Nonfinite Structures in Theory and Change

This title seeks to answer the questions: why do grammars change, and why is the rate of such change so variable? A principal focus is on changes in English between the Anglo-Saxon and early modern periods. The author frames his analysis in a comparative framework with extended discussions of language change in a wide range of other Indo-European languages. He deploys Chomsky's minimalist framework in a fruitful marriage of comparative and theoretical linguistics within an argument that will be accessible to practitioners in both fields.

Review:

... strongly recommend[ed] to linguistics working on subject-case licensing and finiteness as well as to those interested in historical syntactic change in finite/non-finite constructions. Linguist List This book presents a thorough, interesting, and informative work from a novel perspective. It presents an encompassing study of nonfinite structures. Linguist List The book is an invaluable contribution to both syntactic theoreticians and historical linguists. Linguist List