Variable use of plural address forms in Andalusian Spanish DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Elena Jaime Jiménez, M.A. Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese The Ohio State University 2018 Dissertation Committee Professor Scott A. Schwenter, Adviser Professor Rebeka Campos-Astorkiza Professor Terrell A. Morgan Copyright by Elena Jaime Jiménez 2018 Abstract In Central and Western Andalusian Spanish, both pronominal and verbal variation are found in the use of plural address forms (Lara Bermejo 2015). The pronominal variation involves alternation between the 2PL pronouns ustedes and vosotros as subjects, e.g. ustedes coméis and vosotros coméis ‘you (plural) eat.’ The verbal variation involves the alternation between the 2PL and 3PL verb forms when ustedes is the subject pronoun, e.g. ustedes coméis and ustedes comen ‘you (plural) eat.’ Previous work addresses pragmatic differences between these variants only in terms of contextual (in)formality and (a)symmetric interpersonal relationships, arguing that there are no pragmatic differences between the variants (Alvar 1973; Lara Bermejo 2015; Narbona et al. 1998). Building upon prior research on pragmatic differences between singular address forms (Raymond 2016; Sinnott 2010), in this study I show that plural address form variation in Andalusian Spanish is likewise closely tied to pragmatic differences. I collected a total of 7,852 tokens from online fora, from Twitter, and from the corpus PRESEEA Málaga. Data also come from an oral elicitation task and an online forced-choice survey with different types of contexts. Data were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression in R, random forests and conditional inference trees. Results indicate that pre-verbal as opposed to post-verbal placement leads to significantly more use of ustedes over vosotros. Ustedes is also more likely to occur in non-neutral contexts, as shown by the contexts from the elicitation task and online survey, and by the co-occurrence of ustedes with graphic features like emojis in the online sources. Furthermore, ustedes is more frequently produced by males, lower ii education speakers, and speakers from rural areas. Imperative mood and priming lead to more use of the 3PL verb form over the 2PL with ustedes. This dissertation reveals that use of the 3PL with ustedes is limited to formulaic expressions of the type juzguen ustedes ‘you guys be the judges.’ It also reveals that ustedes plus the 2PL verb form follows the pattern of its predecessor vuestras mercedes, ‘your honors,’ which also occurred in pre-verbal position more frequently and with second person agreement instead of third person agreement before it was fully stabilized in the system (Fernández Martín 2012). This pattern suggests a possible change in progress, supported by the association of ustedes with males and lower education and the 3PL with rural areas, as well as with priming, which has been identified as conditioning obsolescing linguistic elements (Rosemeyer & Schwenter 2017). Furthermore, ustedes with the 2PL or the 3PL, as opposed to vosotros, conventionally implicates non-neutrality, where the specific attitude toward the interlocutors is context-dependent. This study therefore sheds new light on pronominal shifts in Spanish, which are typically assigned to static social categories (cf. Raymond 2016). It shows how address form switching is used by the same speaker in the same interaction to convey distinct pragmatic meanings. More generally, it contributes to the analysis of plural address forms, which are highly understudied from a cross-linguistic perspective. Key words: address form switching, second person plural pronouns, Andalusian Spanish, change in progress, variationist sociolinguistics, pragmatics. iii Acknowledgments First of all, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Scott Schwenter. It has been an honor for me to be his advisee. His genius teachings in sociolinguistic variation and pragmatics, and in linguistic research in general, his help, guidance, and expertise have qualified me to conduct solid research and become a professional researcher in all facets, including writing and reviewing abstracts and research papers, and presenting at conferences. I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Rebeka Campos Astorkiza. Thanks to her, I am now also able to conduct research in phonology/phonetics. In addition, she has taught me how to write research papers professionally. Crucially, without her tireless and invaluable continuous help and support in all the aspects of graduate life and work, the writing of this dissertation and my completion of the PhD would not have been possible. I would like to express my great appreciation to Dr. Terrell Morgan. Taking his Dialectology course and teaching the Spanish Pronunciation class with his fantastic and clever methodology and materials have been inspirational for me. Not only have they strengthened my expertise and knowledge as a linguist, but they have also greatly helped me become a linguistics professor. Furthermore, Terrell has always provided me help when needed. Lastly, I am eternally grateful to Dr. Juliana De la Mora, who introduced me to linguistics when I was completing a literature-based Master’s degree. This was a turning point in my life; without which I wouldn’t have switched my career to linguistics and without which I wouldn’t have continued to a doctoral program either. iv Juliana gave me all the needed inspiration and help that made me enter a doctoral program in linguistics. v Vita 2006.......................................B.A. English, Arabic and French Translation and Interpreting, University of Granada, Spain 2008………………………....M.A. Arabic and Hebrew Cultures, Past and Present, University of Granada, Spain 2013………………………….M.A. Spanish/Linguistics, and Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, West Virginia University 2013 to present……………….PhD Hispanic Linguistics, and Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, The Ohio State University Awards 2010………………Fulbright Scholarship 2016………………Global Gateway Graduate Student Research Abroad Grant, OSU 2017………………Alumni Grant for Graduate Research and Scholarship, OSU Publications Jaime Jiménez, Elena. 2012. Lo que ustedes queráis: A first approach to variation of second person plural pronouns in Andalusian Spanish. Refugio Poético 2. Jaime Jiménez, Elena. 2011. Arabic Translations in Spain. Proteus 20 (2). 1-2. Fields of Study Major Field: Spanish and Portuguese vi Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments......................................................................................................... iv Vita ................................................................................................................................ vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................. x List of Figures .............................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Definition of the Phenomenon ............................................................................ 1 1.2. Outline of the Dissertation .................................................................................. 8 Chapter 2: Background ................................................................................................ 11 2.1. Historical background ....................................................................................... 11 2.2. Current 2PL Address Form System in Peninsular Spanish .............................. 18 2.2.1. Implications for this Dissertation ............................................................... 26 2.3. The Role of Frequency, Priming, and Clause Type in Changes in Progress .... 31 2.3.1. Frequency and Entrenchment Effects ........................................................ 31 2.3.1.1. Frequency and the Autonomy Effect .................................................. 34 2.3.2. Priming ....................................................................................................... 35 2.3.3. Main and Subordinate Clauses................................................................... 37 2.3.4. Implications for this Dissertation ............................................................... 39 2.4. Pragmatic Factors.............................................................................................. 40 2.4.1. Pragmatic Effects on Historical Address Forms ........................................ 40 2.4.2. Pragmatic Effects on Current Singular Address Forms ............................. 41 2.4.3. Implications for this Dissertation ............................................................... 47 2.4.4. The Pragmatic Meaning of Online Special Features ................................. 48 2.5. Research Questions and Hypotheses ................................................................ 51 Chapter 3: Methodology .............................................................................................. 60 3.1. Data from Online Sources and PRESEEA Málaga..........................................