Several of us linguists at that time would record our own kids, just to get some data. There was some literature on it then, but no day-by-day, blow-by-blow examples. I recorded all my children over the years in some shape or form. It's what linguists do. 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.

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

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

Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood.

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.

The story of English spelling is the story of thousands of people - some well-known, most totally unknown - who left a permanent linguistic fingerprint on our orthography.

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