' … substantial collection of essays, and certainly should not keep curious readers … from delving into these fascinating studies … Herman Tull, The Journal of Asian Studies
Introduction: Languages, contexts and constructs Braj B. Kachru; Part I. Language History, Families and Typology: 1. Language in historical context Ronald E. Asher; 2. Typological characteristics of South Asian languages Karumuri V. Subbarao; Part II. Languages and their Functions: 3. Hindi, Urdu, Hindustani Yamuna Kachru; 4. Persian in South Asia S. A. H. Abidi and Ravinder Gargesh; 5. Major regional languages Tej K. Bhatia; 6. Minority languages and their status Rakesh M. Bhatt and Ahmar Mahboob; 7. Tribal languages Anvita Abbi; Part III. Sanskrit and Traditions of Language Study: 8. Sanskrit in the South Asian sociolinguistics Madhav Deshpande; 9. Traditions of language study Ashok Aklujkar; Part IV. Multilingualism, Contact and Convergence: 10. Contexts of multilingualism E. Annamalai; 11. Language contact and convergence S.N. Sridhar; 12. Pidgins, creoles and bazaar Hindi Ian Smith; Part V. Orality, Literacy, and Writing Systems: 13. Orality and literacy Rama Kant Agnihotri; 14. Writing systems Peter Daniels; Part VI. Language, State and Education: 15. Language politics and conflicts Robert L. King; Part VII. Language Standardization and Modernization: 16. Language modernization S. N. Sridhar; Part VIII. Language and Discourse: 17. Language in social and ethnic interaction Yamuna Kachru; 18. Language and the legal system Vijay Bhatia and Rajesh Sharma; 19. Language in media and advertising Tej K. Bhatia and Robert Baumgardner; 20. Language in cinema Wimal Dissanayake; 21. Language of religion Rajeshwari Pandharipande; Part IX. Language and Identity: 22. Language and gender Tamara Valentine; 23. Dalit literature, language, and identity Eleanor Zelliot; 24. Language and youth culture Rukmini Bhaya Nair; Part X. Languages in Diaspora: 25. Languages in diaspora Rajend Meshtrie; 26. South Asian diaspora in Europe and the US Kamal K. Sridhar.