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Pronominal, Nominal and Verbal Forms of Addressing in Communication in Portuguese (in Comparison with English and Russian)

https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2025-2-43-8-30

Abstract

The subject of appellatives/address forms not only permeates all language structure levels – from semantics and syntax to pragmatics, but also encompasses uage and culture. While nominal appellatives have been studied thoroughly enough, pronominal appellatives and verbal appellatives (reduced forms with subject omitted) are seen as simpler structures overshadowed by phatic function appellatives. Yet, in communication scenarios not limited to a single sentence, pronominal and verbal appellatives play a role no less important than that of nominal appellatives. The article presents a research of the system of appellatives in Portuguese in synchrony in comparison with English and Russian, putting special emphasis on studying the intralanguage diversity of the appellative, with regard to its functional differentiation. The ‘violation’ by an element of the pronominal appellatives system in Portuguese (você) of the general communication principle of positive and negative politeness introduced by P. Brown and S.C. Levinson makes communicants attempt to ‘smoothen’ the difference between the semi-formal address form (você) and the formal one (o Senhor) by using their verbal forms and leads to ‘erasing’ the boundaries between the informal address form (tu), the semi-formal address form (você) and the formal one (o Senhor) by vocative and narrative forms mixing. Portuguese has direct forms of addressing in communication (vocative appellation forms) and indirect ones (narrative appellation forms). In Portuguese, all nominal address forms are classified into two groups − general social address forms and individual social address forms − according to the semantic criterion and the interaction of nominal address forms with pronominal address forms. In Portuguese, individual social address forms go only with formal pronominal address forms (o Senhor/ formal You), and in the majority of cases the precise correlation between general social address forms with pronominal address forms is determined by the supraphrasal context. Portuguese differs from English and Russian in that in English the problem of correlation between the only pronominal address form you and nominal address forms is non-existent, while in Russian there is a simple correlation between (in)formal pronominal and nominal address forms, with nominal address forms in English and Russian acting mostly as vocative, but not narrative ones. English has no verbal address forms, while in Russian they serve ‘to lower’ the language register. In English, positive and negative politeness and formality or informality are expressed through nominal address forms and a number of lexical and grammar structures, with both the variety of the respective lexical and grammar structures and the multitude of nominal address forms attesting to the social primacy of negative politeness. In Russian, an utterance containing an address form requires a specified politeness type. Portuguese tends to express negative politeness by way of renouncing the canonical explicitness of você, which comes at a certain expense in communication. Usage of direct and indirect forms of appellative addressing in communication (vocative and narrative appellation forms) coupled with the explicit ‘violation’ and implicit incomplete ‘restoring’ of a general communication principle is one of the main features of the systems of appellatives in Portuguese.

 The research could be of relevance for specialists teaching and translating into Portuguese, English and Russian.

About the Authors

A. G. Voronova
MGIMO UNIVERSITY
Russian Federation

 Alla G. Voronova – PhD in Philology, is Associate Professor at Roman Languages Department (Italian, Portuguese and Latin).

Her academic interests include stylistics, lexicology, phraseology of  Portuguese, cognitive linguistics, theory of communication.

76, prospect Vernadskogo, 119454, Moscow



I. D. Bobrinskaya
MGIMO UNIVERSITY
Russian Federation

 Irina D. Bobrinskaya – PhD in Linguistics, is Associate Professor at the English Language Department of 
the School of International Relations.

Her academic interests include psycholinguistics, ethnolinguistics, cognitive linguistics and cross-cultural communication.

76, prospect Vernadskogo, 119454, Moscow



P. A. Semenov
MGIMO UNIVERSITY
Russian Federation

 Platon A. Semenov – PhD in Law,  Senior Lecturer.

 His academic interests include legal linguistics, legal translation, psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics and cross-cultural communication.

76, prospect Vernadskogo, 119454, Moscow



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Review

For citations:


Voronova A.G., Bobrinskaya I.D., Semenov P.A. Pronominal, Nominal and Verbal Forms of Addressing in Communication in Portuguese (in Comparison with English and Russian). Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 2025;11(2):8-30. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2025-2-43-8-30

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