FIRST of all, I just want to express my gratitude for this platform — this column — for allowing me to have a dialogue not only with more linguists but also with the general public regarding language, linguistics and even academic concerns. I am sometimes surprised by who gets to read this column, but I am, of course, always thankful because through it, I am able to reach out to linguists and laypeople of various persuasions. Some of them share my column or comment on it on social media. By reading their comments and captions when they share the column, I am able to get their reaction to what I have written and, in the process, have a dialogue with them.

Last week, my dear friend Dr. Shirley Dita of De La Salle University shared my Jan. 5 column on my proposed language and linguistics agenda for the Philippines for 2025. She has a much wider network than I do, so when she shared my column, it got reshared more than a hundred times. One caption accompanying a repost caught my attention. I will not quote it verbatim here, but, in essence, the person who shared my column worries that research that is obsessed only with theory remains locked up in academia and not rooted in social issues and is antithetical to the progress of inclusive and mass-oriented discourses on language.