Just A Phrase I'm Going Through

'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

'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. Those qualities of clear exposition and an easy, engaging style are fully present in this account of his life as a linguist, both in the academy and in the world of independent scholarship. The story of his growing intellectual fascination with the subject of language is absorbing in itself, and the way in which the author understands instinctively that his specialist knowledge ought to be put to work in the world, in the field of education, for instance, and speech therapy, is very attractive. In a better world he would have been able to remain in the university system and do his work from that base, but times are against that sort of humane understanding, and I felt with the author every step of the way as he describes his determination to find a way of working outside it. In short, I enjoyed this very much: it is a clear and modest account of a good and useful life.' – Philip Pullman

'Reading David Crystal’s autobiography is like going on a discovery journey, where his multifaceted professional experiences mingle with the profound human side and memories. The all-pervading curiosity for language(s) in all its diverse aspects is like a red thread which, together with Crystal’s wit and story-telling skills, continuously reveals the magic of encountering and investigating the ever-new kaleidoscope of language – sounds, words, identity, change - and of its applications - learning, teaching and therapy. The reader is totally involved in this fascinating synaesthesic journey, accompanied by the author in an all-round experience and reflection. The passion and intensity of the ‘many phrases’ lived through can thus be contagious – "there seems to be no end to the opportunities of being a linguist", or a "master of words".' – Paola Vettorel, University of Verona, Italy

'Just A Phrase I'm Going Through is an engaging, well-written hybrid of autobiography, suspense, humour, scientific writing, narrative, and even a bit of trivia. It is a piece that will serve multiple purposes: an introductory linguistics text, fact-filled readings presented in a can’t-put-it-down style of writing, and an exciting overview of the field that would interest both the specialist and the general reader. For linguists, it is precisely the kind of text that answers the questions that we all have heard from family, friends, and even strangers (on planes, in elevators, at the doctor’s office):

"What’s linguistics?" and "What do linguists do." Most importantly, it addresses the nature of linguistic questions that emerge literally everywhere, in a way that reflects the joy and passion that we linguists have for language – transmitted to us through the wonderful wit, style, and personal perspective of David Crystal.

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, author of the indispensable Cambridge Encyclopedias (of Language and of the English Language) and much much more, 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.

Then he goes on to lay out his linguistic life and times in as charming and readable a form as I’ve ever seen, explaining how he went, all unwitting, from being a schoolboy in Wales to having his books and lectures on the bookshelves and hard disks of practically every library and schoolroom in the Anglophone world.

I’ve never met Dr. Crystal in person, but now I’ve read this book and seen its companion lecture series, he seems like an old friend I’d enjoy sharing a pint with. You’ll feel the same.' – 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. He has done more than anyone to win the discipline the attention and popularity it deserves. 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

'Academic researcher, editor, broadcaster, lecturer, consultant, and now language auto-biographer, David Crystal is simply a unique phenomenon who is constantly breaking new ground. No-one has done more to make the study of language accessible or to show the multiple ways in which linguistics can be applied in the real world. 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, [the book] is a vigorous and diverting account of a singular life.' – Manchester Evening News

'It is a funny, life-affirming account of Crystal's life as a linguist, full of great little anecdotes and thought-provoking nuggets of information.' – The Press

'All in all, this is an enjoyable book which is likley to make you want to seek out some of Crystal's extremely readable and engaging books about language.' – The Westmorland Gazette

'Crystal has pursued words all around the world and this is just as much an introduction to the study that has animated him all those years as a portrait of the years themselves. Astute, amusing and accessible.' – The Age

"Just a Phrase I'm Going Through: Life in Language is a pick for both college-level linguistics collections and anyone interested in his involvement with language. It blends autobiography with reflections on language's evolution and meaning and will be a top pick for any library strong in either lingustics or David Crystal's prior books on language."- The Midwest Book Review

"Crystal’s story will engage anyone with even just a passing awareness of linguistics, while also sustaining the reader’s interest in following the diverse and changing identities of its ebullient author." -ELT Journal