Linguistic legend Professor David Crystal visits campus

On 3 October we were delighted to host the distinguished linguist, Professor David Crystal, for talks at the Radcliffe Centre on ‘Sounds Appealing’ and ‘Grammar Rules’. Crystal, a Fellow of the British Academy, is nonetheless a great popularizer, with his famous books with punning titles: Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar, and Making a Point: the Pernickety Story of English Punctuation. Here, with this deep voice and bushy beard, he enthralled a mixed audience of undergraduates, staff, and school students, particularly with his extraordinary capacity for mimicry, everything from the Queen’s accent through to a broad and distinct Brummie.

Those interested in Crystal’s work on OP (the ‘Original Pronunciation’ in which Shakespeare’s plays were spoken) can find lots of material on the web – just put ‘David Crystal Original Pronunciation’ into Google. These were magnificent talks thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.