Voseo

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Classical Latin, and the Vulgar Latin from which Romance languages such as Spanish are descended, had only two second-person pronouns – the singular tu and the plural vos. Starting in the early Middle Ages, however, languages such as French and Spanish began to attach honorary significance to these pronouns beyond literal number. Plural pronouns were often used to refer to a person of respect to aggrandize them. Vos, the second-person plural inherited from Latin, came to be used in this manner.

Already by the late 18th century, however, vos itself was restricted to politeness among one's familiar friends. The following extract from a textbook is illustrative of usage at the time:

We seldom make use in Spanish of the second Person Singular or Plural, but when through a great familiarity among friends, or speaking to God, or a wife and husband to themselves, or a father and mother to their children, or to servants.

Examples.

O Dios, sois vos mi Padre verdadéro, O God, thou art my true Father; Tú eres un buen amígo, Thou art a good friend.

The standard formal way to address a person one was 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 vuestras mercedes in the plural. Because of the literal meaning of these forms, they were accompanied by the corresponding third-person verb forms. Other formal forms of address included vuestra excelencia ("your excellence", contracted phonetically to ussencia) and vuestra señoría ("your lordship/ladyship", contracted to ussía). 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 the Spanish language 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 a number of areas in Spanish-speaking America: Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia (east), Uruguay, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and some smaller areas; it is not found, or found only in internally remote areas (such as Chiapas) in the countries historically best connected with Spain: Mexico, Panama, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Equatorial Guinea. 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 'ye/you others'), while the term nosotros comes from nos otros ("we/us others").

In the first half of the 19th century, the use of vos was as prevalent in Chile as it was in Argentina. The current limitation of the use of vos in Chile is attributed to a campaign to eradicate it by the Chilean education system. The campaign was initiated by Andrés Bello who considered the use of vos a manifestation of lack of education.^[9]

The independent disjunctive pronoun vos also replaces ti, from the tuteo set of forms. That is, vos is both nominative and the form to use after prepositions. Therefore, para vos ("for you") corresponds to the tuteo form para ti, etc.

The preposition-pronoun combination con vos ("with you") is used for the tuteo form contigo.
The direct and indirect object form te is used in both voseo and tuteo.^[2]

The possessive pronouns of vos also coincide with tú <tu(s), tuyo(s), tuya(s)> rather than with vosotros <vuestro(s), vuestra(s)>.^[2]

Chavacano, a Spanish-based creole spoken in the Philippines, employs voseo,^[10][11] while the standard Spanish spoken in the country does not.^[12] The Chavacano language below in comparison of other Chavacano dialects and level of formality with Voseo in both subject and possessive pronouns. Note the mixed and co-existing usages of vos, tú, usted, and vosotros.

All modern voseo conjugations derive from Old Spanish second person plural -ades, -edes, -ides, and -odes (as in sodes, 'you are').^[13] The 14th and 15th centuries saw an evolution of these conjugations, with -ades originally giving -áis, -edes giving -és (or -ís),^[13][14] -ides giving -ís,^[15] and -odes giving -óis.^[13] Soon analogous forms -ás and -éis appeared.^[13] Hence the variety of forms the contemporary American voseo adopts, some varieties featuring a generalized monophthong (most of them), some a generalized diphthong (e.g. Venezuela), and some combining monophthongs and diphthongs, depending on the conjugation (e.g. Chile). In the most general, monophthongized, conjugation paradigm, a difference between voseo forms and respective tuteo forms is visible exclusively in the present indicative, imperative and subjunctive, and, most of the time, in the preterite.^[14] Below is a comparison table of the conjugation of several verbs for tú and for vos, and next to them the one for vosotros, the informal second person plural currently used orally only in Spain; in oratory or legal language (highly formal forms of Spanish) it is used outside of Spain. Verb forms that agree with vos are stressed on the last syllable, causing the loss of the stem diphthong in those verbs, such as poder and venir, which are stem-changing.

General conjugation is the one that is most widely accepted and used in various countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, parts of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia, as well as Central American countries.^[2]

Some Uruguayan speakers combine the pronoun tú with the vos conjugation (for example, tú sabés).^[2] Conversely, speakers in some other places where both tú and vos are used combine vos with the tú conjugation (for example, vos sabes).^[2] This is a frequent occurrence in the Argentine province of Santiago del Estero.

The verb forms employed with vos are also different in Chilean Spanish: Chileans use -ái and soi 'you are' instead of -áis or -ás and sois or sos. Chileans never pronounce these conjugations with a final -s. The forms erís for 'you are', and habís and hai for 'you have' are also found in Chilean Spanish.^[16]

In the case of the ending -ís (such as in comís, podís, vivís, erís, venís), the final -s is pronounced like any other final /s/ in Chilean Spanish. It is most often pronounced as an aspiration similar to the 'h' sound in English. It can also be pronounced as a fricative [s], or be dropped completely. Its variable pronunciation is a phonological rather than a morphological phenomenon.^[16]

Venezuelan Maracucho Spanish is notable in that they preserve the diphthongized plural verb forms in all tenses, as still used with vosotros in Spain.^[2] Chilean Spanish also notably uses the diphthong -ái.

In Ladino, the -áis, -éis, -ís, & -ois endings are pronounced /aʃ/, /eʃ/, /iʃ/, & /oʃ/.

In Chile, it is much more usual to use tú + vos verb conjugation (tú sabís). The use of pronominal vos (vos sabís) is reserved for very informal situations and may even be considered vulgar in some cases.^[2]

1. General conjugation: the final -r of the infinitive is replaced by -s; in writing, an acute accent is added to the last vowel (i.e. the one preceding the final -s) to indicate stress position.
2. Chilean:
   1. the -ar ending of the infinitive is replaced by -ái
   2. both -er and -ir are replaced by -ís, which sounds more like -íh.
3. Venezuelan (Zulian): practically the same ending as modern Spanish vosotros, yet with the final -s being aspirated so that: -áis, -éis, -ís sound like -áih, -éih, -íh (phonetically resembling Chilean).

Unlike tú, which has many irregular forms, the only voseo verbs that are conjugated irregularly in the indicative present are ser, ir and haber. However, haber is seldom used in the indicative present, since there is a strong tendency to use preterite instead of present perfect.

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.^[13] The only verb that is irregular in this regard is ir; its vos imperative is not usually used, with andá (the vos imperative of andar, which is denoted by *) being generally used instead; except for the Argentine province of Tucumán, where the imperative ite is used. For most regular verbs ending in -ir, the vos imperatives use the same conjugations as the yo form in the preterite; almost all verbs that are irregular in the preterite (which are denoted by ‡) retain the regular vos imperative forms.

Again, the conjugation of tú has far more irregularities, whereas vos has only one irregular verb in the affirmative imperative.

In Chile, the general vos conjugation is not used in the affirmative imperative.

In most places where voseo is used, it is applied also in the subjunctive. In the Río de la Plata region, both the tú-conjugation and the voseo conjugation are found, the tú-form being more common. In this variety, some studies have shown a pragmatic difference between the tú-form and the vos-form, such that the vos form carries information about the speaker's belief state, and can be stigmatized.^[19][20] For example, in Central America the subjunctive and negative command form is no mintás, and in Chile it is no mintái; however, in Río de la Plata both no mientas and no mintás are found. Real Academia Española models its voseo conjugation tables on the most frequent, unstigmatized Río de la Plata usage and therefore omits the subjunctive voseo.^[21]

• 'Verbal voseo' refers to the use of the verb conjugation of vos regardless of which pronoun is used.^[2]

Verbal voseo with a pronoun other than vos is widespread in Chile, in which case one would use the pronoun tú and the verb conjugation of vos at the same time. E.g.: tú venís, tú escribís, tú podís, tú sabís, tú vai, tú estái.

There are some partially rare cases of a similar sort of verbal voseo in Uruguay where one would say for example tú podés or tú sabés.

• 'Pronominal voseo' is the use of the pronoun vos regardless of verb conjugation.^[2]

In South America:

1. Argentina – both pronominal and verbal voseo, the pronoun tú is not preferred.^[2]
2. Paraguay – both pronominal and verbal voseo,^[2] the pronoun tú is uncommon in most of the country.
3. Uruguay – dual-usage of both pronominal and verbal voseo and a combination of the pronoun tú + verb conjugated in the vos form,^[2] except near the Brazilian border, where only pronominal and verbal tuteo is common.

In Central America:

1. Guatemala – three-tiered system is used to indicate the degree of respect or familiarity: usted, tú, vos. Usted expresses distance and respect; tú corresponds to an intermediate level of familiarity, but not deep trust; vos is the pronoun of maximum familiarity and solidarity. Pronominal tú is frequent with verbal voseo.^[2]
2. Honduras – three-tiered system is used to indicate the degree of respect or familiarity: usted, tú, vos. Usted expresses distance and respect; tú corresponds to an intermediate level of familiarity, but not deep trust; vos is the pronoun of maximum familiarity and solidarity.^[2]
3. Nicaragua – both pronominal and verbal voseo throughout all social classes; tú is mostly used in writing.^[2]
4. Costa Rica – voseo has historically been used, back in the 2000s it was losing ground to ustedeo and tuteo, especially among younger speakers.^[22] Vos is now primarily used orally with friends and family in Cartago, Guanacaste province, the San José metropolitan area and near the Nicaraguan border and in advertising signage. Usted is the primary form in other areas and with strangers. Tuteo is rarely used, but when it is used in speech by a Costa Rican, it is commonly considered fake and effeminate.^[23]
5. El Salvador – three-tiered system is used to indicate the degree of respect or familiarity: usted, tú, vos. Usted expresses distance and respect; tú corresponds to an intermediate level of familiarity, but not deep trust; vos is the pronoun of maximum familiarity and solidarity and also lack of respect.^[24]

In South America:

1. Bolivia – in the Lowlands of Eastern Bolivia—with mestizo, Criollo and German descendants majority—(Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and the Lowlands of La Paz) voseo is used universally; while in the Highlands of Western Bolivia—with indigenous peoples majority—(highlands of La Paz, Oruro, Potosí, Chuquisaca and Cochabamba) tú is predominant, but there is still a strong use of voseo, especially in verb forms.
2. Chile – verbal voseo and pronominal tú is used in informal situations, whereas pronominal voseo is reserved only for very intimate situations or to offend someone. In every other situation and in writing, the normal tú or usted pronouns are used.

In the following countries, voseo is used only in certain areas:

• Colombia – in the following departments:
  • In the west (along the Pacific coast):
    • Chocó
    • Valle del Cauca
    • Cauca
    • Nariño
  • In the center – primarily the Paisa region (Antioquia, Risaralda, Quindío, and Caldas Departments).
  • In the (north)east:
    • Norte de Santander – Ocaña region
    • La Guajira
    • Cesar
• Cuba – in Camagüey Province, often used alongside tú.
• Ecuador – in the Sierra, the center, and Esmeraldas.
• Mexico – widely used in the countryside of the state of Chiapas by indigenous populations and becoming rare among the same groups in the state of Tabasco.^[25]
• Panama – in the west along the border with Costa Rica.
• Peru – in some areas in both the Northern and Southern ends of the country.
• Puerto Rico – At the eastern end of the island in Fajardo.^[26]
• The Philippines – among Chavacano speakers in Mindanao and Luzon,^[10][11] but otherwise absent in standard Spanish.^[12]
• Spain – in La Gomera island, in The Canaries, often used alongside tú.
• The United States – Found among speakers with origins in countries where voseo is predominant—for instance, among Honduran Americans.^[24] In other circumstances, tú is used by default.
• Venezuela – in the northwest (primarily in Zulia State).

In the following countries, voseo has disappeared completely among the native population:

• Dominican Republic
• Peninsular Spain

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The traditional assumption that the Chilean and River Plate voseo verb forms are derived from those corresponding to vosotros has been challenged as synchronically inadequate in a 2014 article,^[16] on the grounds that it requires at least six different rules, including three monophthongization processes that lacks phonological motivation. Alternatively, the article argues that the Chilean and River Plate voseo verb forms are synchronically derived from underlying representations that coincide with those corresponding to the non-honorific second person singular tú. In both Chilean and Rioplatense Spanish, the voseo form assigns stress to the syllable following the verb's root, or its infinitive in the case of the future and conditional conjugations. This alone derives all the Rioplatense voseo verb conjugations, in all tenses. Chilean verb forms also undergo rules of semi-vocalization, vowel raising, and aspiration. In semi-vocalization, /s/ becomes the semivowel /j/ when after /a, o/; thus, -ás becomes -ái, and sos becomes soi 'you are'. The vowel raising rule turns stressed /e/ into /i/, so bebés becomes bebís. Aspiration, the norm in both Chilean and Rioplatense Spanish, means that syllable or word-final /s/ becomes pronounced like an [h].^[16]

The proposed theory requires the use of only one special rule in the case of Chilean voseo. This rule plus other rules that are independently justified in the language make it possible to synchronically derive all the Chilean and River Plate voseo verb forms in a straightforward manner. The article additionally solves the problem posed by the alternate verbal forms of Chilean voseo like the future indicative (e.g. bailaríh or bailarái 'you will dance'), the present indicative forms of haber (habíh and hai 'you have'), and the present indicative of ser (soi, eríh and eréi 'you are'), without resorting to any ad hoc rules. All these different verb forms would come from different underlying representations. The future forms bailarái and bailaríh come from underlying /bailaˈɾas/ and /bailaˈɾes/, the latter related to the historical future form -és, which was documented in Chile in the 17th century. Habíh and hai come from /ˈabes/ and /as/, while soi and eríh come from /sos/ and /ˈeɾes/. The form erei also comes from /ˈeɾes/, with additional semi-vocalization. The theoretical framework of the article is that of classic generative phonology.^[16]

In some countries, the pronoun vos is used with family and friends (T-form), like tú in other varieties of Spanish, and contrasts with the respectful usted (V-form used with third person) which is used with strangers, elderly, and people of higher socioeconomic status; appropriate usage varies by dialect. In Central America, vos can be used among those considered equals, while usted maintains its respectful usage. In Ladino, the pronoun usted is completely absent, so the use of vos with strangers and elders is the standard.

Voseo was long considered a backward or uneducated usage by prescriptivist grammarians. Many Central American intellectuals, themselves from voseante nations, have condemned the usage of vos in the past.^[24] With the changing mentalities in the Hispanic world, and with the development of descriptive as opposed to prescriptive linguistics, it has become simply a local variant of Spanish. In some places it has become symbolically important and is pointed to with pride as a local defining characteristic.

• Similar trends of personal pronouns in Portuguese
• Spanish dialects and varieties
• Spanish verbs
• T–V distinction
• T–V distinction in the world's languages#Romance languages

• (in Spanish) Díaz Collazos, Ana María. Desarrollo sociolingüístico del voseo en la región andina de Colombia (1555–1976)
• (in Spanish) El voseo at Spanish Wikibooks
• (in French) Le Voseo
• (in Spanish) Voseo Spanish Site dedicated to teaching Argentine Voseo usage
• (in Spanish) Carricaburo. Norma Beatriz (2003). El voseo en la historia y en la lengua de hoy – Las fórmulas de tratamiento en el español actual Archived 2016-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
• (in Spanish) Hotta. Hideo (2000). La estandarización y el regionalismo en el voseo del español argentino
• (in Spanish) Roca, Luis Alberto (2007). Breve historia del habla cruceña y su mestizaje
• (in Spanish) Rosenblat, Ángel (2000). El castellano en Venezuela
• (in Spanish) Toursinov, Antón (2005). Formas pronominales de tratamiento en el español actual de Guatemala