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Abstract
Vocatives in conversational discourse express the relationship between interlocutors, including distance versus proximity, respect as opposed to familiarity, power versus solidarity, and formality in contrast to informality. In Spanish, vocatives such as tío (lit. ‘uncle’) and hombre (lit. ‘man’) can have various functions, including calling the attention of a listener and forming social bonds with peers. Their multifunctionality, variety, and frequency of use by native Spanish speakers make them an especially relevant topic for linguistic research. This study’s principle objectives were to determine vocative use and choice by native speakers of Madrid Spanish and examine attitudes of these speakers regarding the use of vocatives.
A three-pronged study examining vocative use by native Madrid Spanish speakers was implemented. In the first experiment, four participants, ages 19-25, recorded their informal conversations with friends and family. Vocatives used by these speakers were polyfunctional and served to form and maintain bonds with peers, initiate and maintain contact, and add emphasis to an utterance. Level of friendship or social relationship, age and gender of the participants in an interaction, as well as the context of the conversation, influenced vocative use.
Additionally, a survey, including a discourse completion task (DCT) and perception task, was completed by 81 Madrid Spanish speakers over 18. In the DCT, participants were asked what they would say in certain contexts. The perception task asked participants to rank seven characteristics (level of education, intelligence, friendliness, professional capability, directness, level of empathy, general opinion) on a Likert scale. These two experiments showed vocative use depends on the perceived level of relationship between interlocutors, level of formality of a conversation, and age and gender of the interlocutors. Results of the perception task indicate that native speaker attitudes are impacted by vocative use.
This project aimed to improve upon previous works by combining and simplifying previous classification methods of vocative functions. It is the only known study that combines these three experiments in the analysis of vocatives, thus providing a more holistic account of vocative use and perceptions by native speakers of Madrid Spanish. The results demonstrate that vocatives are a multifunctional feature of Madrid Spanish that warrant further investigation.
A three-pronged study examining vocative use by native Madrid Spanish speakers was implemented. In the first experiment, four participants, ages 19-25, recorded their informal conversations with friends and family. Vocatives used by these speakers were polyfunctional and served to form and maintain bonds with peers, initiate and maintain contact, and add emphasis to an utterance. Level of friendship or social relationship, age and gender of the participants in an interaction, as well as the context of the conversation, influenced vocative use.
Additionally, a survey, including a discourse completion task (DCT) and perception task, was completed by 81 Madrid Spanish speakers over 18. In the DCT, participants were asked what they would say in certain contexts. The perception task asked participants to rank seven characteristics (level of education, intelligence, friendliness, professional capability, directness, level of empathy, general opinion) on a Likert scale. These two experiments showed vocative use depends on the perceived level of relationship between interlocutors, level of formality of a conversation, and age and gender of the interlocutors. Results of the perception task indicate that native speaker attitudes are impacted by vocative use.
This project aimed to improve upon previous works by combining and simplifying previous classification methods of vocative functions. It is the only known study that combines these three experiments in the analysis of vocatives, thus providing a more holistic account of vocative use and perceptions by native speakers of Madrid Spanish. The results demonstrate that vocatives are a multifunctional feature of Madrid Spanish that warrant further investigation.