David Crystal Quotes

27 quotes in 434 categories

• Ever since the arrival of printing - thought to be the invention of the devil because it would put false opinions into people's minds -…
• I believe that any form of writing exercise is good for you. I also believe that any form of tuition which helps develop your awareness…
• Several of us linguists at that time would record our own kids, just to get some data. There was some literature on it then, but…
• The internet is an amazing medium for languages,
• Language itself changes slowly but the internet has speeded up the process of those changes so you notice them more quickly.
• At any one time language is a kaleidoscope of styles, genres and dialects.
• 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…
• Research shows that those kids who text frequently are more likely to be the most literate and the best spellers, because you have to know…
• 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…
• As I get older and I get a few more years experience I become more like Dad, you know, King Lear.
• A feature of English that makes it different compared with all other languages is its global spread.
• Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument.
• Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood.
• Anyone interested in language ends up writing about the sociological issues around it.
• Sending a message on a mobile phone is not the most natural of ways to communicate. The keypad isn't linguistically sensible.
• Spellings are made by people. Dictionaries - eventually - reflect popular choices.
• Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster.
• Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using.
• 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.
• 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…

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