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David Crystal, (born 6 July 1941) is a British
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
, academic, and prolific author best known for his works on linguistics and the English language.
Family
Crystal was born in
Lisburn
Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...
, Northern Ireland, on 6 July 1941 after his mother had been
evacuated there during The Blitz. Before he reached the age of one, his parents separated. He remained estranged from and ignorant of his father for most of his childhood, but later learnt (through work contacts and a half-brother) of the life and career of Dr. Samuel Crystal in London, and of his half-Jewish heritage. He grew up with his mother in
Holyhead,
North Wales
North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...
, and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, England, where he attended
St Mary's College from 1951.
Crystal is a practising
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
.
He currently lives in Holyhead with his wife, Hilary, a former speech therapist and now children's author. He has four grown-up children. His son
Ben Crystal
Ben Crystal (born 1977) is an English actor, author, and producer, best known for his work on performing and promoting William Shakespeare and adapting original practices.
Background and career
Crystal was born in Ascot, Berkshire, the son of l ...
is also an author, and has co-authored four books with his father.
Career
Crystal studied English at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
between 1959 and 1962,
and was a researcher under
Randolph Quirk
Charles Randolph Quirk, Baron Quirk, CBE, FBA (12 July 1920 – 20 December 2017) was a British linguist and life peer. He was the Quain Professor of English language and literature at University College London from 1968 to 1981. He sat as ...
between 1962 and 1963, working on the
Survey of English Usage The Survey of English Usage was the first research centre in Europe to carry out research with corpora. The Survey is based in the Department of English Language and Literature at University College London.
History
The Survey of English Usage wa ...
.
Since then he has lectured at
Bangor University and the
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
and is an honorary professor of
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
at Bangor.
Retired from full-time academia, he works as a writer, editor and consultant, and contributes to television and radio broadcasts. His association with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
ranges from, formerly, a
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
series on language issues to, more recently, podcasts on the
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
website for people learning English.
Crystal was awarded the
OBE in 1995 and became a
Fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom
# C ...
in 2000.
He is also a Founding Fellow of the
Learned Society of Wales
The Learned Society of Wales ( Welsh: Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru) is a learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh natio ...
and is a Fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Linguists
Founded as the Institute of Linguists in 1910, the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) received its Royal Charter in 2005, and is a professional association for language professionals. CIOL supports linguists throughout their careers, and pro ...
. His many academic interests include
English language learning and teaching
English-Language Learner (often abbreviated as ELL) is a term used in some English-speaking countries such as the US and Canada to describe a person who is learning the English language and has a native language that is not English. Some educatio ...
,
clinical linguistics Clinical linguistics is a sub-discipline of applied linguistics involved in the description, analysis, and treatment of language disabilities, especially the application of linguistic theory to the field of Speech-Language Pathology. The study of ...
,
forensic linguistics
Forensic linguistics, legal linguistics, or language and the law, is the application of linguistic knowledge, methods, and insights to the forensic context of law, language, crime investigation, trial, and judicial procedure. It is a branch of ap ...
,
language death
In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers. Other similar terms include linguicide, the de ...
, "ludic linguistics" (Crystal's
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
for the study of language play),
stylistics (field of study), style, English
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
,
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
indexing, and
lexicography
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
. He is the Patron of the
(IATEFL), honorary president of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), and Patron of the UK National Literacy Association.
He is a consultant for ''Babel - The Language Magazine'', for which he has also written articles.
Work
Crystal has authored, co-authored, and edited over 120 books on a wide variety of subjects, specialising among other things in editing reference works, including (as author) the ''Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language'' (1987, 1997, 2010) and the ''Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language'' (1995, 2003, 2019), and (as editor) the ''Cambridge Biographical Dictionary'', the ''Cambridge Factfinder'', the ''Cambridge Encyclopedia'', and the ''New Penguin Encyclopedia'' (2003).
He has also written plays and poetry.
He has published several books for the general reader about
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and the English language, which use varied graphics and short essays to communicate technical material in an accessible manner. In his article "What is Standard English", Crystal hypothesises that, globally, English will both split and converge, with local variants becoming less mutually comprehensible and therefore necessitating the rise of what he terms World Standard Spoken English (see also
International English).
In his 2004 book ''
The Stories of English'', a general history of the English language, he describes the value he sees in linguistic diversity and the according of respect to varieties of English generally considered "
non-standard".
In 2009 Routledge published his autobiographical memoir ''Just a Phrase I'm Going Through: My Life in Language'', which was released simultaneously with a DVD of three of his lectures.
His book ''Spell It Out: The Curious, Enthralling and Extraordinary Story of English Spelling'' (2013) explains why some English words are difficult to spell.
His companion book, ''Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation'' came out in 2015 from Profile Books (UK) and St. Martin's Press (USA).
Crystal is a proponent of a new field of study,
Internet linguistics, and has published ''Language and the Internet'' (2001) on the subject.
Crystal's book ''
Txtng: The Gr8 Db8'' (2008) focused on
text language and its impact on society.
From 2001 to 2006, Crystal served as the Chairman of Crystal Reference Systems Limited, a provider of reference content and Internet search and advertising technology. The company's iSense and Sitescreen products are based upon the patented Global Data Model, a complex
semantic network
A semantic network, or frame network is a knowledge base that represents semantic relations between concepts in a network. This is often used as a form of knowledge representation. It is a directed or undirected graph consisting of vertices, ...
that Crystal devised in the early 1980s and was adapted for use on the Internet in the mid 1990s. These include semantic targeting technology (marketed as iSense by ad pepper media) and brand protection technology (marketed as SiteScreen by Emediate ApS).
The iSense technology is the subject of patents in the United Kingdom and the United States. After the company's acquisition by Ad Pepper Media N.V., he remained on the board as its
R&D director until 2009.
Crystal was influential in a campaign to save Holyhead's
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...
from demolition, leading to the creation of the
Ucheldre Centre
The Ucheldre Centre is an arts centre located in Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales. Architecture
Formerly, it was the chapel building of Holyhead's Bon Sauveur order of nuns convent. The main hall of the Centre, with its imposing height and arched ro ...
.
Involvement in Shakespeare productions
As an expert on the
evolution of the English language, he was involved in the production of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
at
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...
in 2004 and 2005 in the "
Original Pronunciation
Shakespeare in Original Pronunciation (OP) is a movement dedicated to the examination and subsequent performance of Shakespeare's works in the phonology, or sound system, of Early Modern English.
Modern movement
In 2004, Shakespeare's Globe, in Lo ...
" of the period in which he was writing, coaching the actors on the appropriate pronunciation for the period, and has since been the consultant for several other Shakespeare plays performed in OP, including ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'', ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', ''
Macbeth'', ''
Pericles
Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelo ...
'', ''
The Merchant of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.
Although classified as ...
'', and ''
Henry V Henry V may refer to:
People
* Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026)
* Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125)
* Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161)
* Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227)
* Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1 ...
''.
The Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study o ...
, , 17 October 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
Bibliography
Books
*Crystal, David and Quirk, Randolph (1964). ''Systems of Prosodic and Paralinguistic Features in English''. The Hague: Mouton.
*Crystal, David (1965). ''Linguistics, Language and Religion''. London: Burns & Oates.
*Crystal, David (1968). ''What is Linguistics?''. London: Edward Arnold.
*Crystal, David and Davy, Derek (1969). ''Investigating English Style''. London: Longman.
*Crystal, David and Boulton, W.F. (eds.) (1969). ''The English Language: Essays by Linguists and Men of Letters, Vol. 2 1858-1964''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (1969). ''Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (1971). ''Linguistics''. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
*Crystal, David and Davy, Derek (1975). ''Advanced Conversational English''. London: Longman.
*Crystal, David (1975). ''The English Tone of Voice: Essays in Intonation, Prosody and Paralanguage''. London: Edward Arnold.
*Crystal, David, Fletcher, Paul and Garman, Michael (1976). ''The Grammatical Analysis of Language Disability: A Procedure for Assessment and Remediation''. London: Edward Arnold.
*Crystal, David (1976). ''Child Language, Learning and Linguistics''. London: Edward Arnold.
*Crystal, David (1979). ''Working with LARSP''. London: Edward Arnold.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (1980). ''Eric Partridge in His Own Words''. London: Deutsch.
*Crystal, David (1980). ''Introduction to Language Pathology''. London: Edward Arnold.
*Crystal, David (1981). ''Clinical Linguistics''. Vienna & New York: Springer.
*Crystal, David (1981). ''Directions in Applied Linguistics''. Academic Press.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (1982). ''Linguistic Controversies''. London: Edward Arnold.
*Crystal, David (1982). ''Profiling Linguistic Disability''. London: Edward Arnold.
*Crystal, David (1984). ''Who Cares About English Usage?''. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
*Crystal, David (1984). ''Linguistic Encounters with Language Handicap''. Oxford: Blackwell.
*Crystal, David (1986). ''Listen to Your Child: A Parent's Guide to Children's Language''. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
*Crystal, David (1988). ''The English Language''. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
*Crystal, David (1991). ''Making Sense of English Usage''. Edinburgh: Chambers
*Crystal, David (1991). ''Language A to Z with David Crystal: Key Stage 3: Pupil's Book 1''. London: Longman.
*Crystal, David (1991). ''Language A to Z with David Crystal: Key Stage 4: Pupil's Book 2''. London: Longman.
*Crystal, David (1991). ''Language A to Z with David Crystal: Teacher's Book for Stages 3 and 4''. London: Longman.
*Crystal, David (1992). ''Introducing Linguistics''. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (1992). ''Nineties Knowledge''. Edinburgh: Chambers.
*Crystal, David (1997). ''English as a Global Language''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (1998). ''Language Play''. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
*Crystal, David and Crystal, Hilary (2000). ''Words On Words: Quotations About Language and Languages''. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
* Crystal, David (2000). ''Language Death''. Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (2001). ''Language and the Internet''. Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (2004). ''The Language Revolution''. Cambridge: Polity Press
* Crystal, David (2004). ''
The Stories of English.'' London: Penguin / New York: Overlook Press.
*Crystal, David and Crystal, Ben (2005). ''The Shakespeare Miscellany''. London: Penguin.
* Crystal, David (2005). ''Pronouncing Shakespeare: The Globe Experiment.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (2006). ''Words Words Words''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Crystal, David (2006). ''By Hook or by Crook; A Journey in Search of English.'' London: HarperCollins. (Published in the US in 2009 as ''Walking English: A Journey in Search of Language)''
*Crystal, David (2006). ''As They Say in Zanzibar: Proverbial Wisdom from Around the World''. London: HarperCollins.
* Crystal, David (2006). ''The Fight for English.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Crystal, David (2006). ''How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die.'' London: Penguin.
*Crystal, David (2008). ''Txtng: The Gr8 Db8''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Crystal, David (2008). ''Think on my Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Language.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (2009). ''Just a Phrase I'm Going Through: My Life in Language''. London and New York: Routledge.
*Crystal, David (2009). ''John Bradburne on Love''. Holyhead: Holy Island Press
* Crystal, David (2010). ''A Little Book of Language.'' New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
*Crystal, David (2010). ''Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Facchinetti, Roberta, Crystal, Crystal and Seidlhofer, Barbara (eds.) (2010). ''From International to Local English – And Back Again''. Bern: Peter Lang.
*Crystal, David (2010). ''Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices. An Illustrated History of the English Language''. London: British Library.
*Crystal, David (2011). ''Internet Linguistics: A Student Guide.'' London: Routledge.
*Ball, Martin J, Crystal, David and Fletcher, Paul (eds.) (2011). ''Assessing Grammar: The Languages of LARSP''. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
*Crystal, David (2011). ''The Story of English in 100 Words''. London: Profile Books.
* Crystal, David (2012). ''Spell It Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling.'' London: Profile Books.
*Crystal, David and Crystal, Hilary (2013). ''Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist's Guide to Britain''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Crystal, David (2014). ''Words in Time and Place: Exploring Language Through the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Crystal, David and Crystal, Ben (2014). ''You Say Potato: A Book About Accents''. London: Macmillan.
* Crystal, David (2015). ''The Disappearing Dictionary: A Treasury of Lost English Dialect Words.'' London: Macmillan.
*Crystal, David (2015). ''Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation''. London: Profile Books.
*Ball, Martin J, Crystal, David and Fletcher, Paul (eds.) (2016). ''Profiling Grammar: More Languages of LARSP''. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
*Crystal, David (2016). ''The Unbelievable Hamlet Discovery''. Holyhead: Crystal Books.
*Crystal, David (2016). ''The Gift of the Gab: How Eloquence Works''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
* Crystal, David (2017). ''Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar.'' London: Profile Books.
*Crystal, David (2017). ''The Story of Be: A Verb's-Eye View of the English Language''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Crystal, David (2017). ''A Life Made of Words: the Poetry and Thought of John Bradburne''. Holyhead: Crystal Books.
*Crystal, David (2017). ''We Are Not Amused: Victorian Views on Pronunciation as Told in the Pages of Punch''. Oxford: Bodleian Library Publishing.
*Crystal, David (2018). ''Sounds Appealing: The Passionate Story of English Pronunciation''. London: Profile Books.
*Ball, Martin J, Fletcher, Paul and Crystal, David, eds. (2019). ''Grammatical Profiles: Further Languages of LARSP''. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Reference works
* Crystal, David (1980). ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. London: Deutsch (Subsequent editions published by Blackwells as ''A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics)''
*Crystal, David (1987). ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (1988). ''Rediscover Grammar''. London: Longman.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (1992). ''The Cambridge Concise Encyclopedia''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Crystal, David (1992). ''An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Language and Languages''. Oxford: Blackwell. (Subsequently, published by Penguin, with the 2nd ed. titled ''The Penguin Dictionary of Language'')
*Crystal, David (ed.) (1993). ''The Cambridge Paperback Encyclopedia''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (1993). ''The Cambridge Factfinder''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (1994). ''The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*
*Crystal, David (1996). ''Discover Grammar''. London: Longman.
* Crystal, David (1996). ''The Cambridge Biographical Dictionary''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2002). ''The New Penguin Encyclopedia''. London: Penguin.
* Crystal, David and Crystal, Ben (2002). ''Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion.'' London: Penguin.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2003). ''The Penguin Concise Encyclopedia''. London: Penguin.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2003). ''The New Penguin Factfinder''. London: Penguin.
*Crystal, David (2004). ''Making Sense of Grammar''. London: Pearson Longman.
*Crystal, David (2004). ''A Glossary of Netspeak and Textspeak''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
*Crystal, David (2004). ''The Penguin Book of Facts''. London: Penguin.
*
* Crystal, David (2005). ''Penguin Pocket Spelling Dictionary''. London: Penguin Reference.
* Crystal, David (2005). ''Dr Johnson's Dictionary: an Anthology''. London: Penguin Classics.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2005). ''The Penguin Concise Encyclopedia''. London: Penguin Reference.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2005). ''Pocket Quotations''. London: Penguin Reference.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2005). ''Pocket Facts''. London: Penguin Reference.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2006). ''Penguin Pocket On This Day''. London: Penguin Reference.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2006). ''Penguin Pocket Kings and Queens''. London: Penguin Reference.
*Crystal, David (ed.) (2006). ''Penguin Pocket Famous People''. London: Penguin Reference.
* Fowler, H.W., Crystal, David (ed.) (2009). ''Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Reprint of 1926 1st ed.)
* Crystal, David and Crystal, Ben (2015). ''Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Crystal, David (2016). ''The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Critical studies and reviews
* Review of ''The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language''.
References
External links
*
Danny Yee's Book Reviews: David Crystal's books*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crystal, David
1941 births
Living people
Academics of Bangor University
Alumni of University College London
Applied linguists
Linguists from the United Kingdom
British non-fiction writers
Shakespearean scholars
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Fellows of the British Academy
Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales
People from Anglesey
People from Holyhead
People from Lisburn
Fellows of the Chartered Institute of Linguists
People educated at St Mary's College, Crosby
British Roman Catholics
English male dramatists and playwrights
British people of Jewish descent
Male non-fiction writers