Theo Vennemann

Vennemann was born in Oberhausen-Sterkrade in Western Germany. He served as professor of Germanic and theoretical linguistics at LMU Munich from 1974 until his retirement in 2005, and is listed as emeritus faculty. LMU describes his academic responsibilities as including the history of German in its Indo-European context, general theory of language structure and change, typology, and the linguistic prehistory of Europe. ==Academic work==

Preference laws and phonology Vennemann is associated with work in phonological theory and the explanation of sound change. His monograph Preference Laws for Syllable Structure and the Explanation of Sound Change develops an approach that links diachronic change to preferred patterns of syllable structure. Preference laws became a central element of his work from the 1980s onward. ==Selected works==

• Preference Laws for Syllable Structure and the Explanation of Sound Change (1988). • Europa Vasconica – Europa Semitica (2003). ==References==