COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP
Language and Society
8 Mar 2011
Speech Communities
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
A community is a group of people with a shared set
of activities, practices, beliefs, and social structures.
A speech community is a group of people who share
similar ideas, uses, and norms of language.
- An African-American Church
- A group of stockbrokers
-Baristas/customers at a café
-World of Warcraft players
Speech Communities: Journal Response

What communities do you belong to?
Do you consider yourself part of multiple speech
communities?
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Choose one of your communities to describe more in depth:

 Who
forms a part of this community? What do you share?
 What connects you as a group? What is this community's purpose?
 Where does this community spend time?
 What activities do you do?
 What are some specific words, phrases, or language that this group
uses?