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STRATEGIC MODEL OF ADDRESS 429

of distinctions are made in other languages. For instance, while some native Spanish
Thus, the complex system of address pro- speakers report that they might use the voca-
nouns in Portuguese is paralleled by a wide tive ‘Profesor’ with tú, others state (personal
array of address vocatives in other languages. communication) that if they address their pro-
The principal difference seems to be the fessor in that way, they would not use tú. Thus,
degree of discretionary power that speakers the boundaries between T- and V-pronouns are
have, or feel they have, to omit the titles different in each language.
which will shade or categorize the relation- In addition to the situational variation
ship or situation. Here the presumption is within a single language described above,
that speakers of a language such as English differences in the usage and semantic inter-
would feel more comfortable in omitting pretation of forms are also found in varieties
vocative forms (when possible) than of the same language. At a conference on
Portuguese speakers would feel in avoiding address forms in the Spanish-speaking world
¨
the use of a particular pronoun option. (Karl-Franzens-Universitat, Graz, May 2006),
Observational data suggest that Portuguese it became clear that uniformity does not exist
speakers are much more aware of the way regarding the semantic interpretation of the
they are addressed and discuss infractions pronouns tú, Ud, or vos. As a result, the pairing
with greater frequency than do speakers of of vocatives and pronouns would not be the
English. Appropriate address seems to arise same across all varieties of Spanish.
with some frequency on talk shows, both in By taking the perspective that the impor-
conversations to determine the appropriate tance of address (including vocatives) is not
form to use with a guest, as well as more gen- limited to a few communicative strategies or
eral exchanges on inappropriate usage that to all-inclusive definitions of Power and
has been witnessed by the host or guests. Solidarity, researchers can more easily
One area of research which merits greater understand the complexities of interpersonal
attention is the co-occurrence of vocatives communication and the role communicative
and pronouns. In binary pronoun systems, strategies play in achieving conversational
the pronoun accompanying the second- goals (including conflict and cooperation)
person singular form of the verb is consid- and in constructing one’s identity. To this
ered the T-pronoun. The V-pronoun may be end, an additional area to be explored is the
the one used with the third-person singular degree to which titles become an integral part
form of the verb, as in Spanish, or the second of the legal identity of the individual. For
person plural form of the verb, as in German example, in Germany, the doctoral title
and the Scandinavian languages. As Dr. becomes a part of the family name and
described above, the T-pronoun is conven- therefore appears both in one’s national iden-
tionally associated with informality and inti- tity card and passport. In Portugal bank and
macy, the V-pronoun with formality and credit cards include the academic title of the
respect. That assumption, if true in all lan- cardholder, but it is not considered part of the
guages and in all communicative situations, family name and therefore does not appear
would imply that the semantic field (interpre- on the national identity card or in the
tation) of the T-pronoun would be the same passport.
from language to language and independent
of the situation of its use. However, obvious
differences exist. Danish du, for instance, is
nearly as widespread as you in English, FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
whereas use of Italian tu is more restricted
among adult speakers. Within a single lan- This chapter has examined some of the ways
guage, variation also exists in the matching speakers can manipulate the address form
of a particular vocative to the pronoun. system to encourage cooperation or to