Voseo

In Spanish, "voseo" is the use of the second person singular pronoun "vos" instead of "tú". It can also be used in the context of using verb conjugation of "vos" with "tú" as the subject pronoun [cite book | last = Miranda | first = Stewart | title = The Spanish Language Today | publisher = Routledge | date = 1999 | pages = 125 | isbn = 041514258X ] , as in the case of Chilean Spanish.

"Vos" is used extensively as the primary form of the second-person singular in Rioplatense Spanish (Argentina and Uruguay), in Paraguay, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica (in the latter side by side with "usted").

The pronoun is also widely used in Bolivia and Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Although in these countries the media use "tú" more.

"Vos" is generally not used in writing, except in Argentina and Uruguay.
This phenomenon is also gradually taking place in Central America, where the most prestigious media are beginning to use the pronoun "vos" instead of "tú"; Nicaragua, and Honduras, where the dialect is known as Central American Spanish, is a perfect example of this. In El Salvador, newspaper comics employ "voseo", but it is hardly ever found in narrative articles outside of quotations. Increasingly, billboards and other advertising media are using "voseo". In the dialect of Argentina and Uruguay (known as Rioplatense Spanish) "vos" is also the standard form for use in television media.

"Vos" is present in other countries as a regionalism, for instance in the Maracucho Spanish of Zulia State, Venezuela (see Venezuelan Spanish), in Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico, in various departments in Colombia, and in parts of Ecuador ("Sierra" down to Esmeraldas). In Peru, "voseo" is present in some Andean regions and Cajamarca but the younger generations have ceased to use it. It is also present in the Ladino dialect of Spanish, spoken by Sephardic Jews throughout Israel, Turkey, the Balkans, Morocco, Latin America and the United States.

History

"Vos" was traditionally used as a more polite second-person singular pronoun to be used among one's familiar friends, as "tú" was normally used in addressing servants or slaves. [Raymundo Del Pueyo A New Spanish Grammar, or the Elements of the Spanish Language (London: F. Wingrave, 1792) 160-161; The book is online at Google Books at: http://books.google.com/books?id=NekRAAAAIAAJ&printsec=toc&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPP9,M1 ] The correct formal way to address a person you were not on familiar terms with was to address such a person as "vuestra merced" ("your grace" originally abbreviated as v.m.) in the singular and "vuestra mercedes" in the plural. These forms logically used a third person verb form. Other formal forms of address included "vuestra excelencia" (abbreviated as ussencia) and "vuestra señoria" (abbreviated as ussia) . Today, both "vos" and "tú" are considered to be informal pronouns, with "vos" being somewhat synonymous with "tú" in regions where both are used. This was the situation when Castilian was brought to the Río de la Plata area (around Buenos Aires and Montevideo) and to Chile. In time, "vos" lost currency in Spain but survived in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay,Guatemala, Nicaragua, and many other countries and regions in Latin America, while "Vuestra merced" evolved into "usted" (vuestra merced > usarced > usted, in fact, "usted" is still abbreviated as either Vd or Ud). Note that the term "vosotros" is a combined form of "vos otros" (meaning literally "you others"), while the term "nosotros" comes from "nos otros" ("we others"); "otros" was added to avoid confusion (in a manner similar to the formation of y'all in the English of the southern United States). This corresponds with "youse" in Scottish English, Hiberno-English and Australian English.

Usage

"Vos" as a replacement for other forms of "tú"

The independent disjunctive pronoun ti is also replaced by vos. That is, vos is both nominative and the form to use after prepositions. Therefore "para ti" "for you" becomes "para vos", etc.
The preposition-pronoun compound "contigo" "with you" becomes "con vos".
The direct and indirect object form te remains the same, unlike in the case of "vosotros", where it becomes os.

Unlike tú, which has many irregular forms, the only verbs that are conjugated irregularly in their voseo forms in the indicative present are "ser" ("vos sos"), "ir" ("vos vas"), and "haber" ("vos has...").
The Chilean forms are "tú/vos soi/erís", "tú/vos vai", and "tú/vos hai...".

Affirmative imperative

"Vos" also differs in its affirmative imperative conjugation from both "tú" and "vosotros". Specifically, the "vos" imperative is formed by dropping the final "-r" from the infinitive, but keeping the stress on the last syllable. The only verb that is irregular in this regard is "ir"; its "vos" imperative is not used, with "andá" (the "vos" imperative of "andar") being used instead.

Geographical distribution

Countries where voseo is predominant

In South America
# Argentina* (pronominal and verbal voseo, the pronoun "tú" is practically not used)
# Paraguay* (pronominal and verbal voseo, the pronoun "tú" is practically not used)
# Uruguay* (both pronoun+verb and pronoun "tú" + verb conjugated in the "vos" form.)In Central America
# Guatemala
# Honduras*
# El Salvador
# Nicaragua*
# Costa Rica*

* In Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica, voseo is used in most of the written language. In El Salvador and Honduras, voseo is replacing tuteo in the written language and the mass media.

Countries where both forms are used

In the following countries, voseo is used in certain areas:
# Bolivia in La Paz, Cochambamba, Tarija, Santa Cruz, Pando and Beni

# Chile verbal voseo is spreading north- and southwards from the center, whereas the pronominal voseo is reserved only for very intimate situations or to offend someone. Also, voseo in Chile is only used in informal situations, in every other situation the normal "tú" conjugation is used (or "usted").

# Colombia, in the departments
##in the west (Pacific Coast)
###Chocó
###Valle del Cauca
###Cauca
###Nariño
##in the center, primarily Paisa Region.
##in the (North) East
###North Santander
###Guajira
###Cesar

# Ecuador in the Sierra, the center, and Esmeraldas

# Mexico in the south (state of Chiapas)

# Panama in the west along the border to Costa Rica, and in the interior of Azuero Peninsula

# Venezuela in the Northwest (primarily in the Zulia state)

Countries where "vos" is out of use

In the following countries, the use of "vos" has disappeared completely in the daily speech. It is used only rhetorically or in old or liturgical writings.

#Dominican Republic
#Puerto Rico
#Peru*
#Cuba*

* The use of vos is disappearing, in Cuba it is heard in some region in the east, in Peru, some elderly people still use "vos", but it has gotten out of use among the younger population.

Attitudes

The pronoun "vos" is usually informal, like "tú" in other varieties of Spanish, and contrasts with the formal "usted", but appropriate usage varies by dialect. In Central America, "vos" can be used among those considered equals, while "usted" holds its formal employment. In Ladino, the pronoun "usted" is completely absent, so the use of "vos" for formal situations is the standard.

"Voseo" was long considered a reprehensible practice by prescriptivist grammarians (with the idea that only Castilian Spanish is good Spanish), but it is now regarded simply as a local variant.

ee also

*Spanish dialects and varieties
*Spanish verbs

References

ources

* [http://www.voseospanish.com Voseo Spanish] Site dedicated to teaching Argentine Voseo usage
* [http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltGUIBusDPD?lema=voseo Voseo] at the "Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas". Real Academia Española (2005).
* at Spanish Wikibooks.
* Norma Beatriz Carricaburo (2003). [http://www.elcastellano.org/ns/edicion/2004/julio/voseo.html "El voseo en la historia y en la lengua de hoy - Las fórmulas de tratamiento en el español actual"] .
* Hotta Hideo (2000). [http://www.aichi-pu.ac.jp/for/~hotta-hi/hh1997b.htm "La estandarización y el regionalismo en el voseo del español argentino"] .
* Ángel Rosenblat (2000). [http://www.analitica.com/bitblioteca/rosenblat/castellano.asp "El castellano en Venezuela"] .
* Luis Alberto Roca (2007). "Breve historia del habla cruceña y su mestizaje".