:
Not to be confused with vosotros, the second person plural familiar form for Spanish conjugations.
[[File:Mapa - Paises voseantes.png|thumb|right|300px|Countries that feature voseo:
]]
. The darker the country, the stronger its dominance.]]
Voseo is the use of the second person singular pronoun vos instead of tú in Spanish.
Vos is used extensively as the primary form of the second person singular in Rioplatense Spanish for Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay. Nicaragua also exhibits an extensive use of the vos pronoun through the Central American Spanish dialect. A similar but less intensive following of the pronoun is exhibited in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica. The pronoun is also widely used in Bolivia, though the media use tú more.
Vos has traditionally not been used in formal writing, except in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. This gradually changed in Central America, where even the most prestigious media networks and press began to use the pronoun vos, reflecting the informal address in Spanish as opposed to the formal address of usted. This is particularly true in Nicaragua and to a similar but lesser extent in Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador; all of which speak in the Central American Spanish dialect. Nowadays it is very common to see billboards and other advertising media using voseo. In the dialect of Argentina, Paraguay 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 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.
Voseo can also be used in the context of using verb conjugation of vos with tú as the subject pronoun, as in the case of Chilean Spanish.
History
Originally a second-person plural,
Vos came to be used as a more polite second-person singular pronoun to be used among one's familiar friends. The following extract from a late 18th-century textbook is illustrative of usage at the time:
We seldom make use in Spanish of the second Person Singular or Plural, except through a great familiarity among friends, or speaking to God; also between a wife and husband to themselves, or when parents address their children, or to servants. Examples: O Dios, sois vos mi Padre verdadero, O God, thou art my true Father; Tu eres un buen amigo, Thou art a good friend.
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 vuestras 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 ("us others"); otros was added to avoid confusion.
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.
{| style="border: 1px solid #FFFFFF; border-collapse:collapse;" cellpadding="3" rules="all" align=center
|-
| colspan="1" bgcolor="#A0C0A0" align="center"| Nominative
| colspan="3" bgcolor="#C0B0A0" align="center"| Objective
| colspan="2" bgcolor="#B0B0C0" align="center"| Reflexive
|-
| bgcolor="#A0C0A0" |subject
| bgcolor="#C0B0A0" |direct object
| bgcolor="#C0B0A0" |indirect object
| bgcolor="#C0B0A0" |prepositional object
| bgcolor="#C0B0A0" |con + form
| bgcolor="#B0B0C0" |plain
|-
| bgcolor="#E0F0E0" |vos
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |te
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |te
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |vos
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |con vos
| bgcolor="#E0E0F0" |te
|-
| bgcolor="#E0F0E0" |tú
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |te
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |te
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |ti
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |contigo
| bgcolor="#E0E0F0" |te
|-
| bgcolor="#E0F0E0" |vosotros
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |os
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |os
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |vosotros
| bgcolor="#F0E0E0" |con vosotros
| bgcolor="#E0E0F0" |os
|}
The possessive pronouns of vos also coincide with tú <tu(s), tuyo(s), tuya(s)> rather than with vosotros <vuestro(s), vuestra(s)>.
Conjugation with vos
Conjugation with
voseo is used exclusively in Present Indicative, Imperative and Present Subjunctive. 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 only in Spain. The accented forms (
vos and
vosotros) and the
infinitives are
stressed in the last syllable; the
tú forms are stressed on the penultimate one. Note the
alternations (caused by stress shift) in the
roots of
poder and
venir.
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.
Some Uruguayan speakers combine the pronoun tú with the vos conjugation (for example, tú sabés). Conversely, speakers in some other places where both tú and vos are used combine vos with the tú conjugation (for example, vos sabes).
The verb forms employed with vos are also different in Chilean Spanish:Instead of deleting the -i- from the final diphthong -áis (and -ois), Chileans with voseo delete the final -s (vos/tú soi/erís; vos/tú estái).In the case of the ending -ís (such as in comís, podís, vivís, erís, venís), the final -s is not totally dropped. Rather, in most cases, especially before a consonant, an aspiration similar to the h sound in English is still audible.
Venezuelan Maracucho Spanish, on the other hand, is notable in that it preserves the original plural verb forms, as still used with vosotros in Spain.
In Ladino, the -áis, -éis, -ís, & -ois endings are pronounced , , , & .
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.
Present Indicative
1. General conjugation: The final
-R of the infinitive is replaced by an
-S, and an
acute accent is added to the final vowel, the one preceding the final -S, to keep the stress.
2. As for the Chilean voseo, the -AR ending of the infinitive is replaced by -ÁI, whereas both -ER and -IR are replaced by -ÍS, which sounds more like -ÍH.
Unlike tú, which has many irregular forms, the only verb that is conjugated irregularly in the voseo forms in the indicative present is ser (vos sos). 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.
Again, the conjugation 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.
Subjunctive
Everywhere voseo is used, it is applied in the subjunctive, with the exception of
Río de la Plata region, where the
tú-conjugation is more common. For example, in Central America it is
no mintás and in Chile is
no mintái; however in Río de la Plata it is
no mientas, just like in Spain or México.
Real Academia Española models its voseo conjugation tables with Río de la Plata usage and therefore omits the subjunctive voseo. In this region, the
vos-form in the subjunctive has not completely disappeared. It is still used to show emphasis or emotion.
Geographical distribution
Countries where voseo is predominant
in
Buenos Aires, Argentina. The sign reads, "Do you want to change? Come to
Claro."]]
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
# El Salvador** (pronominal and verbal voseo used, "tú" is practically not used; "usted" still exist)
# Guatemala
# Honduras
# Nicaragua* (pronominal and verbal voseo, the pronoun tú is practically not used)
# Costa Rica
In Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Nicaragua, voseo is used in most of the written language. In the rest of the countries, tú is common in formal language (media, correspondence, when addressing foreigners, etc.)
* In El Salvador, voseo is used in most of the written language, and in the media. Vos and Usted are both used in formal language.
Countries where both forms are used
In the following countries, voseo is used in certain areas:
Bolivia in Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija the voseo is used universally, while in the West of the country tú is predominant.
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. In addition, 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 (Departments of Antioquia, Risaralda, Quindío, and Caldas).
*in the (North) East
**Norte de Santander
**La Guajira
**Cesar
Ecuador in the Sierra, the center, and Esmeraldas
Panama in the west along the border to Costa Rica
Venezuela in the northwest (primarily in 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.
Spain*
Dominican Republic
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, United States of America
Peru**
Cuba***
The pronoun can be he heard used in constituent parts of Castile, León and in Eastern Galicia; **Occurs in the Northern and Southern extremities of the country and is virtually unused in the rest of the country; ***The use of the pronoun is vanishing and is now only heard of on the Eastern side of the country.
Attitudes
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) which is used with strangers; 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 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.
See also
Spanish dialects and varieties
Spanish verbs
T–V distinction
Category:Spanish grammar
Category:Personal pronouns
References
Sources
Voseo Spanish Site dedicated to teaching Argentine Voseo usage
Voseo at the
Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas. Real Academia Española (2005).
El voseo at Spanish Wikibooks.
Norma Beatriz Carricaburo (2003).
El voseo en la historia y en la lengua de hoy - Las fórmulas de tratamiento en el español actual.
Hotta Hideo (2000).
La estandarización y el regionalismo en el voseo del español argentino.
Ángel Rosenblat (2000).
El castellano en Venezuela.
Luis Alberto Roca (2007).
Breve historia del habla cruceña y su mestizaje.
Le Voseo
Further reading
Almasov, Alexey. "'Vos' and 'Vosotros' as Formal Address in Modern Spanish." Hispania: A Journal Devoted to the Teaching of Spanish and Portuguese 57.2 (1974): 304-310.
Alvar, Manuel. Manual de Dialectologia Hispanica: El Español de America. Barcelona : Editorial Ariel, 1996.
Arrizabalaga, Carlos. "Noticias de la desaparicion del voseo en la costa norte del Peru." Linguistica Española Actual 23.2 (2001): 257-274.
Baumel-Schreffler, Sandra. "The Voseo: Second Person Singular Pronouns in Guatemalan Speech." The Language Quarterly 33.1-2 (1995): 33-44.
Benavides, Carlos. "La distribucion del voseo en Hispanoamerica." Hispania: A Journal Devoted to the Teaching of Spanish and Portuguese 86.3 (2003): 612-623.
Blanco Botta, Ivonne. "El voseo en Cuba: Estudio sociolinguistico de una zona de la isla." Beitrage zur Romanischen Philologie 21.2 (1982): 291-304.
Chart, Ira E. "The voseo and tuteo in America." Modern Language Forum 28.(1944): 17-24.
Fontanella de Weinberg, Maria Beatriz. "La constitucion del paradigma pronominal de voseo." Thesaurus: Boletin del Instituto Caro y Cuervo 32.(1977): 227-241.
King, Jeremy. "Societal Change and Language History in Cervantes' Entremeses: The Status of the Golden Age Vos." Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America 29.1 (2009): 167-195.
Lapesa, Rafael. "Las formas verbales de segunda persona y los origenes del 'voseo'." Actas del Tercer Congreso Internacional de Hispanistas. 519-531. Mexico: El Colegio de Mexico por la Asociacion Internacional de Hispanistas, 1970.
Lapesa, Rafael. Historia de la lengua española. Madrid : Gredos, 1981.
Leon-Luporsi, Ana Emilia. Dinamica sociolinguistica e historica de 'vos' en el español peninsular. Diss. The University of Texas at Austin, 1994.
Lipski, John. Latin American Spanish. New York : Longman, 1994.
Ortiz, Martha D. "Voseo" in El Salvador. Diss. San Jose State University, 2000
Pierris, Marta de. "El preludio del voseo en el español medieval." Romance Philology 31.(1977): 235-243.
Pinkerton, Anne. "Observations on the Tú/Vos Option in Guatemalan Ladino Spanish." Hispania: A Journal Devoted to the Teaching of Spanish and Portuguese 69.3 (1986): 690-698.
Primorac, Karen Johnson. "Tu, vos, and vuestra merced: Social and Stylistic Variation in Medieval Spanish." Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences 57.11 (1997): 4720-4721.
Quilis, Antonio, and Matilde Graell Stanziola. "El voseo en Panama." Revista de Filologia Española 69.1-2 (1989): 173-178.
Rey, Alberto. "Social Correlates of the Voseo of Managua, Nicaragua: Workplace, Street, and Party Domains." Hispanic Journal 18.1 (1997): 109-126.
Rey, Alberto. "Social Correlates of the Voseo of Managua, Nicaragua: Workplace, Street, and Party Domains." Hispanic Journal 17.1 (1996): 113-127.
Rey, Alberto. "Social Correlates of the Voseo of Managua: Family and Neighborhood Domains." Hispanic Journal 16.1 (1995): 39-53.
Stevenson, Jeffrey Lee. "The Sociolinguistic Variables of Chilean Voseo." Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences 68.5 (2007): 1914-1915.
Villegas, Francisco. "The Voseo in Costa Rican Spanish." Hispania: A Journal Devoted to the Teaching of Spanish and Portuguese 46.3 (1963): 612-615.
Weeks, Patricia C.. El voseo en Chile: Factores historico-morfologicos que explican su aparicion y mantenimiento. Diss. State University of New York at Albany, 2005.
Category:Spanish grammar
Category:Personal pronouns
![Conjuntos Musical La Vos de Mi Tierra [Part 2]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907100443im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t6qnInJ5ya8/0.jpg "Conjuntos Musical La Vos de Mi Tierra [Part 2]")
