Although marketed as a textbook, this substantial volume represents much more than that. The volume consists of a general introduction, 15 chapters, a 38-page glossary, a 40-page reference list and a 20-page index. The book is divided into two parts. The first part, containing eight chapters, offers a definition and description of pidgins, creoles and mixed languages, including their socio-historical contexts, theories on their formation processes, variation and change, and how these languages are perceived and used in society. The second part, containing seven chapters, is concerned with testing existing claims and assumptions about the structural aspects and discourse features of pidgins, creoles and mixed languages, relying on empirical research methods and existing data. Thus, phonological and morphological claims and assumptions are examined, as well as those concerning the structure of the noun phrase, the verb phrase, the simple sentence and the complex sentence. Finally, the author considers the pragmatics of contact languages from the perspective of a comparison with non-pidgin and non-creole languages. These topics are explored with the structures of the various lexifier languages in mind.

The general introduction by the author, Viveka Velupillai, offers a clearly written and accessible introduction to the volume. The purposes of the book are clearly explained, as are the abbreviations used. Key terms such as jargon, pidgin, expanded pidgin/pidgincreole, and mixed language are clearly defined for readers without a background in this field. The historical note on pidgin/creole linguistics, although brief, also offers essential background for those new to the field. The section on mixed languages is a particularly welcome initiative, illuminating the key distinctions between these and pidgin/creole languages.

The author informs the reader from the outset that the chapters of her book are structured so that they are independent enough to be used in isolation (although at the same time they include discussions that resume themes raised in previous chapters and sections). This is one of the key features of the volume that makes it a useful reference resource for researchers as well as students.

Each of the fifteen chapters begins with a world map indicating the location of the languages cited in the chapter, offering a quick-reference overview of the geographical locations of the languages under investigation. The chapters also offer brief histories of most of the contact languages described, which include extinct languages, as well as a discussion of the sociolinguistic factors that influenced their emergence. Each chapter also contains a chapter summary, a list of key points, and exercises that serve as a self-evaluation instrument for the reader. These exercises are effective in reinforcing the understanding of the chapters, and represent one feature of the volume that makes it particularly student-friendly, whether for taught courses or for independent study.

A further commendable feature of the volume is that it relies upon data from jargons, pidgins, expanded pidgins/pidgincreoles, creoles and mixed languages with different lexifier languages, thereby avoiding the narrowness in analysis that is unfortunately often a feature of such volumes. In addition to English-lexified contact languages (e.g. Cameroon Pidgin English), the author also discusses contact languages lexified by (or mixed with) French (e.g. Haitian Creole), Dutch (e.g. Berbice Dutch and Negerhollands), Portuguese (e.g. Guinea Bissau Kriyol and Saramaccan), Arabic (e.g. Juba Arabic and Sudanese Arabic), Spanish (e.g. Ternate Chabacano), Swedish (e.g. Rommani), German (e.g. Rabaul Creole German), and Russian (e.g. Chinese Pidgin Russian, Russenorsk). Sango and Lingala are examples of pidgins lexified by African languages. The volume thus offers a global overview of contact language phenomena, allowing students and researchers from different linguistic regions to identify with or relate to the contact situations described. Each chapter also contains ‘snapshots’ of three typical examples of the type of contact language described in the chapter, that is, three data samples illustrating the content or topic of the chapter. Here, a short text is provided for selected languages, together with a summary of their histories, linguistic sketches, and data sources. Thus, in these snapshots alone, a total of 45 different pidgins, expanded pidgins, creoles and mixed languages have been sketched, in addition to numerous other examples cited in the body of each of the chapters.

Chapter 1 offers a definition of pidgin language and a summary of previous research on pidgin languages to date. This overview is both authoritative and substantial, offering global coverage and citing work dating back to the early 17th century. Both social and structural aspects are discussed. At the end of the chapter, snapshots are provided of Borgarmalet, an extinct Swedish-lexified trade jargon, Francais Tirailleur, an extinct French-lexified military pidgin, and Tok Pisin, an English-lexified extended pidgin. Chapter 2 offers a similar introductory overview of creole languages, as does Chapter 3 for mixed languages. For end-of-chapter sketches, the author includes for Chapter 2 Negerhollands, an extinct Dutch-lexified plantation creole, Nengee, an English-lexified maroon creole, and Diu Indo-Portuguese, a Portuguese-based fort creole. For Chapter 3, Velupillai relies on Bilingual Navajo, Michif and Sri Lankan Malay.

Chapter 4 discusses the socio-historical contexts of pidgins and creoles, taking into consideration themes such as the European colonial expansion and the contact languages that emerged as a result of this expansion. Under these themes, various sub-themes are developed, including homestead to plantation economy, plantations and mass migration, European colonialism and slave labour, European colonialism and indentured labour, demographic factors in creole formation, life expectancy, age distribution and population growth of labourers, male-to-female and European to non-European ratios of the labourers, locally- versus foreign-born populations in contact settings, the origins of the population groups, levels of interaction among plantation societies, levels of prestige among different languages and language varieties within plantation societies, the role of missionaries and education, and diffusion of pidgin and creole varieties. At the end of this chapter, snapshots of Gullah, Mauritian Creole and Rabaul Creole German are provided. While the chapter touches on key sociolinguistic aspects, an exploration of non-plantation contexts (e.g. West Africa) would have added value to the chapter.

Chapter 5 offers an overview of a range of theories that have been postulated to explain the origin of pidgin languages. These include monogenesis/relexification theory (e.g. Schuchardt Reference Schuchardt1888, Whinnom Reference Whinnom1956); various polygenesis theories, including nautical jargon theory (e.g. Reinecke Reference Reinecke1938); common core theory (Hall Reference Hall1961); interlanguage theory (e.g. Coelho Reference Coelho1881), recently revived by e.g. Plag (Reference Plag2008); foreigner talk theory (Ferguson Reference Ferguson1975); and transfer and substrate theories (e.g. Gass & Selinker Reference Gass and Selinker2008). In addition, linguistic hybridization is discussed as one of the possible ways in which pidgin languages emerged. Succinct descriptions of all these theories are provided, together with a critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of each. Velupillai concludes by asserting that the emergence of any given pidgin is likely to receive an explanation by some combination of theories that take adults into account as the primary creators of pidgins. At the end of this chapter, sketches of Lingua Franca, Chinese Pidgin English and Pidgin Delaware are provided.

Similarly, Chapter 6 offers an overview of theories of creole formation processes, including the Language Bioprogram Hypothesis (Bickerton Reference Bickerton1981), substratum theories such the Relexification Hypothesis (e.g. Lefebvre Reference Lefebvre1998), the Founder Principle (Chaudenson 1992) Feature Pool Theory (e.g. Mufwene Reference Mufwene2001) and the Gradualist Hypothesis (e.g. Arends Reference Arends1989). The chapter also briefly mentions issues of the pidgin-to-creole life cycle and the role of multilingualism in creole formation. Languages chosen to illustrate the themes of this chapter are Hawaiian Creole English, Haitian Creole and the extinct Berbice Dutch Creole, the latter illustrating an unusually uniform substratal input from Eastern Ijo.

Chapter 7 focuses on language variation and change with specific reference to pidgins and creoles. It discusses the issue of lectal continua in contact languages (acrolect, mesolect and basilect), as well as their implications for and relations with diglossia, the creole continuum, depidginization, decreolization, repidginization and recreolization. Snapshots from Belizean Creole, Ambon Malay and Ternate Chabacano are provided as illustrations. Chapter 8, the final chapter of Part 1, addresses the sociolinguistics of contact languages. The chapter deals succinctly with some fundamental issues related to language attitudes, language policies and language planning. The chapter also provides a brief overview of the linguistic expression of culture in the form of oral and written literature, as well as mass media, in pidgin- and creole-speaking societies. Nagamese, Papiamentu and Krio are the languages chosen for illustration at the end of this chapter.

Part 2 of the book, while remaining theory-neutral, takes a typologically-informed empirical approach to testing common assumptions about the structural features of pidgins, creoles, pidgincreoles and mixed languages, as well as exploring the extent to which those features are characteristic of contact languages as opposed to languages in general. The book is unique in relying on the wealth of empirical data provided by the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures (APiCS) in drawing conclusions about the statistical significance of the presence or absence of certain features. Chapter 9 focuses on phonetics and phonology, examining consonant and vowel inventories, syllable structures and tone, while Chapter 10 addresses morphology features such as morphological synthesis and reduplication in contact languages. Chapter 11 explores features relating to the structure of the noun phrase such as nominal plurality and definite and indefinite articles. Chapter 12 examines the verb phrase, including features such as tense, aspect and mood, while Chapter 13 investigates the simple sentence, focusing on word order and passive constructions. Chapter 14 examines the complex sentence, addressing features such as relativization and serial verb constructions, while the final chapter focuses on pragmatics, discussing strategies for negation and polar interrogatives.

In conclusion, I would say that the title of the book is rather modest; the volume offers far more than an ‘introduction’ to contact languages, and is better described as an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the socio-historical and structural features of contact languages, as well as of the theoretical debates concerning their evolution. This volume is likely to be the leading textbook in the field for some time to come, as well as serving as an invaluable reference tool for researchers in the field and a model for rigorous empirical research.