Reviewer’s letter to TLS, September 14, 2007:

Sir, – In my review of David Crystal’s How Language Works (July 20), the word ‘linguist’ was replaced by ‘linguistician’ throughout, without my permission. ‘Linguistician’ is a term which I would never use myself. People who do linguistics are known as linguists. In the review I used the phrase ‘linguistic researchers’ in the first sentence to make clear what sort of linguist I was referring to (since ‘linguist’ can also mean someone skilled in foreign languages).

Jennifer Coats, Department of English Language & Linguistics, Roehampton University, London SW15