comparative synchronic and diachronic syntax has become an increasingly popular and fruitful research area over the past 10-15 years. in the present volume, which complements studies in comparative germanic syntax, contributors examine topics such as case marking, the typology of pronouns and anaphors, agreement, verb movement, verb morphology, object shift (object movement) and scrambling, using data drawn from numerous germanic languages, past and present, as well as non-germanic languages. the papers also investigate topics not central to studies in comparative germanic syntax, such as clitics, the functional structure of older germanic languages, the nature of tense, prepositional case marking, and germanic verb-second phenomena. perhaps one of the main differences is that the present volume reflects a more prominent role for historical and diachronic syntax. in addition, many of the papers in the present volume are heavily influenced by the recent introduction of the minimalist program which post-dates the original studies in comparative germanic syntax.