A collection of papers on sentence constituents occurring in the sentence-initial position in a variety of Central and South American languages includes: "Consitutent Order, Cohesion, and Staging in Gaviao" (Horst Stute); "Focus and Topic in Xavante" (Eunice Burgess); "Sentence-Initial Elements in Brazilian Guarani" (Robert A. Dooley); "Coreguaje Dependent Verb Suffixes" (Dorothy Cook); "Higher-Level Conjunctions in Karitiana" (Rachel M. Landin); "Staging in Teribe Discourse" (Carol Koontz Schatz); "Topicalization in Nambiquara" (Ivan Lowe); "Topicalization and Constituency in Coreguaje Narrative" (Frances Gralow); "Repetition in Jamamadi Discourse" (Barbara Campbell); "Participants in Nambiquara Myths and Folktales" (Margaret Lowe); "The Adversative Particle in Tucano Discourse" (Birdie West);and "Paumari Interrogatives" (Shirley Chapman). (MSE)