Language changes and moves in a different direction evolving all the time. Where a lot of people see deterioration, I see expressive development

A feature of English that makes it different compared with all other languages is its global spread.

Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster.

Text messaging is just the most recent focus of people's anxiety; what people are really worried about is a new generation gaining control of what they see as their language.

Language itself changes slowly but the internet has speeded up the process of those changes so you notice them more quickly.

English has been this vacuum cleaner of a language, because of its history meeting up with the Romans and then the Danes, the Vikings and then the French and then the Renaissance with all the Latin and Greek and Hebrew in the background.

Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument.