Abstract
This study looks at the syntactic diversity of Austroasiatic languages and seeks possible explanations for the development of this diversity. With historical data available only for a small number of languages of the family, the evidence points to two main factors triggering syntactic change, namely reanalysis and contact influence from neighboring languages. The insights gained from the languages with a recorded history of over a thousand years can be applied to other scenarios and help us understand the development of Austroasiatic languages with no historical data.
Jenny, Mathias