Optional vs radical re-analysis:Mechanisms of syntactic change

Syntactic change and borrowing: The case of the accusative-and-infinitive construction in English

“…This trend was then reinforced by the external model provided by Latin so that what was merely optional became almost inevitable. In the words of Fischer -van der Leek (1981) the language learner will not only "choose the simplest possible grammar [which lies at the bottom of Lightfoot"s radical, necessary change], he will also tend to exhaust the possibilities offered to him".…”

On the position of adjectives in Middle English

“…eleven with strong adjectives, and eleven with weak ones. The possible reasons for these 'exceptions' were discussed (Fischer, 2000: '* In Fischer & van der Leek (1981). we showed too that Lighlfoot's (1979) hypothesis that quantifiers are adjectives in Old English and become a separate category only in Middle English does not hold true.…”

Let us have articles betwixt us: Papers in Historical and Comparative Linguistics in Honour of Johanna L. Wood

“…Lightfoot follows Carlson in proposing that items whose Present-day English refl exes are quantifi ers were indistinguishable from adjectives in their distribution in Old English (and hence termed 'pre-quantifi ers'). This is by no means uncontroversial, with Fischer & van der Leek (1981) presenting various evidence that the distributional similarities between the two sets of items are more limited, suggesting a categorial distinction already in Old English. Wood's (2007:171-182) argument in favour of distinct determiners (and hence DPs) on the basis of word-order asymmetries among prenominal elements in Old English also implies that quantifi ers represent a distinct syntactic category alongside determiners in the language.…”