Multilingüismo y multilectismo

Abstract

Sociolinguistic studies on multilingualism and multilectism have focused on linguistic, social and formal aspects of the analysis of the multilingual and multilectal communities, influenced by the important contributions of U. Weinreich (1953), J. A. Fishman ef al. (1971) and W. Labov (1969). From this point of view, I examine in the present article the main approaches of multilingualism and multilectism: languages in contact, diglossia and variable rule. A sociolinguistics of multilingualism and multilectism must become workable a strict methodology and a general one with the pragmatic and psycholinguistic contributions. I argue that, to put the issue into a proper perspective, free from isolatism and dogmatism, it would be best to start out from assumptions of difference and integration, and to work towards a sociolinguistic theory that will explain the sociolinguistic competence of the multilingual and/or multilectal speech community.