Linguistic Variation and Language in Society
Item 4: Linguistic Varieties and Norms
1. Types of Varieties:
- Historical Variety: Changes that occur over time.
- Geographical Variety: Changes produced according to geographical area.
- Social Variety: Determined by culture, gender, age, etc.
- Register Variety: Variety of an individual speaker.
2. The Rule:
In a linguistic community, the uses of certain groups have more prestige and are modeled on the correct usage of language. All of these uses constitute the norm and are the basis of the standard language. There is no single standard, but different sub-norms. Features:
- Determines what is right and what is not.
- The norm is permeable to speech.
- It is disseminated through education and media.
3. Violation of the Rule: Inaccuracies:
It is difficult to set strict boundaries between different cultural varieties of the language.
Vulgar Language: Ignorance of the rule results in different improprieties, which we call slang. It is associated with a low cultural level. Subcategories:
- Pronunciation: Loss of consonants and vowels, suppression of certain sounds, substitution of one sound for another, changes in the order, addition of vowels, contractions, changes in accents, etc.
- Morphology and Syntax: Incorrect use in the positioning of the unstressed personal pronouns, for example.
- Vocabulary: Confusion of meanings.
Hypercorrection: These are improprieties committed by speakers who know little about the rule, trying to imitate the manner of expression of those who are considered cultured. Also called ultracorrection. They are distinguished:
- Phonic Hypercorrection: Deformation or confusion of words.
- Lexical Hypercorrection: Incorrect use of words whose meaning is unknown.
4. Taboos of Language:
In every culture, there are certain topics that, for one reason or another, provoke feelings of fear, disgust, or respect. These words are called taboo words. The use of these words causes negative reactions. Euphemisms are used, which involves the replacement of taboo words with terms that have a more favorable social consideration. Closely related to linguistic taboo words are “bad-sounding” words or “tacos,” widespread in colloquial speech and considered by the standard as vulgar language.
Item 15: Language and Society
1. Language and Society:
The more homogeneous social groups have a specific way of speaking, a means of identification, and it is from there that we talk about different jargons.
2. Physical Differences and Linguistic Variation:
Sex and age are factors that influence the manner of speaking; this allows us to distinguish who is speaking. However, there are differences that reflect the position that speakers have in their community.
3.1. Male Speech and Female Speech:
The social position that the community gives to men and women determines their speech. The language sample specific to women shows an interest in a correct and prestigious way of speaking, and vulgar courtesy mechanisms are less frequent and more abundant.
3.2. Generational Languages:
- Juvenile Language: Speakers want to distinguish themselves from older generations, showing attention to recent creations and marginal lexical Anglicisms. Their language is influenced by new technologies. In some cases, they present a creative and innovative attitude, accompanied by impoverished lexical or syntactical resources.
- Language of Older Generations: Conservative and employs unusual words or expressions, such as proverbs.
- Children’s Language: Characterized by the process of learning the language. Features: Mistakes or weak links in the sentences.
4. Differences and Socio-linguistic Variation:
There are specific language features of different social and professional groups; discussed features of such language in a specific area or occupation.
4.1 Jargon:
Jargon are linguistic variations characteristic of the various professional groups. This specific way of talking is to give cohesion to the group, distinguishable from others, or to hide the meaning of some words. Some groups require the use of a specialized terminology.
4.2. Marginal Jargons – Slang:
It is a specific jargon of marginal social groups that are aimed at:
- Exclusion of others who are not of their condition (desire for exclusion).
- They have a perishable character. For example, in the Spanish Golden Age, the authors employed the language of slang.