Rajend Mesthrie is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Senior Research Scholar at the University of Cape Town. He was Head of the Linguistics Section (1998 - 2009), and holder of an NRF research chair in migration, language, and social change. He was President of the Linguistics Society of Southern Africa (2002-2009) and President of the International Congress of Linguists (2013-2018). He is an elected honorary life member of SALALS (South African Linguistic and Applied Linguistics Society) and the LSA (Linguistic Society of America). He is a past co-editor of English Today (2008-2012). Amongst his book publications are Language in Indenture: a Sociolinguistic history of Bhojpuri-Hindi in South Africa (1992, reprinted. 2019), Introducing Sociolinguistics (with Swann, Deumert & Leap, Edinburgh University Press 2009), Language in South Africa (ed., 2002) and Youth Language Practices & Urban Language Contact in Africa (ed., with Hurst-Harosh & Brookes, 2021).

Sonal Kulkarni-Joshi is Professor and Head, Dept. of Linguistics at the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune (India). She received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Reading (UK) as a Felix Scholar. Her research has primarily included the sociolinguistic aspects of language contact, dialect variation and change, and linguistic diaspora. She was coordinator of the Special Assistance Programme awarded to Deccan College by the University Grants Commission of India (2011-16) to conduct research on 'Language Contact'. Since 2017, she is heading a joint project of the Deccan College to create a digital, annotated database of regional and social variation in Marathi. Project website: www.sdml.ac.in