Acknowledgements
I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Michael Kemper, Jos Schaeken and Alfrid Bustanov for introducing me to the subject of Muslim lingua francas and for fruitful discussions over the years. I would also like to thank Vladimir Bobrovnikov, Hephzibah Israel, Boris Knorre and Rajeshwari V. Pandharipande for their comments on earlier versions of this monograph. The research required to write this book was generously funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO, grant PR-12-78). My special gratitude goes to my interviewees and research participants for sharing their time and knowledge with me.