Abstract This paper focuses on two main issues regarding syntactic alternations and their development over time. On the one hand, it discusses the diachronic implications of alternations as involving multiple (rather than binary) choices. On the other hand, it shows that while studies are typically interested in the emergence of alternation relationships, there are also cases of diachronic loss of such. This is illustrated by zooming in on the history of a particular set of ditransitive verbs, viz. dispossession verbs such as steal or rob, and their connection to the well-known English dative alternation. Based on a quantitative analysis of different dispossession-constructions in corpora of Middle, Early Modern and Late Modern English, I demonstrate that the network of dispossession constructions has changed considerably over time — from a complex interaction between three overlapping patterns to a clear differentiation of two non-alternating constructions.

中文翻译：

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交替出现和消失：英语历史上的剥夺结构网络

摘要 本文重点关注关于句法交替及其随时间发展的两个主要问题。一方面，它讨论了交替的历时影响，因为它涉及多个（而不是二元）选择。另一方面，它表明虽然研究通常对交替关系的出现感兴趣，但也有这种历时性丧失的案例。这可以通过放大一组特定的双及物动词的历史来说明，即。剥夺动词，例如偷窃或抢劫，以及它们与著名的英语与格交替的联系。基于对中古、早期现代和晚期现代英语语料库中不同剥夺结构的定量分析，