Linguistic attitudes in speakers from Northern Argentina

The case of UNC students

Abstract

This work addresses the sociolinguistic representations of university students from Northern Argentina residing in the city of Córdoba, regarding their linguistic identity. Taking into account the large and diverse student population that inhabits the campus of the National University of Córdoba, and the linguistic varieties that are found, year after year, we investigate the perceptions that these speakers have about their own speech. In this sense, the research focuses not on the description of these varieties, but on the perspective of the speakers themselves regarding their “linguistic identity.”
We assume that ethnographic work provides a view from the subjectivities and experiences of these migrant speakers to the study of the sociolinguistic representations that underlie linguistic ideologies. As an approach, ethnography is imbued with implicit conceptions about how representations of social life are constructed and how meaning is given to them through dialogue between research subjects. We also understand that from the observation of attitudes and reflection on stereotypes, such processes of production and reproduction of sociolinguistic representations can be analyzed.