Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1 Being a linguist
Panel 1 Linguist as detective
Chapter 2 A semilingual start
Panel 2 Linguist as historian
Chapter 3 New worlds
Panel 3 Linguist as musician
Panel 4 Linguist as actor
Chapter 4 Liverpool school
Panel 5a Linguist as reader...
Panel 5b ... and entrepreneur
Panel 6 Linguist as fieldworker
Chapter 5 Extra-curricular acts
Panel 7 Linguist as editor
Chapter 6 Learning, and not learning, about language
Panel 8 Linguist as couturier
Panel 9 Linguist as quantity surveyor
Chapter 7 Becoming academic
Panel 10 Linguist as phonetician
Chapter 8 Surveying
Panel 11 Linguist as doctor
Chapter 9 Worlds within worlds
Panel 12 Linguist as dancer
Chapter 10 Becoming professional
Panel 13 Linguist as foul-mouth
Chapter 11 The sexy subject
Panel 14 Linguist as lexicographer
Panel 15 Linguist as revolutionary
Chapter 12 Meeting a need
Panel 16 Linguist as tease
Chapter 13 Choices and consequences
Panel 17 Linguist as grammarian
Chapter 14 Meetings and meetings
Panel 18 Linguist as (failed) speech therapist
Chapter 15 Looking for remedies
Panel 19 Linguist as interviewer
Chapter 16 Why did you resign?
Panel 20 Linguist as indexer
Chapter 17 The encyclopedia game
Panel 21 Linguist as spymaster
Chapter 18 Schizoid man
Panel 22 Linguist as plant
Chapter 19 Busyness and business
Panel 23 Linguist as voice-counsellor
Epilogue
Biography
David Crystal received an OBE for services to the English language in 1995, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2000. He is patron of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and the Association for Language Learning (ALL). Having published over 100 books, covering a diversity of language topics, his most recent publications include Txtng: the gr8 db8 (2008) and Thinking on my Words: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language (2008). He has been a freelance writer, lecturer, and broadcaster since 1984 and continues his work with language from his home in Holyhead, North Wales.
'David Crystal loves and appreciates every word he speaks, and every word written in this book helps us to understand someone who is not just a great linguist, but a true champion and lover of language.' – Benjamin Zephaniah
'This memoir is enjoyable for many reasons. David Crystal's writings on linguistics have covered a wide range, and never fail to be readable and full of fascination for the general reader... it is a clear and modest account of a good and useful life.' – Philip Pullman
'Just A Phrase I'm Going Through is an engaging, can’t-put-it down hybrid of autobiography, suspense, humour, scientific writing, narrative, and even a bit of trivia. As an introductory linguistics text or leisure reading selection, it addresses the kinds of language-based questions that emerge literally everywhere and that pique the curiosity of linguists and non-linguists alike--transmitted to us through the wonderful wit, style, and personal perspective of David Crystal.' – Susan Strauss, Pennsylvania State University, USA
‘David Crystal, the UK’s Linguist-at-Large, starts his autobiography Just a Phrase I’m Going Through right off in Chapter 1 by summing up what it means to be a linguist. He does such a good job that every linguist in the world will go yessing through this chapter, and copy it on the sly to pass out to their students who ask what linguistics is really all about.' – John Lawler, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
'David Crystal has a magic narrative touch. His talent is to make the sometimes abstruse subject matter of linguistics relevant to everybody’s lives. Now he shows how the study of language has played out in his own life. In this captivating professional autobiography he intertwines linguistic insights with his own personal and professional story, demonstrating what he has always told us so eloquently: that neither life nor language can be understood without the other.' – Guy Cook, The Open University, UK
'The book is a delight to read. It’s beautifully written, witty, entertaining and profoundly reflective on matters of language and life. If anyone needs persuading how and why language is central to our lives and can be both serious and fun, it is here.' – Ronald Carter, University of Nottingham, UK
'Far from being a dusty academic trawl,[this] is a vigorous and diverting account of a singular life.' – Manchester Evening News, 30th May 2009
