Denis Cunningham is Assistant Principal in the Victorian School of Languages. He has published widely in journals, reports and conferences around the world, and was made a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators in 2001.

David Ingram is Professor and Executive Dean in the School of Applied Language Studies in Melbourne University Private, Melbourne Australia. He has published extensively in applied linguistics.

Kenneth Sumbuk is Professor and Executive Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Papua New Guinea. His research specialty is in Papuan languages, Pidgin and Creole linguistics and dying languages.

The Southwest Pacific from Southern China through Indonesia, Australia and the Pacific Islands constitutes the richest linguistic region of the world.  That rich resource cannot be taken for granted.  Some of its languages have already been lost; many more are under threat.  The challenge is to describe the languages that exist today and to adopt policies that will support their maintenance.

Foreword F. Marti (UNESCO Advisory Committee for Linguistic Pluralism and Multilingual Education)

1. Language Diversity in the Pacific: An Overview D. E. Ingram

2. World Languages Review A. Barrena (Univ. of Salamanca), I. Idiazabal, P. Juaristi (Univ. of the Basque Country), C. Junyent (Univ. of Barcelona) & P. Ortega (Secretary General of Pax Romania ICMICA)

3. Naming Languages, Drawing Language Boundaries and Maintaining Languages with Special Reference to the Linguistic Situation in Papua New Guinea P. Mühlhäusler (Univ. of Adelaide)

4. Obstacles to Creating an Inventory of Languages in Indonesia M. Lauder (Univ. of Indonesia)

5. Keeping Track of Language Endangerment in Australia P. McConvell ( Australian Inst. of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies) & N. Thieberger (Univ. of Melbourne)

6. Papua New Guinea's Languages K. Sumbuk

7. Language Endangerment and Globalisation in the Pacific D. Tryon (Australian National Univ.)

8. Endangered Languages of China and South-east Asia D. Bradley (La Trobe Univ.)

9. On the Edge of the Pacific: Indonesia and East Timor J. Hajek (Univ.of Melbourne)

10. The Future of the languages of Vanuatu and New Caledonia J-M. Charpentier (Centre National de la Recherche Sientifique, Paris)

11. Trends and Shifts in Community Language Use in Australia, 1986-1996 M. Clyne & S. Kipp (Univ. of Melbourne)

12. Directions for Linguistic Research R. Amery (Univ. of Adelaide)

13. The Contribution of Language Education to the Maintenance and Development of Australia's Language Resources D. E. Ingram

14. Globalisation, Languages and Technology: Some Recommendations D. Cunningham