David Crystal, the world renowned expert and public speaker on the English language, will be in Malta in late January at the invitation of the English-Speaking Union of Malta.

He will be holding three public talks on January 26 in the morning at the University of Malta (Gateway Building Hall E) and on January 26 and 27 at 6 p.m. at the St James Cavalier Theatre in Valletta.

Prof. Crystal has become chiefly known for his research work in English language studies, in such fields as intonation and stylistics and in the application of linguistics to religious, educational and clinical contexts, notably in the development of a range of linguistic profiling techniques for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

He held a chair at the University of Reading for 10 years and is now honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales.

His authored works – many of which are set-books in Malta – are mainly in the field of language, including several Penguin books. But he is perhaps best known for his two encyclopedias for Cambridge University Press: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.

Recent books include A Little Book of Language and Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language and a linguistic autobiography, Just a Phrase I’m Going Through.

His books on English phonetics and phonology include Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English and The English Tone of Voice.

Further details about the subjects of Prof. Crystal’s three public talks while in Malta will be announced later.