The 'focus' systems of western Austronesian languages have long intrigued grammarians, typologists and historical linguists, and this book significantly expands accessible information on them. It is the outcome of a workshop on focus held at the Eighth InternationalConference on Austronesian Linguistics in Taipei in December 1997.Part I contains three overview contributions: one on some of the typological issues of 'focus' languages (Nikolaus Himmelman), on possible histories of western Austronesian voice (Malcolm Ross), and on the history of voice systems and on their study (Robert Blust).Part II, 'Languages of Sulawesi', has descriptive papers by MarkDonohue, Phil uick and Nikolaus Himmelmann and a historical contribution by David Mead. Part III, on the rest of Indonesia andMalaysia, has descriptive papers on Karo Batak (Clodagh Norwood), RiauIndonesian (David Gil) and Bonggi (Sabah, Michael Boutin), a comparative account of the languages of Lombok and Sumbawa (Fay Wouk), and a descriptivehistorical account of Javanese (GloriaPoejosoedarmo). The contributions in Part IV concern the Philippines and Taiwan. They range from Sama languages in the extreme southwest of the region (Jun Akamine and JoAnn Gault), through Hiligayonon andYogad in the centre and north of the Philippines (Walter Spitz), toSeediq of northern Taiwan (Arthur Holmer). Erik Zobel examinesChamorro and Palauan evidence diachronically and proposes a newNuclear Malayo-Polynesian subgroup.