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.