Abstract
The chapter discusses morphological and syntactic change against the backdrop of different theoretical (formal vs. functional/usage-based) and methodological approaches (introspection vs. corpus data). Specifically, it addresses the question whether grammatical change happens suddenly in a catastrophic resetting of parameters or whether change happens in a more piecemeal, incremental fashion. The case studies that are used to illustrate syntactic demise, innovation and grammatical revival come from the area of mood (an inflectional category) and modality, notably the grammaticalisation of modal verbs. Semi-modals such as (had) better are discussed as examples of constructionalisation. Taken together, grammatical changes in mood and modality are ideally suited to exemplify more long-term typological developments in English from a synthetic to a largely analytic language.
Hundt, Marianne