Kirill Babaev, Ph.D. (2008), Doctor of Sciences (2013), Deputy Director of the Institute of Far Orient of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Associate Prof. at the Russian State University for Humanities. Author of 15 monographs, including Zialo: the Newly-Discovered Mande Language of Guinea (LINCOM, 2011).Irina Samarina, is a researcher with the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow). Significant publications include Gelao Languages: Materials for the Comparative Dictionary of the Kadai Languages (Academia, 2011).Paul Sidwell, Ph.D. (1999) is an Associate of Sydney University and President of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. His research has focused on the history of the Austroasiatic language family, he co-edited The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages (Brill, 2014).