Ten years of research back up the bold new theory advanced by authors Thomason and Kaufman, who rescue the study of contact-induced language change from the neglect it has suffered in recent decades. The authors establish an important new framework for the historical analysis of all degrees of contact-induced language change.

Sarah Grey Thomason is Professor of Linguistics and Terrence Kaufman is Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh.

"Absolutely indispensable reading for anyone interested in either language structure or intercultural contact."—Paul J. Hopper, American Anthropologist

"[A] major work. . . . In scope and breadth of conception there is simply no other discussion of language contact that approaches it."—Jay H. Jasanoff, Language

"For the integration of contact-induced language change into historical linguistics this book constitutes the greatest breakthrough since Uriel Weinreich's Languages in Contact of 1953, and I am convinced it will be the touchstone for the further development of the discipline for years to come."—Edgar W. Schneider, English World-Wide