Learner continuums and speech communities¹

A serious problem for those analyzing the linguistic dimensions of bilingual communities (as all others) is distinguishing individual from social phenomena. In this paper I present a method for analyzing the acquisition‐like patterns in the English consonants used by Spanish‐English bilinguals. This method is based on work by Bickerton (1973) and Gatbonton‐Segalowitz (1975) and allows a clear view of both individual and group. The analysis shows that there is a continuum of use of the standard English consonants not occurring in Spanish in both individual and social use. It also shows style shifting of a rather different sort than that usually delineated in sociolinguistic analyses. In addition, I argue 1) that a definition of speech community must be broad enough to encompass communities such as the one discussed, even though many speakers may show a variety of acquisition‐like forms; 2) that different sorts of varieties and communities may require different analytical techniques.