This volume makes three fields interface that are rarely discussed in the same context. Its underlying theme is linguistic variation, and the ways in which historical linguists and dialectologists may learn from insights offered by typology, and vice versa. The aim of the contributions is to raise the awareness of these linguistic subdisciplines of each other and to encourage their cross-fertilization to their mutual benefit.

If linguistic typology is to unify the study of all types of linguistic variation, this variation, both diatopic and diachronic, will enrich typological research itself. With the aim of capturing the relevant dimensions of variation, the studies in this volume make use of new methodologies, including electronic corpora and databases, which enable cross- and intralinguistic comparisons dialectally and across time. Based on original research and unified by an innovative theme, the volume will be of interest to both students and teachers of linguistics and Germanic languages.

Table of contents

Part I: Typology and grammaticalization 'Triangulation' of diachrony, dialectology and typology: An overview Terttu Nevalainen, Juhani Klemola and Mikko Laitinen 3–19 Bi-directional vs. uni-directional asymmetries in the encoding of semantic distinctions in free and bound person forms Anna Siewierska and Dik Bakker 21–50 Part II: Diachrony and typology Historical morphology from a typological point of view: Examples from English Dieter Kastovsky 53–80 Typology and comparative linguistics: Jakobson revisited Konstantin G. Krasukhin 81–97 Primary adjectives in English and German: Variation and change in diachrony and typology Thomas Schöneborn 99–120 The concessive connective albeit: A diachronic corpus-based study Elina Sorva 121–148 Possessives and determiners in Old English Cynthia L. Allen 149–170 Analytic of the samyn or synthetic its? The use of neuter possessives in Older Scots texts Joanna Bugaj 171–201 Expressing human indefiniteness in English: Typology and markedness of pronouns Mikko Laitinen 203–239 Part III: Dialectology and typology Dialect and typology: Where they meet — and where they don't Werner Abraham 243–267 Somerset relativizers revisited Kirsti Peitsara 269–280 Resilient or yielding? Features of Irish English syntax and aspect in early Australia Clemens Fritz 281–301 Part IV: Dialectology, typology and diachrony Negative indefinites: A typological and diachronic perspective on a Brabantic construction Johan Van der Auwera, Ludovic de Cuypere and Annemie Neuckermans 305–319 The relatives who and what in northern East Anglia Patricia Poussa 321–350 Vernacular universals? The case of plural was in Early Modern English Terttu Nevalainen 351–369 Indexes 371–378

"Much as in social science overall, compartmentalization in linguistics is increasingly giving way to integrated, interdisciplinary approaches.... The volume editors are to be commended for having pursued this exciting new line of linguistic research and for having compiled a volume which is no doubt soon going to be recognized as a milestone publication for the ­ still nascent ­ integrated, or dynamic, approach to the study of language variation." Professor Bernd Kortmann, University of Freiburg