Language and Culture 2018: Studying Languages Communities

Descriptive and Generative Linguistics:

in order to have a language, there MUST be a COMMUNITY OF SPEAKERS
language change through time is a product of social forces
language users are a assumed to be a homogenous group and the social forces are left unspecified (PAROLE IS UNIMPORTANT)

linguistic theory is concerned with the ideal speaker/listener in a homogenous speech community (nonexistent)
they know the language perfectly and are unaffected by factors which run contrary to this (memory, distraction, shift of attention, interest---ACTUAL LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE)

* to both Chomsky and de Saussure, the focus of study is the language structure itself (LANGUE/COMPETENCE)

wanted to link linguistic practices and social groupings in a more systematic way

the natural unit for sociolinguistic taxonomy is not the language but the speech community (SOCIAL) -(Hymes)
focus on the beliefs, values, attitudes and ways of speaking within a community- (Hymes)
A speech community is a group which 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 use-(Gumperz)
Members of a speech community do not all have to speak the same way, or even the same language. But thud share a VERBAL REPERTOIRE, related to a shared set of linguistic norms -(Gumperz)
REQUIREMENTS (Gumperz)

frequent interaction among members
share a verbal repertoire, even if they do not speak the same code
must share a set of social norms regarding appropriate language use (LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY)

A speech community is marked by participation in shared set of linguistic norms (Labov)

in study of NYC, although speakers varied as to how and when they pronounced medial /r/ or final /ing/, they all agreed which forms were "correct" or "stigmatized"
everyone evaluates speech the same way

In a nested field, individuals in each "field" have increasingly large fields of action that bring them into contact with more and more people whose linguistic practices and norms might differ from their own.
grouping are based on the types of social relationships you have and NOT GEOGRAPHY
different spheres of economic and social activity lead to different levels of awareness of various sociolinguistic norms or stigma-related to social hierarchies

mass media provides a common reference points for people in their everyday conversations.
small snippets of talk are taken out of original radio contexts and reinserted into ordinary social interactions. MARKING speakers as "modern" or "conversant" in national contexts.
speech community concept works even where there is great linguistic variation where there is great exposure to mass media as a way to disseminate linguistic norms.

(Jean Jackson) study of Vaupes of the Amazon and their multilingual communities.
important component of identity is language of your father's kin group (patrilineage)
practice "linguistic exogamy" -must marry someone out of your father's language group (patrilineage)
all share RULES FOR SPEECH, even though some do not share speech repertoires
VILLAGES make up "speech communities" in this speech area

identify not only the boundaries of a community of language users, but also the nature of the CONNECTIONS and INTERACTIONS that members of speech communities have with one another. (Milroy)
Ties vary in the following ways:

close-knit social ties appear to facilitate the retention of dialects, while others lead to their loss
vary with social class-tight knit in very low and very high status and loosely knit in geographically mobile middle classes.
focuses on micro-level interactions instead of macro-level considerations of things like power and social difference. (critique)

based on the concept of SITUATED LEARNING, Lave and Wenger propose a socially embedded learning model.-what kinds of social engagements are required for learning?
In linguistics it is described by Ekert and McConnell-Ginet, as an "aggregate of people who come together around mutual engagement in an endeavor". Ways onDOING THINGS emerge as a consequence of this endeavor.
It is defined simultaneously by its membership and by THE PRACTICE IN WHICH THE MEMBER ENGAGES. (grow out of mutual engagement).
Three Criteria: (community defined by social engagement)

Produces practice-based ethnographic studies that illustrate the emergent nature of communities and the intrinsic connection between language and social context
LANGUGE is just one of the many social practices in which communities engage.
High Schools Study

Jocks, Burnouts in Belten High: looks at how these two communities of practice -class, gender, ethnicity and adulthood are crafted and contested through the everyday interactions of students. Jock-Burnout opposition is a defining one for the community of practice of the school, based on coolness. E & M-G)
Nerds- Use positive and negative strategies to form identity through interaction and contestation of social factors atnthe macro-level and micro-level (high school)(Bukholtz)

Language and Culture 2018