The Future of Language: The Routledge David Crystal Lectures

by David Crystal

For the first time, The Future of Language brings together three of Professor David Crystal’s most popular lectures on the future of language. One of the world’s foremost experts on language and English language, and arguably the most accessible and entertaining writer and lecturer in this area, Crystal delivers these informative and highly enjoyable performance lectures exploring key contemporary language 'The Future of Englishes', 'Language Death' and 'Internet Linguistics'. An accompanying book with Crystal’s commentary on the lectures is included within the DVD package. This book supplements the lectures with a short overview of the main themes discussed, followed by a more detailed introduction to each topic and a synopsis of all the main points made in each lecture. The book concludes with Crystal’s reflections on how the three interrelated topics covered here will continue to interact and contribute to the evolution of language. Special features This is an ideal resource for all university and A Level English Language and Linguistics departments and will be of interest to anyone involved in the study of language, especially those involved with teaching or learning English as a second language. For more about David Crystal at Routledge, www.routledge.com/textbooks/978041548... .

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

David Crystal works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1941, he spent his early years in Holyhead. His family moved to Liverpool in 1951, and he received his secondary schooling at St Mary's College. He read English at University College London (1959-62), specialised in English language studies, did some research there at the Survey of English Usage under Randolph Quirk (1962-3), then joined academic life as a lecturer in linguistics, first at Bangor, then at Reading. He published the first of his 100 or so books in 1964, and became known chiefly for his research work in English language studies, in such fields as intonation and stylistics, and in the application of linguistics to religious, educational and clinical contexts, notably in the development of a range of linguistic profiling techniques for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. He held a chair at the University of Reading for 10 years, and is now Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. These days he divides his time between work on language and work on internet applications.

source: http://www.davidcrystal.com/