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traditions, habit clusters—as has, by and large, been the case up to now,
but as a set of control mechanisms—plans, recipes, rules, instructions (what computer
engineers call “programs”) —for the governing of behavior. (Geertz)
3 Culture is what the individual needs to know to be a functional member of the community.
A cultural model is a construction of reality that is created, shared, and transmitted by
members of a group. It may not be explicitly stated by participants but it is used to guide and
evaluate behavior. For example, people in all cultures construct models expressing their views
of the dimensions of the physical universe, the structure and functioning of their society, and
proper ways for people to live and treat each other. Because cultural models are shared and
accepted, they are assumed by members to be natural, logical, necessary, and legitimate. As
they become a background for behavior, they are not recognized as culturally constructed but,
rather, are considered the natural order of life.
According to Naomi Quinn and Dorothy Holland, “Largely tacit and unexamined, [cultural]
models embed a view of “what is” and “what it means” that seems wholly natural – matter of
course. Alternative views are not even recognized, let alone considered” (1987:11). As we can
see, language and language use express, reinforce, and thus perpetuate underlying cultural
models.
A stereotype is a conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception or image.
(The American Heritage College Dictionary)
A stereotype is a generalized belief that all members of a group are the same in some
way. It is a an exaggerated or oversimplified belief and image about certain groups of
people.
Although people within a given culture share many assumptions about the world, they are
not a completely homogeneous group. People are differentiated on the basis of gender, age,
and status in all societies. In addition, distinctions of class, race, and ethnicity are used to
segment populations in most modern nations. All these factors contribute to diversity in
communicative behavior and to disparities in evaluations given to the behavior of different
groups of people.

SPEECH COMMUNITIES AND SPEECH NETWORKS

According to Hymes, speech behavior should be analyzed in its widest cultural and social
context in order to discover culturally relevant features of variation.
Talk takes place within a speech community consisting of people, who, although
heterogeneous, are united in numerous ways.
L.Bloomfield described it as “a group of people who interact by means of speech”
(1933:42). He recognized that in addition to speaking the same language, these people also
agree about what is considered “proper” or “improper” uses of language.
Hymes stressed the fact that members of a speech community are unified by norms
about uses of language: “A speech community is defined as a community sharing knowledge
of rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech. Such sharing comprises knowledge of at
least one form of speech, and knowledge also of its patterns of use” (1974;51). And “a person
who is a member of a speech community knows not only a language but also what to say …
sharing of grammatical knowledge of a form of speech is not sufficient. There may be persons
whose English I could grammatically identify, but whose messages escape me. I may be
ignorant of what counts as a coherent sequence, request, statement requiring an answer,
situation requiring a greeting, requisite or forbidden topic” (123, 49).