David Crystal

Over the last 50 years or so, we have seen an increasing cultural diversification across the country. Accents are a reflection of society, and as society changes, so accents change. ”

You can say now, 'I dissed him' - to diss, I dissed him - or, 'Stop dissing her'. And that's the interesting thing, that it's the prefix that's become the verb! It's a most remarkable development. ”

How do you spell the name of the Irish prime minister? It sounds like 'teeshuck', but we spell it 'taoiseach.' We respect foreign spellings these days - a sign of our more egalitarian times, perhaps. ”

I don't have any particular desire to see words making a comeback. They are of their era, after all, and that is their identity - they form part of the linguistic color of a period. ”

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. ”

At the same time we overlap, because, I do linguistics, and Ben did a first degree in Linguistics at Lancaster University, so he knows some of my subject. ”

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

The one thing about internet language, people join it, and what quickly evolves is an 'internet dialect,' as it were. ”

Online, you show how brilliant you are by manipulating the language of the Internet. ”

What turns teenagers on more than the Internet these days? If you can get a language out there, the youngsters are much more likely to think it's cool. ”