`The range of Bright's interests with regard to South Asian languages is well illustrated in the book ... In reading over these papers one is struck by several qualities of Bright's writing. One of these is the meticulousness of Bright's descriptive studies of Dravidian linguistic systems.' Journal of the American Oriental Society `for beginners in South Asian linguistics and sociolinguistics, this collection has great historical value, since it contains the origins of ideas now considered standard and descriptions used as reference points in both of these fields' Language `The range of Bright's interests with regard to South Asian languages is well illustrated in the book.` `In reading over these papers one is struck by several qualities of Bright's writing. One of these is the meticulousness of Bright's descriptive studies of Dravidian linguistic systems.` `...this book serves a desirable function in gathering together those of Bright's papers that detail his thinking on the role of variation within the South Asian linguistic landscape.` `The work will be of particular interest to Dravidianists, as well as to students of other South Asian language families whose research has an areal dimension or incorporates facets of socially conditioned variation.` Journal of the American Oriental Society