David Crystal: Word

David Crystal is British linguist and writer. Explore interesting quotes on word.
David Crystal: 48   quotes 0   likes

“The story of the English writing system is so intriguing, and the histories behind individual words so fascinating, that anyone who dares to treat spelling as an adventure will find the journey rewarding.”

David Crystal

David Crystal. Spell It Out: The singular story of English spelling. 2012. p. 277-8

History

“During the later part of the 19th century, it was believed that a sound of change affected the whole of a language simultaneously: one sound system would smoothly develop into the next, and all words which contained a particular sound would be affected in the same way.”

David Crystal

Source: How Language Works, 2007, p. 359

Way , Change , Parting

“There are the many daily examples of taboo speech, usually profanities or obscenities, that express such emotions as hatred, antagonism, frustration, and surprise. The most common utterances consist of single words or short phrases (though lengthy sequences may”

David Crystal

Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 1987, p. 61

“We now know that linguistic change does not operate in such an across-the-board manner. Some speakers introduce the change into their speech before others; some use it more frequently and consistently than others; and some words are affected before others. A more accurate view is to think of a change gradually spreading through the words of a language – a view that is known as a lexical diffusion. At first just a few people use a change sporadically in a few words (commonly occurring words are influenced very quickly); then a large number of words are affected, with the sound gradually being used more consistently; then the majority of the words take up the change.”

David Crystal

Source: How Language Works, 2007, p. 359

People , Thinking , Change

“Language death is like no other form of disappearance. When people die, they leave signs of their presence in the world, in the form of their dwelling places, burial mounds, and artefacts - in a word, their archaeology. But spoken language leaves no archaeology. When a language dies, which has never been recorded, it is as if it has never been.”

David Crystal

Source: How Language Works, 2007, p. 342

Death , People , World

“A dictionary is a reference book that lists the words of one or more languages, usually in alphabetical order, along with information about their spelling, pronunciation, grammatical status, meaning, history, and use.”

David Crystal

Source: How Language Works, 2007, p. 108

Books , History

“Micro computers used as word processors complement the audio facilities, enabling the interactive teaching of all four language skills reading, listening, speaking and writing.”

David Crystal

Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 1987, p. 377

Reading