«Usted podía dejar la lancha donde te diera la gana»: Sobre la alternancia de 'tú' y 'usted' en el español centro-norte peninsular

Abstract

La dualidad pronominal en la segunda persona del español es un asunto complejo y harto tratado en los estudios especializados de los últimos cincuenta años. Estos trabajos se han centrado en el análisis de las circunstancias que influyen en la elección de un determinado tratamiento, pero apenas han prestado atención al fenómeno de la alternancia, que consiste en el cambio de una forma de tratamiento por otra o el empleo de ambas en un único discurso y con un mismo interlocutor. En esta investigación se han examinado las formas de tratamiento en una muestra compuesta por 224 entrevistas semidirigidas, pertenecientes a distintos corpus orales de la variedad centro-norte peninsular, y se han documentado alternancias en 42 de ellas, tanto por parte de los entrevistadores como de los entrevistados. A partir de un análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo de estos cambios, los resultados de este trabajo revelan que la alternancia del tratamiento puede obedecer a distintas causas: a un cambio de planos discursivos, a una temática incómoda para el hablante, a la vacilación en la elección inicial del tratamiento, a la diferencia social entre los participantes o la tendencia al empleo de la forma de tratamiento no marcada ('tú'), unida a la falta de pericia en el uso de 'usted'.

Language immersion effects in the use of tú and usted by L1-French and L1-European Portuguese learners of Spanish

“…It is important to note that mixed uses of tú and usted in the same utterance also appeared in the responses of the L1-Spanish group, which is not surprising because similar cases have been documented in Spain (Sampedro Mella, 2016, 2022), in Argentina with the pronouns vos and usted (Rigatuso, 2014), and in Colombia (Denbaum, 2021) or Costa Rica (Quesada Pacheco, 2010) with tú , vos , and usted. In the literature, such mixed uses by L1-speakers are known as polymorphism (Denbaum, 2021), alternancia [alternation] (Sampedro Mella, 2022), cambio momentáneo [momentary change] (Rigatuso, 2014), or danza pronominal [pronominal dance] (Quesada Pacheco, 2010). When multiple variables need to be taken into account at once and each may lead to competing and sometimes contradictory options, speakers, native or not, may proceed to mix both PAs.…”

“…Some linguistic varieties, like Castilian Spanish, are known to focus on proximity and solidarity, using positive politeness forms, whereas others, like French, focus on negative politeness forms, seeking to ensure some distance between the speaker and the hearer in order to show respect (Briz, 2007; Haverkate, 2004; Sampedro Mella, 2019). Therefore, even though Castilian Spanish, French, and European Portuguese all present a T/V distinction, the distribution and use of such forms greatly varies, with the T form representing the default in Castilian Spanish (Carrasco Santana, 2002; Hickey & Vázquez Orta, 1990; Sampedro Mella, 2016, 2022) and V forms being favored in most situations by speakers of French (Hughson, 2003; Kerbrat-Orecchioni, 2005; Maingueneau, 1994) and European Portuguese (Cook, 1997; Guillerme & Lara Bermejo, 2015; Hammermüller, 1993). In sum, although Spanish speakers generally default to tú , French speakers most often use vous , and Portuguese display a broader array of respect forms with the use of nominal forms, such as o senhor/a senhora , thus presenting the greatest attention to politeness and distance of the three groups.…”

“…As was mentioned earlier, in Castilian Spanish, the 2P tú is the unmarked address form (Carrasco Santana, 2002; Hickey & Vázquez Orta, 1990; Sampedro Mella, 2016, 2022), and the use of usted has been steadily declining since the 70s (Alba de Diego & Sánchez Lobato, 1980; Aguado Candanedo, 1981 Borrego et al, 1978). In this respect, more recent studies have confirmed that the use of tú in Spain is now spreading to communicative contexts where speakers used to prefer usted not long ago, such as service encounters or teacher–student interactions (Blas Arroyo, 1998; Molina Martos, 2002; Sanromán, 2006).…”

“…As expected based on these findings, in French 3 and in European Portuguese, the use of 3P distancing forms (i.e., vous and o senhor/a senhora ) is more generalized than in Castilian Spanish (see sections below). Although in European Portuguese and French the unmarked form is the 3P 4 (Cook, 1997; Hammermüller, 1993; Hughson, 2003; Kerbrat-Orecchioni, 2005; Maingueneau, 1994), in Spanish it is the 2P (Carrasco Santana, 2002; Hickey & Vázquez Orta, 1990; Sampedro Mella, 2016, 2022).…”

“…Concretely, the use of usted is related to the older age and higher status of the person being addressed, whereas tú is associated with younger interlocutors whose sociocultural status is considered to be lower by the speaker. In cases where age and sociocultural level come into conflict, such as when an interlocutor is older but also has a lower sociocultural status, age will be the most relevant variable in deciding whether to use tú or usted (Aguado Candanedo, 1981; Borrego et al, 1978; Sampedro Mella, 2016, 2022). Additionally, some researchers have found that the gender of the addressee may also come into play when deciding whether to use tú or usted.…”