Understanding Language Variations: Jargon, Slang, and Dialects
Item 5
Generational Differences in Language
Main features of each language:
- Youth: Young people are often more receptive to recent creations, Anglicisms, and the lexicon of languages from older generations.
- Marginal: More conservative, using words or phrases unknown to other age groups.
- Child language: Features related to the fact that the speaker is still immersed in the learning process of the language.
What is Jargon?
Jargon refers to the linguistic varieties characteristic of different professional groups, such as the speech of lawyers, politicians, etc.
What is Slang?
Slang is when marginal social groups develop their own language to avoid being understood by people outside the group.
Item 6
What is a Register?
A register is the set of linguistic particularities that a speaker chooses to adapt to a specific situation.
What Determines the Choice of a Register?
The choice of a register depends on various factors, including the relationship between partners, the purpose being sought, the context in which communication occurs, the means employed, the subject, and even the gender of the text.
Difference Between Colloquial and Vernacular Registers
The colloquial register is the use of language in an informal communicative situation. The vernacular register involves ignorance of the rules and is used by people who do not know them, leading to mistakes.
Item 7
Definitions of Language, Dialect, and Speech
- Language: A system used by a community as a communication vehicle in a given territory.
- Dialect: Geographical varieties of a language.
- Speech: Dialects themselves are not uniform, and within the same territory, one can distinguish varieties that affect very restricted areas, such as a region.
Dialects
- Northern Varieties: Counted from the historical region of Old Castile, these are preserved in Asturian, Leonese, Aragonese, Catalan, and Galician.
- Southern Varieties: Include Andalusian, Manchego, and overseas arrangements like the Spanish of the Canary Islands and America.
Main Features of the Northern Variety
- Distinction of the sounds “s” and “z”.
- Unaspirated pronunciation of the syllable-final “s”.
Main Features of the Southern Variety
- Neutralization of the sounds “s” and “z”, leading to phenomena known as “seseo” and “ceceo”.
- Relaxation of “s” and “z” at the end of a syllable, resulting in different pronunciations: aspiration of the consonant, aspiration of the following consonant, or loss of the consonant.
Andalusian Speech
The most characteristic features of Andalusian are “ceceo”, “seseo”, and a greater loss of intervocalic “d” than in other areas. In the west, aspiration occurs in the initial “h” in words that had an “f” in Latin. In the east, there is a noticeable opening of some vowels.
Other Southern Varieties
Extremaduran and Murcian.
Characteristics of Spanish in America
- The lexicon includes words used throughout Spanish America.
- Due to the spread of “seseo”, American Spanish has a smaller sound system than Castilian.
Item 8
Article 3 of the Spanish Constitution
Castilian Spanish is the official state language. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it. Other Spanish languages are also official in their respective autonomous communities in accordance with their statutes. The richness of the different linguistic modalities of Spain is a cultural heritage that will be the object of special respect and protection.
To Which Family Does Castilian Belong?
Castilian belongs to the Romance family, which comes from Latin (along with French, Catalan, and Galician).
What Languages Result from Language Contact?
Sabir languages were born to solve communication needs. Creole languages emerge when new generations learn Sabir as their mother tongue, and it becomes generally used in all communicative situations.
Official Languages Spoken in Spain
- Castilian: Spoken in Spain and 19 countries in Latin America.
- Galician: Spoken in Galicia and some western areas of Asturias, León, and Zamora.
- Catalan: Spoken in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands.
- Basque: Spoken in the Basque Country and northern Navarre.
- Asturian: Spoken in Asturias.