Speech Communities

Speech Communities
1. Introduction
Language is both an individual possession and a social possession. We would expect,
therefore, that certain individuals would behave linguistically like other individuals: they
might be said to speak the same language or the same dialect or the same variety.
2. Definition
Lyons (1970, p. 326) offers a definition of what he calls a real speech community:
all the people who use a given language (or dialect). However, that really shifts the issue
to making the definition of a language (or of a dialect) also the definition of a speech
community. If speech communities are defined solely by their linguistic characteristics, we
must acknowledge the inherent circularity of any such definition in that language itself is a
communal possession. Giles, Scherer, and Taylor (1979, p. 351) say:
through speech markers functionally important social categorizations are

discriminated, and . . . these have important implications for social organization. For
humans, speech markers have clear parallels . . . it is evident that social categories of
age, sex, ethnicity, social class, and situation can be clearly marked on the basis of
speech, and that such categorization is fundamental to social organization even
though many of the categories are also easily discriminated on other bases
3. Intersecting Communities
The fact that people do use expressions such as New York speech, London speech, and
South African speech indicates that they have some idea of how typical person from each
place speaks, that is, of what it is like to be a member of a particular speech community
somewhat loosely defined. Such a person may be said to be typical by virtue of observing
the linguistic norms one associates with the particular place in question.
Preston in Wardhaugh, shows that a persons perceptions of the language
characteristics of particular areas do not always accord with linguistic facts. Rosen in
Wardhaugh, has also indicated some of the problems you find in trying to call a city like
London a speech community and in describing exactly what characterizes its speech.
We can easily see how difficult it is to relate the concept of speech community
directly to language or languages spoken and even to groups and norms. In that situation,
which requires one to take as a marriage partner someone who speaks an entirely different
language and furthermore requires the female to join the males household, multilingualism
is endemic and normal.
However, each residential community has its unique multilingual mix and no
language equates in distribution to a specific residential community. Such a situation is not
unique. Many other parts of the world would have some of the same multilingual
characteristics.
4. Networks and Repertoires

Dubois and Horvath (1999, p. 307) acknowledge that while the concept of social
networks seems to be useful in studying language behavior in urban settings, its
effectiveness in nonurban settings, in their case among English French bilingual Cajuns in
rural Louisiana, is not so clear.
An individual also has a speech repertoire; that is, he or she controls a number of
varieties of a language or of two or more languages. Quite often, many individuals will have
virtually identical repertoires.
We have seen that speech community may be an impossibly difficult concept to

define. But in attempting to do so, we have also become aware that it may be just as difficult
to characterize the speech of a single individual. Perhaps that second failure follows
inevitably from the first. We should be very cautious therefore about definitive statements
we may be tempted to make about how a particular individual speaks, the classic concept of
idiolect.
5. Questions
a. What are the weakness and the strength of Speech Communities

Answer : weakness are, we will forget our mother tongue, we will be feeling arrogant, and
not all people can understand what we are talking about. The strengths are, we can
communicate with people having different language (if we can speak their
language), and we can get more knowledge.
b. Whats the problem that you get from speech communities ?

Answer : not all people are tolerant each other. And when a certain community speaks in
their language, there is possibility that other communities mock their speak
communities. and there is no respect each other, it seems like discrimination
c. What is multilingual characteristics ?

Answer : multilingual characteristics means certain communities speaking more than two
language have different characteristics.
d. What does mean an individual has a speech repertoire ?

Answer : repertoire is language and its variations had and mastered by its native speakers.
Everyone masters and uses many variations of their mother tongue known and
used by them in community, job, and their business.
6. Conclusion
Language is a system, it means that language is formed by patterned component
permanently and can be verified. Language is also a tool that can be used to interact used by
certain communities to communicate each other. Speech communities can be happened
between a group using same language and different language, with provision among them
that is, understanding each other.
7. Suggestion
As a part of community, we cannot judge other speech community just because we
interpret their language is bad. We actually do not know what their languages mean, so as a
English Education Department students, we need to more tolerant their language if they still
use their language in their community.

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Speech Communities

through speech markers functionally important social categorizations are

4. Networks and Repertoires

We have seen that speech community may be an impossibly difficult concept to

a. What are the weakness and the strength of Speech Communities

b. Whats the problem that you get from speech communities ?

c. What is multilingual characteristics ?

d. What does mean an individual has a speech repertoire ?

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