@ 14:30
A third of the seven billion people in the world speak English, with just 400 million of them as a first language. There have been sixty to seventy new Englishes that have emerged in the last fifty years alone, and the ‘lingua franca’ in Europe is emerging as another English too. For sure. Can the world’s most acquisitive and adaptable communications tool just keep growing?
A talk for Hay Festival
Baillie Gifford Stage
@ 11:00
David Crystal talks about English accents
A talk for Swaledale Festival
Reeth Congregational Church, DL11 6TE
Three-day conference, Boarbank Hall
Boarbank Hall, Allithwaite, Grange over Sands, Cumbria, LA11 7NH
What are the consequences of the global status of English for the future development of the language? The talk reviews the relevant statistics, the historical reasons for the language's present position, and the trends which are affecting English world-wide, especially in relation to cultural diversity.
A talk for Better Learning Conference, Cambridge University Press
Robinson College, Grange Road, Cambridge, CB3 9AN, UK
@ 17:00
A talk for the international conference
Catholicism, Literature, and the Arts II: Legacies and Revivals
St Chad's College Chapel, Durham