The talk explores the internet as a linguistic revolution, taking illustrations from its six major domains: e-mail, the World Wide Web, chat groups, virtual worlds, blogs, and instant messaging.  It also describes how the internet is increasingly being used by languages other than English.

David Crystal is Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor and a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster.  He has written numerous books but is perhaps best known for his two encyclopedias, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.  Recent books include A Little Book of Language (2010) and a linguistic autobiography, Just a Phrase I'm Going Through (2009).

He is currently patron of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and the Association for Language Learning (ALL), president of the UK National Literacy Association, and an honorary vice-president of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the Institute of Linguists, and the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. 

This year's BIRTHA lecture, Internet Linguistics, takes place on Monday 18 October at 6pm in the Pugsley Theatre, Queen's Building, University of Bristol.