The document discusses the concept of speech communities. It defines a speech community as a group of people who share similar language ideas, uses and norms. It notes that members of a speech community use language according to a set of shared norms and characteristics. The document outlines key elements of speech communities including population, area, facilities, identification and interaction. It also discusses sociolinguistic variables that can cause one to belong to one speech community and not another, such as age, social class, education and others.