Speech Communities 2

Mary Joy Jagonia
MELL- 2
Language is both an individual possession
and social possession.
“The linguistic behavior of individuals cannot
be understood without knowledge of the
communities they belong to.” - Labov
Definitions
Group- a number of people or things that are
considered or classed together.
- A number of people who are connected by
some shared activity, interest or quality.
- Merriam Webster
Must have at least two members.
People group together for one or more reasons.
Groups maybe temporary or quasi-permanent.
GROUP
Importance of membership may vary among individuals.
The organization might be tight or loose.
Members may come or go.
Members may also belong to other groups.
SPEECH
► As a theoretical construct, it is thought to be ideal,
completely homogeneous (Chomsky).
► Real speech community- All the people who use
a given language or dialect (Lyon).
Study of Speech Community
-entails knowing its members’ linguistic
characteristics and other characteristics which
could be cultural, social, political, and ethnic to
name a few, collectively called
SPEECH MARKERS.
Labov’s definition of
SPEECH COMMUNITY
The speech community is not defined by any
marked agreement in the use of language
elements, so much as by participation
in a set of shared norms; these norms
may be observed in overt types of
evaluative behavior,
and by the uniformity of abstract patterns
of which are invariant in respect to
particular levels of usage.
Single Language/ Single Variety
Criterion
The single language/ single variety
criterion is dubious. The requirement
that “all members of the speech
community must speak the same
language” disregards the fact that in
many societies bilingualism or
multilingualism exists. And this is
deemed normal.
Linguistic
A social group which may be either monolingual
or multilingual, held together by frequency of
social interaction patterns and set off the
surrounding areas by weaknesses in the lines of
communication. Linguistic communities may
consist of small groups bound together by
face-to-face contact or may cover large regions.
- Gumperz
Other definitions of
Speech Community
► A speech community is a group of people who interact by
means of speech. A group or community should be defined
not only by what it is but also what is not. - Bloomfield
► Any human aggregate characterized by regular and frequent
interaction by means of a shared body of verbal signs and
set off from similar aggregates by significant differences in language
usage. – Gumperz
► A local unit characterized for its members by common locality
and primary interaction. – Reaffirmed by Hymes
Hymes points out that speech communities
cannot be defined solely through the use of
linguistic criteria. The way in which the people
view the language they speak is also
important. The rules of using a language
may be as important as feelings about the
language itself.
Speech
Morgan-
“ For any speech community, the concept reflects
what people do and know when they interact with
one another. It assumes that when people come
together through discursive practices, they behave
as though they operate within a shared set of
norms, local knowledge, beliefs, and values.”
Intersecting Communities
Rosen claims that cities cannot be
thought of as a linguistic
patchwork maps because:
1. languages and dialects have
no simple geographical
distribution and
2. interaction between them
blurs whatever boundaries
might be drawn .
Urbanization is a great
“ERODER”of linguistic frontiers.
Bolinger
There is no limit to the ways in which human beings
league themselves together for self-identification,
security, gain, amusement, worship, or any other
purposes that are held in common; consequently,
there is no limit to the number and variety of speech
communities that are to be found in the society.
Community of Practice
Community of Practice is an aggregate of people
who come together around mutual engagements
in some common endeavor.
Ways of doing things, ways of talking,
beliefs, values, power relations, in short, practices-
emerge in the course of their joint
activity around that endeavor.
- Eckert and McConnell-Ginet
Networks
Dense
Loose
Multiplex
Network Relationships
Speech Repertoire
Platt and Platt defines speech
repertoire as, “ a range of
linguistic varieties which the
speaker has at his disposal and
which he may appropriately use
as a member of his speech
community.”
• Linguistic varieties
Speech utilized by a
Repertoire speech community
• Linguistic
Verbal varieties which
Repertoire are at a particular
speaker’s disposal

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Mary Joy Jagonia

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