Janet Holmes is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Associate Director of the Language in the Workplace Project at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She has published extensively in sociolinguistics, specialising in workplace discourse and language and gender. Her many books include Research Methods in Sociolinguistics: A Practical Guide, co-edited with Kirk Hazen.

Nick Wilson is a Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Limerick, Ireland, and an honorary Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Macquarie University, Australia. His published research focuses on how language is used in sports teams and his current research is on how people use swearing and taboo language in interaction.