Pronominal address in the linguistic landscape of Hispanic Philadelphia

Abstract

Abstract This study explores pronominal address forms in the linguistic landscape of Hispanic Philadelphia, examining how Spanish-speaking communities use second-person singular pronouns (tú, usted, vos) in public signage. The research objectives were to identify which pronouns of address are employed and determine the variables influencing their usage. A corpus of 250 signs was analyzed across three Hispanic neighborhoods and virtual spaces, considering variables such as location, authorship, language composition, and speech act. Chi-squared tests and logistic regression were used to assess the impact of these variables on pronoun choice. The findings reveal that only “tú” and “usted” are present in the linguistic landscape, with “tú” being slightly more prevalent (55.2%). Language composition (p = 0.035) and speech act (p < 0.001) significantly influence pronoun selection, while location and authorship do not. Bilingual signs tend to favor “usted”, whereas monolingual signs prefer “tú”. Regarding speech acts, requests are more likely to use “usted”, while invitations and persuasive messages favor “tú”. The study concludes that while there is no evidence of a new speech community emerging, there is a convergence in pronominal use across diverse Hispanic neighborhoods, suggesting linguistic accommodation in written language. These findings contribute to our understanding of pronominal treatment in diasporic contexts and highlight the complexity of address forms in Spanish.