Standard linguistic varieties and their effects on education and social development.
The case of Venezuelan Spanish.
Abstract
Each natural language contains a dialectal complex, from which a variety is selected – sometimes
a fusion of more than one - with the aim of giving stability and functionality to the speech
community, which is a valid objective in principle. However, the reality, invisible to vast sectors,
is that this preferred and protected variety, becomes an obstacle to social development, because
the selection is universally made according to parameters of temporal power in all its dimensions,
and not to those corresponding to linguistic and social validity. This paper deals with the relation
between that variety, considered exemplary and “superior” and the others placed at a social and
educational disadvantage. It will be shown that this linguistic and social imbalance began in
ancient times, undergoing mutations from the idea of the faculty of language having a divine
origin and passing through a long phase of some languages being considered “pure” and thus
“superior” (Sanscrit, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Classical Arabic among others) finally giving
birth to our actual exemplary standard languages or varieties. The actual situation of
socialization and education in the Hispanic world and in Venezuela in particular, are analyzed
with the aim of showing that this imbalance can be neutralized by the joint work of linguists,
dialectologists and educators at all levels and mechanisms and strategies are proposed to lead to a
full understanding of the validity not only of all Venezuelan varieties, but also those of Spanish
everywhere it is spoken in the vast Hispanic world. It is concluded that dialectal attrition and
convergence towards the standard variety are not inevitable and the categorization of some
varieties as regional standards with their impact on socialization and the educational system are
analyzed.
Keywords: Historical origin, standard varieties, social imbalance, dialectal attrition, regional
standards.
Introducción
El desarrollo histórico de la humanidad desde sus comienzos ha estado marcado por la idea de
la pureza y perfección de una de las variedades del complejo dialectal de la lengua. Esta variedad,
preferida y protegida, daba cohesión social a la comunidad, pero esa concepción de pureza y
perfección de una dimensión del esencial instrumento de comunicación surge con la aparición de
intermediarios entre la población y las causas de sus angustias, las cuales se transformaron en
causantes, a falta de mejor explicación. Estos “causantes” se representaban con frecuencia en el
antiguo Egipto, por ejemplo, en forma de animales o con formas híbridas –parte animal, parte
humana – dada la dependencia de la caza para proveer alimentación. Una vez que las necesidades
vitales para lograr y mantener la comunidad, vale decir, alimentación, protección y liderazgo,