Affiliation:
1. University of Malta, Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies, Msida MSD 2080, MaltaSpain
Abstract
AbstractThis article analyses the usage of T/V forms of address in Peninsular Spanish in a context of high formality —four interviews on Spanish national television of ca. 40 minutes each to frontbench politicians by top political analysts. Whilst the interviewers used V consistently, from the different choices of T/V pronouns made by the interviewees a number of intriguing conclusions are inferred. Unlike previous research into the addressees’ social factors, this research shows that the addressees’ age, sex and power/authority did not necessarily have an impact on the speakers’ choice of T or V. Conversely, the factor common to those speakers who used T was their young age (not the addressees’). Additionally, the cases of variation within the same speaker’s speech, changing from V to T, were prompted by the speaker’s desire to implicate less solidarity in moments when they disagreed with their interlocutors. In sum, this research reveals that the choice of T or V, even in contexts of the highest formality, may depend on the speaker’s idiosyncrasy and will to express more or less distance with their addressee.
Subject
Literature and Literary Theory,Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics