A methodology for syntactic reconstruction
George Walkden · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2014
Abstract This chapter lays out a framework for the reconstruction of syntax. Section 2.2 is dedicated to the question of syntactic variation: it defends an implementation of Principles & Parameters theory against the criticisms of Newmeyer (2004). Section 2.3 addresses the question of syntactic change, arguing that it is desirable to reduce ‘language’ to individual grammars as assumed within the generative tradition, and that the task of diachronic linguistics then becomes to investigate the historical relationships between these grammars, mediated by transmission and acquisition. In section 2.4 an attempt is made to draw parallels between lexical-phonological and syntactic reconstruction, and, where these fail, to work around them as far as possible.