Studies of T/V address systems typically ignore plural forms in favor of singulars. Morgan & Schwenter 2016 show that there is widespread asymmetry between singular and plural T/V forms in Castilian Spanish, where the historically T plural vosotros often serves as the plural of both tú (T) and usted (V). An even more extreme asymmetry is found in Brazilian Portuguese: although deferential o senhor is used more frequently than usted in Castilian, the plural os senhores is used significantly less frequently than ustedes.
The current study extends that research to European Portuguese, Catalan, and Romanian. Our data consist of naturally occurring examples, interviews with native speakers, and the results of online surveys that polled speakers about their pronominal choices when offered various scenarios involving multiple interlocutors, some addressed with T and others with V in the singular.
Results indicate that pronominal choice exemplifies the same asymmetrical pattern across all Romance. While singulars still show a clear T/V address contrast, plurals are more restricted in favor of the T forms, which are used significantly more frequently than their plural V counterparts, even with individual interlocutors who would be addressed with V in the singular. Our current analysis further explores several important nuances previously unaddressed in the literature—namely, the relevance of the semantic composition of V plurals (i.e., whether they consist of V+T +... or V+V+...) coupled with situations in which only one (T or V) addressee is present but where the pronominal referent is semantically plural.
Asymmetries between singular and plural T/V forms seem to be the norm, not the exception, cross-linguistically. We hypothesize, in fact, that no language will exhibit perfect symmetry between T/V forms in the singular and the plural, due to differences in singular and plural reference more generally. With further evidence from languages as diverse as English, Greek, Nahuatl, and Basque, we propose that any T/V distinctions available in the plural of a natural language grammar will entail at least as many distinctions in the singular.
References:
Morgan, T.A. and S.A. Schwenter. 2016. Vosotros, ustedes, and the myth of the symmetrical Castilian pronoun system. HLS 18.
