From a diachronic point of view, two linguistic contributions deal with grammaticalization and iconicity and with metaphorical aspects of compounding. The other two linguistic papers are related to the present. One offers a critique of perceptual dialectology and the other is concerned with recent developments in computer cartography. The contributions in the domains of literary and cultural studies demonstrate the wide extension of the field of enquiry and of current methods. Historically, they reach from the Old English period to the present day, and systematically, from new approaches in the interpretation of particular works through overviews over the regional validity of modes of literary aesthetics to recent innovations in literary theory and narratology.