The purpose of this volume is to stir discussion and stimulate comments which may eventually result in Natural Linguistics re-asserting itself more widely in the present-day arena of linguistic frameworks. A global future challenge for Natural Linguistics is to demonstrate its epistemological potential to new audiences in a convincing and informative manner. It is hoped that this volume may serve two functions: to unite natural linguists in their research and to encourage others to become involved in a Natural Linguistic framework.Among the thirteen papers constituting the volume, the reader will find contributions to phonology, phonetics, morphology, and text, as well as reference to such areas of external evidence as first language acquisition, language change, phonostylistics, dialectal variation, psycholinguistics, speech pathology and evolution. Considered issues include: functional explanation and dysfunctions, markedness and complexity, phonological categoriality and phonetic gradience, semiotic underpinnings of linguistic explanations, the uses and meanings of naturalness, morphological productivity, typological vs. language-specific nature of morphological priming, criteria for nativization of loanwords, and development of compositionality in the phylogenesis of language.CONTENTS:Katarzyna: Dziubalska-Kolaczyk and Jaroslaw Weckwerth PrefaceAntonio Bertacca: Description and explanation of language changeDagmar Bittner: Emergence of grammatical complexity and markedness in the acquisition of verb and noun phrases in GermanPatricia Jane Donegan: Phonological processes and phonetic rulesWolfgang U. Dressler: Naturalness and functionalismKatarzyna Dziubalska-Kolaczyk: Challenges for Natural Linguistics in the 21st century: A personal viewLivio Gaeta: Growth of symbols: The inexorable fate of diagramsNatalia Gagarina: Productivity of the verbal inflectional classes (The case of Russian)Theodor Granser and Sylvia Moosm=FCller: Phonemic schwa - a challenge for Natural Phonology? The case of AlbanianGonia Jarema, Gary Libben, Wolfgang U. Dressler and Eva Kehayia: The role of typological variation in the processing of interfixed compoundsLavinia Merlini Barbaresi: Markedness and text complexityElke Ronneberger-Sibold: On the phonostylistic function of prototypical nonnative sound shapes in contemporary German: Evidence from the history of brand namesSárka Simá è ková: Retracted pronunciation of the Czech alveolar trill:Why phonologists need phonetic labsJaroslaw Weckwerth: From jaw oscillation to phonological compositionality: A scenario