Cultural and identity configurations of young people in the urban area of Canton Cuenca: a sociolinguistic look

Sociolinguistics is a discipline that has the object of analysis of language in its social context. It seeks to define how social and linguistic variants are linked to the communicative act and characterize a given group. In this sense, youth jargon is the speech of a generation that has a particular repertoire and social functioning. This study aims to explore the use of youth language in different social interactions, to understand how its identities and senses of group belonging are constructed. We are specifically interested in: a) Analyze, from the variation perspective, in what way the lexical-semantic procedures in youth jargon machining and cause areas of (in) communication, in relation to the language used by adult generation in its different areas: study-work, leisure-music-diversion and body-sexuality-love. B) Reflect and analyze how through its use the symbolic construction of a marginal subject occurs, evidencing a different way of conceiving and inhabiting the dominant cultural space. The results will allow us to know the linguistic peculiarities and cultural configurations of young people, to value them and recognize them as actors and participants who seek opportunities and means to act and decide in our society. This synchronous study will be carried out with the youth in the urban area of the Canton Cuenca, with an age between 15 and 24 years (UNESCO, 1985). A mixed methodology will be used, through the use of the probabilistic sampling technique, the survey, the structured interview and ethnography.

XVIII UNIVERSITY COMPETITION FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS