Word books traditionally focus on unusual and quirky items. They tend to ignore the words that provide the skeleton of the language, without which it would fall apart, such as 'and' and 'what,' or words that provide structure to our conversation, such as 'hello.' David Crystal bookconversationfall 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
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
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
Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using. David Crystal buildmattervocabulary 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
Anyone interested in language ends up writing about the sociological issues around it. David Crystal endinterestissue Change image and share on social
Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster. David Crystal adddimensiondisaster 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
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
