SPANISH GEOGRAPHICAL VARIETIES RECOGNITION BY SFL STUDENTS FROM SLOVAKIA, CZECH REPUBLIC AND POLAND

The present paper examines the identification and categorization of Spanish geographical varieties by SFL students from the Bilingual Sections of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland. In addition, the factors that may influence this recognition are discussed, as well as the social imaginaries and prototypes for each variety. The PRECAVES XXI project survey and recordings are used for data collection. After analyzing the participants' responses, we found that the varieties that were easiest to identify were Castilian, Rioplatense, Andalusian and Mexican, while the others (Canarian, Caribbean, Andean and Chilean) showed a very low level of recognition. Furthermore, it was found that the imaginaries vary depending on the variety, showing that each one of them works independently.