Speech Community

speech community develop your speech skills

1. SPEECH COMMUNITY H.M.C.D.HERATH Trincomalee campus, Eastern university, Sri lanka . 1

2. CONTENT Introduction -Key terms Definitions of speech community Role of a single person within/out side the speech community How do we measure an individual’s participation in the social group/speech community? Sociolinguistics Group Social network Internal/external language Five key elements for the speech community Intersecting communities Network relationship Language variation conclusion 2

3. Language is both an individual possession and social possession. Speech community is hard to define because it is not a true definition. The kind of group that sociolinguistics attempt to study is called speech community. 3

4. “ A group of people with a shared set of activities,practices,beliefs and social structure” Community 4

5. A speech community “ A group of people w ho share similar ideas, uses and norms of language ” 5

6. Language variety “Refer to a set of communicative forms and norms for their use that are restricted to a particular group, community or activities” 6

7. DEFINITIONS 7

8. Lyons (1970): " All people who   use a give language  or dialect“ Labov (1972 ): " 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 variation which are invariant in respect to particular levels of usage” Gumperz (1971): " A social group which may be either monolingual or multilingual, held together by  frequency of social interaction  and set off from the surrounding areas by weaknesses in the lines of communication" 8

9. We want to pay attention to the use of the vernacular when establishing the role of a single person within/outside the speech community. By looking at extreme, we can define the core of the group Interlopers  - people who move to a new dialect area .  How well do they fit in? Depends on their age, ability, motivation/desire 9

10. Insiders  - people at the very core of the social group .  They're highly integrated, involved in the group, but not necessarily group leaders. They are the leading force of spreading linguistic change. Outsiders   - they are not part of the mainstream , isolated, considered uncool .  Also called 'lames '. Tend to be linguistically conservative, don't use slang, don't use vernacular -- less 'local'-sounding. .   10

11. Aspirers   - social ambitions beyond the "immediate domain" (the local group ).  Tend to be more standard.   11

12. 1)  Social Network Analysis emphasizes the individual's place within a social network to seek to account for the variability in individual linguistic behavior rather than large scale characterization of the community How do we  measure  an individual's participation in the social group/speech community? 12

13. This is observing the micro-level social clusters .  As a rule, the stronger a person's network ties to a local group, the stronger the participation in the local vernacular.   Measuring network ties:   density  is the number of ties;  multiplexity   is the content of the ties   13

14. 2)  Sociometrics A way to measure multiplexity -- how reciprocal is the relationship ?  (Measuring popularity, in a way) 3)  Network integration kinship, work, territory- based activities (teams), social groups, physical proximity all play a role   14

15. 4 )   Acts of identity :   A individual creates for himself the patterns of his linguistic behavior . S o as to resemble those of the group or groups which he whishes to be identified, and to be unlike those from whom he wishes to be distinguished .   15

16. Sociolinguistics It is the study of language used within or among group or speakers. Group must have at least two members. There are different purposes that they get together. Social Religious Political Cultural 16

17. Group The group may be temporary or permanent. The purposes of it’s members may change. It’s members may come and go. They may also belong to other groups and may or may not meet face to face. The organization of the group may be tight or loose The importance of group membership is likely to vary among individuals within the group. 17

18. Social network Any way of describing a particular speech community in terms of relations among it’s individual members. Tight community: All members of one group interacting with each other. Looser community: Little interaction among the members of a group. 18

19. Internal/External language External Language: All that happens among people in social context. Internal Language: All which happens inside our minds. 19

20. Five key elements for the speech community Foundational condition Population Area Improving condition Facility Identification Interaction 20

21. Intersecting communities People do use expressions,idiolectes that they have some idea of how a “typical” person from each place speakers to be a member of a particular speech community somewhat loosely defined. Ex- New York speech London speech South African speech 21

22. Network relationship Open network: Provides open access to its users. Information is often new and of importance. Closed network: Mostly strong ties, Information that flows in these networks tend to be redundant and inefficient. 22

23. The notion of speech community is most generally used as a tool to define a unit of analysis within which to analyze   language variation and change .  Stylistic features differ among speech communities based on factors such as the group's socioeconomic status, common interests and the level of formality expected within the group and by its larger society. Language Variation 23

24. Conclusion It is important to remember that group is a relative concept with respect to speech community. Also that an individual belongs to various speech communities, at the same time, but he/she will identify with only one of them. There are many definitions for speech community which are all different too simple and too complex. 24

25. www..ling.upenn.edu/…./sc-lecture.html En.m.wikipedia.org/…/Speech- communit …. References 25

26. Thank you 26