The diachrony of the address forms "vuestra merced/usted" (Spanish) and "vossa mercê/você" (Portuguese) in the "Post Scriptum" corpus (16th-19th century)

Abstract

This article traces the diffusion of the current pronouns usted (Spanish) and você (Portuguese) at the expense of the nominal forms vuestra merced (Spanish) and vossa mercê (Portuguese), examining diachronic, sociolinguistic and register-related factors. It analyzes Spanish and Portuguese letters from the Post Scriptum corpus, written between 1500 and 1833. The findings suggest that the 18th century marked the period of consolidation for usted in Spanish, while você did not undergo a comparable evolution in European Portuguese. Additionally, the degree of communicative distance in the correspondence correlates with the (in)formality of the address form, while social class plays only a secondary role.