Speech play reflects a degree of selectivity and creativity beyond ordinary language use. Consistent with the approach of ethnography, each culture may have its own definition of speech play. Articles collected in this volume investigate speech play as language structure--"Play Languages: Implications for (Socio) Linguistics,""Secret Play Languages in Saramaka: Linguistic Disguise in a Caribbean Creole," and "Some Zinacanteco Joking Strategies"; initial and continuing acquisition--"Children's Traditional Speech Play and Child Language,""A Developmental Structural Account of Riddles," and "Verbal Dueling in Chamula"; and institutional and individual creativity--"How to Remember Numbers in Japanese" and "Saying Is Inventing: Gnomic Expressions in 'Molloy.'" Directions for further research are suggested, and a bibliographic survey of the literature on speech play is presented. (KS)