Speech Community

Speech Community

1. Sociolinguistics

   • Flexible and abstract: not necessarily corresponds with political boundaries, religions or cultures. They are groups that share at least one language or variety (job, age, gender...)

2. General linguistics

   • People that share the same language or dialect in a specific setting that can be close (city, neighbourhood, country...)

3. Does not need to be monolingual

   • Major types
     • Diglossic
       • 2 languages or varieties are functionally complementary: formal and colloquial contexts. Often interwined with bilingualism.
     • Multilingual
       • More than 2 official languages, although one is taken as "official" for practical purposes
     • Bilingual
       • Two languages with official status where there would be monolingual or bilingual zones
     • Monolingual
       • One official language (could be different dialects, registers or styles)