A Sociolinguistic Examination of the Dual Usted in Medellín, Colombia: Evidence from Semi-spontaneous Speech and Implicit Language Attitudes

Abstract

Abstract: The system of second person singular forms of address (2PS) in Medellín, Colombia is tripartite consisting of tú, vos , and usted , while also including the existence of a dual usted . The current study compares usage of the intimate usted versus the distant usted with data from an oral discourse completion task (DCT) while also investigating listeners' implicit language attitudes toward the usage of usted utilizing the matched guise technique. A sample of speakers from Medellín (N=72) stratified by age, sex, and education level completed an oral DCT, and a subset (N=38) also completed a matched guise task. For usage, it was found that intimate usted occurred 36.7% of the time with distant usted occurring 63.3% of the time. A multivariate mixed effects regression selected all fixed effects as significant. Specifically, intimate usted was favored by commands, statements, indirect commands, male interlocutors, same age interlocutors, male speakers, younger speakers, and speakers with high school education. These findings show that although the default usted usage is with distant interlocutors, the intimate usted is extremely vital, especially between men and with younger speakers. The current study also demonstrates the importance of comparing usage data and attitudinal data.