This introductory article discusses the theme of this volume, which is about grammaticalisation. It explains that grammaticalisation is considered a young sub-field of linguistics because the term was coined only in 1912 by Antoine Meillet and provides background information on modern studies in grammaticalisation which began in the early 1970s. This volume analyses grammaticalisation in relation to linguistic theory and discusses the domains of grammaticalisation. It also explores the grammaticalisation of form classes and categories and describes the different faces of grammaticalisation...

This introductory article discusses the theme of this volume, which is about grammaticalisation. It explains that grammaticalisation is considered a young sub-field of linguistics because the term was coined only in 1912 by Antoine Meillet and provides background information on modern studies in grammaticalisation which began in the early 1970s. This volume analyses grammaticalisation in relation to linguistic theory and discusses the domains of grammaticalisation. It also explores the grammaticalisation of form classes and categories and describes the different faces of grammaticalisation across languages.