The current volume brings together sociolinguistic analyses of language contact along the Romance-Germanic Language Border, shedding more light on the variable and the universal elements in language contact and shift. It covers the whole range of the border, from French Flanders through South Tirol. Every part of it has been treated by outstanding experts. They describe the current state of the art in ‘their' portion of the language border and include information on the legal and/or practical status of the language border and the status and function of all languages concerned. Attitudinal and language planning initiatives as well as the standardisation status of the regionally official and minority languages are discussed. Language borrowing, code switching and other language contact phenomena are analysed in detail. ContentsIntroduction1. Genesis and Evolution of the Romance-Germanic Language Border in Europe L. Van Durme, Zottegem, Belgium2. Dutch/Flemish in the North of France H. Ryckeboer, University of Gent, Belgium 3. The Dutch-French Language Border in Belgium R. Willemyns, Vrije Universiteit, Brussel4. Language Use and Language Contact in Brussels J. Treffers-Daller, UWE, Bristol5. German in Belgium: Linguistic Variation from a Contact Linguistic Point of View P. Nelde & J. Darquennes, Research Centre for Multilingualism, Brussel6. Luxembourg, A Multilingual Society at the Romance/Germanic Language Border F. Fehlen, Centre de Recherche Public, Luxembourg7. Alsace H. Bister-Broosen, University of North Carolina8. The German-Romance Language Borders in Switzerland F. J. Rash, ueen Mary, University of London9. South Tyrol: German and Italian in a Changing World L. M. Eichinger, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany