This volume illustrates the distinctive and interconnected use of languages in increasingly diversified communities, examining a range of multilingual contexts, including post-migration settlement, language policy, education, language contact and intercultural communication. With contributions from researchers in Australia, Europe and Asia, the book discusses the opportunities and tensions that can emerge when societies attempt to manage and understand multilingual communication within and across communities. Reflecting the ideas of Professor Michael Clyne, the volume makes clear how ongoing research across a broad range of topics can assist in challenging the monolingual mindset by bringing to the attention of readers the rich linguistic diversity, as well as linguistic potential, of our communities around the world.

The first edition of the book was published in 1974, and received a book award for best non-fiction in English presented by the National Book Development Council of Singapore in 1976, while the Second Edition published in 1986, saw much more econometric-statistical analysis. This Third Edition highlights the role of banking and finance in the economic development of Singapore and Malaysia; recent developments in Singapore and Malaysia are analysed; and special topics are presented in Epilogues 1 and 2.