The idea of the course is to read together a number of Old and Middle English texts and take note of the variation to be found in morpho-syntactic constructions/structure especially with regard to word order. We will discuss our findings in the light of the patterns, constraints and principles that have been distinguished or established in the various theoretical frameworks such as generative and discourse models and the various explanations for the developments given there.
Useful background reading providing an overview of the morphosyntactic changes taking place in the history of English will be Chapter 3 (and part of Chapter 2) in R. Hogg and D. Denison, eds. (2006), A History of the English Language. CUP.
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