Newcastle University

Research Interests

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

Other Expertise

Second language acquisition; academic writing; English in Europe

Current Work

Language change and constructions; reverse reanalysis as a mechanism of language change; negative and other imperatives; the change from object-verb to verb-object order in the history of English; 19th-century English grammar; introduction to Bengali

Postgraduate Supervision

I welcome applications from suitably-qualified students who are interested in postgraduate work in the following fields :
a) the history of the English language;
b) general processes of language change;
c) the interaction between formal and functional factors in language variation;
d) phenomena relating to tense, mood/modality and aspect;
e) Bengali linguistics.

Esteem Indicators

Secretary-treasurer of the Netherlands Society for English Studies (2000-2003)
Member of the Board of the Netherlands Society for English Studies (2003-2006)
Secretary-treasurer of the Bangladesh Institute, the Netherlands (1992- )
Fellow of English Association (elected 2003)
Member of editorial board of the journal English Language and Linguistics (CUP; 2007- )

Refereeing work for the journals English Language and Linguistics, Journal of Linguistics, Diachronica, Transactions of the Philological Society, Neophilologus, and for volumes published by Cambridge University Press, Benjamins, Mouton de Gruyter.

External PhD examining at University of York, Radboud University Nijmegen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Undergraduate Teaching

SEL 1012 Introduction to English Historical Linguistics
SEL 3007 English in the Nineteenth Century
SEL 3008 Early Modern English
SEL 3025 New Words in English

• van der Wurff W, ed. Imperative Clauses in Generative Grammar : Studies in honour of Frits Beukema. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2007.
• 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.
• 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.
• Barbiers S, Beukema F, van der Wurff W, ed. Modality and its Interaction with the Verbal System. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2002.
• 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).
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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. 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 English Language: Morphology and Syntax. The Year's Work in English Studies 2004, 83(1), 5-39.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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. 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• Cheong Leung A, van der Wurff W. Language function and language change - a principle and a case study. 2012. In Preparation.
• MacKenzie I, van der Wurff W. Relic structures in syntax: word order changes in English and Latin /Romance. 2012. In Preparation.