Olga Fischer is Professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam, where her PhD thesis Syntactic Change and Causation: Developments in Infinitival Constructions in English was accepted in 1990. She is a contributor to the Cambridge History of the English Language (CUP 1992),co-author of The Syntax of Early English (CUP 2000), and co-editor ofForm Miming Meaning and Pathways of Change (Benjamins 2000 and 2001).

It is clear that this is a most welcome, challenging and insightful book,which is undoubtedly required reading for anyone interested in the processes of morphosyntactic change.

• PART I GENERAL ISSUES IN MORPHOSYNTACTIC CHANGE ; 1. What is 'Good Practice' in Historical Linguistics: Aims and Methods ; 2. Conflict and Reconciliation: Two Theories Compared ; 3. Principles, Mechanisms, and Causes of Change ; PART II CASE STUDIES ; 4. A Paradigm Case: The Story of the Modals (and other auxiliaries) ; 5. From Discourse to (morpho)syntax and Vice Versa: The Case of Clause-fusion ; 6. Subjectification, Scope, and Word Order ; 7. Towards a Usage-based Theory of Morphosyntactic Change: Summary and Conclusions ; References ; Index

Olga Fischer is Professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam, where her PhD thesis Syntactic Change and Causation: Developments in Infinitival Constructions in English was accepted in 1990. She is a contributor to the Cambridge History of the English Language (CUP 1992),co-author of The Syntax of Early English (CUP 2000), and co-editor ofForm Miming Meaning and Pathways of Change (Benjamins 2000 and 2001).

It is clear that this is a most welcome, challenging and insightful book,which is undoubtedly required reading for anyone interested in the processes of morphosyntactic change.

• PART I GENERAL ISSUES IN MORPHOSYNTACTIC CHANGE ; 1. What is 'Good Practice' in Historical Linguistics: Aims and Methods ; 2. Conflict and Reconciliation: Two Theories Compared ; 3. Principles, Mechanisms, and Causes of Change ; PART II CASE STUDIES ; 4. A Paradigm Case: The Story of the Modals (and other auxiliaries) ; 5. From Discourse to (morpho)syntax and Vice Versa: The Case of Clause-fusion ; 6. Subjectification, Scope, and Word Order ; 7. Towards a Usage-based Theory of Morphosyntactic Change: Summary and Conclusions ; References ; Index

Olga Fischer is Professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam, where her PhD thesis Syntactic Change and Causation: Developments in Infinitival Constructions in English was accepted in 1990. She is a contributor to the Cambridge History of the English Language (CUP 1992),co-author of The Syntax of Early English (CUP 2000), and co-editor ofForm Miming Meaning and Pathways of Change (Benjamins 2000 and 2001).

It is clear that this is a most welcome, challenging and insightful book,which is undoubtedly required reading for anyone interested in the processes of morphosyntactic change.

• PART I GENERAL ISSUES IN MORPHOSYNTACTIC CHANGE ; 1. What is 'Good Practice' in Historical Linguistics: Aims and Methods ; 2. Conflict and Reconciliation: Two Theories Compared ; 3. Principles, Mechanisms, and Causes of Change ; PART II CASE STUDIES ; 4. A Paradigm Case: The Story of the Modals (and other auxiliaries) ; 5. From Discourse to (morpho)syntax and Vice Versa: The Case of Clause-fusion ; 6. Subjectification, Scope, and Word Order ; 7. Towards a Usage-based Theory of Morphosyntactic Change: Summary and Conclusions ; References ; Index