ABSTRACT
: Lynne Murphy had her own impact agenda before the Powers That Be started defining impact as part of research assessment. This chapter gives a personal account of motivations for being a 'Linguist at Large'-one who interacts with the public in order to introduce information and tools for thinking about linguistic issues that are important to people outside the academy. This kind of public profile has demonstrable impact, but it can be challenging to relate it to specific research outputs, as defined by the UK Research Excellence Framework. This case study provides a personal cost-benefit analysis of being a 'public linguist' and taking part in the impact machinery, with some desiderata for future impact exercises
