University/Organization
Department of Spanish
The College of Wooster
Wooster, Ohio
Title
‘Feel really Uruguayan’: Group Unity, Respect and Politeness. Forms of Address in Advertisements and Commercial Documents in the Spanish of Montevideo
Synopsis
Following the concepts of politeness, power and solidarity, this paper presents the results of a study of the second-person singular forms of address (“tú”, “vos”, “usted”) in advertisements and business documents in the Spanish of Montevideo, Uruguay. Norms of politeness dictate that the speaker should be accommodating to the hearer. Examples from marketing and advertising will be shown to illustrate these forms of address toward different audiences.