Gonçalves Neto, J. U., Del Prette, A., & Del Prette, Z. A. P. (2019). O lugar das variantes linguísticas no Treinamento de Habilidades Sociais. Acta comportamentalia, 27(2), 145-159.
Uma variante linguística é uma certa forma de falar, própria de um povo, classe social ou grupo, que pode variar em relação à pronúncia das palavras, à gramática dos proferimentos e à escolha das palavras. Na Sociolinguística, os estudos sobre as variantes linguísticas apontam que elas estão associadas ao status social dos grupos que as falam, de modo que os indivíduos recebem diferentes tipos de julgamento social a depender da sua variante. Neste ensaio, argumenta-se que as variantes linguísticas são um importante componente paralinguístico das habilidades sociais, especialmente relevante no desempenho social do falar em público. Discute-se que a variante linguística é mais do que uma característica topográfica do falar, pois, devido às normas linguísticas adotadas pelas comunidades verbais em suas práticas de reforçamento, o desempenho dos falantes é reforçado ou punido a depender do seguimento ou não de tais normas. Essas considerações implicam em incluir no Treinamento de Habilidades Sociais, a depender do caso, um treino para o cliente discriminar os diferentes contextos de interação social onde se encontra e adaptar seu repertório verbal conforme a variante linguística mais efetiva para cada contexto e audiência, favorecendo a flexibilidade e a variabilidade de repertório. Palavras-chave: Variantes Linguísticas, Preconceito Linguístico, Habilidades Sociais, Sociolinguística, Análise do Comportamento
The place of linguistic variants in Social Skills Training
A linguistic variant is a certain form of speech, typical of a people, social class or group, which may vary in relation to the pronunciation of words, to the grammar of utterances and to the choice of words. Variants are shaped by the speech community, a more or less coherent group that explicitly or implicitly establishes the norms of language use. In Sociolinguistics, studies on linguistic variants point out that they are associated with the social status of the groups that speak them, so that individuals receive different types of social judgment depending on their variant. The question of linguistic prejudice is presented here, and as educated and formal variants have historically been associated with prestige and social recognition. In this essay, it is proposed that linguistic variants are an important paralinguistic component of social skills, especially relevant in the social performance of public speaking. It is stated that the linguistic variant is more than a topographical characteristic of speech because, due to the linguistic norms adopted by the verbal communities in their reinforcement practices, the speakers’ performance is reinforced or punished depending on whether or not they follow these norms. The “correct”, “cult”, “standard” speaking is easily identified by characteristics of the form of behavior (vocabulary, word pronunciation and sentence organization). As the verbal community differentially reinforces public speaking according to the cultured linguistic variant, and generally punishes popular speech (especially the one with deviant pronunciations of the standard, slang, swearing, verbal and nominal agreement breaks), it is affirmed that this paralinguistic component of social performance is not merely a topographical aspect. Semantically, cultured speech differs little from popular speech, for there are many equivalences between the expressions of both variants. This semantic aspect suggests that speaking according to the cultured or uncultured norm is only a difference of topography, because in the relationship between the verbal stimuli there are functional equivalences. However, it is in the pragmatic aspect that cultured speech differs from uncultured speech. In a context of formal interaction a specific topography is required as a criterion for reinforcement. To speak with slang and deviations from normative grammar means to behave with a topography that does not reach the criterion of production of reinforcement in the reinforcement contingencies established by the verbal community for that context. Here lies the functional difference between linguistic variants. These considerations imply to include in the Social Skills Training, depending on the case, a training for the clients to discriminate the different contexts of social interaction in which they are and to adapt their verbal repertoire according to the most effective linguistic variant for each context and audience, favoring the flexibility and repertoire variability. In addition, it is argued that psychologists must pay attention to their own linguistic prejudice, especially when working in public services and less-favored areas. Key-words: Linguistic Variants, Linguistic Prejudice, Social Skills, Sociolinguistics, Behavior Analysis