A method for analyzing acquisition-like patterns in the English consonants used by Spanish-English bilinguals is presented which allows a distinction to be made between individual and group phenomena. An analysis of a bilingual community in southern Texas shows that there is a continuum of use of the standard English consonants not occurring in Spanish in both individual and social use. In addition, style shifting of a different type than is usually delineated in sociolinguistic analyses was observed. It is argued that a definition of a speech community must be broad enough to encompass communities like the one analyzed even though many speakers may show a variety of acquisition-like forms, and that different types of varieties and communities may require different analytical techniques. (Author/RW)