Final answer:
Ethnicity and social networks greatly influence speech patterns and community practices, with ethnicity categorizing languages and affecting social dynamics, while social networks extend beyond geographical limitations and can reinforce or shape linguistic norms.
Step-by-step explanation:
The relevance of ethnicity and social networks in accounting for people's speech patterns and the community of practice is multifaceted. Ethnicity shapes speech through folk taxonomies that categorize languages and influence social structures, providing certain advantages or disadvantages. Social networks, particularly in the current digital age, allow for the creation of speech communities that are not limited to geographical boundaries. These networks can reinforce existing beliefs and linguistic practices, often resulting in echo chambers.
Speech communities are groups within larger language communities that have their own unique set of linguistic features, such as vocabulary, grammar, and intonation, which signify membership to that group. The use of a particular language style can convey in-group solidarity or out-group exclusion, as in professional settings like law schools, where mastering specific linguistic skills is essential for belonging.
In ritual contexts, language achieves social actions and may even challenge established norms. The performativity of language in rituals reflects and maintains cultural beliefs, identities, and power dynamics, showing the interaction between language, ethnicity, and social structures. Finally, the choice of social networks can highly influence language acquisition and use, indicating the importance of these networks in the formation of speech patterns.