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 The sociological aspects of culture have made it possible to grasp the
importance that the symbolic aspect exerts for its integration, its maintenance
and its change, and more specifically, language itself, as the representative par
excellence of the symbolic world. Sociologists and linguists, both classical and
contemporary, have seen the foundation and expression of culture in language,
considered in its totalizing dimension, which covers both articulate and gestural
language, artistic and, in general, language. In general, to all those that
correspond to the central zone: the designative symbolic of which linguists speak
and which is opposed and complemented by the existence of the peripheral zone
in which the expressive and exclamatory forms are located, which they are also
part of cultural codes.

In whatever form language expresses itself, its function

-as has already been established especially by sociolinguists- is eminently social
and therefore intimately linked to the cultural. This affirmation deserves a more
in-depth treatment, since it entails in itself the justification of part of the project
that on “Border culture and national identity” is carried out in the border zone
that corresponds to the state of Baja California. In order to proceed to its
delimitation, we will start especially from the works that our colleague Oscar
Uribe Villegas has developed on the subject, initiator of the sociolinguistic study
in the academic environment, not only Mexican but also Latin American.

It is from the works of Humboldt that the conceptualization of language

begins as a human activity in its double characteristic of activity and product of
the spirit, giving Vico its cultural connotation, Jespersen that of being an
intentional activity, Hermann Paul and the Neogrammarians conceived it as a
psychic activity and it was Whitney who initiated the social approach for its
further formalization by Meilíet, who, supported by Durkheim's theses, came to
place language among social phenomena. Sommerfelt picks up this placement
and says: "Language is a system of sign
us that acts as a collective model independently of the particular individual. . .
it is an external code to the individual, whose rules have to be observed by
him'* (Uribe Villegas, 0. 1970). This is how it is established that language,
based on linguistic signs, according to Granai does not copy the thing, but
rather suggests or indicates it, that is, symbolizes it, and in doing so, recreates
it: it gives it a new existence and therefore Therefore —we follow Uribe
Villegas— the symbolic function submits communication to arbitrariness or
conventionalism: it makes it depend on a sign that is taken for what it is not. . .
It is necessary to take linguistic signs for what they are not, but with the
essential condition that the arbitrary relationship that unites the vocal emission
to the concept that it signifies, is admitted by the interlocutors; that there is a
common universe of discourse and with it that they belong to the same culture,
that they share similar cultural patterns and that they have, through them, a
vision of the world “for us”. It is a world for those of us who speak a particular
language, and consequently, a world different from that of others, from those
who speak another language. This is how language marks different cultural
patterns and becomes a sediment of culture. Each language belongs to the
culture to which it belongs in the past, but in the present they also contribute to
shaping it and laying the foundations for future cultural development. The
relationship between language and culture is revealed when Jakobson himself
makes the human rest on a tripod, one of whose legs is language, but it is
already about that language that will make communication possible between
members of the same cultural group and that within that group shows itself in
its double aspect, in its capacity to be simultaneously activity and product. It is
a social activity and it is a cultural product and this affirmation, coming from
Uribe Villegas, leads us to consider the close relationship between the social
(activity) and the cultural (product) that departs slightly from the affirmations
of Humboldt and Vico and is accepted that “language is essentially alive in
speech (activity) and exists (although it is crystallized) and is active in
language (product)”. (Uribe Villegas, 0., 1970). It is a social activity and it is a
cultural product and this affirmation, coming from Uribe Villegas, leads us to
consider the close relationship between the social (activity) and the cultural
(product) that departs slightly from the affirmations of Humboldt and Vico
and is accepted that “language is essentially alive in speech (activity) and
exists (although it is crystallized) and is active in language (product)”. (Uribe
Villegas, 0., 1970). It is a social activity and it is a cultural product and this
affirmation, coming from Uribe Villegas, leads us to consider the close
relationship between the social (activity) and the cultural (product) that departs
slightly from the affirmations of Humboldt and Vico and is accepted that
“language is essentially alive in speech (activity) and exists (although it is
crystallized) and is active in language (product)”. (Uribe Villegas, 0., 1970).
The relationship between both situations, the social and the cultural, is
understood by considering language as a complete social activity, an activity that
carries within itself the dialectical relationship between the regulator, limiter and
coercor and whoever submits to or violates the rules. controllers of each culture.
In every cultural system, its practices, patterns and codes are subject to a short or
large number of principles that are expressed through language, which
simultaneously exerts coercion on the ideas, practices and patterns of each
culture. It is in this dialectical relationship that language reflects and shapes the
world, although to date there is no clear notion of how it shapes it and discerning
about this phenomenon constitutes a philosophical challenge. Despite this
limitationconceptual.es It is evident that there is a close relationship between
language and the expression of the world that surrounds us and that linguistic
facts reveal, along with other cultural aspects,
not only the structural and objective aspects of society but also those of an
abstract nature that constitute the world division in each of the stages of its
historical and cultural development in which it is possible to discover, through
linguistic analysis, the equilibrium positions between the external form of
language and the internal form of culture.

In relation to this theme, we consider necessary the presentation and

interpretation of those approaches by Michel Foucault that, due to their profound
approach to what language is in its cultural aspect, constitute a theoretical basis
of substantial interest to the approach that the project on cultural identity is
based on what corresponds to the importance of language in determining cultural
aspects, especially those related to scientific knowledge.

“The fundamental codes of a culture—those that govern its language, its

perceptual schemes, its changes, its techniques, its values, the hierarchy
of their practices—fix in advance for each man the empirical orders with
which he will have something to do and within which he will recognize
himself. (Faucault, M., 1978).

Foucault seeks to discover the fundamental codes of a culture, but

conceived in its broadest expression that constitutes the representation of the sum
of particular cultures of the Western world. In his search for what is
characteristic of each cultural stage, the author indicates one of the
characteristics of culture: its dynamic and changing character, the possibility of
transforming its codes. But, this dynamic character must be understood in very
broad temporalities, through which complete transformations take place, which
are barely perceptible in the generational limits, although in certain crucial
moments of historical development, the changes are abrupt from one generation
to the next. the other.

It is these codes that will allow men to recognize and identify themselves,
be it through their knowledge, through their experience; but mainly it will be
through the forms of representation of that knowledge and that experience.

From Foucault's work we must extract the importance of the relationship

given to language in relation to things and that it will be precisely this
relationship that will determine the codes of the corresponding culture and
society at a given stage.

It has been the forms of representation through the place that language
occupies, which have marked the great changes in knowledge and with it in
cultural codes. Western culture has suffered two great changes or two great
discontinuities in knowledge: the one that is located in the middle of the century
XVII, and that corresponds to the first great scientific revolution, and the one
that at the beginning of the XIX century initiates modernity. According to
Foucalt, during these two crucial points in the Western epistemological field, a
fundamental shift occurred in the way of ordering and with it representation and
of course, in the use of language.

The change brought about by the overturn in the epistemological system of

the Western world had a significant impact on cultural codes, with which it
seemed possible to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between episteme
and culture, or more specifically, between knowledge and codes or cultural
expressions.

Foucault's thesis, which among other objectives advocates a humanism that

is increasingly committed to being able to authentically decipher the human
being, stands out for the student of science and allows him to see precisely the
great influence of scientific knowledge on the behavior of the society in which it
occurs and how this society, through the characteristic forms of representation,
makes each epistemological transformation palpable and determines an attitude.
The change in the use of representations, not only those of a linguistic order, but
also those that are paralinguistic and in general those that make up the
semiological field, is evident in the two cultural moments that the author
analyzes extensively and that serve as a starting point. for this attempt to search
for a relationship between science and cultural analysis.

The two turning points in the Western episteme have been amply exposed
by Foucault and there would seem to be no doubt about the characteristics of
cultural change that such moments brought about. Coupled with its theoretical
conception, the hypothesis could be ventured that the appearance of a third
turnaround should be contemplated from what another author has called the
second great scientific revolution that began with the great transformations that
have been experienced since of the third decade of the present century.
We are not in a position to demonstrate how this great epistemological
advance has had an impact on the forms of representation; however, there will be
no doubt about the technological and cultural changes that current scientific
development has produced in different social systems. In some of the societies,
especially the highly technological ones, the impact has been much more visible
and manifest and has led to a cultural change with social consequences not yet
fully envisioned, but with decisive effects on behavior and forms of expression. .
Societies in transition to industrialism, via the introduction of advanced
technology, are still in a stage —as far as cultural changes are concerned— of
preserving their basic codes. But at the same time,
 This third turning point in the Western episteme leads —if we accept
Foucault's hypothesis— to a new relationship between representations and
things in which the human being either acquires a greater dimension or is
diluted in advance. scientific and technological, he is dragged by it and loses
himself in an exhausting struggle to occupy a place in each specific society and
group. The impact of scientific and technological progress simultaneously
presents its two facets: on the one hand, the positive one that contributes to
greater human well-being, and on the other, the negative face that brings with it
the possible dissolution of the human being, which Foucault already insinuates.
in his text, when affirming: "man has to return to that serene non-existence in
which he was kept in another time by the imperious unity of discourse". But,
Until this happens —if it happens like this— man passes, is he passing?,
through a stage of loss of his identity, of changing cultural codes, of searching
for his place in the new dimension that presents the changing aspect of its
society, the one that fails to digest the accumulation of scientific and
technological innovations, which, without a doubt, have introduced fundamental
transformations in each one of the cultural codes and with this have placed the
social system in a situation that already makes it impossible for him to maintain
the symbolic balance. This failure causes, more frequently than desired, a
deficiency in the use of symbols that translates into a fundamental deficiency in
the processes of social interaction. by a stage of loss of their identity, of
changing cultural codes, of searching for their place in the new dimension
presented to them by the changing aspect of their society, which is unable to
digest the accumulation of scientific and technological innovations , which,
without a doubt, have introduced fundamental transformations in each of the
cultural codes and with this have placed the social system in a situation that
makes it impossible for it to maintain symbolic balance. This failure causes,
more frequently than desired, a deficiency in the use of symbols that translates
into a fundamental deficiency in the processes of social interaction. by a stage of
loss of their identity, of changing cultural codes, of searching for their place in
the new dimension presented to them by the changing aspect of their society,
which is unable to digest the accumulation of scientific and technological
innovations , which, without a doubt, have introduced fundamental
transformations in each of the cultural codes and with this have placed the social
system in a situation that makes it impossible for it to maintain symbolic
balance. This failure causes, more frequently than desired, a deficiency in the
use of symbols that translates into a fundamental deficiency in the processes of
social interaction. the one that fails to digest the accumulation of scientific and
technological innovations, which, without a doubt, have introduced fundamental
transformations in each one of the cultural codes and with this have placed the
social system in a situation that makes it impossible for it to keep symbolic
balance. This failure causes, more frequently than desired, a deficiency in the
use of symbols that translates into a fundamental deficiency in the processes of
social interaction. the one that fails to digest the accumulation of scientific and
technological innovations, which, without a doubt, have introduced fundamental
transformations in each one of the cultural codes and with this have placed the
social system in a situation that makes it impossible for it to keep symbolic
balance. This failure causes, more frequently than desired, a deficiency in the
use of symbols that translates into a fundamental deficiency in the processes of
social interaction.
 Returning to the linguistic and relating it to the social, we find that both
Faoucault and Terracini, complemented by Uribe Villegas, consider that the
internal form of language is connected to that of the culture it expresses, and
this is how we can arrive at specify the need for sociolinguistic analysis in any
project that seeks to know and determine cultural patterns and social identity.
It is precisely in social identity, in group identification, in which language
plays a very important role and from which a tentative working hypothesis can
be deduced to be confirmed or ruled out in the research being carried out,
which will be stated as follows : To the degree that the same language and the
same sociolect are shared, to that degree it is possible to speak of a similar
cultural identity; O well:

Within every speaking community we must recognize a process of

increasing standardization that arises throughout the cultural development of
each community or global society. The linguistic learning process entails, in its
social aspect, the acquisition of language, which is individual: each individual
learns their idiolect, but they have to learn it in social interaction with other
speakers and it is through this communication that to a new interaction, with the
one established between the idiolects; when
These constitute a set of features that are common to them and become part of
the sociolect that functions within a homogeneous speaking community. “That
sociolect is made up entirely of those traits that speakers recognize as identifying
affiliation with a different speaking community. The sociolect is made up of the
traits that are the same in the idiolects. . . it is based on the observation that,
within a tightly knit group, although speakers notice speech deviations, they
regard them only as idiosyncratic and not as group markers. Only when these
deviations are such that they identify the speaker as a member belonging to a
different group can we speak of a new sociolect” (Haugen, E., 1974).

Sociolects are the linguistic expression that society uses to indicate its
diversification and stratification and, through their analysis, it is possible to
capture the mundivisions of each social stratum and point out the common
cultural traits and the differential traits, which will allow us to talk about the
degree of identity prevailing in the society under study.

Interpreting Haugen, we can point out that the problem in determining

sociolectal similarities and differences lies fundamentally in the fact that there
are many kinds of sociolects and that none is homogeneous, for which it is
essential to determine units and criteria that allow distinguishing one sociolect
from another and "degrees of similarity that allow objectively combining
different sociolects within the same class" (Haugen, E., 1974) and in each
characteristic and already established sociolect we must consider, in turn, the
presence of different registers , or subdialects. It is these units that are most
closely linked to the social, but they are also the ones that in the field of identity
can lead us to such diversification that it makes it difficult to locate the levels
sought.

Both the use of sociolects and registers imply belonging to a specific group
and performance within that group of social roles; In general, the use of
subdialects and registers, rather than identifying the speaker's social group, links
him to the context in which he is speaking and therefore, interacting, "the
register corresponds to the roles of speaker and interlocutor, to the environment,
to the topic and to the medium”. Sociolinguists point out that the appropriate use
of registers is part of learning one's own language” (Haugen, E., 1974).
Sociologists must add that it is also part of the socialization process that
indicates to each speaker which register to use according to the context in which
they perform and according to the role that they are to play in that context and
situation.
Guaje makes the participants of the situation aware of it, and the way in which
society controls both the situation and the participants.

The multiplicity of codes is part of the sociolinguistic system of a

community, which, as we have already seen, can also vary through its cultural
development. The use of different codes, be they sociolects, be they registers,
extends, already outside the limits. of a language, to the phenomenon of
bilingualism and borrowing from other languages.
It will be these two forms of linguistic behavior that we give special
attention to in the study of cultural identity in a border area, since they denote,
in particular, the sociocultural interaction along the borders between
communities of different origins. linguistics.

Bilingualism, in order for it to have social significance, should be studied,

as Fishman proposes, in relation to context and by distinguishing various
domains in which certain behavior is appropriate and among which may be
considered—for the specific purposes of the study. project
—the family environment, the work environment and the business transaction
environment; in them it is necessary to share the fact that "social relations must
be seen in terms of communication networks within which individuals play
various roles in various situations" (Haugen, E., 1974. In the case of border
communities, bilingualism has a special social and cultural connotation and is
implying the existence of what is known as "plural social loyalty of the
bilingual" and that reflects a broader loyalty; the one that is given to the group
and to its culture, and which becomes conscious only when the group is
threatened (as is the case with Chicanos and other Spanish-speaking groups
based in Anglo-Saxon communities). Among the individuals who live in the
border area, the analysis of their bilingualism should be considered in a broad
definition, such as the one proposed by Haugen, and that "would include
virtually everyone who would have to learn and obtain even a varnish of a
second language (Haugen, E., 1974), English in this case, whose learning and
use will vary to a degree according to the social role or roles that individuals
play in that society in the different social domains. It is very probable that the
housewife, in general, uses the foreign language rudimentarily or extensively in
the domain of commercial transactions that take place in North American stores
located in the areas closest to the border. It is also likely that the service
provider, the merchant and the professional make use of partial or total
bilingualism in their labor and commercial relations with tourists who visit
Mexican towns in search of services or the acquisition of material goods;
Something similar would happen with those who go to work in North American
communities where the use of English will be determined by the type of work
performed and will vary, from rudimentary employment -in domestic service
activities- to total mastery in the exercise of a profession or a skilled trade.
 These various nuances of -bilingualism are closely linked to the natural
face-to-face interaction that living along the borders between different linguistic
communities implies, and while it has its cultural importance, this is evidently
manifested in the use of the foreign language in the interaction with the members
of the social group that share the common language, in our case, Spanish. Here
we are facing the other modality of the multiplicity of codes or registers, the one
we have called: borrowing from other languages.

The phenomenon that implies the inclusion of linguistic loans and foreign
registers, with or without a phonetic and graphic adaptation, would seem to be
indicating the degree of cultural penetration and the propensity to move away
from cultural identity.

Borrowings from other languages constitute one of the innovative elements

of languages and as such they tend to modify linguistic use and with them some
of the cultural patterns according to the incidence of these borrowings.
According to Ottalengo and Paulín, these loanwords are incorporated without
altering the form they had in the source language or may undergo one of the
following types of adaptation: 1} the original forms adapt both to the phonetic
system and to the graphic of the language that receives the loan; 2) the original
form is only adapted graphically; and 3) the original form is only phonetically
adapted. The phonetic and graphic distortions of the borrowings introduce into
the language that adopts them different meanings and different contents from the
originals, and this makes -later- difficult the exchange between the two societies
and the two cultures. Over time, this exchange becomes even more difficult,
because the evolution of borrowed terms does not follow parallel paths in the
borrowing languages to those of their evolution in the lending languages.

The sociolinguistic factors that favor the lesser or greater inclusion of the
loans and give each one its own modalities are: a) the difference and contact of
the societies in which the respective languages are spoken; b) the technical
superiority of the lending company over the receiving company;
c) the diversity of linguistic resources of each language; d) the ability of users to
linguistically manage these resources; and, e) the decision or lack of decision of
those speakers to use to the maximum the linguistic resources of their own
language. Many of the loans, especially those that are incorporated without any
modification, are precisely explained by a psychosocial attitude of the
individuals that denotes a situation of cultural predominance of the society from
which the terms come and their tacit acceptance, for comfort and laziness to
search for the right term in the language itself. In this introduction of loans,
sociocultural policy factors have a special importance, because they will be the
ones who facilitate the entry route or the ones who can stop their indiscriminate
incorporation. The most accessible avenues for loans are those offered by the
broadcasters: press, radio, television; which, with the acceptance and use of
foreign terms favor their use by readers, radio listeners and viewers. The success
of these channels in the introduction of loans will depend on the cultural policy
that the State develops and the control that exists so that this policy is fulfilled, in
the supposed case that it was a protectionist policy of the national culture and
that, within From the conception of culture, special attention should be given to
the conservation and safeguarding of the national or official language.

In general terms, and following Uribe Villegas, we can say that the
imposition of one language over another, the shift from one language to another,
and the acceptance of loans from a foreign language occur when one or more
languages are given in the foreign language. of the following characteristics:
“when its speakers are either numerous or powerful or numerous and powerful;
when they mix freely with the speakers of the other language; when their
language bears a prestigious culture and advanced technology; when it serves as
a vehicle for superior forms of administration and is used by those who wish to
incorporate a certain population within the jurisdictional limits of their State, or
when those who speak it try to propagate, through their means, among the alien
population , certain religious beliefs and practices” (Uribe Villegas, O. 1970).
And we would add, when the policy of the State is of an imperialist tendency and
through the language it seeks to influence cultural and economic patterns.

The imposition, displacement and introduction of loans is not achieved

when one or several physical, social or cultural conditions exist, such as: when
the speaking group can isolate itself in peripheral or marginal areas of difficult
access; when one's own language is linked to a cultural or civilizational form that
is considered preferable even over that of the administrators or of the speakers
who belong to the economically dominant group; when the cultural policy of the
State promotes a strong national identification that is based, among other factors,
on the conservation of language as the institution that provides the members of a
society with the strongest sense of their identity, and around the which all other
national identification symbols are configured.

When there are no favorable conditions for a total or partial merger,

situations of more or less intense bilingualism occur, depending on the number
of favorable characteristics for displacement, taxation or acceptance of loans.
This bilingualism, to the extent that it occurs, can, however, become the starting
point for a linguistic-cultural assimilation in the medium or long term, depending
also on the existence of a smaller or larger number of favorable factors.
 According to what we have specified throughout this presentation about
the relationship between language and culture, for the purposes of the
sociological project on cultural identity in the border area, we can summarize
the main approaches in which the sociolinguistic aspect should be taken into
consideration. We will start from the affirmation that there is a close
relationship between the two concepts, but that this relationship is one of the
many that exist between social facts and culture and that, although language
reflects it, it is only one of the Necessary manifestations to get to obtain a
world division. The cultural identification of a community or group of them
will be feasible only in the consideration of the different cultural sectors and
the relationship between them,

Considering language as one of the cultural elements that will make it

possible to identify the groups that make up the society that lives in the Baja
Californian border zone, we will specify the modalities that are considered in the
study and that refer exclusively to: 1) use of diverse sociolects, that is, the
sociodialectal variety, 2) the prevailing degree of bilingualism in relation to
family, work, and business domains, and 3) the influx of foreign loans from
English, in the same mentioned social domains.

For each of these sociolinguistic modalities, its precision will be sought in

the different social strata that make up Baja California's global society, and that
correspond to the socioeconomic and ethnic structure, to which is added the
consideration of. sequence load factor! of the border strip.

According to the triple axis of coordinates (border culture, cultural identity

and scientific knowledge) that constitutes the guiding thread for the development
of the research in one of its sociological subprojects1, we will dedicate special
attention to the aspect of linguistic use by the occupational nucleus of those who
engage in scientific activity, specifically in their relationship to scientific
terminology and the capture of foreign sources, their acceptance or rejection of
such foreign terminology and the influence that the probable use of foreign
scientific terms exerts on their everyday language . In this sense, we can consider
the following as a working hypothesis:

1
The other sociological subproject is the one that refers to: ''Minors with antisocial behavior and their cultural
identity in the Baja California border area”.
 Scientists, due to the nature of their activity, are more prone to use a
greater number of foreign terms in the exercise of their activity; This
fact will influence greater flexibility for the more frequent use of a
sociolect, as well as for the acceptance of a growing bilingualism in
the remaining social spheres, and, consequently, towards a more open
attitude of acceptance of non-traditional and cultural patterns. in a
growing loss of national identity.

In addition to the study on the use of sociolects, bilingualism and foreign

loans among the members of the group of men of science, an attempt will be
made, in a second stage of the sociological project, or in a first if financial
resources allow it, the carrying out an exploratory analysis of the language used
in the broadcasts of macro-broadcasters. It will seek to locate the degree of use
of foreign loans and terms, particularly in the broadcasts of local radio and
television stations. This possible part of the investigation does not intend a deep
analysis, simply a first approach to the problem,

To conclude the treatment of language as a cultural element, it is necessary

to insist on the fact that culture is made up of different sectors of which language
is only one of them, and that all of them together form part of the symbolic world
of society under study. However, for the operational purposes of the research,
each sector must be considered as a unit in itself, whose study will be
predominantly sociolinguistic or semiological according to its particular
characteristics; but that in any case they must be apprehended basically through
the empirical approach. In the case of sectors in which social symbols are the
predominant units of analysis, The use of semiological analysis will constitute a
methodological challenge due to the fact that it confronts the researcher with a
disciplinary field that is still being cleared up in which empirical work and the
elaboration of exploratory techniques constitute stages that have been hardly or
nullly experienced in the cultural field, both at the national as well as
international. Hence, the inclusion of symbolic sectors that allow an approach to
the determination or classification of levels and cultural identity, represent a
possibility of theoretical and methodological contribution for the advancement of
one of the fields of study in which two sciences of the human: sociology and
semiology, the one in total do
minimization of its field of study, the other in clearing up its possibilities.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

FOUCAULT, Michel, Words and Things. XXI century, Mexico 1978, p. 5.

HAUGEN, Einar, Some Problems in Sociolinguistics in: Current Sociolinguistics, Edit. Oscar Uribe Vi
llegas, Institute of Social Research, UNAM, Mexico, 1974, pp. 84, 85, 87, 93.
URE, Jean and Jeffrey Ellis: The Record in Descriptive Linguistics and Linguistic Sociology in: Current
Sociolinguistics, Edit. Oscar Uribe Villegas, Institute for Social Research, UNAM, Mexico, 1974, p. 117.
URIBE VILLEGAS, Oscar, Sociolinguistics: an introduction to your study, Social Research Institute, UNAM, Mexico,
D. F„ 1970, pp. 98, 109, 166.