  (Abridge): We present a spectroscopic study of the stellar populations of Low
Luminosity AGN (LLAGN). Our main goal is to determine whether the stars who
live in the innermost (100 pc-scale) regions of these galaxies are in some way
related to the emission line properties, which would imply a link between the
stellar population and the ionization mechanism. High signal to noise, ground
based long-slit spectra in the 3500--5500 A interval were collected for 60
galaxies.Our main findings are: (1) Few LLAGN have a detectable young (< 10
Myr) starburst component, indicating that very massive stars do not contribute
significantly to the optical continuum. In particular, no features due to
Wolf-Rayet stars were convincingly detected. (2) High Order Balmer absorption
lines of HI (HOBLs), on the other hand, are detected in 40% of LLAGN.
  These features, which are strongest in 100 Myr--1 Gyr intermediate age
stellar populations, are accompanied by diluted metal absorption lines and
bluer colors than other objects in the sample. (3) These intermediate age
populations are very common (50 %) in LLAGN with relatively weak [OI] emission,
but rare (10 %) in LLAGN with stronger [OI]. This is intriguing since LLAGN
with weak [OI] have been previously hypothesized to be ``transition objects''
in which both an AGN and young stars contribute to the emission-line
excitation. Massive stars, if present, are completely outshone by intermediate
age and old stars in the optical. This happens in at least a couple of objects
where independent UV spectroscopy detects young starbursts not seen in the
optical. (4) Objects with predominantly old stars span the whole range of
[OI]/Halpha values, but (5) sources with significant young and/or intermediate
age populations are nearly all (90%) weak [OI] emitters.
