Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sociolinguistic variables'

L1 attrition - which in the context of this study is defined as the decline of any native language skill (or portion thereof) in a healthy bilingual speaker (Ecke, 2004) - has been studied extensively for several decades. However, only few studies have examined the native speech of immigrants who use their L1 for professional purposes, such as language instructors (Isurin, 2007; Major, 1992; Porte, 1999, 2003). Furthermore, no research has been conducted comparing the L1 speech of such individuals with that of individuals who do not use their L1 for professional purposes. This study analyzed and compared L1 speech samples from two populations of German immigrants in the U.S., German Instructors and Other Professionals, and from a monolingual control group in Germany. It was hypothesized that German instructors may be less vulnerable to L1 attrition due to more frequent L1 use, a higher motivation to maintain the L1, and greater identification with the native language and culture. Data elicited through verbal fluency tasks, a film retelling task, a semi-structured interview, and a sociolinguistic questionnaire revealed significant differences between the control group and the two bilingual groups which point to L1 attrition (primarily as an access problem) in the bilingual speakers. The data also revealed significant differences between the German Instructors and the Other Professionals, suggesting that the severity of L1 attrition is not the same for all populations. In addition, a comparison of the two bilingual groups with regard to sociolinguistic variables, and correlations between linguistic measures and sociolinguistic variables also yielded interesting findings which have implications for L1 attrition research as well as L1 maintenance.

This data-driven linguistic study investigates if levels of different types of foreign language communication anxiety, such as for speaking, listening, writing and/or reading that Swedish students in compulsory school (grades 7-9) and upper secondary school experience when communicating in English in their foreign language classes have any correlation to sociolinguistic variables such as gender, age, performance and/or multilingual competence. The compiled and analyzed self-report data have successfully provided a base for implied correlations between the different sociolinguistic variables and language anxiety. The most prominent indications of correlation to anxiety are the variables gender, performance (course grades) and linguistic competence. The age variable also showed indications of correlation but was less pronounced than the others. It was also found that students generally feel more and/or higher anxiety when speaking the target language than the other types of communication. The didactic implications that this study contributes to is that “communicating” as an activity conducted in the foreign language classroom needs to be further defined and broken down into specific types of skills (speaking, writing, listening, reading) and also be approached accordingly. This also implies that further research is needed to thoroughly examine the correlational effects different sociolinguistic variables have on the foreign language learning.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
This research deals with the preposition Para and its variants in the talk of the town of Araguatins-TO, by the Theory of Variation. It is intended mainly to observe how this change takes place, according to the literature it may occur as a function of social constraints on language. The 36 informants used in this research, were stratified equally, by gender, age and schooling. In this analysis, we tested the following groups of factors: phonological context following formal parallelism, pause, vibrant presence in the following item, sex, age and education. The main hypothesis was that the use of para variant pattern was the most observed among more educated people, while the non-standard variants of PRA and PA were more used by speakers of average or lower educaton , which was not confirmed. The factors that favor the use of variant pra prevalent variant, are following phonological context, education, age. The main results indicated by a binary analysis shows a profile to change, signaling the disappearance of this variation in pronunciation. Regarding the other variants, pra and pa , it was detected a phenomenon of stable variation in the speech of native in Araguatins-TO.
presente pesquisa trata da Preposição PARA e suas variantes no falar do nativo da cidade de Araguatins-TO, sob a luz da Teoria Variacionista. Buscou-se, sobretudo, observar de que forma essa variação se processa, pois de acordo com a literatura pode ocorrer tanto em função de condicionamentos sociais quanto linguísticos. Os 36 informantes utilizados, nesta pesquisa, foram estratificados, igualitariamente, em função do sexo, da faixa etária e da escolaridade. Nesta análise, foram testados os seguintes grupos de fatores: contexto fonológico seguinte, paralelismo formal, pausa, presença de vibrante no item seguinte, sexo, faixa etária e escolaridade. A hipótese principal era de que o uso da variante padrão PARA seria a mais observada entre pessoas mais escolarizadas, enquanto que as variantes não-padrão PRA e PA seriam mais usadas em falantes de escolaridade média ou baixa, o que não foi confirmado. Os fatores que favorecem o uso da variante pra , variante predominante, são: contexto fonológico seguinte, escolaridade, faixa etária. Os principais resultados obtidos por uma análise binária indicam perfil de mudança de para, sinalizando um desaparecimento desta variante na oralidade. Com relação às outras variantes, pra e pa, detectou-se um fenômeno de variação estável na fala do nativo de Araguatins-TO.

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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
Neste estudo, à luz dos pressupostos teóricos da Sociolingüística Variacionista Quantitaviva, analisamos o uso das vogais pretônicas /e/ e /o/ no falar de 32 informantes, do sexo feminino e do sexo masculino, referentes a 2 regiões paranaenses. Conforme os resultados, verificamos que os contextos lingüísticos são determinantes no alçamento ([u], [i]) ou na manutenção ([o], [e]) dessas vogais. Dentre as variáveis lingüísticas as mais relevantes para a aplicação do alçamento foram: a) as vogais altas da sílaba seguinte a das vogais pretônicas ([o], [e]); b) as vogais médias pretônicas em contexto de hiato; c) a vogal pretônica [e] em contexto inicial seguida por uma fricativa [s,z] ou por uma nasal. Quanto às variáveis sociais, sexo, faixa etária e escolaridade, foram pouco significantes, todavia, pudemos verificar que as mulheres, os mais escolarizados, e os informantes com idade intermediária tendem a alçar menos que os homens, os jovens, os mais idosos, os analfabetos. Esse fato pode ser um indicativo de “prestígio” ou apontar para a questão das pressões sociais em relação à manutenção das pretônicas [e] e [o] nestas variedades, embora os resultados das variáveis sociais não possibilitem conclusões definitivas pelos percentuais muito próximos.
In this study following the theorical pressupositions of the Quantitative Variacionist Sociolinguistics, we analyse the behaviour of the mid pretonic vowels /e/ and /o/ in the talk of thirty-two informants (females and males sex) referent to two paranaense Linguistic region. According to the results of the quantitative analysis, we verified that raising ([u],[i]) or the maintenance ([o],[e]) of the mid pretonic vowels [e] and [o] is determined by linguistic context, for example, when the immediate next syllable has the vowels [i] or [u], when the dependent variable is followed by a vowel, when the pretonic [e] is in initial context and/or followed by fricative consonant [z, s] or by a nasal consonant. As for social variables sex, age and schoolarship, we observed that they have less significance. In spite of, that we could verify that the women, the informants with high level of education and the middle age use more the mid vowels [o] and [e] . While the men, the informants with lower education level and the youngest, the oldest use more the high vowel [u] and [i]. This fact can be indicative of some “prestigie” or “social pression” in relation to the maintenance of the pretonics [o] and [e] in this variety. Although these results very close don´t allow us definitive conclusions.

This study represents a sociolinguistic contribution to the analysis of Past Participle Agreement (PPA) in [avoir+PP] constructions. In spoken French, this agreement is marked only for gender, and is subject to much variation in the production of speakers of French. The objectives of this thesis are twofold: firstly, to observe the variable in the context of production, by a quantitative study of several corpora. Variation in the production of PPA is tested against linguistic factors, such as the position of the participle in the verbal group where it appears. Social and stylistic factors are also considered, notably the socioprofessional category of the speaker. These analyses reveal that agreement is conditioned by a complex interaction of these factors. The second objective is the design of a Matched Guise Test, based on scripted conversations. This test was carried out with a view to measuring the extent to which the presence or absence of marked PPA, often considered a typical result of normative pressures, affects the stereotypical social representation of a speaker. Differences in informants' judgements were modest, and two issues are discussed with regard to this: firstly, the validity of the methodology, and secondly, the evaluation of PPA as a sociolinguistic marker. Both parts of this thesis reflect the methodological issues pertaining to the investigation of a rare variable.

This study investigates the use of the (ing) variable in the speech of Swedish L2 speakers of English. Developments in recent years have led to a shift in the language environment in Sweden, and the position of English has arguably evolved from a foreign language to a second language. The aim of the study is to investigate to what extent and in what ways Swedish L2 speakers’ use of the variable (ing) is affected by extra-linguistic conditioning relating to age, gender and style, in similar ways as have been uncovered in various studies on native speakers of English and L2 immersion learners. Furthermore, the construction of identity is examined based on the application of the variable. Sociolinguistic interviews with twelve participants of different age and gender were conducted to elicit the phonetic variable in different speech styles. Significantly, the study shows that the standard variant [ɪŋ] is favored by the Swedish L1 speakers, but that the choice of variant also is affected by all of the extra-linguistic variables to varying extents. The results show tendencies that the nonstandard [ɪn] is applied more the younger the participants are, if they are male and in less monitored speech styles. Moreover, the participants appear to be constructing their identity through the use of the variable, positioning themselves with English native peers.

Esta pesquisa descreve o comportamento linguístico de nordestinos residentes na cidade de São Paulo e nos municípios de Osasco e Santo André, a partir do pressuposto de que o comportamento linguístico de um indivíduo dentro de sua comunidade de fala envolve mudanças. O objetivo é verificar se os nordestinos modificaram seu dialeto diante do dialeto paulista. Adotaram-se como corpus doze entrevistas com falantes. A metodologia utilizada foi a de entrevistas gravadas em gravador digital e a transcrição obedecendo-se a fluência verbal dos informantes a fim de coletar dados elucidativos para o presente estudo. Nas transcrições procurou-se, quando possível, utilizar as normas de transcrição do Projeto NURC. Partimos de duas análises sociolinguísticas: a análise das variáveis linguísticas e extralinguísticas. A análise das variáveis extralinguísticas objetivou traçar o perfil de quem poderia estar ou não implementando uma mudança linguística. Os fatores aferidos foram: gênero, escolaridade, tempo de permanência em São Paulo, faixa etária, ocupação e estados de origem. Nesta análise percebeu-se que há tanto falantes categóricos como aqueles que oscilam ao utilizar ou não seu dialeto, que os fatores extralinguísticos estão diretamente relacionados a essa mudança, assim como o estado de origem dos entrevistados. A análise das variáveis linguísticas objetivou verificar se há uma mudança linguística em curso ou não e em quais situações de fala isso pode acontecer. Os fatores aferidos foram as variáveis dependentes: [ t ] [ d ] oclusiva dental e [ t ] [ d ] africada palato-alveolar diante da vogal [ i ] e as variáveis independentes quanto ao segmento antecedente, segmento seguinte e em relação à sílaba tônica. Os dados foram codificados e aferidos através do programa Goldvarb versão 2001.
This research aims at describing and analysing the linguistic behavior of the northeastern ones who lives in Sao Paulo city, and in the neightborhood cities: Osasco and Santo André, as a consequence of their migration movements. The objective is verify if the northeasten modify their dialects in front of paulistas dialect. Twelve interviews were adopted like corpus with resident speakers. The used methodology was that of interviews recorded in digital tape recorder and the transcription obeying verbal fluency of the informants in order to collect elucidatory data for the present study. In the transcriptions it tried, as possible as, to use the Project NURCs transcription standards. We began of two analyses sociolinguistics: the analysis of the linguistic and extralinguistic variables. The analysis of the extralinguistic variables aimed to draw whose profile might be or without implementing a linguistic change. The checked factors were: genre, schooling, permanence time in Sao Paulo, age, occupation and states of origin. In this analysis it was seen that it is so much categorical speakers as those who oscillate while using or not their dialects, that the extralinguistic factors are straightly connected to this change, as well as the state of origin of the interviewed ones. The analysis of the linguistic variables aimed to check if there is a current linguistic change or not and in which speech situations that can happen. The checked factors were the dependent variables: [t] [d] oclusiva dental consonant and [t ] [d ] africada - alveolar before the vowel [i] and the independent variables as for the preceding segment, next segment and regarding the syllable tonic. The data were encoded and checked through the program Goldvarb version 2001.

After providing an historical overview of the French spelling system and orthographic variation, this study analyzes selected internal (i.e., linguistic) factors and one external (i.e., social) factor that can influence the use of diacritics in online French-language chat sessions. From a corpus of synchronous computer-mediated communication, 3,855 tokens of graphemes capable of bearing diacritics were coded with the following scheme: Letter, Diacritic, Grapheme (i.e., Letter and Diacritic combined), Date of Participation, and Age Group of Participant. A multivariate (VARBRUL) analysis determined that Grapheme exerts the most influence on variation.

On s’intéresse dans cette thèse à la relation entre le degré de conscience qu’ont les locuteurs de la variation dans le cas de certaines variables sociolinguistiques à Beyrouth [et les appréciations rattachées à chacune de leurs réalisations lorsqu’elles sont saillantes], et la distribution sociale de chacune de leurs variantes. Dans un premier temps, sont présentées les représentations rattachées aux stéréotypes et traits saillants perçus par les locuteurs. Les deuxième et troisième parties du travail présentent l’emploi et la répartition sociolinguistique de dix de ces stéréotypes et traits saillants, ainsi que de quatre autres variables. L’étude de la variation et des représentations rattachées à certaines variantes se base sur un corpus de quarante-sept entretiens et conversations menés auprès de locuteurs aux profils variés. Il ressort de cette étude qu’une koïnisation est en cours à Beyrouth, en conséquence du contact dialectal entre les variétés parlées par les migrants et les variétés originellement parlées dans la ville. Cette koïnisation se fait par la perte de leurs traits saillants à la fois par les migrants, et par les résidents originels de la ville. En contrepartie, la variation observée dans le cas d’autres variables sociolinguistiques, dont l’emploi est corrélé à des facteurs sociaux comme le sexe, l’âge, l’appartenance communautaire (ou religieuse) et le niveau d’éducation, montre que les tendances différenciatrices entre les locuteurs sur la base de ces quatre critères sont, pour le moins, dynamiques, et que certaines d’entre elles vont croissant
This thesis explores the relationship between the salience of, and social values attributed to, some sociolinguistic variables in Beirut, and the social distribution of each of their variants. It first presents the social values attributed by speakers to the stereotypes and to other salient features they perceive. In its second and third parts, it concentrates on the social distribution of two stereotypes, eight salient features, and four other variables. The study is mainly based on forty-seven interviews and conversations, and the speakers that were met had various profiles. One of the findings of the study is that the koineization process resulting from the contact between the dialects spoken by migrants and those spoken by ‘genuine’ Beirutis leads to the loss of distinctive features in both groups. On the other hand, it appears from the distribution and evolution of a set of ‘non local’ variables, that some of the linguistic differences related to such social factors as gender, age, religious and communal affiliation, and educational level seem to be, for the least, very dynamic, if not growing with time

When speakers of different language varieties come into contact with each other, one variety often becomes dominant (based on relative social, economic, and/or political prestige), even to the point where it totally supersedes the other variety. This is what has occurred in Green Point, Pennsylvania, a small rural mountain community whose members once spoke Pennsylvania Dutch (a German dialect). This language was superseded by English several decades ago, and for at least two generations residents have spoken their own variety of the language, Pennsylvania Dutchified English (PDE); today even that variety is threatened by the overpowering influences of the standard variety of English spoken in the region. In addition to briefly describing the some linguistic features of PDE, this study examines the forces behind the Pennsylvania Dutch--Pennsylvania Dutchified English--regional standard of English language shift that has taken place in this community, in two ways--first by looking carefully at the historical and economic factors that have played a role in residents' language choices in the past, and then by investigating the influence of certain social variables that may be linked to residents' choices between PDE and the regional standard today. The paper concludes with a discussion of the prospects for the survival of PDE in this area and offers some suggestions for actions that PDE speakers can take to preserve their dialect, if they choose to do so.
Department of English

This study analyzes negative particle variation (i.e., the variable presence or absence of the negative particle ne) in synchronous French chat discourse within a labovian-inspired framework. Selected morphosyntactic, lexical, and phonological constraints are considered. Multivariate analyses performed by GoldVarb 2001 revealed that subject type (i.e., NP, [- overt] subject environment, pronoun) and the phonological environment preceding the position of neregardless of its presence or absenceare determining factors in the variation. In addition, discursive-pragmatic effect was explored in a sub-sample of data. The results indicate that ne is seldom present in verbal negation during explanatory discourse style, yet it is very likely to be retained in ludic, emphatic, and proverbial styles.

This study is a descriptive analysis of the occurrence of the sociolinguistic variables of pronunciation associated with all forms of ‘there’ and Non-Standard There-tag (NST-tag) in Bathurst English. Participants were interviewed and the occurrences of ‘there’ were obtained through the use of sociolinguistic interviews with 15 speakers. The incidences of ‘there’ were sorted based on grammatical category and pronunciation and were subsequently analyzed based on age and gender. The results indicate that older speakers use non-standard pronunciations of ‘there’ more than younger speakers and they also use NST-tag more than younger speakers. Younger speakers mostly use standard pronunciations of ‘there’ and use NST-tag very little. This may indicate age and gender grading or a change in progress in that vernacular is giving way to more standard speech in this community.

Dissertação de mestrado em Ciências da Linguagem
A concordância verbal enquanto regra variável tem sido objeto de estudo no quadro da Sociolinguística Variacionista especialmente no português do Brasil (PB) (Scherre, l994; Scherre & Naro, l998; Rodrigues, 2004). No caso do português europeu (PE), estudos recentes (Mota & Vieira, 2008; Cardoso, Carrilho & Pereira, 2012) centraram-se na alternância entre a terceira pessoa do plural e do singular em coocorrência com um sujeito plural. Partindo desta noção de regra variável e dos estudos já realizados tanto em PB como em PE, na presente dissertação, investiga-se um caso de variação na concordância verbal em PE que tem uma distribuição e propriedades particulares e, tanto quanto se sabe, não foi descrita anteriormente: os falantes omitem os traços da concordância verbal em contextos de infinitivo flexionado e de futuro do conjuntivo, na presença de sujeito lexical. Este tipo de concordância não padrão é atestado em falantes da zona do Vale do Sousa e do Vale do Ave. Aplicou-se aos falantes do grupo em estudo, numa primeira fase, dois tipos de testes, um offline e um online, respetivamente, um teste de juízos de gramaticalidade com base numa escala de Likert bipolar e um teste de leitura automonitorizada. Posteriormente, aplicaram-se mais dois testes de juízos de gramaticalidade para aferir as tendências dos falantes na segunda pessoa do singular e em contextos de sujeito nulo. Os resultados desta bateria de testes permitem concluir que o fenómeno de concordância variável em discussão possui duas propriedades distintivas: i) não afeta a segunda pessoa do singular e ii) ocorre apenas nas formas infinitivas e no futuro do conjuntivo. Apresenta-se uma análise dos resultados que é fruto da combinação da Teoria da Morfologia Distribuída (Halle & Marantz l993) com a noção de ‗regra variável‘ da Sociolinguística Variacionista (Labov l969), tal como proposto em Nevins e Parrott (2009). Em particular, sugere-se que o fenómeno em causa se deve à aplicação de uma regra de Empobrecimento no nível pós-sintático da gramática. Adotando a sugestão de Nevins e Parrott (2009), esta é uma regra variável, ou seja, uma regra que opera de forma probabilística e não categórica.
Verbal agreement as a variable rule has been studied by Variationist Sociolinguistics, especially in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) (Scherre, l994; Scherre & Naro , l998; Rodrigues, 2004). In the case of European Portuguese (EP), recent studies (Mota & Vieira, 2008; Cardoso, Carrilho & Pereira, 2012) focused on the alternation between third person plural and third person singular in co-occurrence with a plural subject. Based on this notion of variable rule, this dissertation presents a case of variation in verbal agreement in PE which has a special distribution and peculiar properties and, as far as it is known, it hasn´t been previously described: speakers omit traces of verbal agreement in contexts with the inflected infinitive and with the future subjunctive, in the presence of a lexical subject. This research shows that this type of agreement is attested in non-standard speakers from a restricted area: Vale do Sousa and Vale do Ave. Speakers from this area were tested in two types of tests: one online and one offline, namely, a grammaticality judgments test based on a bipolar Likert scale and a test of self-paced reading. Later on, two more grammaticality judgments test were done to assess the trends of the speakers in sentences with the second person singular and in null subject contexts. The results from applying this set of tests demonstrate that the phenomenon of variable agreement under discussion has two distinctive properties: i) it does not affect the second person singular and ii) it occurs only in infinitive forms and in the future subjunctive. The results of this study are analyzed according to the Theory of Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz, l993) and the variationist notion of 'variable rule' (Labov, l969), as proposed in Nevins and Parrott (2009). In particular, it will be suggested that the phenomenon in question is due to the application of a rule of Impoverishment in the post-syntactic level of the grammar. Adopting Nevins and Parrott (2009), this is a variable rule, i.e., a probabilistic and not categorical rule.

In this dissertation, I investigate whether the conceptualisation of computerised technological phenomena is influenced by social variables, in particular exposure to the computer. The conceptualisation and behaviour of a group of students majoring in technology-related fields were studied. Through the application of Conceptual Blending Theory, the multi-modal desktop metaphorical blend (DMMB) (as an electronic representation of an actual office desktop) was focused on. The participants were provided with tasks with the aim of determining whether they conceptualise the electronic desktop as a literal ‘thing-in-itself’ or as an e-version of their actual desks. The intent was to examine to what extent social variables, especially exposure, motivate the nature of the conceptualisation. Therefore, it is hypothesised that exposure, regarded as the primary variable in this study, influences conceptualisation of the DMMB to the extent where the it either loses its metaphoric quality in participants, who maintain regular and prolonged exposure to the computer, or retains the metaphoric quality of the DMMB in participants, who are not exposed to the computer on a regular and prolonged basis. Two groups were distinguished based on the extent of the individual participants’ exposure to computer technology, namely a high-exposure group and a low-exposure group. A mixed method approach was used to test and analyse data collected from individual participants, as well as from the high- and low-exposure groups. Methods used to test these hypotheses included questionnaires, word association (a conceptual task), controlled observation (a behavioural task), and interviews. The resulting data were analysed by means of a thematic interview analysis and non-parametric statistical tests.
Linguistics and Modern Languages
M.A. (Linguistics)

Este trabalho de investigação insere-se no âmbito da sociolinguística e debruça-se sobre a perceção quanto à variação dialetal do Arquipélago da Madeira, que os jovens em escolarização da Região Autónoma da Madeira detêm face a alguns traços particulares do léxico. Neste sentido, o corpus de trabalho baseou-se nos dados recolhidos em inquéritos por questionário sobre o léxico, realizados a uma amostra de 40 alunos naturais do arquipélago, a frequentarem o 3º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e distribuídos por dez alunos em quatros escolas localizadas: a norte (Santana-São Jorge) e a sul (Funchal e Câmara de Lobos) da ilha da Madeira e na ilha do Porto Santo. Para podermos, efetivamente, determinar quais as influências extralinguísticas ou quais as variáveis socioculturais responsáveis pelo conhecimento e uso dos dialetos, foi também importante analisar alguns fatores de ordem social, tais como, o meio familiar, a idade, o nível de escolaridade dos alunos, a naturalidade e o contacto destes com os meios urbano vs rural. Com efeito, e com base nos instrumentos de análise recolhidos, este estudo mostra-nos que os jovens madeirenses em escolarização ainda evidenciam um interesse em usar e manter a sua identidade dialetal, numa dinâmica intergeracional, dado que os mesmos consideram importante não deixar desaparecer um legado linguístico que tem sido herdado pelos seus antepassados. Contudo, constatamos que o domínio dos dialetos madeirenses juntos destes jovens começa a estar um pouco ausente nas suas conversas do quotidiano, principalmente quanto contactam com falantes fora do arquipélago, moldando os seus discursos em norma/padrão, por assim entenderem tratar-se de uma forma comunicacional, dotada de mais prestígio social. Em contrapartida, verificámos que o meio familiar e o meio rural contribuem, portanto, para um uso mais frequente da variação dialetal, provando-se esta realidade, sobretudo, nos jovens em escolarização residentes nos concelhos a norte da ilha da Madeira e na ilha do Porto Santo. Por considerarmos importante novas investigações, sobretudo pela temática que aqui foi abordada, consideramos que seria deveras pertinente surgirem futuros estudos. Assim, estes poderão explicar a origem do extenso léxico dos dialetos madeirenses e no caso particular da variação dialetal na pequena ilha do Porto Santo, considerando-se, para o efeito, também a vertente sociolinguística.
This research falls within the scope of sociolinguistics and focuses on the perception on the dialectal variation of Madeira that young people at school age from the Autonomous Region of Madeira evidence concerning particular characteristics of the lexicon. Therefore, the work corpus was based on data collected through questionnaire surveys on the lexicon, conducted on a sample of 40 natural archipelago students who attend the 3rd cycle of Basic Education and distributed by ten students in four different schools located in the north (Santana and São Jorge) and the south (Funchal and Câmara de Lobos) of the island of Madeira and Porto Santo. In order to effectively determine the extralinguistic influences or what socio-cultural variables are responsible for the knowledge and use of dialects, it is also important to analyze some social factors, such as the family environment, age, educational level of students, place of birth and contact of these with the urban vs. rural areas. It can be concluded based on the collected data that this study shows that young people in Madeira at school age still show interest in using and maintaining their dialectal identity in an intergenerational dynamic, given that they consider important not to let go a linguistic legacy that has been inherited by their ancestors. However, we found that the dialects of Madeira spoken by young people are disappearing in their everyday conversations, especially when they communicate with speakers outside the archipelago, shaping their speech acts in standard / default ways, because they understand it is a way of communication endowed with more social prestige. On the other hand, we found that the family environment and the rural environment contribute to a more frequent use of dialectal variation, facts that were proven, especially concerning youngsters attending school and resident in the municipalities in the north of the island of Madeira and on the island of Porto Santo. Since we consider important new research, especially for the issue that is addressed here, we believe it would be important to develop further studies. Thus, maybe these could explain the origin of the extensive lexicon of the Madeira dialect and also the particular case of dialectal variation on the small island of Porto Santo, again from a sociolinguistic point of view.