A DEFINITIONAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STANDARD NORM OF CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN SPANISH

Abstract

In the context of the growing need for precise terminology that can be employed in the study of Latin American variants of the Spanish language, we analyze the definitional framework of the standard norm of contemporary Mexican Spanish. We contrast terms such as standard norm and phonetic norm, while exploring the nature of pluricentric languages. We examine terms such as national language and national variant. We rely on Coseriu’s understanding of historical and functional language to shed new light on the concept of variant. Thus we are able to contribute to the ongoing efforts aimed at improving the terminological precision of linguistic studies of the Latin American variants of Spanish.