This document discusses speech communities and language variation. It defines a speech community as a group that shares language practices and norms. Speech communities can be defined geographically, socioeconomically, ethnically/culturally, by age, or gender. The document also discusses that all languages exhibit variation in aspects like pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. This variation can be regional, based on social factors like class, education, or the formality of the situation. Studies of language variation provide insights into how languages change over time.

1. Speech communities
Regional & social
variation
By : Zahra Aamir

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

3. Community “A group of people with a shared
set of activities, practices, beliefs, and social
structure
”
“
A group of people who share a similar idea , uses,
and norms of language
.

4. Language variety “Refer to a set of communicative
forms and norms for their use that are restricted to a
particular group, community or activities”
Lyons (1970): "All people who use a given language or
dialect“

5. A speech community is a necessary, primary concept . It postulates
the unit of description as a social, rather than linguistic, entity. One
starts with a social group and considers the entire organization of
linguistic means within it
(
Hymes 1974
)
Any such community is a speech community. (Bloomfield 1926: 153–4)

6. Types of speech communities
✔ Geographic speech communities:
These are speech communities that are based on the geographic
location of the speakers.
According to Labov (1972). “Geographic speech communities are
formed by people who live in close proximity to one another and
share a sense of identity based on their common geographic
location”.

7. ✔ Socioeconomic speech communities:
These are speech communities that are based on
socioeconomic factors such as income, education level,
and occupation.
According to Eckert (2000), socioeconomic speech
communities are formed by people who share similar life
experiences and values due to their socioeconomic status.

8. ✔ Ethnic and cultural speech communities:
These are speech communities that are based on
shared ethnic or cultural backgrounds.
According to Giles and Coupland (1991), ethnic
and cultural speech communities are formed by
people who share common cultural practices and
beliefs.

9. ✔ Age-based speech communities:
These are speech communities that are based on age
groups.
According to Tagliamonte (2012), age-based speech
communities are formed by people who share
linguistic practices and norms that are associated
with their age group.

10. ✔ Gender-based speech communities:
These are speech communities that are based on
gender differences.
According to Holmes (1992), gender-based speech
communities are formed by people who share
linguistic practices and norms that are associated
with their gender.

11. Language variation

12. Every language has a lot of variation, especially in the way
it’s spoken.
Variation in sociolinguistics means that people use one
and the same language differently depending on who
they are (younger or older, males or females, highly
educated or not, etc.).
The regional variation reflects where a person comes
from: which part of the language area.

13. If we just look at English, we find wide variation in the
way it is spoken in different countries such as Australia,
Britain, and the USA. We can also find a range of
varieties in different parts of those countries.

14. ■ language variation is the differences in pronunciation, grammar,
or word choice within a language. Variation in a language may be
related to the region, social class, and /or educational
backgrounded or to the degree of formality of a situation in which
language is used.
■ Sociolinguists today are generally more concerned with social
variation in language than with regional variation. However, if we
are to gain a sound understanding of the various procedures used
in studies of social variation.

15. Jack C. Richards & Richard Schmidt ( 2010: 577 ), states that
language variation is the differences in pronunciation,
grammar, or word choice within a language region, to social
class and /or educational background.
Variation in a language may be related to r to the degree of
formality of a situation in which language is used.

16. ✔ language variation is the existence of observable differences
in the way a language is used in a speech community.
✔ It is a commonplace observation that a single language is not
used in a totally homogeneous manner within a single
community.

17. Wardhaugh ( 2006: 135 ) , states that languages vary in many
ways. One way of characterizing certain variations is to say that
speakers of a particular language sometimes speak different
dialects of that language
.
Sociolinguists today are generally more concerned
with social variation in language than with regional
variation
.

18. However, if we are to gain a sound
understanding of the various procedures used
in studies of social variation, we should look at
least briefly at previous work in regional
dialectology
.

19. Studies of social variation in language grew out of studies
of regional variation
.
It was largely in order to widen the limits and repair the
flaws that were perceived to exist in the latter that
investigators turned their attention to social-class variation
in language
.
The study of language variation tells us important things
about languages and how they change
.

20. Jack C. Richards & Richard Schmidt ( 2010: 452 ), states that regional
variation in speech according to the particular area where a speaker comes
from.
Variation may occur with respect to pronunciation, vocabulary, or syntax.
For example, in the southwest of England and in the American Midwest, many
speakers use /r/ sound in words such as her, four, and part, whereas speakers
from some other places, such as the London region and New England, do not.
Regional variation

21. Regional variation is geographically based and shows which
part of the language area a person is from.
Regional variation is the aspect of variation in a language due to
geographical divisions. Virtually all languages have regional
variation and regional dialects, which is manifested in all
subsystems of language: the pronunciation and sound system
(phonetics and phonology), the grammar (morphology and syntax),
and the vocabulary (lexicon and semantics).

22. Regional variation has traditionally been studied by
dialectologists, who record their findings in dialect atlases.

23. Many factors contribute to regional variation but the main
reason is the same as why language families develop over time
from one ancestor language:
some speakers of a language start to communicate less with
each other (due to geographical separation, for instance), and
so any new features of speech they develop will not spread to
those speakers that they do not communicate with, and this
will make their speech different from that of others in the long
run.

24. According to Wardhaugh ( 2006: 13 ) it is a part of the study of
how languages change over time, i.e., of diachronic or historical
linguistics
.
Traditionally, dialect geography, as this area of linguistic study is
known, has employed assumptions and methods drawn from
historical linguistics, and many of its results have been used to
confirm findings drawn from other historical sources
.
e.g., archeological findings, population studies, written records
.

25. In this view languages differentiate internally as
speakers distance themselves from one another
over time and space; the changes result in the
creation of dialects of the languages
.

26. Thank You