The Language Revolution / Edition 1

by David Crystal

Overview

We are living through the consequences of a linguistic revolution. Dramatic linguistic change has left us at the beginning of a new era in the evolution of human language, with repercussions for many individual languages.

In this book, David Crystal, one of the world’s authorities on language, brings together for the first time the three major trends which he argues have fundamentally altered the world’s linguistic ecology: first, the emergence of English as the world’s first truly global language; second, the crisis facing huge numbers of languages which are currently endangered or dying; and, third, the radical effect on language of the arrival of Internet technology.

Examining the interrelationships between these topics, Crystal encounters a vision of a linguistic future which is radically different from what has existed in the past, and which will make us revise many cherished concepts relating to the way we think about and work with languages. Everyone is affected by this linguistic revolution.

The Language Revolution will be essential reading for anyone interested in language and communication in the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745633138
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	03/12/2004
Series:	Themes for the 21st Century
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.04(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

David Crystal is Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor.

Table of Contents

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

Introduction A new linguistic world.

Chapter 1 The future of Englishes.

Chapter 2 The future of languages.

Chapter 3 The role of the Internet.

Chapter 4 After the revolution.

Chapter 5 Language themes for the twenty-first century.

Notes.

Index