The Sociolinguistic Aspect

Abstract

Study shows that the Madrid girls are the most frequent users of pragmatic markers. Two items, en plan (‘like’) and pues nada (‘anyway’), are not used at all by the 15 to 16-year olds. As to social class, the high-class girls dominate among the 14 to 15 year-olds, and the middle class girls among the 15 to16 year-olds, while the order among the boys is the opposite. In COLT the boys dominate, using eh and BE like more often than the girls. Agewise, the 14 to 16 year-olds are the most frequent users, and with regard to social class, the boys and girls with a high-class background use the markers almost as often as the middle class boys and girls.