A geolect is a type of dialect.
The idea of geolect is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ). The term, in any case, allows us to refer to the dialect used in a specific region .
Therefore, to understand what a geolect is, we must first focus on the concept of dialect . This is the name given to a linguistic variety that does not have the social category of language .
What is a geolect
In languages , therefore, it is possible to recognize different varieties that are characterized by presenting linguistic features used by certain groups of people. Geolects constitute one of these varieties, focused specifically on the characteristics shared in a geographical area .
It can be said that a geolect is a dialect that is used in a certain territory. Those who use this variety of language to communicate share a particular lexicon , syntax and intonation.
Geolects are variations of a language that are linked to geography. In general, whoever speaks a language can understand all of its geolects, regardless of the differences that exist between each one.
Each geolect is used in a specific region.
A subdivision of the language
It is possible to consider Spanish from America and Spanish from Spain as large geolects, which in turn can be divided into many other groups depending on the country, the autonomous community, etc. Suppose you need to refer to a boy or a young man : in Spain the term “chaval” will be used, while in Argentina the word “pibe” will be used and in Mexico , the expression “chavo” will be used. Venezuelans , for their part, will talk about “chamo” . As can be seen, the name depends on the geolect used.
One of the reflections that we can make at first glance is that the geolects impose on us a subdivision of the language, in this case Spanish, so that it is almost impossible to ensure that we all speak the same language. Of course, as explained in a previous paragraph, geolect and language are not synonyms, but the latter includes the former in a generally quite large number. However, without going into the more technical issues, it is difficult to believe that the same language is spoken in the aforementioned countries, since the differences are many.
Put into statistical data, towards the end of 2020 the number of people who were born in a Spanish-speaking country amounted to 480 million . This is a considerable number, particularly if we remember that we are scattered throughout almost all of South America , Central America and the Iberian Peninsula , in addition to other less known cases. If geolects did not exist, we would be a power impossible to overthrow, but this series of differences in accent , cadences and terms mean that we often feel that we must go back to school to understand one of our Spanish-speaking classmates.
The geolect, a diatopic variety
Returning to the concept of linguistic variety, we can add that the geolect belongs to the group of geographical or diatopic varieties, which arise throughout the history of a language due to the distance that separates the different groups of individuals who speak it. Let us remember that the media as we know them today are very recent, and did not exist throughout most of the emergence of geolects, so that for centuries the majority of the people of a continent did not know about How their same language was spoken beyond their territory .
The fusion of cultures in the same region contributes to this phenomenon , because among them terms, expressions and intonation features are "lent" that over the years become unique characteristics of the speech of the place, non-existent in other parts of the world. world.