The kaleidoscopic universe of the sociolinguistics of variation in the Catalan-speaking area

Abstract

In the transition from autonomous linguistics, that is to say linguistics centred exclusively on the structural analysis of language, to a type of discipline with an inherent concern for the interaction between linguistics and socio-pragmatic variables, a good deal of proposals have beenmade, both theoretical andmethodological.Without a doubt the sociolinguistic variation model is one of the most successful. This model has made it possible to advance in the social characterisation of language, as well as in the organisation and interpretation of linguistic diversity. This article deals with the various approaches that have been proposed within the field of Catalan variationist studies: from W. Labov’s orthodox proposals to the socialisation component in dialectal and geolinguistic approaches.

KEY WORDS: sociolinguistics, linguistic variation, linguistic change, pragmatics.