Cover not available
Article published In:
Spanish in Context
Vol. 19:1 (2022) ► pp.25–47

Politeness and pragmatic transfer in L2 pronominal address usage

Variation of T/V pronouns in Spanish by Chinese learners

| Nanjing University

This study investigates how Chinese learners of Spanish, who have a T/V distinction in their first language (L1), use the T/V address forms in Spanish as a second language (L2). Findings show that the learners rely mainly on their L1 pragmatic knowledge to employ the T/V in the L2. Despite having relatively good grammatical control of T/V, the learners produced frequent T/V alternation due to negative pragmatic transfer. In Chinese using V normally conveys speaker’s perception of a high-power differential and in relationships that are borderline T or V usage, shifting from T to V can convey deference and tends to co-occur with face-threatening or face-enhancing acts. The learners transferred from Chinese their tendency to use V to express deference and overutilized this politeness strategy in Spanish regardless of their relationship with the addressee. This problematic usage may generate negative social consequences and calls for pedagogical intervention.

Keywords: T/V address forms, L2 Spanish, Chinese
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1T/V systems in Spanish and Chinese
    • 2.2T/V usage in L2
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Instrument
    • 3.3Data analysis method
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Overall results
    • 4.2T/V variation in L1 Spanish and Chinese
    • 4.3T/V variation in L2 Spanish of Chinese learners
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 January 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.19018.wan
References
Agha, Asif
2006 Language and Social Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Agresti, Alan
2002 Categorical Data Analysis. 2. ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Interscience. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Belz, Julie A., and Celeste Kinginger
2003 “Discourse Options and the Development of Pragmatic Competence by Classroom Learners of German: The Case of Address Forms.” Language Learning 53 (4): 591–647. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blas Arroyo, José Luis
1995 “Tú y Usted: Dos Pronombres de Cortesía En El Español Actual. Datos de Una Comunidad Peninsular.” ELUA. Estudios de Lingüística Universidad de Alicante, no. 10: 21–44. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson
1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Roger, and Albert Gilman
1960 “The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity.” In Style in Language, ed. by T. A. Sebeok, 253–276. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chao, Yuen Ren
1956 “Chinese Terms of Address.” Language 32 (1): 217. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Rong, Lin He, and Chunmei Hu
2013 “Chinese Requests: In Comparison to American and Japanese Requests and with Reference to the ‘East-West Divide.’” Journal of Pragmatics 551: 140–161. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clyne, Michael, Catrin Norrby, and Jane Warren
2009 Language and Human Relations: Styles of Address in Contemporary Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Compernolle, Rémi A. van, Maria Pia Gomez-Laich, and Ashley Weber
2016 “Teaching L2 Spanish Sociopragmatics through Concepts: A Classroom-Based Study.” Modern Language Journal 100 (1): 341–361. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Compernolle, Rémi A. van, Lawrence Williams, and Claire McCourt
2011 “A Corpus-Driven Study of Second-Person Pronoun Variation in L2 French Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication.” Intercultural Pragmatics 8 (1): 67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dewaele, Jean-Marc
2004 “Vous or Tu? Native and Non-Native Speakers of French on a Sociolinguistic Tightrope.” International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 42 (4): 383–402. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dong, Yansheng, and Jian Liu
2014 Español Moderno. Vol. I1. Beijing: Foreign language teaching & research press.Google Scholar
Fasold, Ralph W.
1990 The Sociolinguistics of Language. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Félix-Brasdefer, J. César
2015 The Language of Service Encounters: A Pragmatic-Discursive Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2018 “Role Plays.” In Methods in Pragmatics, ed. by Andreas H. Jucker, Klaus P. Schneider, and Wolfram Bublitz, 305–32. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gili Gaya, Samuel
1980 Curso Superior de Sintaxis Española. 10th ed. Barcelona: Biblograf.Google Scholar
Gu, Yueguo
1990 “Politeness Phenomena in Modern Chinese.” Journal of Pragmatics 14 (2): 237–257. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Howard, Martin, Raymond Mougeon, and Jean-Marc Dewaele
2013 “Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition.” In The Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Vol. 11. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Instituto Cervantes
2019 “El Español: Una Lengua Viva. Informe 2019.” [URL]
Kasper, Gabriele
1992 “Pragmatic Transfer.” Second Language Research 8 (3): 203–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kroger, Rolf O., and Linda A. Wood
1992 “Are the Rules of Address Universal?: IV: Comparison of Chinese, Korean, Greek, and German Usage.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 23 (2): 148–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Márquez Reiter, Rosina
2000 Linguistic Politeness in Britain and Uruguay: A Contrastive Study of Request and Apologies. Pragmatics & Beyond New Series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Márquez Reiter, Rosina, and María Elena Placencia
2005 Spanish Pragmatics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moreno, María Cristobalina
2003 “El Uso Del Pronombre Tú En La España Contemporánea: ¿extensión de Un Nuevo Uso o Continuación de Una Tendencia Iniciada En El Siglo de Oro?” In Actes Du Colloque International de Pronoms de Deuxieme Personne et Formes d’addresse Dans Les Langues d’Europe. Paris, France. [URL]
Morford, Janet
1997 “Social Indexicality in French Pronominal Address.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 7 (1): 3–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shively, Rachel L.
2011 “L2 Pragmatic Development in Study Abroad: A Longitudinal Study of Spanish Service Encounters.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (6): 1818–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, Michael
2003 “Indexical Order and the Dialectics of Sociolinguistic Life.” Language & Communication 23 (3–4): 193–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spencer-Oatey, Helen
2008 “Face, (Im)Politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking Second Edition; Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London; New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Stewart, Miranda
1999 The Spanish Language Today. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Villarreal, Dan
2014 “Connecting Production to Judgments: T/V Address Forms and the L2 Identities of Intermediate Spanish Learners.” Journal of Pragmatics 661: 1–14. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Jinwei, and Yang Song
2018 “Formas Pronominales de Tratamiento En Español y Chino.” Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a La Comunicación 761. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xiang, Xuehua
2019 “Personal Pronouns in Chinese Discourse.” In The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Discourse Analysis, ed. by Chris Shei, 1st ed., 147–59. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zheng, Shujiu, and Yuanqi Liu
2015 Quanguo Gaodeng Yuanxiao Xibanyayu Jiaoyu Yanjiu [Research about Teaching of Spanish in Higher Education in China]. Beijing: Foreign language teaching & research press.Google Scholar