Sending a message on a mobile phone is not the most natural of ways to communicate. The keypad isn't linguistically sensible. David Crystal communicatekeypadlinguistically Change image and share on social
At the same time we overlap, because, I do linguistics, and Ben did a first degree in Linguistics at Lancaster University, so he knows some of my subject. David Crystal bendegreelancaster Change image and share on social
A feature of English that makes it different compared with all other languages is its global spread. David Crystal compareenglishfeature Change image and share on social
Text messaging is just the most recent focus of people's anxiety; what people are really worried about is a new generation gaining control of what they see as their language. David Crystal anxietycontrolfocus Change image and share on social
Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument. David Crystal academicalterargument Change image and share on social
It took three years to put Shakespeare's words together, there were a lot of words to be studied and a lot of words to be sorted out, and it proved to be a major project. David Crystal lotmajorproject Change image and share on social
The story of English spelling is the story of thousands of people - some well-known, most totally unknown - who left a permanent linguistic fingerprint on our orthography. David Crystal englishfingerprintleave Change image and share on social
English has been this vacuum cleaner of a language, because of its history meeting up with the Romans and then the Danes, the Vikings and then the French and then the Renaissance with all the Latin and Greek and Hebrew in the background. David Crystal backgroundcleandane share on social
Ever since the arrival of printing - thought to be the invention of the devil because it would put false opinions into people's minds - people have been arguing that new technology would have disastrous consequences for language. David Crystal arguearrivalconsequence share on social
Language has no independent existence apart from the people who use it. It is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end of understanding who you are and what society is like. David Crystal endexistenceindependent Change image and share on social