John M. Lipski is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the Pennsylvania State University (U. S. A.). His research focuses on language contact, variation, creolization, and contributions of the African diaspora to the diversification of Spanish and Portuguese. He has carried out extensive fieldwork in Latin America, Africa, the Pacific, and the United States. His numerous books and articles include Latin American Spanish (translated into Spanish and Japanese), The Spanish of Equatorial Guinea (1985), Fonética y fonología del español de Honduras (1987), The speech of the NEGROS CONGOS of Panama (1990), The Language of the Isleños of Louisiana (1990), El español de Malabo (1990), A History of Afro-Hispanic Language (2005), and Spanish in the United States (forthcoming).