The effects of politeness and sentence type on the acceptability of preverbal addressees

Abstract

This study investigates the use of preverbal addressees in discourse. More specifically, we examine the effect of politeness on the acceptability of these vocatives in declarative sentences and why-interrogatives in Spanish. To this end, we conduct an online acceptability judgment task with speakers of Peninsular Spanish. The results reveal an effect of politeness. The acceptability of preverbal addressees increases in polite speech, suggesting the use of preverbal addressees as negative politeness strategy through which speakers demonstrate respect when there is greater distance between them and the interlocutors. Regarding the sentence type, we observe lower acceptability ratings for why-interrogatives than for declarative sentences. This result provides evidence for the hypothesis that why-interrogatives exhibit greater restrictions in word order than declaratives.