Scholars from North America and Europe address a broad spectrum of research topics in historical English linguistics, including new theories/methods such as Optimality Theory and corpus linguistics, and traditional fields such as phonology and syntax.

Section 1: Linguistics and philology Introduction: Linguistics and philology Anne Curzan and Kimberly Emmons Philology, linguistics, and the history of [hw]~[w] Donka Minkova An essay in historical sociolinguistics?: On Donka Minkova's "Philology, linguistics, and the history of [hw]~[w]" i>Lesley Milroy A brief response Donka Minkova Why we should not believe in short diphthongs David L. White Extended forms (Streckformen) in English Anatoly Liberman Linguistic change in words one owns: How trademarks become "generic" Ronald R. Butters and Jennifer Westerhaus Section 2: Corpus- and text-based studies Introduction: Corpus- and text-based studies Anne Curzan and Kimberly Emmons The meanings and uses of the progressive construction in an early eighteenth-century English network Susan M. Fitzmaurice Investigating the expressive progressive: On Susan Fitzmaurice's "The meanings and uses of the progressive construction in an early eighteenth-century English network" Erik Smitterberg A brief response Susan M. Fitzmaurice Modal use across registers and time Douglas Biber The need for good texts: The case of Henry Machyn's Day Book, 1550-1563 Richard W. Bailey The perils of firsts: Dating Rawlinson MS Poet. 108 and tracing the development of monolingual English lexicons Ian Lancashire Section 3: Constraint-based studies Introduction: Constraint-based studies Anne Curzan and Kimberly Emmons The evolution of Middle English alliterative meter Geoffrey Russom Old English poetry and the alliterative revival: On Geoffrey Russom's "The evolution of Middle English alliterative meter" Robert D. Fulk A brief response Geoffrey Russom A central metrical prototype for English iambic tetrameter verse: Evidence from Chaucer's octosyllabic lines Xingzhong Li Early English clause structure change in a stochastic optimality theory setting Brady Z. Clark The role of perceptual contrast in Verner's Law Olga Petrova Section 4: Dialectology Introduction: Dialectology Anne Curzan and Kimberly Emmons Historical perspectives on the pen/pin merger in Southern American English Michael Montgomery and Connie Eble Digging up the roots of Southern American English: On Michael Montgomery and Connie Eble's "Historical perspectives on the pen/pin merger in Southern American English" Guy Bailey A brief response Michael Montgomery and Connie Eble Vowel merger in west central Indiana: A naughty, knotty problem Betty S. Phillips The spread of negative contraction in early English Richard M. Hogg