Grammaticalization and Parametric Variation

In this outstanding collection of new work, the methods and theories of formal syntax are focussed on grammatical variation and change. The editors open the volume with an extensive and accessible introduction to the ideas and techniques deployed in the book and the phenomena and issues on which they are brought to bear. Seventeen chapters follow, divided into two parts, the first concerned with grammaticalization and the second with parametric variation. These show what the application of contemporary theories of syntax and language variation can reveal about syntactic change and variation and the processes of parametric change which lie behind them. They also demonstrate the value of testing and constructing synchronic theories on the basis of historical data. The analyses range over many languages and language families, including Germanic, Romance, Greek, and Chinese.

This book will interest scholars and students of grammatical change and theory at graduate level and above

Montserrat Batllori is Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Professor of Spanish Grammar in the Department of Philology and Philosophy, University of Girona. She received her Ph.D. in Spanish Philology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1996. She has published articles on Old Spanish syntax, Old Spanish derivational morphology, sound change--phonetics and phonology--and lexicography. She directs a funded research project on the computerization of Corominas and Pascual's etymological Dictionary.

Maria-Lluïsa Hernanz is Professor of Spanish Grammar at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She obtained her PhD in Romance Philology at the Universitat de Barcelona in 1978. Her main field of research is Spanish syntax. She has published several articles in Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica and Verba, among other journals. She has also published two books and has contributed to the Gramática Descriptiva de la Lengua Española, edited by I. Bosque and V. Demonte (1999).

Carme Picallo is Professor of Catalan Philology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She obtained her PhD in Linguistics at the City University of New York in 1985. Her research interests are in the fields of Theoretical Syntax and Morphology. She has published the results of her research in Linguistic Inquiry, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, The Journal of Linguistics and Syntax, among other journals.

Francesc Roca is Professor of Spanish Grammar at the Universitat de Girona. He obtained his PhD in Spanish Philology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1997. He has published articles on Spanish syntax and morphology, and on Basque morphology and phonology. His current work focuses on the syntax, semantics and morphology of nominal structures in Spanish and his general research interests are in the fields of Theoretical syntax and Comparative linguistics.