Staff Profile

Research Interests

The history of English, diachronic syntax, grammaticalisation, tense-mood-aspect systems.

Current Work

The syntax of NO in early Modern English; anaphoric NPs in early Modern English; adjective-plus-infinitive constructions in late Modern English; reverse reanalysis as a mechanism of language change.

Postgraduate Supervision

See the above areas.

Various modules on the history of English and language change; lexical innovation in present-day English; Bengali linguistics.

• Articles

  • Corrigan KP, Montgomery C. Special issue on sense of place in the history of English. English Language and Linguistics 2015, 19(2), 203-211.
  • Wallage P, van der Wurff W. On saying 'yes' in early Anglo-Saxon England. Anglo-Saxon England 2013, 42, 183-215.
  • Mackenzie IE, van der Wurff W. Relic syntax in Middle English and Medieval Spanish: Parameter interaction in language change. Language 2012, 88(4), 846-876.
  • Taylor A, van der Wurff W. Special issue on Aspects of OV and VO Order in the History of English. English Language and Linguistics 2005, 9(1), 1-4.
  • Moerenhout M, van der Wurff W. Object-verb order in early sixteenth-century English prose: An exploratory study. English Language and Linguistics 2005, 9(1), 83-114.
  • Los B, van der Wurff W. The English Language: Morphology and Syntax. The Year's Work in English Studies 2004, 83(1), 5-39.
  • van der Wurff WAM. Review of Bjørg Bækken (1998) Word Order Patterns in Early Modern English, with Special Reference to the Position of the Subject and the Finite Verb. Novus Press. Studies in Language 2001, 25(3), 685-691.
  • van Gent-Petter M, van der Wurff WAM. English Language: Morphology and Syntax. Year's Work in English Studies 2001, 80(1), 11-55.

• Authored Books

  • Fischer O, De Smet H, van der Wurff W. A Brief History of English Syntax. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
  • Nasrin MB, van der Wurff WAM. Colloquial Bengali. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009.

• Book Chapters

  • Vanderwurff W. From unit-and-tens to tens-unit: the role of retrieval and composition. In: Anne Bannink and Wim Honselaar, ed. From variation to iconicity: Festschrift for Olga Fischer on the occasion of her 65th birthday. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Pegasus, 2016, pp.453-467.
  • Tieken-Boon van Ostade I, van der Wurff W. Papers from 3LModE: An introduction. In: Tieken-Boon van Ostade, I., van der Wurff, W, ed. Current Issues in Late Modern English. Bern: Peter Lang, 2009, pp.9-31.
  • Los B, van der Wurff W. The Year’s Work in English Studies 2004, The English Language: Morphology and Syntax. In: Baker, W; Womack, K, ed. The Year's Work in English Studies 85, Covering Work Published in 2004. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp.20-40.
  • Fischer OCM, van der Wurff W. Syntax. In: Hogg, R., Denison, D, ed. A History of the English Language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp.109-198.
  • Los B, van der Wurff W. The Year’s Work in English Studies 2003, The English Language: Morphology and Syntax. In: Baker, W.; Womack, K, ed. The Year's Work in English Studies 84, Covering Work Published in 2003. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp.23-50.
  • van der Wurff W. The role of register in a theory of contact-induced change. In: Fisiak, J., Kang, H.-K, ed. Recent Trends in Medieval English Language and Literature in Honour of Young-Bae Park. Seoul: Thaehaksa, 2005, pp.1-36.
  • van der Wurff W. Jespersen and comparative syntax: The case of negated and embedded imperatives. In: Lee, H.-M. Park, Y.-B, ed. Otto Jespersen: Festschrift for the 80th Birthday of Professor Sung-Sik Cho. Seoul, North Korea: Hankook Munhwasa, 2004, pp.572-614.
  • Los B, van der Wurff W. The Year’s Work in English Studies 2001, The English Language: Morphology and Syntax. In: Baker, W; Womack, K, ed. The Year's Work in English Studies 82, Covering Work Published in 2001. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.10-47.
  • Los B, van der Wurff W. The Year’s Work in English Studies 2000, The English Language: Morphology and Syntax. In: Baker, W.; Womack, K, ed. The Year's Work in English Studies 81, Covering Work Published in 2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.8-58.
  • van der Wurff W. The word WITHAL: Some remarks on its historical development. In: Fisiak, J, ed. Studies in English Historical Linguistics and Philology. Bern: Peter Lang, 2002, pp.469-487.
  • Beukema F, van der Wurff W. Modals, objects and negation in late Middle English. In: Barbiers, S., Beukema, F., van der Wurff, W, ed. Modality and its Interaction with the Verbal System. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins, 2002, pp.75-102.
  • van der Wurff W. Direct, indirect and other discourse in Bengali newspapers. In: Güldemann, T., von Roncador, M, ed. Reported Discourse: A Meeting Ground for Different Linguistic Domains. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2002, pp.121-139.
  • Güldemann T, von Roncador M, van der Wurff W. A comprehensive bibliography of reported discourse. In: Güldemann, T., von Roncador, M, ed. Reported Discourse: A Meeting Ground for Different Linguistic Domains. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub Co, 2002, pp.363-415.
  • O. Fischer and W. van der Wurff. The Year's Work in English Studies 1997, The English Language: Morphology and Syntax. In: Kitson. P.J, ed. The Year's Work in English Studies 78: The Year's Work 1997. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000, pp.7-67.

• Edited Books

  • Tieken-Boon van Ostade I, van der Wurff W, ed. Current Issues in Late Modern English. Bern: Peter Lang, 2009.
  • van der Wurff W, ed. Imperative Clauses in Generative Grammar : Studies in honour of Frits Beukema. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2007.
  • Barbiers S, Beukema F, van der Wurff W, ed. Modality and its Interaction with the Verbal System. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2002.

• Note

  • Wallage P, Vanderwurff W. On Saying "Yes" in Cotton Vitellius C v: A Case of Final Vowel Elision in Old English?. Old English Newsletter 2014, 45(1).

• Report

  • van der Wurff W. DO NOTHING BUT + V: From parallel form to bare infinitive. York, UK: University of York, 2006. Papers in Linguistics (Series 2).

• Review

  • Elenbaas M, van der Wurff W. [Book review] van Gelderen, E., (ed.) 'A History of English Reflexive Pronouns: Person, Self, and Interpretability' Benjamins Publishers: 2000. Studies in Language 2003, 27(2), 448-456.