Kate Burridge is Professor of Linguistics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University and a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She is a regular presenter of language segments on radio and appears weekly as a panelist on ABC TV's Can We Help. She has written or edited seventeen books.
Linguistic Change: From Manuscript to Internet
(Years 11 and 12 seminars)
Language change does not occur at a constant rate. As the history of English shows, there are times of speeding up and of slowing down. When reading and writing became educational necessities, this had the effect of retarding, even reversing, normal processes of change. These days, however, writing no longer has the same hold on our minds and changes that have been lurking in the wings now have a far greater chance of taking hold.
Click here to visit Kate's website.