The linguistic behaviors and social characteristics of specific communities of
practice are sketched in the articles by Bucholtz and Ehrlich. Bucholtz’s data
provide useful evidence of the role played by peripheral or apprentice members
of a CofP, and the level of work that is expended in the ongoing process of maintaining the boundaries of a CofP. Ehrlich explores the links between the construction of individual identities and communities of practice. She examines how
discourse patterns, shared by the CofP constituted by a disciplinary tribunal, deconstruct the identity of the victims whose case they are hearing.