Voseo to Tuteo Accommodation among Salvadorans in the United States

Abstract

Central America, including El Salvador, has been cited as the least studied of the Spanish-language dialect zones. The paucity of linguistic research extends to the language use of these populations in the United States, including that of Salvadorans who have relocated there. This paper analyzes Salvadorans’ utilization of voseo and tuteo , both pronominal and verbal, contrasting this linguistic phenomenon in the Salvadoran cities of San Salvador and San Miguel with that of Salvadoran diaspora communities in the US cities of Washington, DC and Houston. Accommodation Theory is employed to describe the decrease from high levels of voseo used by Salvadorans in El Salvador to significantly lower levels among their US counterparts who come into contact with tuteante speakers such as Mexicans. The difference in voseo usage between El Salvador and the United States is seen in the results of a survey completed by more than 350 respondents, as well as in the data obtained through protocols involving the actual speech of smaller groups comprised both of individuals and couples selected from among these same participants. The data are further analyzed according to social factors, such as the subjects’ age, gender, and education level. As participants are not queried regarding their income levels, which tend to be linked to educational opportunity, this last factor is seen as a variable indicative of social class.

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