The integration of traditional and modern linguistics as well as diachrony and synchrony is the hallmark of an influential trend in contemporary research on language. It is documented in the present collection of 21 new papers on the history and structure of the sounds and other (sub-) systems of human languages, sharing the common reference point of Theo Vennemann, a leading figure in the above-mentioned trend, whom the authors want to honor with thisFestschrift.Topics covered in the sound section of the historical part include, among others, regular sound change and lexical diffusion, open syllable lengthening in New High German, orthographic accentuation and syllable cut in English, preglottalization as ongoing change, and Old English breaking; among the topics of the general section of the diachronic part are the relation between inheritance and language contact in the history of English, connections of Celtic with Basque on one hand and with Latin on the other, and early European toponomy. The contributions to the synchronic part deal, among others, with cyclical phonological rules and base-identity, the universality of the meter of nursery rhymes, off-rhymes, the theories of Syllabic Oscillation and of ProsodicMorphology, iconicity in the coding of imperatives, accentuation ofGerman compounds, German orthography, classification and nominals in aPapuan language, an intriguing case of polysemy and polyvalency, and anOptimality-Theoretic account of vagueness and economy in lexical pragmatics.FROM THE CONTENTS:IntroductionDavid Restle and Dietmar ZaeffererI. Historical studies on sounds, words, and systemsA. Sound changePreglottalization in English and a North Germanic bifurcation Henning AndersenZur neuhochdeutschen Dehnung in offener Tonsilbe Thomas BeckerLexical diffusion in regular sound change Joan BybeeUnveiling a masked change: behind vowel harmony in the dialect of Claro Michele LoporcaroAccents and medieval English phonologists Robert W. MurrayRetraction and rounding in Old English breaking Robert P. StockwellB. Language changeLatin ipse, Continental Celtic -xsi: a tentative proposal Philip BaldiDer Name al-Andalus: neue Überlegungen zu einem alten Problem Georg BossongFein gehackte Pinienkerne zugeben! Zum Infinitiv in Kochrezepten Elvira GlaserLanguage change in early Britain: the convergence account Raymond HickeyIrish ainder, Welsh anner, Breton annoar, Basque andere Peter SchrijverII. Synchronic studies on sounds, words, and uses.Cyclicity and base non-identity Larry M. HymanThe meter of nursery rhymes: universal versus language-specific patterns, Patrizia Noel Aziz Hanna, Katrin Lindner, and Andreas DufterUnreine Reime und phonologische Theorie Beatrice PrimusChoctaw intensives and syllable theory David RestleImperatives: the relation between meaning and form Renate RaffelsiefenStruktur und Akzent komplexer Komposita Peter EisenbergWarum wir zusammenschreiben nicht immer zusammenschreiben -Präferenzgesetze im Schriftsystem Joachim JacobsNoun classification and composition in Kilmeri Claudia Gerstner-LinkThe puzzle of the autoantonymous argument role. Unraveling the polysemy of risk/riskieren Dietmar ZaeffererBe brief and vague! And how Bidirectional Optimality Theory allows for verbosity and precision Manfred KrifkaPublications of Theo VennemannTabula GratulatoriaIndex