The Internet offers endangered languages a chance to have a public voice in a way that would not have been possible before.
David CrystalRead
Every usage, no matter how bizarre or nonstandard, fascinates me, as it tells me something about the way language is evolving.
Interpretation
Language evolves over time, and every unique usage reveals insights into this evolution.
David Crystal expresses his fascination with the diverse and unconventional ways language is used. He believes that each instance of unique or nonstandard language offers important clues about the progress and changes in linguistic expression, reflecting how society and culture influence communication.
In practice
In a lecture about linguistic dynamics, one might say, 'As David Crystal noted, every usage, no matter how bizarre or nonstandard, fascinates me.'
The Internet offers endangered languages a chance to have a public voice in a way that would not have been possible before.
The main effect of the Internet on language has been to increase the expressive richness of language, providing the language with a new set of communicative dimensions that haven't existed in the past.
Bilingualism lets you have your cake and eat it. The new language opens the doors to the best jobs in society; the old language allows you to keep your sense of 'who you are.' It preserves your identity. With two languages, you have the best of both worlds.
Language has no independent existence apart from the people who use it. It is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end of understanding who you are and what society is like.
Enshrined in a language is the whole of a community's history and a large part of its cultural identity. The world is a mosaic of visions. To lose even one piece of this mosaic is a loss for all of us.
Likewise, there is no evidence that texting teaches people to spell badly: rather, research shows that those kids who text frequently are more likely to be the most literate and the best spellers, because you have to know how to manipulate language.
That is the logical tight-rope on which we have to walk if we wish to interpret nature.
It is hard to think of practical applications of the black hole. Because practical applications are so remote, many people assume we should not be interested. But this quest to understand the world is what defines us as human beings.
Black holes, we all know, are these regions where if an object falls in, it can't get out, but the puzzle that many struggled with over the decades is, what happens to the information that an object contains when it falls into a black hole. Is it simply lost?
Every discovery opens a new field for investigation of facts, shows us the imperfection of our theories. It has justly been said, that the greater the circle of light, the greater the boundary of darkness by which it is surrounded.
Right now, there could well be messages from the stars flying right through this room. Through you and me. And if we had the right receiver set up properly, we could detect them. I still get chills thinking about it.
Whoever, in the pursuit of science, seeks after immediate practical utility, may generally rest assured that he will seek in vain.
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