Q+A with DC

David Crystal needs no introduction to most English Language students. He is the public (and copiously bearded) face of English language study and the go-to man for any language issue. We're delighted to have him appearing again at the emagazine English Language conference and even more chuffed to be able to say that you can submit your own questions to the man himself as part of the Q+A session in the afternoon.

So, if you are wondering about texting and how it's affecting our language skills, you could ask him about that (as he talked about on BBC's It's Only a Theory)...

If you're a bit upset about the poor apostrophe that's lost its job at Waterstones, you could ask him about that (as he explains about here and in this clip from Newesnight)...

Or maybe you're interested in how English became a global language and want to find out how it happened, as he explains here...

 

All language issues are fair game and you can find out more about where to send your questions on the conference homepage.

It's criminal!

One of the highlights of the forthcoming emagazine conference is the appearance of Tim Grant, Director of the Centre for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University. Forensic linguistics is a rapidly growing area of language study in which the tools of textual analysis are applied to solving crimes.


In this clip from the BBC Crimewatch website you can see Tim explaining more about what forensic linguistics is, how it's used and some of the cases his centre has been involved in solving.Tim is also featured in this longer interview on You Tube, which is well worth a watch. Tim's Forensic Linguistics blog is a good read and full of links to recent cases where linguistic evidence has played a part, including the accusations of racial abuse against footballer, Luis Suarez and whether you can disguise your language style to avoid detection. You can find it here.

Inspired by forensic linguistics, this blog will also be running a Crimebusters competition in the build-up to the March conference. Each week we will present you with a new language clue and ask you to piece together the evidence as it emerges to work out which of the suspects has been up to no good. The first Crimebusters post will appear in two weeks and we're even offering prizes to the first teams of linguistic sleuths who can crack the crime.