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The aim of linguistics is to go beyond the study of individual languages to determine what the universal properties of language are, and to establish a ‘universal grammar’ that would account for the range of linguistic variation that is humanly possible.

— David Crystal

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More quotes by David Crystal

The only languages that do not change are dead ones.

There is little scientific data on the point, but evidently people do speak to themselves.

The main metaphor that is used to explain the historical relationship is that of the language family or family tree.

Fluency [is] smooth, rapid, effortless use of language.

Pragmatics studies the factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction and the effects of our choice on others.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: David Crystal (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.