Pronouns of power and solidarity: The case of Spanish first person plural nosotros

Abstract

Studies of personal reference to the speaker in Spanish have typically focused on the presence or absence and position when present of the personal pronoun and have taken place within the fields of theoretical syntax or variationist sociolinguistics. This study places the occurrence of the first person plural form within the framework of interactional pragmatics and investigates the potential effects of extralinguistic factors on the linguistic choices of speakers within a broad framework of Gricean pragmatics and politeness theory. It argues that the indeterminacy or ambivalence inherent in speaker–hearer reference functions as a strategic resource and that an awareness of the status of and relationship between participants (power and solidarity) and of their interactional goals as well as an awareness of the mechanics of ‘politeness’ itself can be crucial to the negotiation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships.