Distinguished friends

The rich and ever-evolving diversity of accents and dialects in Britain has been hugely enriched as a result of immigration. A linguistic dimension in the Migration Museum will provide an ideal opportunity to give public recognition to the way migration has influenced, and continues to influence, the development of the English language.

David Crystal

Professor David Crystal OBE works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster.

Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1941, David spent his early years in Holyhead. His family moved to Liverpool in 1951, and he received his secondary schooling at St Mary’s College. He read English at University College London (1959–62), specialised in English language studies, did some research there at the Survey of English Usage under Randolph Quirk (1962–3), then joined academic life as a lecturer in linguistics, first at Bangor, then at Reading, where he was professor of linguistics (1975–84).

David published the first of his 100 or so books in 1964, and became known chiefly for his research work in English language studies, in such fields as intonation, stylistics, and Shakespeare, and in the application of linguistics to religious, educational, clinical, and internet contexts. Major works of particular relevance to the Migration Museum Project include The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (3rd edn 2010) and Language Death (2000). He is now Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor.

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