The languages investigated in these papers represent the five major language families or subfamilies (depending on one's classification schema) of mainland and insular Southeast Asia, viz., (1) Tibeto-Burman with Meiteilon (Manipuri); (2) Mon-Khmer with Alak, Bru, Chatong, Dak Kang, Kaseng, Katu, Laven,Lavi, Nge', Nyah Kur, Suai, Ta Oi', Tariang, Tariw, Vietnamese, Yaeh; (3) Tai with Nung An, Lao, and Hlai; (4) Austronesian with Chamorro; and (5) the Malayo-Polynesian family itself.The eleven papers have been classified under five broad linguistic topics:I. Linguistic analysis with A.G. Khan's 'Impact of linguistic borrowing on Meiteilon (Manipuri)'; N.J. Enfield's 'Functions of 'give' and 'take' in Lao complex predicates'; and Sophana Srichampa's 'Vietnamese verbal reduplication'.II. Language classification includes Jerold A. Edmondson's 'N=F9ng An: origin of a species'; Lawrence A. Reid's 'Morphosyntactic evidence for the position of Chamorro in the Austronesian family'; andTheraphan L.-Thongkum's 'A brief look at the thirteen Mon-Khmer languages of Xekong Province, Southern Laos'.III Discourse analysis with John and Carolyn Miller's 'The tiger mother's child and the cow mother's child: a preliminary look at aBru epic'; and Somsonge Burusphat's 'The temporal movement of the hlai (li) origin myth'.IV. Sociolinguistics with Suwilai Premsrirat's 'The future of Nyah Kur'.V. Historical linguistics with Graham Thurgood's 'A comment onGedney's proposal for another series of voiced initials in ProtoTai'; and Stanley Starosta's 'The rise and fall and rise and fall ofProto Malayo-Polynesian'.