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 the calls a 'real' speech community : 'all the people who use a given language or dialect. However, that really shifts the issues to making 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 categorization are discriminated, and these have important implications for social organizations. For human, speech markers have clear parallels.. It is evident that social categories of age, sex, ethnic, social class, and situation can be clearly marked on the basis if speech, and that such categories is fundamental to social organizations even though many of the categories are also easily discriminated on other bases.

3. Intersecting Communities

The fact that people do use expression such as New York speech, London speech, and South African speech indicates that they have some idea of how typical person from each other place speaks, that is, of what it is like to be a member of particular speech community somewhat loosely defined. Such a person may be said to be typical by virtue of observing the linguistic norms are associates with the particular place in question. 

4. Network and Repertoire

Dubois and Horvath(1999,p. 307) acknowledge that while the concep of social network seems to be useful in studying language behavior in urban settings, it effectiveness in nonuban 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 control a number of varieties of a language or two or more language. Quite often many individuals will have virtually identical repertoire. 

Conclusion

Language is a system, it means that languages is formed by patterned component permanently and can be verified. Language is also a tool that can be used to interact used by certain community 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