The central idea behind this test was
put into practice by Valdivieso in Chile in 1981. In study, some of the speech
communitys characteristics and the objectives of research were adapted. The steps
taken were the following. A) A text was created with the format and style of a short radio
news broadcast, with a high concentration of lexical entries with the variable studied; b)
a recording was prepared where the text was read five times three readings
reproducing the various sociolects of Benicarló defined by the phonetic variants in the
variable studied, while the other two introduced the "model" that reached the
mass media, i.e., the "apitxat" of Valencia and western central
Catalonia; c) once this was prepared, the tape/stimulus was played to the seventy
informants when the sociolinguistic interviews had finished. Before the first listening,
the informant was asked to focus their attention on recognising which reading or readings
they felt were read by someone from Benicarló, and in the others, where the speaker came
from geographically. After the replies were written down, and before the second reading
took place, the informant was asked to take on the role of a radio company manager wanting
to hire one or some of the voices, and at the same time, reject others. (10)
4.
Quantitative treatment
Moreno (1990:109) defines these two main data analysis opportunities with the
following simplicity:
"To analyse
is basically to decompose (etymologically, "to untie"). An analysis therefore
consists of separating the parts of a whole until each of the elements comprising it is
found. In general, there are two ways of carrying out an analysis either simply
identifying the parts of this whole or identifying these elements and finding out in what
proportions they all appear. This first possibility is called qualitative analysis,
the second is known as quantitative analysis."
From the
linguistic point of view, independently of the paradigm followed, grammatical analyses
carried out to date have been mostly quantitative. Sociolinguistics in the field of
ethnography of communication also prefers this type of analysis, but Labovian studies have
concentrated mainly on quantification. In terms of observing linguistic changes, it seems
clear that compared with the static vision of a qualitative analysis, quantitative
analysis provides more information concerning the mobility of those involved.
Notwithstanding
this, however, the over quantification of certain studies to the detriment of more
qualitative analyses has been the subject of frequent criticism. Hudson (1980) draws
attention to some of the most obvious limitations: a) working with speaker groups makes
internal variation disappear, b) an individuals belonging to a group remains hidden
to varying degrees.
It must also
always be remembered that the analysis must be seen as a device for dividing up a
continuous reality. That is how the segmentations of linguistic, social and stylistic
realities must be understood. Taken as a whole, this leads us to conclude that a good
quantification must be the result of a prior rigorous qualitative analysis with the
reality that we are trying to describe.
4.1.
Data codification
Once what is known as the dependent
variable has been identified, and its context of occurrence defined, the codification
of data, an extraordinarily laborious phase prior to quantification, takes place.
During this phase,
every word obtained with the variable will be classified according to the independent
variables that have been established beforehand as possible factors to be considered
in production of the variants. These linguistic, social and stylistic variable
restrictions are shown in the form of groups of factors, with the corresponding factors
defined. Each factor is assigned a letter or number, normally with a mnemotechnic
value, so that each becomes a series of digits.
Example of
Pradillas codification (1993 a)
Word: roja
Acoustic file: nº
2720
Informant: Roberto
Pau Llorach
Codification:
FD4A4AAPHQBIBBT/20
Decodification (in
order):
F- fricative
variant [x]
D-syllabic-accent
position: post-tonic
4- anterior
vocalic context: [O]
A- posterior
vocalic context: [a]
4-etym: -by- (<
rubea)
A-alternates with the [Q] of the
primitive roig
A-
grammatical category of the word: adjective
P-stylistic
context: translation
H-sex: male
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