Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction to contact language formation; 2. Research questions; 3. The role of ecology in Asian contexts; 4. Theory of language and contact language formation; 5. Contact language formation beyond exceptional evolution; 6. Outlook; Part II. The Ecology of Monsoon Asia: 7. Monsoon Asia; 8. Sino-Javanese trade; 9. The city-ports; 10. Manpower in Southeast Asia; 11. The Western impact; Part III. Linguistic Ecologies of Southeast Asia: 12. Southeast Asia and the role of Malay; 13. Malay contact varieties; 14. Introducing contexts of formation; 15. The role of Portuguese in Southeast Asia and Southern China; 16. Summary; Part IV. Methodological Issues in the Study of Contact Languages: 17. The ideology of theory; 18. Multilingualism and transmission; 19. Conclusions; Part V. Contact Language Formation in Evolutionary Theory: 20. Competence, performance and socialization; 21. Language evolution and contact languages; 22. Functionalist assets for contact linguistics; 23. Conclusions; Part VI. Congruence and Frequency in Sri Lanka Malay: 24. The SLM community; 25. Selection and replication in SLM; 26. Freeing SLM from the chains of exceptionalism; 27. Final remarks; Part VII. Identity Alignment in Malay and Asian-Portuguese Diaspora: 28. The ecology of identity alignment; 29. Multiple alignments in contact settings; 30. Identity alignment and admixture; 31. Conclusions; Part VIII. Pidgin Ecologies of the China Coast: 32. Sociohistorical background of Europe-China relations; 33. The ecology of Macau and the Pearl River Delta; 34. Grammatical features of China Coast Pidgin; 35. The missing Makista link?; 36. Discussion; Part IX. Implications, Conclusions and New Horizons: 37. Theoretical and methodological implications; 38. Conclusions and new horizons; References; Index; Author index.