David Crystal quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by David Crystal

David Crystal Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from David Crystal on Wise Famous Quotes.

Swearing makes an excellent relief mechanism

Joke exchanges are carried on in deadly earnest, like a verbal duel-mouth-to-mouth combat. Bang, bang: you're (linguistically) dead.

Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood.

At any one time language is a kaleidoscope of styles, genres and dialects.

Anyone interested in language ends up writing about the sociological issues around it.

In effect we are, bending and breaking the rules of the language. And if someone were to ask why we do it, the answer is simply: for fun

A feature of English that makes it different compared with all other languages is its global spread.

There is little scientific data on the point, but evidently people do speak to themselves.

Spellings are made by people. Dictionaries - eventually - reflect popular choices.

Sending a message on a mobile phone is not the most natural of ways to communicate. The keypad isn't linguistically sensible.

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.

Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using.

Language changes and moves in a different direction evolving all the time. Where a lot of people see deterioration, I see expressive development

Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument.

The chief characteristic of English grammar is the way words are arranged within sentences, and the technical term for this process is syntax. It

It hasn't been a problem with Ben, I think we worked together very well, we don't have rows.

The only languages which do not change are dead ones.

As I get older and I get a few more years experience I become more like Dad, you know, King Lear.

Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster.

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.