You and we: Impersonal second person singular and other referential devices in Spanish sociolinguistic interviews

• Sociolinguistic interviews used to examine variable use of referential devices in Spanish.
• Inter-speaker differences in the expression of generic and speaker-inclusive reference.
• Gender and age influence speakers’ use of pronouns and person forms.
• Sociolinguistic differences in the expression of (inter)subjectivity vs. objectivity.

The present investigation deals with the variable use of referential devices expressing generic or speaker-oriented reference in a corpus of sociolinguistic interviews where Spanish informants talk about their studies and work experience. The analysis focuses on impersonal second person singulars (2SG-imp), which are compared with the first person singular (1SG) and plural (1PL), uno ‘one’ and reflexive-based impersonal constructions. Quantitative analysis shows that age, gender and familiarity between the speakers are significant factors in accounting for the inter-speaker variation. There is a negative correlation between age and 2SG-imp usage and a positive correlation between age and 1PL usage, and female speakers use both constructions more than men. I discuss the relation of the choice of referring expressions and the expression of intersubjectivity in the interviews. Qualitative analysis of the interview content suggests that there is a connection between the choice of referential devices and generational differences in the choice of individual vs. collective perspective and the inclusion of the addressee.