Table of Contents

List of cartoons
1: The Hype About Texting
2: How Weird is Texting?
3: What is Distinctive About it?
4: Why do They do it?
5: Who Texts?
6: What do They Text About?
7: How do Other Languages do it?
8: Why all the Fuss?
Glossary
Appendix
Index

About the Author

David Crystal is honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He has written or edited over 100 books and published numerous articles for scholarly, professional, and general readerships, in fields ranging from forensic linguistics and ELT to the liturgy and Shakespeare. His books include the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd edn 1997), the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (2nd edn 2003), Words,
Words, Words (OUP 2006), and The Fight for English (OUP 2006).

Reviews

`A fun trot through little-mapped territory.'
Tom Lamont, The Observer
`Review from previous edition Crystal has a gift for explication and a wonderful eye for illustrative example.'
New Statesman.
`It's a work that needed to be written. It's wholely persuasuve in its arguments.'
Marcus Berkmann, Sunday Times
`Wise, engagingly written, informative book.'
James Delingpole. Daily Mail.
`David is a sophisticated, open-minded tour guide.'
Lloyd Evans. Spectator.
`He combines an extraordinary knowledge of linguistics with a gift for popularizing.'
TLS.
`A highly consumable work of pop linguistics.'
Los Angeles Times
`Excellent. Crystal presents a compelling argument in favour of texting as a force for linguistic ability.'
Melissa Katsoulis, The Times