Los tratamientos pronominales T/V en un contexto situacional de formalidad alta

Abstract

This article analyses the usage of T/V forms of address in Peninsular Spanish in a context of high formality —four interviews on Spanish national television of ca. 40 minutes each to frontbench politicians by top political analysts. Whilst the interviewers used V consistently, from the different choices of T/V pronouns made by the interviewees a number of intriguing conclusions are inferred. Unlike previous research into the addressees’ social factors, this research shows that the addressees’ age, sex and power/authority did not necessarily have an impact on the speakers’ choice of T or V. Conversely, the factor common to those speakers who used T was their young age (not the addressees’). Additionally, the cases of variation within the same speaker’s speech, changing from V to T, were prompted by the speaker’s desire to implicate less solidarity in moments when they disagreed with their interlocutors. In sum, this research reveals that the choice of T or V, even in contexts of the highest formality, may depend on the speaker’s idiosyncrasy and will to express more or less distance with their addressee.