This book provides an interesting array of studies on aesthetic qualities in the languages of Mainland Southeast Asia. Speakers in this region are accustomed to using various grammatical features and properties to convey sensations, perceptions, and emotions.

Chapter 1 serves as an introduction, explaining the definition of aesthetics in grammar from the perspective of linguistics and anthropology. Then the following chapters are divided into five parts, each dealing with one major language family of this area.

Part 1 consists of six chapters on the aesthetic features in various Austroasiatic branches. Unlike chapter 2, which bases its description on a survey from the Austroasiatic literatures, chapter 3 examines from an anthropological perspective the grammatical aesthetic in Temiar. Chapter 4 addresses nonreferential morphology in Khmer, comparing it to elements in nonlinguistic domains of art and ritual, while chapter 5 presents a mechanism to explain the development of similar expressions in Vietnamese within a typology of sound symbolism. Furthermore, in contrast to chapter 6, which contributes to grammatical aesthetics with data from a corpus of written Wa, chapter 7 discusses the linguistic relationship between poetic singing and eloquent speech in Kammu.

Part 2 focuses on the Tai-Kadai language family. Chapter 8 identifies three grammatical aesthetic mechanisms dominating single-line proverbs in the Tai language, whereas chapter 9 demonstrates adjective intensifiers in lexicalized poetry in the Sui language. In addition, with data from a questionnaire on native speakers' attitudes, chapter 10 indicates that aesthetic features are frequently observed in spoken Thai.

Part 3 contains just chapter 11 concerning the Hmong-Mien language family. After reviewing the iconicity of choice in the White Hmong language, the author concludes that reduplicative expressives are derived from bases that lack referential meaning but play an important role in everyday communication.

Part 4 involves two chapters on emotional expressives in the Austronesian family. Chapter 12 explores the extensive echo formation processes in Jarai grammar, and chapter 13 reviews the independent clauses that combine sound units and function to express emotion in Bih.

Part 5 concerns the Tibeto-Burman family. Chapter 14 exhibits three aesthetic expressives in Khumi grammar that show substantial formal and semantic overlap. Chapter 15 explores the repertoire of evocative Burmese lexicons for elaborating the monosyllabic Tibeto-Burman root. Chapter 16 discusses psycho-collocations in Burmese referring to mental and emotional processes. Chapter 17 compares aesthetic devices in Akha ritual texts with their modern versions, indicating that these devices are not productive but taught and memorized.

The abundance of aesthetic mechanisms discussed in this book demonstrates that the distinction between grammaticality and euphony is relatively subtle in the languages of Mainland Southeast Asia. This excellent collection is to be recommended to syntacticians, morphologists, linguistic anthropologists, and even cognitive scientists.