During the ten years that I have been working on this book, many people have offered data, ideas, comments and other help. It is a pleasure to record my thanks to them: Alexandra Aikhenvald, Peter Austin, Matthew Baerman, Julia Barron, Laurie Bauer, Barry Blake, Jim Blevins, Juliette Blevins, Misi Brody, Jurgen Broschart, Dunstan Brown, Gordon Brown,Wayles Browne,Wallace Chafe, Hilary Chappell, Ross Clark, Ulrike Claudi, Richard Coates, Michael Colenso, Stanford Cormack, Alan Cruse, Anna Morpurgo Davies, Alan Dench, Aleksandra Derganc, Ivan Derzhanski, Werner Drossard, Barrie Evans, Nick Evans, Roger Evans, Ray Fabri,William Foley,Michael Fortescue, Victor Friedman, Norman Fraser, Gerald Gazdar, Adele Goldberg, Ian Green, Rebecca Green, Ekaterina Gruzdeva, Tom Guldemann, Ken Hale, Shelly Harrison, Mark Harvey, Martin Haspelmath, Katrina Hayward, Bernd Heine, George Hewitt, Jane Hill, Nikolaus Himmelmann, Andrew Hippisley, Robert Hoberman, Richard Hogg, Axel Holvoet, László Honti, Jim Hurford, Don Hutchisson, Larry Hyman, Ruth Kempson, Aleksandr Kibrik, Simon Kirby, Klaus-Michael Köpcke, Antonina Kovaĺ, Ulla-Maija Kulonen, Klaus Laalo, Mary Laughren, Velma Leeding, Werner Lehfeldt, Frank Lichtenberk, Jouko Lindstedt, Elizabeth Löbel, Paul Marriott, Michael Mitchell, Arto Mustajoki, David Nash, Johanna Nichols, Almerindo Ojeda, Janez Oreŝnik, Barbara Partee, Frans Plank, Maria Polinsky, Tom Priestly, Robert Ratcliffe, Nick Reid, Bruce Rigsby, Jan Rijkoff, John Roberts, John Saeed, Hans-Jurgen Sasse, Wolfgang Schellinger, Harold Schiffman, Jane Simpson, Elena Skribnik, Neil Smith, Gerald Stone, Greg Stump, Roland Sussex, Dalija Tekoriene?, Hannu Tommola, Larry Trask, Robert Van Valin, Nigel Vincent, Max Wheeler, David Wilkins and Dieter Wunderlich.