Language Unity, Variety, and Oral Communication
Unity and Variety in Language
A historical language is a language that exists up to a specific point in time and is identified as such by its speakers, distinguishing it from other languages. Each historical language comprises a set of functional languages, which invariably exhibit differences.
Diatopic Varieties
Diatopic varieties refer to the geographical variations within a language, manifested across the areas where it is spoken. In Castilian Spanish, several dialects can be distinguished:
- Within Spain: Northern varieties, Southern varieties, and varieties influenced by Catalan, Galician, Basque, Leonese, and Aragonese.
- Outside Spain: Various Spanish-American varieties.
Diastratic Varieties
Diastratic varieties are based on the socio-cultural level of speakers, forming social dialects or sociolects. There are three levels of language use:
- Cult Level: Speakers have greater control and correct usage of the language. This level represents the standard language.
- Common Level: Speakers have less fluency, often using crutches and elements related to the phatic function of language, with reduced vocabulary and less complex sentences.
- Vulgar Level: This level often involves difficulties in the relationship between language and thought, resulting in hesitation, buzzwords, filler words, and grammatical problems.
Diaphasic Varieties
Diaphasic varieties exist between different types of expressive forms and are constituted by the styles or registers of language. The use of a specific register is determined by several factors:
- Activity and subject matter
- The identity of the participants, their relationship, and the purpose of the communication
- The message transmission form
Slang and Jargon
Members of certain groups use a variety of forms known as professional jargon (e.g., medical, legal, student jargon). The term ‘slang’ refers to the argot of marginal groups, such as prison slang or drug dealing slang.
Oral Communication
Oral communication enables individuals to perform daily activities, educate and train others, and integrate into social life.
Features of Oral Communication
- Importance of Suprasegmental Elements: Intonation and accents are critical, as are tone and rhythm.
- Freedom in Word Order: Speakers produce sentences as needed.
- Complexity of Statements: Frequent reworkings, anacolutha, syntactic displacements, and mixing of styles occur.
- Reference to Context: Linguistic elements refer to the communicative situation.
- Markers: Use of markers such as ‘well,’ ‘then,’ ‘like,’ etc.
- Relaxed Statements: Statements are frequently incomplete, with word cuts, repetitions, hesitations, and pauses.
- Tendency to Condensation: Use of one-word statements, ellipses, and interjections.
- Reflection of Speaker’s Expressiveness: Redundant use of personal pronouns, aliphatic expressions, nicknames, and intensifying/attenuating elements.
- Lexical Preferences: Use of standard idioms, metaphors, catchphrases, wildcards, and jargon.