英語史では様々な統語変化が生じてきた．研究上，特に注目されてきた統語変化が，Fischer and Wurff (111--13) の "The main syntactic changes" と題する表にまとめられている．統語変化の全体像をつかむべく，そして研究課題探しの参照用に，表を再現しておきたい．

Changes in:	Old English	Middle English	Modern English
case form and function:
genitive	genitive case only, various functions	genitive case for subjective/poss. of-phrase elsewhere	same
determiners:
system	articles present in embryo-form, system developing	articles used for presentational and referential functions	also in use in predicative and generic contexts
double det.	present	rare	absent
quantifiers:
position of	relatively free	more restricted	fairly fixed
adjectives:
position	both pre- and postnominal	mainly prenominal	prenominal with some lexical exceptions
form/function	strong/weak forms, functionally distinct	remnants of strong/weak forms; not functional	one form only
as head	fully operative	reduced; introduction of one	restricted to generic reference/idiomatic
?stacking' of adjectival or relative clause	relative: se, se þe, þe, zero subject rel.	introd.: þæt, wh-relative (exc. who), zero obj. rel.	who relative introduced
adj. + to-inf.	only active infinitives	active and passive inf.	mainly active inf.
aspect-system:
use of perfect	embryonic	more frequent; in competition with 'past'	perfect and 'past' grammaticalised in different functions
form of perfect	be/have (past part. sometimes declined)	be/have; have becomes more frequent	mainly have
use and form of progressive	be + -ende; no clear function	be + -ing, infrequent, more aspectual	frequent, grammaticalising
tense system:
'present'	used for present tense, progressive, future	used for present tense and progr.; (future tense develops)	becomes restricted to 'timeless' and 'reporting' uses
'past'	used for past tense, (plu)perfect, past progr.	still used also for past progr. and perfect; new: modal past	restricted in function by grammaticalisation of perfect and progr.
mood system:
expressed by	subjunctive, modal verbs (epistemic advbs)	mainly modal verbs (+ develop. quasi-modals); modal past tense	same + development of new modal expressions
category of core modals	verbs (with exception features)	verbs (with exception features)	auxiliaries (with verbal features)
voice system:
passive form	beon/weorðan + (infl.) past part.	be + uninfl. past part	same; new GET passive
indirect pass.	absent	developing	(fully) present
prep. pass.	absent	developing	(fully) present
pass. infin.	only after modal verbs	after full verbs, with some nouns and adject.	same
negative system:	ne + verb (other negator)	(ne) + verb + not; not + verb	Aux + not + verb; (verb + not)
interrog. system:	inversion: VS	inversion: VS	Aux SV
DO as operator	absent	infrequent, not grammaticalised	becoming fully grammaticalised
subject:
position filled	some pro-drop possible; dummy subjects not compulsory	pro-drop rare; dummy subjects become the norm	pro-drop highly marked stylistically; dummy subj. obligat.
clauses	absent	that-clauses and infinitival clauses	new: for NP to V clauses
subjectless/impersonal constructions	common	subject position becomes obligatorily filled	extinct (some lexicalised expressions)
position with respect to V	both S(. . .)V and VS	S(. . .)V; VS becomes restricted to yes/no quest.	only S(adv)V; VS > Aux SV
object:
clauses	mainly finite þæt-cl., also zero/to-infinitive	stark increase in infinitival cl.	introduction of a.c.i. and for NP to V cl.
position with respect to V	VO and OV	VO; OV becomes restricted	VO everywhere
position IO-DO	both orders; pronominal IO-DO preferred	nominal IO-DO the norm, introduction of DO for, to IO	IO/DO with full NPs; pronominal DO/IO predominates
clitic pronouns:	syntactic clitics	clitics disappearing	clitics absent
adverbs:
position	fairly free	more restricted	further restricted
clauses	use of correlatives + different word orders	distinct conjunctions; word order mainly SVO	all word order SVO (exc. some conditional clauses)
phrasal verbs:	position of particle: both pre- and postverbal	great increase; position: postverbal	same
preposition stranding	only with pronouns (incl R-pronouns: þær etc.) and relative þe	no longer with pronouns, but new with prep. passives, interrog. and other relative clauses	no longer after R-pronouns (there etc.) except in fixed expressions

　・ Fischer, Olga and Wim van der Wurff. "Syntax." Chapter 3 of A History of the English Language. Ed. Richard Hogg and David Denison. Cambridge: CUP, 2006. 109--98.

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