Why do grammars change? The cycle of negation proposed by Jespersen is crucially linked to the
status of items and phrases. The definition of criteria establishing when a polarity item
becomes a negative element and the identification of the role of phrases for the evolution of
negation are the two objectives pursued by the contributions to this volume. The contributions
look at the emergence of negative items and their relation within a given sentence with
particular reference to English and French. The comparative perspective supports the
documentation of the fine-grained steps that shed light on the factors that (i) determine
change and those that (ii) accompany actuation which are considered through a dialogue between
functionalist and formalist approaches. By looking at the place of negation in the architecture
of the sentence they take up the debate as to the relevance of phrasal projections and
consider the role of features. Focusing on the make-up of individual items makes it possible to
re-conceptualise the Jespersen cycle as the apparent result of the documented evolution
patterns of individual (series of) items. This novel perspective is solidly grounded on an
extensive use of the complete up to date bibliography and will contribute to shape future
research.
