Understanding Language Varieties: Registers, Sociolects, and Dialects

Understanding Language Varieties

Language is a common code shared by speakers belonging to a community. Certain circumstances explain the appearance of different varieties within the same language. These are categorized into:

Diaphasic or Situational Varieties

These are related to the communicative situation and the individual style of the speaker. It is a variety of speech that gives rise to linguistic registers. The elements of a communicative situation are:

1. The personality of the sender-receiver
2. The communicative tension or degree of formality
3. The intentionality
4. The subject matter
5. Unilateral or bilateral interaction
6. The interaction space

There are two types of registers:

• Formal Register: Typical of cultural, scientific, and literary domains. The most significant is the cultivated register, characterized by lexical precision and grammatical accuracy.
• Informal Register: Used in family, friendly, and similar settings. The colloquial register is most characteristic, marked by dialogue, expressiveness, spontaneity, and a confluence of verbal and nonverbal codes.

Social or Diaphasic Varieties

The education level of speakers results in levels of language or sociolects:

• A. Cultivated Register: An elaborate and precise variety, typical of literary, legal, or scientific language.
• B. Common Register: More expressive than the cultivated register.
• C. Vulgar Register: Characteristic of uneducated speakers. Characterized by the use of slang or incorrect language.

There is also a standard language, common among speakers of average cultural level. Additionally, social groups may develop specialized languages, unknown to others: jargons.

Geographic or Diatopic Varieties

Related to the territory occupied by speakers, these give rise to languages, dialects, and local dialects.

In Spain, four languages are spoken: Castilian is the official language of the Spanish State. Catalan, Valencian, Galician, and Basque hold official status alongside Castilian in their respective autonomous communities. Each of these languages has varieties or dialects:

• Castilian: Andalusia, Extremadura, Canary Islands, and Murcia.
• Catalan: West and East (Mallorca, Roussillon, Alghero).
• Valencian: Northern and Southern Apitxat.
• Galician: Western, Central, and Eastern.
• Basque: Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, High Navarrese, Eastern Navarrese, and Southern High Navarrese.