Redes sociales y variación sociolingüística

Abstract

The first sociolinguistic studies to use the concept of social network saw the light of day
during the eighties. Ever since then, the interest in reticulated analysis has been on the increase.
In our country, the research studies carried out from this perspective are still few in number, but
those that have been completed demonstrate the effectiveness of this concepts as a factor of
sociolinguistic variation. This can be seen in the study carried out on speech in Alcalá de Henares,
in which the social network has become a fundamental variable for explaining the linguistic
conduct of the speakers. We have been able to prove that in this locality there is a relationship
between the level of integration into the network and the rejection of alien linguistic features; on
the other hand, the network can function as a reinforcement of community tules and, therefore,
as a brake on the propagation of foreign dialectal features.