The word variant can have different meanings, depending on the context where it is used. A variant can represent the various ways that something is displayed. For example: "a musical group performed a theme with different musical variants, so that the producer can decide which one is the most appropriate to present it to the public."
In the field of linguistics, the word variant represents the specific form of natural language, whose characteristics are used by a certain population that is related to each other, by social or geographical ties. Therefore, a linguistic variant comes to be the different forms that the same language adopts, depending on the place where the speaker lives (this variant is called a dialect), the age they are and the social group to which they belong.
Variants can be associated with intonation of words, vocabulary, and pronunciation. In general, it can be seen more clearly in public speaking than in writing, in this way when listening to someone speak, it is easy to assume which region they come from. For example if you come from the country or the city, if you are a child, an adult or an elderly person and also your educational level.
Within the linguistic variants there are different typologies that can be distinguished by geography, by linguistic evolution, or by sociolinguistic factors. Some of them are:
Diatopic or geographical variants: these are manifested in the way of speaking the same language differently, due to the distance between one region and another. For example: in America they say "matches" to the object that in Spain they call matches. These modifications are what is known as a dialect. This is why it is common for the Spanish language to have two variants: the Spanish spoken in Spain and the Spanish spoken in Latin America.
Diachronic variants: it is associated with linguistic change, when comparisons are made between texts from different periods. Hence, it is possible to differentiate between ancient and modern Spanish.
Social variants: it is linked to the level of study, social class, profession and age.
Situational variants: they have to do with the way of speaking, starting from the context where the speaker is, the way of speaking at a party with friends is not the same as in a meeting with the boss.
