The present festschrift assembles articles from colleagues and friends of Gottfried Kolde on research issues representing his central concerns. The broad range of subjects is an apt reflection of Gottfried Kolde's own catholic research interests and his seminal work on noun determination and sociolinguistics. The contributions are in English, French, German and Italian, thus mirroring Kolde's refusal to limit himself to questions posed by German Studies alone and his interest in the phenomenon of languages in contact.