A micro-analysis of speaking.

(nicasaurusrex. "Words." 8 February, 2008. Online image. Flickr. 5 February, 2010.)

1) Describe a small speech community to which you belong: What language(s) and/or dialect(s) do you regularly use (=the code), and what are the social norms for their use? Note the kinds of interactions you all engage in over one "typical" day: What are the topics discussed, the settings, the purposes, the "key," the types or genres of speech, etc?

Response: The speech community that I am about to describe belongs to that of my close group of friends. We are very diverse in our speaking, even though some of us live in relatively close areas. I think that some of the different dialects we use are interesting. For instance, one of my friends says "melk" instead of milk, and "harrible" instead of horrible.

We regularly use English when we speak, though some times a word or two of Spanish slips in, and often one friend speaks French. I think it is because she does not want us to understand what she is saying, haha. As for dialects, we are all unique in how we speak, however, out of the four of us I probably have the most distinct dialect as I come from New England. For example, I tend to use the word "wicked" a lot, which is apparently not something that people from New York tend to say. The social norms for the use of our languages and dialects are restricted solely to our social group. I would not dare to speak so casually to someone of high position, and neither would my friends.

Topics discussed: We discuss many different topics on a daily basis. One certain conversation that we had today was about the Mr. EC pageant that had occurred prior.

Settings: The setting of this particular conversation takes place in my dorm room. The people present are my three friends (two female, one male) and me. We are all familiar in this setting, and can sit back and talk about whatever we desire without being judged by those outside of our social group.

Ends: When we have conversations, they are mostly to entertain. This conversation was a reflection of the event. We are all very opinionated, and so it is very important that we all have a say in what we thought about the pageant.

"Key": The tone of our conversation was generally a happy one. There was one occasion, when one of my female friends was talking about a contestant, where the tone changed to that of disappointment. It is funny to see and hear my friends when they try to imitate others. They will often change their voice to something hilarious sounding.

Genres: The genre of our conversation was generally one meant for entertainment, though I am tempted to call it an amassment of opinions. At times it was serious, but not for the majority of the conversation.