The has issued a press release for a recent piece of research by Professor Chase Raymond. The statement can be found below and at: 聽.
The Versatility of Pronouns and Shifting Identity
(Washington, DC) 鈥� A new scientific study reveals the fascinating ways in which we use pronouns to negotiate social identity. While much of the recent popular discussion on the topic of pronouns and social identity has focused on how third person pronouns in English (she/he聽and聽his/her聽vs.聽they) establish fixed gender identities, this study focuses on how second person (you) pronouns in Spanish can be used to communicate聽shifts聽in a range of different social identities. The study, 鈥淟inguistic reference in the negotiation of identity and action: Revisiting the T/V distinction", by Chase Wesley Raymond at the University of Colorado, Boulder,聽was published in the September, 2016 issue of the scholarly journal聽Language. A pre-print version of the article may be found at:听.
The 鈥淭/V distinction鈥� used in the article鈥檚 title references an often-studied aspect of linguistic research: Many languages possess what is called a 鈥楾/V distinction鈥欌�攆or example,聽Tu聽vs.聽Vous聽in French,聽T煤聽vs.聽Usted聽in Spanish, and so on鈥攊n which the T form is said to be the non-deferential, socially intimate, or 鈥榠nformal鈥櫬爕ou, while the V form is said to show deference, to be more socially distant, and to be the 鈥榝ormal鈥櫬爕ou.
The data in this study demonstrate that, contrary to how they have been treated in prior research, the notions of 鈥榠dentity鈥� and 鈥榗ontext鈥� cannot be taken as pre-existent, static, or altogether 鈥榞iven鈥�. After all, each of us possesses an infinite number of identities simultaneously: Someone can be your boss,聽and聽a lawyer,聽and聽a mother,聽and聽your best friend,聽and... Which one(s) of these many identities is salient at any given moment in a conversation depends on what the speakers are doing with one another; and what they鈥檙e doing with one another can change over the course of a single interaction鈥攁nd thus so can their selection between forms of聽you. In using these different forms of address, speakers can highlight or foreground different aspects of their own and their interlocutor鈥檚 identities at different moments in the ongoing talk, in accordance with how those identities are relevant to whatever it is they are trying to get done.
The article examines a corpus of data for 1000+ speakers and several hundred hours of recorded conversation. The study included speakers of Spanish from ten countries, reflecting multiple dialects within each of those nations. The contexts studied included: casual in-person and telephone conversations between people who are friends and/or family, consultations between doctors and patients, emergency calls to 911, and political news interviews.
This path-breaking study confirms that various aspects of our identities are often fleeting鈥攊nvoked for a purpose and then negotiated, challenged, defended, abandoned, modified, etc., as the conversation progresses onward in new directions. Nonetheless, no matter how fleeting, who we are as social beings is made up of the different identity 鈥榟ats鈥� we wear. This research contributes to our understanding of how speakers make use of the grammar of their language to both reflect, as well as constitute, these identities on a moment-by-moment basis as we engage in interaction with one another.