Fischer Olga et al. The Syntax of Early English

Cambridge University Press, 2004. — 341 pages. — ISBN: 0-511-03810-0.The model of syntactic theory adopted in this book is the one known as the Principles and Parameters framework. This has important consequences for the way in which historical change were viewed. In the Principles and Parameters
framework, the focus of investigation is the grammar internalized by the native speaker rather than the language output. Consequently, throughout the book a distinction between language change and grammar change is made.Language change and grammar change
An outline of Old English syntax
An outline of Middle English syntax
The Verb-Second constraint and its loss
The loss of object–verb word order
Verb–particles in Old and Middle English
Changes in infinitival constructions
The history of the ‘easy-to-please’ construction
Grammaticalization and grammar change