With four volumes anticipated to complete the work, this second volume completes half of an ambitious reference. Written by 112 contributors at research institutions worldwide, the entries describe topics on general themes, specific words, linguistic issues, Arabic use or influence in individual countries, and national languages and dialects. A sampling of entry topics on general themes includes ethnicity and language, epigraphy, Europe, French loanwords, gender, government, intonation, and language attitudes. The country entries contain a general overview of the use or influence of Arabic there, the dialects, linguistic description, and a lexicon. All entries conclude with a list of bibliography. Because of the many entries on non-technical topics, the reference will be useful not only to linguists, but also scholars and students in other disciplines. Versteegh is at the U. of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. An index is not provided with this volume. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)