The phenomenon of language maintenance and shift (LMLS) discusses how one particular language pervades the domain of another and eventually replaces that particular language. This book examines a number of methodological and analytical issues in LMLS studies. The writers discuss analytical constructs and review theoretical issues in LMLS citing studies from Borneo, Britain, Brunei, Malaysia, Mexico, and Singapore. A range of variables affecting LMLS in these sites are reviewed. The writers offer a substantial amount of systematically collected empirical data from a number of geographically diverse sites. The studies of LMLS analysed and reported here are invaluable not only to sociolinguists but also to scholars of related fields such as anthropology and communication.