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In:Contemporary Trends in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics: Selected papers from the Hispanic Linguistic Symposium 2015
Edited by Jonathan E. MacDonald
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 15] 2018
► pp. 191–210

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Chapter 9
“El vos nuestro es, ¡Ey vos, chigüín!”

Honduran vos as a marker of national identity

 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Published online: 14 February 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.15.10mel
Abstract
This qualitative study takes the analysis of Honduran voseo beyond the examination of ‘who’ uses vos to include answers to ‘why’ speakers use vos the way they do. To that end, thirty informants shared their attitudes toward address forms through semi-directed interviews from which three themes emerged: (1) vos belongs to the Honduran norm; (2) vos indexes Honduran national identity; and (3) innovative uses of vos reflect its greatly rooted status in Honduran Spanish. It was evident that voseo is not stigmatized in this variety, as it is part of the Honduran linguistic habitus. Adopting Billig’s (1995) theory of banal nationalism, I conclude that vos is preponderant in Honduran Spanish because it functions as a marker of Honduran national identity.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sociopragmatic usage patterns of vos in Latin America
    • 2.1Río de la Plata
    • 2.2Central America
    • 2.3Honduras
  • 3.A practical theory of nationalism
  • 4.Methodology
  • 5.Results and discussion of analysis
    • 5.1 Vos as nonstandard norm
    • 5.2 Vos as index of Honduran national identity
    • 5.3Innovative use of vos
    • 5.4Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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