Karl Zimmer, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, has been a pioneer in Turkish linguistics whose many diverse contributions have influenced the development of this field as well as theoretical linguistics. "Puzzles of Language, Essays in Honour of Karl Zimmer" pays tribute to his achievements by bringing together recent research by prominent scholars whose work has interacted with his own.
The contributions cover a wide spectrum of topics dealing with diverse aspects of language. While some articles address issues of theoretical significance in reference to phonological and syntactic problems of Turkish, others look at linguistic problems through the perspective of diachrony, language contact, sociolinguistics, and child language acquisition. The boundaries of the spectrum are further widened by articles on typology, alternation in the genitive construction of English and the language of poetry.