speech community

is the widest context of verbal interaction, depending on patterns of variation in a group of speakers that is also definable on grounds other than linguistic homogeneity.

Duranti (1988:217-8): 'The widest context of verbal interaction . . . for sociolinguistic research is usually taken to be the speech community. . . Any notion of speech community. . . depend[s] on two sets of phenomena: (1) patterns of variation in a group of speakers also definable on grounds other than linguistic homogeneity (e.g. . . ) and (2) emergent and cooperatively achieved aspects of human behavior as strategies for establishing co-membership in the conduct of social life. The ability to explain (1) ultimately relies on our success in understanding (2).

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