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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton November 21, 2013

Do consumers distinguish between verb forms in written advertising? Verbal voseo and tuteo in Montevideo, Uruguay

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Abstract

This article reports on 279 surveys that were conducted to determine how Montevidean consumers perceive the forms of address inherent in written advertising. Survey participants were shown five pictures of commercial ads and asked to identify if the ad addressed them as or vos. The ads contained only null subject verb forms. The results show that while a majority of consumers identified as the form of address inherent in verbal tuteo forms that use a written accent mark, other verbal tuteo forms that do not use a diacritic were less readily identifiable. At the same time, younger speakers showed a propensity for seeing vos in advertising more regularly than older speakers. Finally, the results suggest that since Montevidean consumers are accustomed to seeing vos in written advertising, in many cases they identify that form of address regardless of the advertiser's intention.


College of Charleston

Published Online: 2013-11-21
Published in Print: 2013-11-20

©[2013] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

Downloaded on 19.3.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijsl-2013-0054/html
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