The 16 papers in this volume are revised versions of papers presented at the conference; they represent the state of the art in various subfields of African linguistics into which the book is organized: (1) morphosyntax, (2) semantics, (3) phonology, and (4) language contact. The last part covers topics such as code-switching and mixing, pidginization/creolization, and language planning. The papers in Part I: Morphosyntax focus particularly on the verb and verb phrase in a variety of Niger-Congo languages, discussing several aspects of the verb morphology. The specific languages discussed include Kinande, Kilega, Kinyarwanda, Kikongo-Kituba, Duala, Yoruba, Ewe, and Gbaya 'Bodoe). The papers in Part II: Semantics discuss foundational questions regarding the proper/common noun distinction in two geographically very distant African languages, Gborbo Krahn in the west and Luo in the east, which follow yet very similar principles. And, despite differences in the titles, the papers on Kivunjo and Emai address the question of the semantic basis for assigning property concepts to different lexical categories. There are two papers in Part III: Phonology, which are mostly on the prosodic features of Chiyao and Manding. In Part IV: Language Contact, two papers discuss speech variation and mostly formal constraints associated with them; another compares segmental features of Sango and Yakoma in the Central African Republic to determine whether the former is a creole. There is also a paper on the choice of national official language in sub-Saharan Africa.