This article explores some basic concepts of common interest and usage when it comes to carry out a sociolinguistics study. It begins with the approach to the concepts of sociolinguistics, language, language and speech, linguistic and social variables, dialect and language community. The theoretical notion displayed here are the foundations of the project denominated “Caracterización del uso dialectal del español hablado en Chiquinquirá” (Characterization of the Dialectal Use of Spoken Spanish in Chiquinquirá – in English). The objective of this text is to review sociolinguistics proper theoreticcal assertions. Likewise, there is an ongoing contribution to further researches related to the speech understood as a sum of dialects, and the dialectal uses of a given speech community.