The Future of Language

Book excerpt: 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 issues: 'The Future of Englishes', 'Language Death' and 'Internet Linguistics'. This accompanying book supplements the DVD with Crystal’s comprehensive commentary on the lectures. A short overview of the main themes discussed across the three lectures is followed by sections devoted to each of the three lectures. Each sections provides a more detailed introduction to the lecture topic, a synopsis of all the main points covered and a cultural usage commentary explaining and analysing points of interest, along with further reading and activities for the classroom that enable students to begin engaging with language straight away. An index for both the DVD and the book is provided so users can search for topics of interest easily. Timecodes are also included so users can easily pinpoint the commentary items. The book concludes with Crystal's reflections on how the three interrelated topics covered will continue to interact and contribute to the evolution of language. 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.