A multifactorial approach to word order change

An introduction

Abstract

The purpose of  this piece is to articulate a multifactorical approach to syntactic change. Arguments are proposed against a monocausal view of word order variation and evolution, especially given the diversity of change pathways across languages. Change is best explained as the result of the dependence of a phenomenon on various micro-cues that help structure and acquire it. When these micro-cues change for independent reasons, so does the phenomenon concerned. Summarizing the main causalities identified in the papers from this Special Collection on the loss of V2 and of OV, we formulate the wish that such an approach be put to the test in future investigations.