Description
Syntactic Change in Late Modern English provides a comprehensive analysis of how English syntax has transformed over the past three centuries. Erik Smitterberg investigates two seemingly contradictory trends: colloquialization, the shift toward more informal and conversational language patterns, and densification, the increasing complexity and compression of syntactic structures.
Through detailed linguistic analysis and corpus-based evidence, the book demonstrates how these changes reflect broader social and cultural shifts in English-speaking societies. Smitterberg explores the mechanisms driving syntactic innovation, examining both written and spoken data to illuminate patterns of language change. The work contributes significantly to our understanding of how modern English continues to evolve, offering insights into the interplay between formal and informal registers, technological change, and social communication practices that shape contemporary language use.
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