In Search of Universal Grammar -- Editorial page -- Title page -- LCC data -- Table of contents -- Introduction -- 1. From Old Norse to Zoque -- 2. Outline of the chapters -- Acknowledgments -- Scandinavian -- On the syntax of the accusative/dative alternation in spatial PPs in Norwegian dative dialects -- 1. Introduction -- 2. A syntactic difference -- 3. Articulating the analysis -- 4. The structure of spatial PPs -- 5. A potential problem: Directional dative? -- 6. Alternating prepositions in presentational structures -- 7. Conclusion -- References -- Spurious topic drop in Swedish -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Topic drop -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Parallel movement -- 2.3 Two Spec-CPs in Swedish -- 2.4. Proposal -- 3. Initial locative and invisible subject in Swedish -- 4. The Engdahl observation -- 5. Clause anticipating pronoun -- 6. Quantifier scope and expletives -- 7. Split topicalization -- 8. Additional cases with spurious topic drop -- 8.1 Relative clauses -- 8.2 Subject initial main clauses -- 9. Summary and conclusion -- References -- Germanic sociolinguistics -- "The voice from below -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Historical background -- 3. Background for the 2011-proposal -- 4. The 2009 mandate -- 5. The committee and the process - "the voice from below" -- 6. Responses to the proposal and the process -- 7. Conclusion -- References -- Gender maintenance and loss in Totenmålet, English, and other major Germanic varieties -- Totenmålet -- Bergen -- Copenhagen -- Afrikaans -- Dutch/Flemish -- High German -- Frisian and low German -- Relief from puzzlement? -- Contact and simplification -- Contact and language shift -- Contact and geographical diffusion -- English -- Totenmålet again -- References -- French -- Non-finite adjuncts in French -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Ant-forms in French -- 3. One or two forms? -- 3.1 The two proposals.

4. The inner structure of the participle constructions -- 5. Conclusions -- References -- Topics and the left periphery -- 1. Introduction -- 2. V2 and the split CP -- 3. The left periphery of Old French -- 3.1 A V2 language -- 3.2 Several elements in front of the finite verb -- 3.3 FocusP and the position of the wh-word -- 3.4 Remnant movement and the finite verb -- 3.5 The topics -- 3.6 Scene Setting -- 3.7 Interim summary -- 4. The left periphery of Modern Germanic -- 4.1 Left dislocation -- 4.2 Hanging Topics -- 4.3 Verb movement to Fin° -- 4.4 Fronted elements and the si/så construction -- 5. The Topics -- 5.1 Occupying ForceP? -- 5.2 Moved or base-generated? -- 5.3 The informational value of the fronted element -- 6. Conclusion -- Appendix: Cited texts -- References -- Language change -- The developmental logic of the analytic past in German and Polish -- 1. What's new: The emergence of a novel analytic past tense in Polish? -- 2. The logic of emergence of the analytic past: German -- 3. Signs of a newly emerging analytic past in spoken Polish -- 4. Grammaticalizing into the new analytic active past in Modern Polish -- 5. Signals testifying to the new development of analytic tensing -- 6. Conclusion - summary -- References -- The diachrony of pronouns and demonstratives -- 1. Demonstratives and pronouns as DPs -- 2. Old English to Middle and to Modern English -- 2.1 Old English -- 2.2 Late old and early Middle English -- 2.3 Middle and Modern English -- 3. Pronominal variation: Dutch and Scandinavian -- 4. Conclusion -- Abbreviations -- References -- Editions -- Lesser-studied languages -- Origins of metathesis in Batsbi -- 1. Basic verb morphology in Batsbi -- 2. Description of metathesis in Batsbi -- 3. On the origins of metathesis in transitive verbs -- 4. The place of Batsbi o-metathesis in the Blevins & Garrett typology -- 5. Conclusion.

References -- Indefinitely definite expressions -- Definiteness -- Article deprivation -- Definiteness spreading -- Pragmatic tests for non-definiteness and non-indefiniteness -- Indefinite definiteness of English genitive possessives -- Conclusion -- References -- Language acquisition -- Doing diachrony -- Explaining change through acquisition -- Models of acquisition -- First case study -- Second case study -- Variation -- Identifying triggers -- Postscript: Limits -- References -- Partially parsed corpora -- The acquisition of linguistic variation -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Background -- 2.1 Traditional generative work -- 2.2 Constructivist work -- 3. Variation in the input -- 3.1 Variation in parameters -- 3.2 Word order variation not due to a parameter -- 4. A model of micro-cues -- 4.1 Conservative learning -- 4.2 Cue-based acquisition and change -- 4.3 Micro-cues -- 5. Summary/conclusion -- References -- Language evolution -- The evolution of language -- Introduction -- The role of natural selection -- The paradox of continuity -- Language and brain size in humans -- Language as verbal grooming -- Words from gestures -- Theory of mind, recursion, and the faculty of language -- The search for language genes -- Could Neanderthals speak? -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Language as technology -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Do languages really qualify as technology? -- 3. How did the linguistic technology emerge phylogenetically? -- 3.1 The transition from vocalizations to phonetic utterances -- 3.2 The complexification of spoken language -- 4. Conclusions -- References -- Index.