Gradualness in language change

This chapter considers the constructional changes which may both precede and follow the establishment of a new construction in a language, building on work that has been carried out in grammaticalization, lexicalization and degrammaticalization. It also considers the relationship between abrupt reanalysis and perceptions of gradualness in change, particularly in terms of the intersection of diachronic gradualness and synchronic gradience. In attending to the nature of particular constructional changes, the objective of the chapter is to show some of the ways in which gradual change and abrupt neoanalysis can be brought together in a coherent way.

• Affiliations: 1: University of Edinburgh