« Communauté linguistique » : renoncer ou problématiser ?

Abstract

The notion of ‘speech community’ is a key concept in sociolinguistics. It refers both to a specific social space that is assumed also to be a space of linguistic structuring and to the sociolinguist’s questions on how language practices can be analysed as reflecting – and/or participating in – the structuring of that social space. In an attempt to examine the scientific and social issues involved in the analysis, definition and naming of a ‘speech community’, this article first of all situates some salient elements of the complex, non-linear history both of this conception of human community that is founded on shared language and of the conceptualisation of this notion in linguistics and sociolinguistics. This historical theoretical exploration paves the way for an examination of the relevance of this notion in contemporary sociolinguistics.

Keywords

• speech community
• norm
• language variation
• plurilingualism
• sociolinguistics