these dichotomies are useful tools of analysis but, as the authors themselves admit, not the only possible ones in the ethnographic study of speech. other functional dichotomies could be intellectual/non-intellectual, male/female, high class/ middle(low) class,criminal/law abiding. The last dichotomy refers to the fact that the language (speech) of criminals becomes a dialect with stereotyped expressions and language structures. We might think of the most famous example of the Italian mafia that almost developed a separate language, a new manner of communicating coded messages.