Futures of the past : The diachrony of future constructions across languages

Thinking of and talking about future events is a crucial part of our everyday lives. Thus, it is not surprising that in the languages of the world, a variety of markers for future time reference has developed. The goal of this volume is to take a contrastive perspective on the evolution of future constructions by bringing together scholars working on different languages and language families. In doing so, the edited volume opens up new perspectives on long-standing questions regarding the diachronic development of future constructions across languages, with implications not only for research on tense-aspect-mood systems but also for research on grammaticalization and language change more generally.