Part of
In Search of Universal Grammar: From Old Norse to ZoqueEdited by Terje Lohndal
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 202] 2013
► pp. 259–274
Working on syntax through time requires good synchronic analyses of the initial and later I-languages. However, seeking to explain a change enables historical linguists sometimes to link the new I-language with particular features of the external language to which the innovating children were exposed. This enriches understanding of some of the idealizations of synchronic syntax, particularly the relationship between particular Primary Linguistic Data and the grammars triggered.