| Why Is Vos Ignored? | |
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I am wondering why the Spanish pronoun vos seems to be so ignored. My Spanish textbook doesn't mention it at all, and another book I have about Spanish describes it as "archaic." My Spanish teacher got a minor in the subject without ever having heard of the existence of this pronoun. I wouldn't know of its existence either if I hadn't practiced Spanish with native speakers through the Internet. I would say that about a third of the people I have talked to use vos and not tú.
Well, I found a dictionary with a map showing which areas use which. For those who haven't heard of vos before, it is used in Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; in parts of Mexico, Panama, Colombia, and Bolivia; and among some Chileans, while, of course, the countries I haven't mentioned used tú. Its forms in the present tense are, as far as I know, always identical to vosotros, minus the i that comes before the s in -ar and -er verbs, and in other tenses it is identical to tú. Anyway, aren't Spanish educators doing us a disservice by neglecting to even mention to us at least how to say "¿Cuántos años tenés?" and "¿De dónde sos?" Or that "decime" is preferable to "dime" to many native speakers of Spanish?
My quick answer would be that vos isn't taught because you can get by very well without it, it isn't used everywhere, the conjugation of verbs that go with vos can vary according to region, where it is used it sometimes implies an intimacy you as a foreigner aren't likely to have with many native speakers, and it is uncommon in writing. Some participants in our forum recently gave more thorough (and better) answers.
Response 1: I think your estimate of a third is a bit high. I would calculate that not more than about 15 percent, probably less, of the Hispanic population uses vos regularly and consistently instead of tú, although it is understood everywhere. Also, vos usually carries a connotation of intimacy that most foreigners don't achieve, and it is a regional phenomenon. Maybe that's why it's ignored. It is not really a part of "standard Spanish." However, I agree that it is common enough that a full course in Spanish should at least expose the student to it.
I studied Spanish for five semesters in a university with three different teachers and, while we were made aware of the vos pronoun, we never studied it. One of my teachers was from Cuba, one was from Puerto Rico, and the other was from the United States, and all three have traveled to basically every Spanish-speaking country. I, personally, have never run across anyone that uses vos, nor have I seen it used in any of the Spanish newspapers or magazines that I read. I don't think it should be ignored, but I don't think too much emphasis should be place on it either.
Response 3: As a Salvadoran American, I must say that the widespread neglect of vos seems like a disservice to learners of Spanish. However, in many cases, I can see why it would be ignored by teachers in the United States, especially.
Vos is used throughout Central and South America as a second-person familiar, but its acceptance and prestige vary from place to place. In my experience, only Argentines trumpet the conjugation as something to be proud of. Some countries present a socioeconomic divide for pronoun used — tú for middle/upper classes, and vos for the working class. In still other places, vos is universal but is a source of grammatical shame — speakers will try to mask vos by using tú with the vos conjugation:
—Tú tenés que ir conmigo.
Those "vos" speakers who migrate to the States are suddenly found in the uncomfortable situation of being surrounded by Spanish speakers who only use tú, and so quickly adapt to what they see as standard, shedding vos for tú.
I would imagine that since most Spanish-language media in the U.S. are made up of Mexicans and Caribbeans, where vos is practically unheard of, the Spanish taught emphasizes a sort of Standard Latin American Spanish, a rough equivalent to the U.S. General Midwestern neutral accent.
Response 4: I think of it kind of like teaching "y'all" to a learner of English. Sure, there is a significant number of people who use that pronoun, so it might be handy to be aware of it, just so you'll recognize it when you encounter it. But it wouldn't be the highest priority, because other than marking yourself as a Yankee, failure to use "y'all" in the South doesn't interfere with communication from you to them; and just being aware that it exists is about all you need to know to understand the Southerners who use it.
Response 5: You know, I lived in Ecuador for 6 months and they use vos there, too. The thing is, it is usually a derogatory pronoun. It's something a patron would use with a menial worker. The weird thing is, it is also used by parents towards their kids, too, but in a loving way. I guess vos can be derogatory in the sense that it implies one is a child or subservient. I thought it was interesting.
Response 6: Let me join the debate because I'm from Nicaragua, where vos is almost universal.
Vos is used in place of tú and tú does not sound strongly Nicaraguan; therefore I would venture to say that el voseo is inseparable from our form of Spanish, Nicaraguan Spanish, and in our country it is not considered especially lax or informal; it used exactly as tú. It is used by all Managuans. Outside of Managua, you will certainly find tú-users, but in Managua tú-users are usually foreigners, though some people in Managua do use it. However, in every case I have encountered, they always picked up the habit outside of Nicaragua. Singular "you" in Nicaraguan Spanish is either vos or usted, and it is not seen as lax or ignorant. Internationally, though, throughout the Spanish-speaking world, the attitudes toward vos differ greatly. In Chile and Colombia, for example, it can convey economic/social status, but not in Nicaragua. The poorest and the richest both use it.
Note: This question and answer were adapted from a discussion on the bulletin board. To read the original discussion, go here.
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