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Forms of Address in the Spanish of the Americas
Edited by María Irene Moyna and Susana Rivera-Mills
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 10] 2016
► pp. 197–232

Use and perception of the pronominal trio vos, tú, usted in a Nicaraguan community in Miami, Florida*

| The Ohio State University

This study investigates how, in a context of dialect contact and possible shift, members of the Nicaraguan community in Miami use and talk about the 2sg pronominal trio vos, tú, usted. Through observations, a questionnaire, and audio recordings of interactions and interviews, this paper explores the patterns of personal pronoun choice, their frequency, their contexts, interlocutors’ awareness of the switch between vos and tú, and generational differences. I present evidence of participants indexing a politeness distinction that includes, at times, not two pronouns but all three. Ultimately, what is observed is a dialect leveling that may be rooted, at least partially, in one-on-one accommodation by Nicaraguans to the more unmarked Miami pronominal system of Cuban-Americans.

Published online: 25 August 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.10.10lop
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Guarin, Daniel
2022. El uso de pronombres de tratamiento en el departamento del Quindío (Colombia). Miradas 17:2 ► pp. 65 ff. DOI logo
Guarin, Daniel & Larissa Oliveira Cardoso
2023. A Virtual Linguistic Landscape Analysis of Higher Education Institutions and Their Use of Pronouns of Address in the Hispanic and Lusophone World. In Transformation of Higher Education Through Institutional Online Spaces [Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development, ], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
López Alonzo, Karen
2021. Chapter 1. Between vos and usted. In Aspects of Latin American Spanish Dialectology [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 32], ► pp. 11 ff. DOI logo
Restrepo-Ramos, Falcon & Nofiya Denbaum-Restrepo
2022. The Syntactic and Discourse Properties of Second Person Singular Forms of Address inPaisaSpanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 15:2 ► pp. 453 ff. DOI logo
Restrepo-Ramos, Falcon D.
2021. Chapter 2. A changing landscape of voseo in Medellín?. In Linguistic Landscape in the Spanish-speaking World [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 35], ► pp. 45 ff. DOI logo

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