37.3656, Books: What 'you' Made me Do: Sánchez Carrasco (2026)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-3656. Thu 05 Nov 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.3656, Books: What 'you' Made me Do: Sánchez Carrasco (2026)

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Date: 02-Nov-2026
From: Jan Martin [lotdissertations-fgw at uva.nl]
Subject: What 'you' Made me Do: Sánchez Carrasco (2026)


Title: What 'you' Made me Do
Subtitle: Perception and effects of pronouns of address
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke
(LOT)
           http://www.lotpublications.nl/
Book URL: https://dx.medra.org/10.48273/LOT0725

Author(s): Patricia Sánchez Carrasco

Paperback
ISBN: 978-94-6093-510-7
Pages: 184
Price: 34,00 Euros

Abstract:

French, German, and Spanish distinguish informal (T: tu, du, tú) and
formal (V: vous, Sie, usted) pronouns of address. Speakers choose
between T or V depending on the addressee and context. This choice may
have consequences on the addressee, as it may affect how addressees
perceive the speaker and the communicative situation. Yet the effect
of pronouns on the addressee remains largely unexplored. This
dissertation investigates the perspective of the addressee, showing
across several behavioral experiments that receiving T or V impacts
addressees unconsciously and differentially across languages. In
simulated job interviews, pronoun choice shaped addressees’ attitudes
toward the recruiter, their motivation to accept the job, their sense
of fit with the workplace, and even their expected salary, suggesting
that T/V may carry information about workplace conditions. Gender and
age of the addressee further modulated these effects. Pronoun choice
also mattered in questionnaires (“To what extent do ‘you’ agree…?”).
When asked to evaluate their reading experiences, readers addressed
with V reported paying more attention while reading than T receivers,
suggesting that the pronoun framed the task as more serious or
demanding. Together, these findings show that pronouns of address may
frame interactions and tasks alike, with important implications for
multilingual institutions and companies.

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics

Subject Language(s): French (fra, stan1290)
                     German (deu, stan1295)
                     Spanish (spa, stan1288)


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