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
At any one time language is a kaleidoscope of styles, genres and dialects. David Crystal dialectgenrekaleidoscope Change image and share on social
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
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
Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using. David Crystal buildmattervocabulary Change image and share on social
Anyone interested in language ends up writing about the sociological issues around it. David Crystal endinterestissue Change image and share on social
Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood. David Crystal breakenjoylinguistic Change image and share on social
Spellings are made by people. Dictionaries - eventually - reflect popular choices. David Crystal choicedictionaryeventually Change image and share on social
You don't talk to a linguist without having what you say taken down and used in evidence against you at some point in time. David Crystal evidencelinguistpoint Change image and share on social
As I get older and I get a few more years experience I become more like Dad, you know, King Lear. David Crystal dadexperienceking Change image and share on social
