Change: Comparative syntax and diachrony

This chapter reviews the role of the close study of comparative syntax in advancing our knowledge and understanding of the mechanisms, triggers and processes involved in syntactic change. While it is possible to infer significant insights and lessons about the nature of diachronic change from the study of successive synchronic stages of a single language, there is no doubt that the comparison of the historical development of two or more languages may offer broader empirical and deeper theoretical insights that are simply not available to language-specific investigations. This chapter therefore considers a number of representative examples which highlight the value and power of comparative linguistic investigation as a tool, not only for effectively probing linguistic reconstruction and linguistic relatedness, but above all for understanding the dimensions and limits of variation observed in how and why languages change through time and space.