This book is an anthropological study of language and cultural change among the people of Gapun, a small community in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea.

Introduction: Papua New Guinea and the study of language shift; 1. Villagers and their village; 2. Language and talk in the village; 3. Having 'hed'; 4. Showing 'save'; 5. Preparing the change; 6. Becoming monolingual; 7. Contextualizing the self; Conclusion: the process of language shift; Appendix: On being a ghost.