The interaction between syntax, information structure, and prosody in word order change.

The primary concern of this chapter is to explore the role of information structure, syntax and prosody in explaining word order variation and change in the history of English. An important feature of this approach is that it embeds changes in English in a wider picture of parallel or diverging development in Germanic. Given that Old English and Old High German show similar word order variations, but later diverge in different directions, the major word order changes in English, namely the loss of OV-orders and the loss of V2 in (non-negative) declarative clauses will be compared to and contrasted with the generalization of V2 and the loss of VO-orders in the history of German.