Social variation:
“It is
also evident, from even casual observation, that in any one place
not all people speak alike, even if they were all born there.
Differences of speech are correlated with one or more social factors
which apply to the speaker concerned. These factors include age,
sex, race, class background, education, occupation, and income. […]
It follows from this brief account of social variation that such
variation is multi-dimensional; there are many parameters which
define the social ‘space’ within which the speaker is located, and
his or her speech varies, in different ways, in accordance with each
of these parameters […] Even a single individual does not use just a
single variant from the range of those available in the community.
Rather, each individual commands at least part of the range and
selects a particular variant according to the circumstances (formal,
informal, relaxed, etc.) in which he or she is speaking. And even in
the same speech environment, a speaker may alternate between two or
more variants.”
[Penny (2000),
Variation
and Change in Spanish, CUP: 2-3]
Basic concepts:
areal versus social variation.
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Listening comprehension
(definition)
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Reading comprehension
Social variation in English (British
Library)
An example:
-
FOURTH ASSIGNMENT:
A 125/200-word summary of the main topics we have worked
in class (reading, listening, etc.).
-
Title: The main
features of social variation.
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Format: MsWord
/ pdf
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Submission: Send
a Word or a pdf file to
montserrat.batllori@udg.edu
-
Deadline
/ due date: April
5th.
-
Percentage of the
final mark: 5%
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