Parenthesis has recently seen a considerable surge in interest. This volume presents the - often contrasting - theoretical positions on parenthetical verbs and examines them from different analytical perspectives. The initial theoretical section contains, among others, two contributions presenting diametrically opposed analyses of the syntax of parenthetical verbs. Although (synchronic) syntax pervades the volume, other analytical levels and approaches are also given weight: The second section provides insights into the historical and ontogenetic development of parenthetical verbs, while the third section deals with prosody and prosody-syntax or prosody-semantics mappings. The volume covers parenthetical verbs in English as well as in several other languages (Danish, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese and Turkish), some of which are rarely taken into consideration when dealing with parentheticals. Methodologically, the volume is marked by its strong empirical orientation: With few exceptions, the contributions are based on data from experiments or from corpora (historical, contemporary, diachronic, synchronic, oral, written, child, adult).