*How linguistic communities are defined

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UP: <[LINK]>

Gumperz and Labov both provide fairly explicit models of how to define a community for linguistic analysis. Labov favors defining the community first on non-linguistic grounds and then etically analyzing the language continua that take place within that community. Taboret-Keller and Lepage look for natural communities. In contrast, Gumperz defines community by speech and considers social differences as a function of speech community membership. These preferences are partly grounded in a reaction to the generativist idealization of the speech community.

• - Labov's definition ........................... <[LINK]>
• - Gumperz's definition .......................... <[LINK]>
• - Taboret-Kellor's and LePage's definition ..... <[LINK]>
• - Chomsky's idealization of speech community ... <[LINK]>
• - What happens when community is fixed? ......... <[LINK]>