This volume presents nine contributions to the study of changes in the verbal system of French and Spanish as well as of Indian, Semitic and Slavic languages. Following new trends in the study of language development, language change is described as processes of grammaticalisation, reanalysis and actualisation. The onset of language change is described as being pragmatically conditioned, at the service of felicitous communication between speaker and listener. This process is further seen as closely interacting with socio-cultural factors as well as drift and language typology.

This volume consists of articles on imagery in the poetry of various literary canons. Focussing on figurative speech, the authors analyse poetry of the Near East, Greece, the Arabic world, early modern Spain, classical China and classical Japan. The articles present new research based on individual approaches for each particular canon within a wide span from socio-cultural environment to semantic and cognitive properties of specific images. They deal with the poetics of the other, the role of the poet, poetic persuasion in politics, traditional typologies of tropes, intertextuality, and the principle of analogy. The authors combine literary theory with specialised knowledge of the local context and literary tradition and provide innovative and dynamic close readings.