This study is concerned with Colombians’ attitudes on regional language variation. Results from a questionnaire survey applied to 24 college-educated subjects, aged between 16-35 years, representing two dialectal regions, are presented and analyzed. Participants from Bogotá (Andean high-lands), the capital of Colombia, and from the Caribbean coastal region, were asked about their perceptions on different dialects of Colombia. Questions were designed to capture information concerning covert and overt attitudes toward dialectal variation, including friendliness, values and traditions, prestige, pleasantness, standard variety and intelligibility. Results from the attitudinal data confirm the traditional prestige conferred to the Spanish spoken in Bogotá, as opposed to the Caribbean coastal variety. Stigmatization of the latter is discussed in the light of the socio-historical development of the country.

Language attitude, Colombian Spanish, dialects.