This important study of semantic change examines the various ways in which new meanings arise through language use.

List of figures; Preface and acknowledgements; Conventions; List of abbreviations; 1. The framework; 2. Prior and current work on semantic change; 3. The development of modal verbs; 4. The development of adverbials with discourse marker function; 5. The development of performative verbs and constructions; 6. The development of social deictics; 7. Conclusion; Primary references; Secondary references; Index of languages; Index of names; Index of subjects.

Elizabeth Closs Traugott is Professor of Linguistics and English at Stanford University. Her previous books include A History of English Syntax (1972), Linguistics for Students of Literature (with Mary L. Pratt, 1980) and Grammaticalization (with Paul J. Hopper, Cambridge, 1993).