABSTRACT
All of linguistic theory is concerned with the enterprise of elucidating the nature of the grammar of human languages. But along with asking the question “What is the nature of grammar?,” we can also ask “How do languages acquire grammar?.” In the last 20 years, researchers interested in the latter question have elaborated a theory of grammaticalization, the process by which grammar is created, and in doing so have also come up with some interesting new perspectives on the former question. 1 Four main findings of this research are listed here:
