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How are linguistic changes in the 20th century to be studied? Sp. VOC- tío or merging sociolinguistic and philological explanations 1

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the diffusion of linguistic change through a case study focusing on the adoption of tío as a vocative and discourse marker in the 1970s and 1980s. Two strands of research are used to explain this case: Firstly, Labov's (2010) theory of diffusion in linguistic change is used to provide essential insights about the groups of speakers who initiate and promote such changes. Second, philological information is considered, encompassing factors beyond groups of speakers: the linguistic features of the constructions involved in a change, the historical context in which the change occurred, the associated social practices, the influence of specific locations (cities, neighborhoods), and also the impact of influential individuals in promoting one linguistic solution over another. It is only when both sets of information are brought together that the necessary and sufficient information about linguistic change can be achieved. The 20th century proves particularly suitable for conducting this type of research.
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How are linguistic changes in the 20th century to be studied? Sp. VOC-
tío or merging sociolinguistic and philological explanations
1
Summary
This paper analyzes the diffusion of linguistic change through a case study
focusing on the adoption of tío as a vocative and discourse marker in the
1970s and 1980s. Two strands of research are used to explain this case:
Firstly, Labov's (2010) theory of diffusion in linguistic change is used to
provide essential insights about the groups of speakers who initiate and
promote such changes. Second, philological information is considered,
encompassing factors beyond groups of speakers: the linguistic features of
the constructions involved in a change, the historical context in which the
change occurred, the associated social practices, the influence of specific
locations (cities, neighborhoods), and also the impact of influential
individuals in promoting one linguistic solution over another. It is only
when both sets of information are brought together that the necessary and
sufficient information about linguistic change can be achieved. The 20th
century proves particularly suitable for conducting this type of research.
Key words: vocatives, diffusion, linguistic change, colloquial Spanish,
youth language
1
This contribution has been made possible thanks to the following research projects: proyect
CIPROM/2021/038 Hacia la caracterización diacrónica del siglo XX (DIA20), Generalitat
Valenciana, and I+D+I project PID2021-125222NB-I00 Aportaciones para una
caracterizacion diacronica del siglo XX, sponsored by MCIN/ AEI
/10.13039/501100011033/, and FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa
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1. Introduction
This paper analyzes the social and historical factors that contributed to the diffusion of
the vocative use of Spanish tío (hereafter VOC-tío). In a previous work, Llopis and
Pons (2020) studied the (pre-)constructional changes that allowed Sp. tío (lit. 'oncle') to
be grammaticalized as a vocative and subsequently as a discourse marker (see 2.1).
However, due to space limitations, this previous study did not delve into the
environment of this change. Nevertheless, there is evidence that this change took place
in the time span between the 1960s and 1980, a crucial period in the development of
Peninsular Spanish in the 20th century. This was a time when the balance between the
formal and informal registers of Spanish (Coseriu 1981, Seco 1972) was disrupted,
leading to a process of colloquialization
2
that still influences the language today.
Two aspects of this evolution have yet to be fully explained: the social groups that
drove this change, and the social and cultural factors that fostered its diffusion. It is the
aim of this paper to bring such elements into the picture: Section 2 briefly summarizes
the main stages of the constructional change from NOM-tío to VOC-tío and its impact
on its competitor, macho (lit. "male"). Section 3 applies Labov's (2010) framework to
explain the diffusion of VOC-tío among speakers. This includes identifying the four
stages of diffusion within an S-shaped process (3.1) led by different groups of speakers:
innovators, followers, majority, and laggards (3.2). Section 4 introduces additional
2
The term colloquialization is not used here as a synonym for democratization, as is common in the
sociolinguistic literature (Fairclough, 1992, Schützler 2020). Rather, it is used in the sense of "levelling
out linguistic differences between the formal and informal registers of a language," as is common in
Romance linguistics (Briz et al. 1995, López Serena 2014). The presence of swear words in TV programs
or parliamentary sessions, the depiction of sexual or scatological scenes in broadcasts, or the tolerance of
dialectal or sociolectal variables associated with lower social classes would be examples of this process.
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factors that a purely sociolinguistic approach had overlooked, such as the structural
properties of the competing constructions (4.1), historical (4.2) and geographical factors
underlying this change (4.3), social (4.4) and cultural factors (4.5), and the role of
particular places (4.6.1) and individuals (4.6.2) in the spread of VOC-tío.
Given that the timeframe of this linguistic change spans a mere fifty years, the research
primarily focuses on what can be referred to as early diachrony. Consequently, the
examination of very short periods of time, or microdiachronies (Pons Bordería 2014),
becomes paramount in understanding this phenomenon. These microdiachronic analyses
are not considered secondary but rather crucial, as they offer a distinct realm for
historical linguistics, aligning with the framework outlined in the introduction of this
volume. By delving into this case study, we can illustrate how linguistic evolution can
be comprehensively examined by leveraging the abundant data available from the 20th
century.
.
2. Sp. tío vs. Sp. macho: from address term to vocatives and DM: two evolutions
face to face
2.1. Sp. tío: constructionalization in a nutshell
The Spanish term tío originally emerged as a nominal construction derived from Late
Latin thius/thia and ultimately rooted in Greek. This term initially denoted the
"brother/sister of the father or mother" and could also encompass "cross relations in
some degree" (RAE, 1739) (1.a). By the 16th century, it had acquired the additional
meaning of "older man/woman" (2.a). In rural language, this connotation persisted in
symmetrical encounters, often accompanied by a name or nickname (2.b), a usage that
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endures to the present day (Beinhauer 1929). Meanwhile, in asymmetrical encounters
and more formal contexts, the term señor was employed instead of tío.
Around 1870, tío underwent a semantic shift, broadening its meaning to encompass
"any man" or "a man or woman of any age," commonly used to refer to specific
individuals (e.g., ese tío, el tío este) or certain types of people (3.a). This new
connotation no longer retained its association with rural language and was frequently
employed in adjectives and evaluative constructions (3.b). Notably, the usage of this
expanded meaning was more prevalent among lower-middle-class speakers and less so
among upper-class speakers.
In the 1970s, tío underwent a significant transformation for specific groups of young
individuals, adopting a vocative function (4). Within a few years, this usage extended to
encompass all groups of young people, and by the mid-1980s, tío had further evolved
into a discourse marker (5).
1.a. Ese hombre es mi tío porque es el hermano de mi madre
This man is my uncle because he is my mother’s brother
2.a. Tío, éste es el paso más angosto que en el arroyo hay
3
Tío, this is the narrowest pass in the stream (Anónimo, Lazarillo de Tormes, 1554,
CORDE).
2.b. Tío Tijeras, tío Maravillas, tío Antonio, tía María (Beinhauer 1929)
3.a. Se necesita un tío con mucho talento
3
In this example, tío is used as an address term, like mother, father, or primo (cousin). Address terms and
vocatives share a strong relationship whose limits go beyond this paper. In this example, the main character
is a child, whose family gave him to an old blind man, so that he could earn his living as a servant. The
child and the blind man travel from town to town looking for charities. In this context, the familiarity among
them makes it possible the use of tío, a usage different from the one described in this paper. Data suggest a
possible double path of evolution for tío, to be addressed in future research.
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It takes a very talented guy (Galdós, 1905, CORDE)
3.b. Para mí -decía- la mayor grandeza de España está en el reinado del Emperador Carlos
V. ¡Vaya un tío!
In my opinion, he said, the greatest greatness of Spain is in the reign of Emperor
Charles V. What a man! (Galdós, La de los tristes destinos, 1907, CORDE)
4. Me voy a dar una vuelta a ver que pasa. ¿Te vienes tío?
I'm going for a walk to see what's going on. Are you coming, man? (Nazario,
“Sábado, sabadete”, El Rrollo Enmascarado, 1973, pág. 1)
5. Parece mentira que tú confundas esas cosas, tío, con lo moderno y lo así que te haces,
tío.
It seems unbelievable that you confuse these things, man, with how modern you
are and how you become, man. (CORLEC, 1991)
These changes (parent's sibling > elder man> any man > vocative > DM ) are summarized in
the following diagram:
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Figure 1: Constructional changes in Spanish tío.
2.2. Stalled innovations: the rise and stagnation of macho
The evolution of tío cannot be understood without reference to the evolution of macho
(lit. 'male'), which underwent the same constructional changes to become a vocative
some years before tío, in the late fifties (Tovar 1968) (Llopis and Pons 2021).
Macho is a NOUN.Cxn denoting 'male animal' as opposed to hembra, 'female animal'.
Originally a member of the [-human] animacy scheme, macho underwent a series of
preconstructional changes that restricted its meaning. Around 1850, macho became
synonymous with 'man' in contexts related to the sexual instinct (6). By 1920, this
meaning had faded into a neutered "man", devoid of sexual connotations (7):
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(6) ¡Extraña mujer, provocativa y fría! Sentía deseos de caer sobre ella, en su furia de
macho ofendido
Strange woman, provocative and cold! I felt the desire to fall on her, in my fury as an
offended man (...). (Vicente Blasco Ibañez, La maja desnuda, 1906-09, CORDE).
(7) Olga. — Está bien y oiga decirle á usted nada, porque es macho y muy inocente.
Olga. — It is all right and, don’t worry, he will not tell you anything, because he is a man
and [therefore] very innocent. (La Unión Ilustrada, 20.10.1920, Hemeroteca Digital).
Around 1950, macho became a vocative. Structural changes followed: from an
utterance-internal position, macho became a parenthetical at the beginning or end of the
clause over which it has scope (propositional or not). In this position, macho is used to
convey emphatic and expressive functions, especially to lift the spirits (8), to cheer (9)
or to show closeness (10) – in this case when addressing a child:
(8) (two kids are fighting) "¡Hala, macho, que es tuyo!" (Sánchez Ferlosio, El Jarama,
1956, CORDE)
(9) ¡Así se canta, macho! (Lauro Olmo, Ayer 27 de octubre, 1957)
(10) ¡Macho, cuántos papeles! (Dámaso Alonso, “Consejos de tío Dámaso al Luis
Cristobal”, 1957, Poesías)
Macho became the preferred vocative for working-class speakers in informal settings.
For middle- and upper-class speakers, however, macho alternated with other forms
(tú/usted, amigo, hombre, etc.); this alternation can be found in novels (Torremolinos
Gran Hotel, 1971) and short stories (A traque barraque, 1972).
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In the early 1970s, underground youngsters who spoke cheli slang (see 3.2.1) identified
with macho and used it innovatively, creating new constructions such as greetings
(¿Qué hay, macho? - lit. What's up, macho? -) (Umbral, 1973: 57) or conversational
routines (¡joder, macho!) used to express disagreement, irritation, astonishment, or
wonder. It became so popular that Carreter (1979) considered macho a signpost of Cheli
identity. By the mid-70s, macho seemed unstoppable.
And then macho crossed paths with tío.
Corpus data show that tío blocked the growth of macho. Since the 1980s, macho has
remained a low-frequency vocative, usually in fossilized constructions such as ¡jo,
macho! However, these uses seem to be concentrated mainly in age groups II and III
(De Latte in press), and the reduced number of instances in youth corpora, such as the
COLA-Madrid corpus, suggests a regression in youth language (Llopis and Pons
Bordería 2020).
Figure 2. Vocatives in conversational corpora (normalized frequencies)
Such is the coarse-grained history of tío and macho. But going back to the early days of
tío and its path to becoming the unmarked colloquial vocative in Spanish gives us a finer-
0
5
10
15
20
1990-94 2004 2017-19
male uncle aunt trunk trunk
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grained picture of this evolution. Sections 3 and 4 delve into the details: Section 3
analyzes this evolution from a sociolinguistic point of view, and Section 4 adds some
relevant philological considerations.
3. Difussion is necessary: S-shaping tío
3.1. S-shaped adoption of innovations
Following Rogers' (1962) classic study of the adoption of innovations in the social
sciences, sociolinguistic approaches assume that the diffusion of linguistic innovations
occurs in well-defined stages: an initial, slow phase, followed by an intermediate phase
of rapid expansion among speakers, and finally a final phase in which the innovation
becomes generalized (cf. Croft 2000; Labov 1994; Moreno Fernández 1998). The result
of this process is represented by an S-shaped graph, which is repeatedly observed in
different cases of innovation adoption (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. Adoption model (theoretical) vs. adoption data (real)
The occurrence of an S-shaped change pattern in language evolution often carries a
certain predictive quality, although specific linguistic or extralinguistic factors can
cause fluctuations or even reversals in the trajectory. Linear or exponential diffusion
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patterns are exceptional in linguistics, as noted by Blythe and Croft (2012) in their
analysis of 39 diffusion processes.
Nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge that non-S-shaped processes do exist.
Instances of growth followed by decline have been observed, where low-frequency
variants experience a truncation of their expansion due to the emergence of a successful
innovation. In such cases, the representation of these variants closely resembles an
inverted S-shaped curve (Postma 2010, Blythe & Croft 2012, Octavio de Toledo 2014).
Additionally, there may be sharp fluctuations in the initial phase, and sometimes an
innovation may be abandoned temporarily and later resumed (Blythe & Croft 2012,
Rosemeyer 2016).
Croft (2000) and Labov (1994, 2001, 2010) attribute the key to S-shaped diffusion,
following Rogers (1962), to the connection between the linguistic innovation and the
social group responsible for its production. Blythe and Croft (2012) conclude that the
evolutionary process deviates from an S-curve trajectory when the construction or
speaker group remains neutral. S-curves tend to appear when there is a "differential
weighting of linguistic variants." According to these authors, the social group using an
innovative variable projects a social value (such as prestige or modernity) onto that
variable, acting as a catalyst for propagation (Blythe & Croft 2012: 295).
Among the social variables that characterize the innovating group, social class (Labov
1994, 2001) and the relationship between speakers (Milroy & Milroy 1985; Milroy
2000) play prominent roles. Innovating groups transform a construction into a preferred
form, thus positioning themselves as innovators and distinguishing themselves from
later adopters. The degree of receptivity to the new construction often leads to a
distinction between leaders and followers (Labov 1994, 2001), a simplified version of
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Rogers' (1962 [2003]) more detailed categorization: innovators > early users > early
majority > late majority > laggards.
In the following section, the S-shaped theory of linguistic diffusion will be applied to
the case of tío in order to test its appropriateness. It will also be shown that although it
serves as a roadmap for change – it is a necessary explanans for change – it is not itself
sufficient. Other cultural, social, and historical factors must be taken into account to
provide a comprehensive explanation (section 4). Furthermore, it will be argued that the
twentieth century is a preferred space for providing such a complete explanation
(section 5).
3.2. Diffusion of tío across groups of speakers
3.2.1. Innovators: the Rrollo youngsters (ca. 1968-1973)
The Rrollo, a countercultural movement in Spain,
4
emerged in the late 1960s,
coinciding with countercultural movements in Western societies. Comprising mainly
young artists, Rrollo members positioned themselves outside the mainstream social
system. This movement embraced unconventional social practices, including rock music
and drug use, as means of seeking an escape from reality.
Rrollo members played a crucial role as innovators in the evolution of VOC-tío, as they
were highly receptive to the emerging youth language. Their rebellious and non-
conformist attitude, particularly towards societal and cultural norms, motivated them to
create, adopt, and adapt new vocabulary to describe novel social phenomena (Roszak
4
Its counter-cultural nature can be appreciated even in its name, which deliberately chooses an incorrect
use of the grafeme <r> in Spanish (at the beginning of a word, only <r->, between two vowels, <-rr->.
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1970). Consequently, their pursuit of individuality encompassed a distinct manner of
speech.
Among these young people was the Sevillian band Smash, whose manifesto Manifiesto
de lo Borde (1969) is considered the first countercultural, programmatic text published
in Spain (Ordovás 1977; Costa 2018).
5
In this manifesto, constructions such as rollo,
estar en el rollo, enrollarse, abrirse, as well as caló words such as chungo or roneo can
be found for the first time. In fact, example (1), uttered by one of the members of the
Smash Band, shows one of the first occurrences of VOC-tío:
(1) ¿Qué pasa contigo, tío? ¿Es que no brillan mis ojos?
What’s the matter with you, tío, don't my eyes shine? (CAU. Construcción,
Arquitectura y Urbanismo, 1972, no. 11)
1972, the poet Díaz Velázquez wrote the following about Smash's language:
And again, language makes us suspect that there is something behind this band of guys who make music
(...) I have lived with them for some time, and I think that the fact that they use a language of their own is
not a snobbery, but a necessity: if new words are used, it is because there are new ideas that cannot be
expressed with standard words. (CAU. Construcción, Arquitectura y Urbanismo, 1972, n.º 11).
One of the key principles of the Rrollo movement was to be "in" while the rest of
society remained "out." This led the Rrollo youth to seek a distinct term within their
group to refer to those who were part of it. They began calling themselves tíos and tías
5
Smash manifesto was not unusual; the Andalusian band Manifiesto or Canción del Sur, and the Catalan
Máquina also wrote manifestos (Baquero 2018) and incorporated lexical innovations in their songs. Smash
manifesto was perhaps the most widespread because of its early publication and because the group became
a referent of progressive music in the 1970s (Ordovás 1977).
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("each of the individuals who are in the Rrollo," as described in Burgos 1977), as a way
to differentiate themselves from non-Rrollo members.
Simultaneously, another group of young artists based in Barcelona, including the Farriol
brothers, Josep and Miquel, along with Nazario Luque from Seville and Javier Mariscal
from Valencia, published the pioneering Spanish countercultural fanzine, El Rrollo
Enmascarado (1973). This publication extensively employed the VOC-tío in its
vignettes:
(2) Me voy a dar una vuelta a ver que pasa. ¿Te vienes tío?
I'm going for a walk to see what's going on. Are you coming, man? (Nazario
Luque, "Sábado, sabadete", El Rrollo Enmarcarado, 1973).
(3) ¡Es divina tío!
She is divine, man! (Anonymous, "El laberinto de Ciutat Vella", El Rrollo
Enmarcarado, 1973).
Following the emergence of VOC-tío in the Rrollo movement, it became a frequent
feature in underground comics published in Barcelona. Meanwhile, during the early
1970s, the youth in Madrid still favored the use of macho as a vocative, as documented
by Umbral in 1972. Macho was a distinct element of cheli slang, a dialect spoken in
Madrid. A comparison between Madrilean cheli and Rrollo language reveals that the
former appears to be less innovative, as noted by Costa (2018, 84-85). For instance, the
underground column Los cassettes de Mc Macarra, published in Madrid between 1972
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and 1976, incorporated a mixture of castizo words,
6
swear words, and some anglicisms
but did not exhibit any characteristics of Rrollo slang.
3.2.2. Early users: Rrollo followers (ca. 1974-1978)
Early users were followers of the Rrollo movement, fans of new music trends who
gathered at rock concerts,
7
and readers of underground comics and magazines.
Regarding underground comics, Dopico (2011: 174) points out that
Their vignettes were aimed at young people and became the spokesperson and means of expression for a
discontented, leftist youth, heir to hippie and pacifist ideologies, who lived under the stifling and
frustrating repression of Franco.
Starting in 1974, underground fanzines began to proliferate, with "Star" being the title
with the greatest distribution and continuity.
8
In these fanzines, the use of VOC-tío
became increasingly prevalent:
(4) Me voy a divertir en cantidad!!! / claro tío
I'm going to have a lot of fun!!! / sure man (Francesc Capdevilla, "Capitán Turbulento
al servicio de las fuerzas del bien", Star, 1974).
6
Castizo is the dialect of Madrid, a distinct slang that dates from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Theater
performers such as Arniches and popular operettas popularized this way of speaking. In the 70s, castizo
sounded old-fashioned and, to some people, right-wing. See
https://web.archive.org/web/20171012050034/http://www.hispanoteca.eu/Lexikon%20der%20Linguistik/
c/CASTICISMO.htm.
7
In 1971, more than 4,000 people attended the International Progressive Rock Festival held in Granollers.
Later on, the Canet Rock Festival (1975) was the first massive concert in Spain. It gathered together more
than 20,000 youngsters and was reedited in the following years.
8
El Rrollo enmascarado (1973), Star (1974-80), Nasti de Plasti (1975), Bazofia (1975), El Carajillo
(1975), El Carajillo Vacilón (1976), El Víbora (1979-2005).
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(5) Oye tío qué pasa? Tienes bocadillos?
Hey man/ what's up? Got sandwiches? (Mariscal, "Nos vemos esta noche, nenas", Nasti
de Plasti, 1976).
(6) Viva el rollo / Si todo el mundo hiciera el amor / Rapidísimamente tía
Viva el rollo / If everyone would make love / Rapidly, tía (Pejo, "Barriguita de ácido",
Bazofia, 1976)
9
Among the heterogeneous social groups that embraced the Rrollo movement
10
, leftist
students stood out as key promoters of VOC-tío. However, this linguistic innovation
found resonance among various urban tribes as well. Another significant group was
known as the pasotas, referring to young individuals with a passive political attitude
influenced by the economic crisis of the late 1970s and a sense of disillusionment with
the Spanish Transición (Navarro and Julen 1979; Casado 1978, Feixà 2004).
At that time, language was an important marker of affiliation for young people; the
different tribes were distinguished by their own slang, which at the time was called
"lenguaje del Rrollo rockero" (Burgos 1977) or "jerga pop-rockera" (Ordovás 1978, in
Sal común, n.º 8-15). Magazines published various slang glossaries (César M. Corral in
La Codorniz 1974; Ordovás in Sal común 1978, Burgos in Triunfo digital 1977). Labels
such as "lenguaje pasota" or simply "cheli" gained acceptance among Madrid's youth.
3.2.3. An early majority: the Movida madrileña (approx. 1979-84)
9
The geography of underground fanzines and the artists working within them is studied by Moreno
(2020).
10
Rockers, hippies, homosexuals, ex-prisoners, gypsies, unbelievers, and throw-away people are among
those who made up (Ordovás 1977).
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During this time, the Movida madrileña spread youth slang (section 4). Its adoption by
the early majority was encouraged by the new social practices associated with nightlife
and the desire to display a "modern" lifestyle, of which language was an essential
component. Countercultural neologisms were integrated into cheli slang, which was
also fed by the older Madrilean castizo dialect and by innovations
11
– such as movida,
tronco, etc. –. These innovations were associated with the cheli language because of
their high frequency among young Madrilenians.
At this time, VOC-tío is widely used by young people in the major cities (Burgos 1977),
as shown in films set in both Barcelona and Madrid:
(1) Lidia: si no tienes nada que hacer quítate del medio y siéntate/ tú de pasota ¿no
tío?
Lidia: if you have nothing to do/ get out of the way and sit down/ you're a
pasota, aren't you, man? (Francesc Bellmunt, La orgía, 1978).
(2) Carmen: ¡si es que no me apetece!
Juan: vale tía/ ¿y tú?
Carmen: I just don't feel like it!
Juan: okay tía/ what about you? (Fernando Colomo, Tigres de papel, 1978)
(3) Paco: ¡pero tía/ que no sé arreglar grifos!/ cómo quieres que te lo quieres lo
diga?/ que no sé [arreglar grifos!
But tía!/ I don’t know how to fix a tap! How do you want me to put it? I don’t
know how to fix a tap! (Javier Moro, Sentados al borde y con los pies
colgando, 1979)
11
Some of these innovations developed with unusual speed in the initial phases and soon reached high
levels of diffusion.
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(4) H25: venga tío/ antes de que te enteres esto ya habrá acabado/ doce meses pasan
volando (2”) vamos
H25: come on man/ before you know it this will be over/ twelve months fly by
(2") come on (Francesc Bellmunt, La quinta del porro, 1980).
(5) H94: que yo paso de deci(r) esa historia/ tío
(6) H94: I don't want to tell that story/ man (Los jóvenes del barrio, documentary
by Albert Estival/ M ª Lluïsa Roca, 1982).
In Madrid, tío emerged victorious and surpassed macho as the preferred vocative (See
2.5). Alongside this change, new vocatives such as tronco ('trunk') and cheli also made
their appearance (León 1980). Interestingly, cheli speakers, who had previously exhibited
different linguistic preferences, now displayed a strong inclination towards tío. In fact,
tío became a prominent feature of youth language and, through its association with cheli,
also became a hallmark of Madrilean slang.
(1) H5: pero bueno tía/ ¿qué pasa con tanto arreglo?/ ¿es que hoy toca casa mayor?
H5: but well tía/ what's up with all this arrangement/ is it that today it's the big
house? (Manuel Vidal and others, "A tope", 1984).
(2) H25: es inútil tío/ la has puesto como una moto/ como se ponga al teléfono...
(3) H25: No way tío/ now she’s so horny/ should she get on the phone… (Manuel
Vidal and others, "A tope", 1984).
In the arch of this microdiachrony (1960-1980), VOC-tío progressively increases the
word-to-social-group link: from Rrollo members to left-wing students and pasotas, and
from there to the Movida; as the change spread, the group of speakers became
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progressively less important (Blythe and Croft 2012), being much more relevant the
‘new’ and ‘modern’ social value of attributed to tío.
3.2.4. Late majority and laggards
The late majority consisted of both rural and urban youngsters who adopted this usage
after it had already become widespread in major cities. Madrid, being the capital, played
a significant role in disseminating the change to other regions through television and
radio programs, movies, comics, and novels, thereby making this usage familiar to a
wider audience. By the mid-1980s, for instance, a journalist reported that "a Galician
athlete repeated the phrase tío, es demasiado (dude, it's too much) as a result of her stay
at the Blume residence in Madrid" (El País, 01/02/1986). This illustrates that such
expressions were not commonly expected to be heard from a teenager in Galicia during
that time (although they were recognizable as part of their passive competence).
As for the laggards, they either continued using unmarked vocatives such as hombre
(man), chico (boy), chica (girl), or used vocatives less frequently. It should be noted
that the frequency of the vocative not only serves to demonstrate solidarity and
strengthen social networks, but also reflects the speaker's personality.
3.3. Transmission and permanence (1980 on)
According to Labov (2008, 2018), after the diffusion stage, the next step is the
transmission of the linguistic change to future generations. In the case of VOC-tío, it is
important to investigate whether young people have adopted it while adults continue to
use it. By comparing recorded conversations from the 1990s to those from 2012
(CORLEC and Val.Es.Co. vs. Valesco 2.0), it is observed that the younger generations
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preferred to use tío as a vocative, while the older generations still maintained its usage
(20, 21) (Jorgensen and Martínez 2012, De Latte and Enghels 2018, Llopis and Pons
Bordería 2021).
Valesco (90s)
Corlec (90s)
Valesco 2.0 (10s)
macho
131,41
147,98
106,23
tío
567,44
288,18
1317,3
tía
191,14
179,14
318,7
Fig. 4: Macho vs. tío in the Corlec and Valesco corpora (normalized frequency per million
words)
(20) (45 y.o. speaker)
H1: Oye ¿qué pasa en León que...?
H2: Ayer, ¡menuda movida! tío
H1: Hey, what's going on in León that...?
H2: Yesterday, what a shake-up/ man. (CORLEC)
(21) (+ 40 y.o. speakers)
H3: ¡Sólo faltaría más!
0
500
1000
1500
Valesco (1990) Corlec (1990) Valesco 2.0 (2012)
macho tío tía
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H1: Hombre no. Tú le demuestras lo de la ley de plazos y no hay problema, tía
H3: That's all it takes!
H1: No/ man. You show him about the installment law and there's no problem/
tía. (CORLEC)
Figure 4 shows a lower normalized frequency
12
in the Valesco (1990) corpus compared
to the CORLEC corpus (288~567). This seems to indicate that diffusion occurred later
in Valencia than in Madrid.
Additional corpora recorded between 2000 and 2020 provide further evidence for the
increasing usage of VOC-tío. In the COLA-M corpus focusing on Madrid teenagers, tío
is the preferred form among speakers in Group I (Jorgensen 2008). Similarly, the
CORMA corpus (Enghels, de Latte, and Roels 2020) indicates that Group I speakers are
increasingly using tío, while Group III speakers use it only occasionally and Group II
speakers use it frequently (De Latte, in press).
Although data up until the late 1990s illustrate a successful history of VOC-tío, more
recent data suggest that it may be losing its prominence as an unmarked form, with new
vocatives such as bro or hermano emerging as preferred alternatives among teenagers in
the past five years (Linde Roehls, this volume). If this change were to occur, it would
signify the completion of the full cycle of tío as an innovation > unmarked vocative >
marked vocative > Ø.
4. Difussion is not sufficient: bringing new data into the picture
12
The normalized frequency of tío per 10 000 words was 5.67 in the CORLEC conversations, while in
Val.Es.Co. (2002) it was 2.88, but the frequency of macho was much more similar (CORLEC 1.31 and
Val.Es.Co. 2002 1.48).
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The data presented in section 3 provides strong evidence for the NOUN > VOC change
in peninsular Spanish over the past fifty years and demonstrates the effectiveness of
sociolinguistic methodology in explaining this change. However, this framework tends
to overlook certain pieces of evidence that are crucial in understanding the spread of
VOC-tío within the vocative system. These pieces of evidence come to light when
taking a philological, Romance language-based approach.
The aim of this section is to demonstrate that when such evidence is considered, the
explanation presented in section 3 becomes more comprehensive. Therefore, this paper
argues for the integration of both approaches in order to achieve a thorough
understanding of linguistic change, particularly in the context of the 20th century.
It is widely acknowledged that the diffusion of innovations is a complex phenomenon
influenced by various linguistic, social, cognitive, and cultural factors (cf. Labov 1994,
2000, 2010). However, not all factors carry the same weight at different stages of
diffusion. Thus, it is reductionist to solely attribute the evolution of the vocative tío to a
process of quantitative diffusion. Additionally, as Romance linguistics has highlighted
since its inception, the qualitative value of individuals, plays, cultural movements,
institutions, and historical events plays a significant role in linguistic change. Therefore,
a description that incorporates such qualitative data into a sociolinguistic explanation
will offer a more holistic understanding of linguistic change. Indeed, this perspective
emphasizes the need to consider a wide range of factors of diverse nature, including
structural, historical, geographical, social, cultural, and individual factors.
4.1. Structural factors
From a structural perspective, the competitive advantages of tío over macho played a
role in determining the final outcome. Firstly, tío had a higher frequency of use
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compared to macho, primarily due to its association with family relationships, which
made it more familiar to speakers. On the other hand, besides its meaning of "man,"
macho also carries the meaning of "male." The frequency of these two meanings is
lower than that of tío. Consequently, tío is a more accessible term than macho in the
minds of speakers.
Another structural advantage of tío is its morphological nature in forming the feminine
counterpart, tía, whereas the feminine form of macho, hembra, is lexical. When tío
became a vocative, it could be easily adopted by female speakers by simply changing
the ending. This was not the case with macho, and evidence of this competitive
disadvantage can be found in a few examples of a newly coined term, macha, which
emerged in the early 1970s:
(19) Vignette in which two maidens speak:
- ¡Pues en la oficial estuvo merengue!
- ¡Ostras marqués!
- ¡El diccionario de Cela es el Ripalda a su lado, machas! (La Codorniz, 11 de enero de
1976, HD) (Llopis and Pons Bordería 2020)
However, this macha was was a highly marked word and did not survive in the long
run.
Finally, VOC-macho carried a strong connotative meaning, since macho and hembra
were used to mean ‘the possession of all the attributes necessary to be considered a man
or a woman’ (a real macho/a real hembra). Tío, on the other hand, was devoid of such
connotations and was perceived as "lighter" or "friendlier".
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As elements of the system, tío had better competitive advantages than macho to become
the unmarked form of this opposition, and this is indeed what happened.
4.2. Historical factors (Transición)
The strong meaning conveyed by macho carried some negative connotations for
countercultural movements, as it projected an old-fashioned vision of masculinity. The
rejection of such connotations is more evident in those few artists who vindicate their
homosexuality.
13
This was the case of the painter Ocaña, who departed from the social
parameter that "to be macho (...) is the best, the normal, the natural" (Ocaña, retrato
intermitente, Ventura Pons, 1978).
It should also be remembered that the competition between macho and tío takes place
on the brink of a régime change in which there was a strong alignment between the
"old" social groups, institutions, behaviors and linguistic forms (i.e., the world of the
dictatorship) and their "new" counterparts (i.e., the world of the incipient democracy).
As the Transición began, macho became associated with the old, outdated forms of
interaction, and tío, a newcomer, became a rallying cry for the new society. It is hard to
imagine today how difficult this adjustment was and how it influenced the linguistic
forms of the system, but this adjustment was determinant in the choice of address terms.
As an illustrative example, consider the classified ads section of the libertarian
magazine Ajoblanco,
14
which was widely read by young leftists in the early and mid-
1970s. Readers from different cities in Spain (Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Malaga,
Valencia, etc.) always use VOC-tío to address their couples; thus, tío was not a diatopic
13
Since homosexuality was legalized in 1978, those who had been affected by harsh repression and social
rejection began to have a voice of their own
14
For a comprehensive account of the countercultural press (1968-83), see Moreno and Cuevas (2020).
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but an ideological word at that time: by using it, young people showed that they were in
line with the countercultural ideology, especially when it came to sexual matters.
(1) La Gran Enciclopedia Gallega y La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, están escritas en
ESPAÑOL. ¡Quépassada, tío!
The Gran Enciclopedia Gallega and La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, are written
in SPANISH. Whoooooaaa man! (Ajoblanco, 1975, n.º 7 / Barcelona)
(2) Si vives en Oviedo o en Gijón, o en cualquier otra parte, ¡qué diablos!
Escríbeme, tía.
If you live in Oviedo or Gijón, or anywhere else, what the hell! Write to me/ tía
(Ajoblanco, 1976, n.º 17 / Oviedo).
(3) Si te gustan los camellos, los churros con ajoaceite, leer el Ajo, tienes ganas
de vivir, más de 17 años y menos de 85, tío, ¿a qué esperas?
If you like dealers, churros with ajoaceite, read Ajo, have a zest for life, are
over 17 years old and under 85/ man/ what are you waiting for? (Ajoblanco,
1977, n.º 19 / Valencia).
(4) Tios and tias ¿Qué le pasa al rollo? ¿Quién de una maldita vez le puede decir lo
que le ocurre?
Tios and tias/ what's wrong with the rollo? Who the hell can tell it what's wrong
with it? (Sal común, n. 8, 1978 / Málaga)
Other vocatives found in the classified section are the most widespread chicos and
amigos, the politically marked compañeros, the very idiosyncratic -ajos (those who read
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Ajoblanco magazine), but rarely macho/a,
15
which was widespread among "everyday"
youth (those who were out. See XX). This provides additional support for the fact that
at that time macho had a negative ideological load, as opposed to the positive load of
tío.
4.3. Geographical factors (Madrid, Seville and Barcelona)
Throughout Spanish history, linguistic changes have exhibited a consistent pattern, with
their inception of being initiated in the southern regions and subsequent diffusion to the
north. Notably, processes such as the -s>Ø or neutralization between [l] and [y], began
in Andalusia and gradually extended northward. In present-day Spanish, the prominent
roles of Madrid and Barcelona as agents of linguistic change contribute to this enduring
historical trend.
In the case study of VOC-tío, both trends play a role in determining the geographical
origin of this change and the role of the major cities in the popularization of this new
usage.
To address the first question, it is crucial to first examine the birthplaces of the core
Rrollo members. Notably, the Andalusian members, like the rock band Smash and the
comic artist Nazario, emerge significant contributors within this group (see 3.2.1.). Not
a member of this group, but also important, is the Sevillian critic Antonio Burgos, who
wrote about the Rrollo language in the mid-seventies (Burgos 1977). Note that at the
same time, Madrid was promoting macho as the preferred vocative: in the play Los
15
Likewise, there were punctual resemantizations of macho within the gay movement, such as "meter-en-
ano es cosa de machos" (in the short film Cucarecord 1977). This is an ironic interpretation of the cognac
motto "Soberano es cosa de machos" (Costa 2018). The resemanticization of faggot did become
routinized in homosexual circles.
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quinquis de Madriz (1967), whose characters live in shanties on the outskirts of Madrid,
only VOC-macho is used and no samples of tío are found. Five years later, Umbral
(1972) also pointed out that macho was a word typical of Madrid's youth slang. In
contrast, Burgos (1977) noted the frequency of tío in the spoken Spanish of Seville.
These data suggest that VOC-tío could be one more linguistic change in the history of
Spanish that began in the South and spread northwards.
Turning back to the first speakers of VOC-tío, they met in left-wing gathering places
such as Dom Gonzalo in Seville. During the late sixties, this pub gathered a diverse
clientele: "PSOE militants, sons of the bourgeoisie, professional hippies, politically
engaged students, rockers, and American soldiers from the Rota and Morón American
bases" (Costa 2018: 49). It is worth noting that the core of the Socialist Party, led by the
then-young Felipe González, originated from Andalusia, particularly Seville. In fact,
Alfonso Guerra, who would later become the number two PSOE leader, directed a play
of Antigone featuring a soundtrack composed by... the rock band Smash
(https://twitter.com/fundacionmarch/status/989101201760407553).
16
Although the
police closed its doors in 1970 for drug trafficking, it served to light the fuse for future
projects and underground bands (Costa 2018).
Andalusian artists would spread innovations such as VOC-tío among Rrollo followers
when they moved to other cities. A case in point is the Sevillian comic artist Nazario.
Nazario moved to Barcelona in 1972 and shared an apartment with the graphic artists
Mariscal and Farry.
17
16
There is even a series of super-8 tapes documenting the life in the pub: Smash y Gong en Dom Gonzalo
(1968).
17
The choice of Barcelona over Madrid was due to the fact that the Secret Police in Madrid was very
attentive to any attempt to threaten Franco’s régime and infiltrated all dissident groups.
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During the early seventies, Barcelona stood as a cosmopolitan city, with renowed
writers such as García Márquez or Vargas Llosa residing there. The city boasted a lively
nightlife, particularly in the theaters of El Paralelo, where writers, directors, painters
and even cabaret stars would gather in bars (such as Tuset Street) and cultural events.
The overall atmosphere was intellectual and bourgeois, particularly in the well-known
Gauche Divine movement, which exhibited a more restrained blend of styles and voices
compared to the South.
In 1973, Nazario and his friends published the first countercultural comic in Spain, El
Rrollo enmascarado, where VOC-tío is prevalent. The clandestine flavor of this comic
added an adventurous element to its content, including its language. For Rrollo's
followers in Barcelona, adopting the comic's slang became a means to be in.
Subsequently, during the Movida period, Madrid emerged as the spokesperson for the
"new" way of life, closely intertwined with a distinct manner of speech. Television
programs, rock and pop bands, and radio stations like Radio 3, considered the Spanish
equivalent of NPR, played a significant role in disseminating these novel linguistic
usages to small cities and towns where they had been previously unfamiliar. These
linguistic innovations were seen as "modern" and as symbols of the changing times.
Therefore, it is not solely the speakers themselves who enable these innovations but also
the places they inhabit, which contribute to their dissemination. This phenomenon is
further exemplified through historical and geographical trends in the diffusion of
linguistic changes within a nation.
4.4. Social factors: Lifestyle and new practices
The diffusion of change among the initial users was facilitated by the emergence of
multiple interconnected social networks within Rrollo members and their followers.
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These networks thrived in new cultural practices such as the burgeoning nightlife, music
festivals, and underground magazines, as well as in a distinct way of life that embraced
political engagement and university involvement. Individuals who spent their nights
together at places like Dom Gonzalo or other bars would cross paths the following
morning at universities or labor law offices. They would convene in the evenings at
clandestine meetings of liberal illegal parties (PSOE, PCE) or in art galleries.
Subsequently, during the Movida period, cultural centers emerged in various cities,
including Valencia, Bilbao, Seville, and Barcelona. During this phase, cultural life
primarily revolved around pop music, comics, and fashion, while political engagement
diminished in significance. The connections established between the capital and other
cities facilitated geographical and social mobility for its members. This social mobility
has been regarded as one explanatory element in the diffusion of language changes (cf.
Milroy & Milroy 1985, 2000; Labov 2018). However, it is important to note that social
mobility is just one of the contributing factors within a broader context.
4.5. Cultural factors
4.5.1. Music
Music holds a central role within the countercultural movements of the sixties, and the
Rrollo movement is no exception. During its early stages, American soldiers stationed
at military bases like Rota or Morón de la Frontera in Andalusia introduced the first
Rrollo members to records. When these American soldiers resided together in colonies,
such as San Vicente in Madrid or Santa Clara in Seville, they would organize guateques
(parties) that featured Spanish artists. Music critic Javier Ordovás referred to these
gatherings as "urban islands of restlessness" (Ordovás 1977).
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The influence of the hippies who settled in Ibiza and Formentera also played a role in
spreading their philosophy and sharing records with locals, including former roommate
Mariscal, who later became associated with Nazario. The exchange of music occurred
both in Madrid and Barcelona, where the hippies would venture in search of goods, as
well as on the islands when visited by Rrollo members.
Various genres of music, including gypsy music, traditional flamenco, and the newer
Catalan or Madrilean rumba, served as common threads during the movement's early
days. Whether Rrollo musicians were learning flamenco in Seville or producing LPs for
emerging rumba artists, both types of music were deeply intertwined with underground
artists in ways beyond imagination. Of particular relevance to this research is the
summer hit of 1976, "¿Qué pasa contigo, tío?" by the rumba group Los Golfos, in
which many Spanish speakers noticed the use of VOC-tío. Despite appearing as a
popular song performed by two young gypsy kids, it was actually written by musician
and producer Luis Gómez Escolar, a singer-songwriter and Rrollo follower, who
infused it with hidden humorous intentions. When this educated author took the
ideologically charged VOC-tío construction and presented it within the popular
framework of rumba, he created a winning combination that inevitably led to its success
and the subsequent diffusion of this linguistic innovation.
4.5.2. Comics and movies
During the late 1970s, amidst an economic crisis and the political transition to
democracy, Spain experienced a significant increase in crime. Shanty-town gangs
comprised of teenage delinquents contributed to the rising public insecurity. It was
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during this time that a new B-movie genre emerged, known as cine quinqui (similar to
the Italian mondo genre). These films featured young delinquents who were
fictionalized versions of real-life gangsters, presenting their lives as both models (for
some) and dramas (for most). In some cases, non-professional actors portrayed
themselves. Language played a central role in the realism of quinqui films, with all
characters imitating the actual slang used in the poorest neighborhoods, which
combined caló words, criminal jargon, and colloquial Spanish.
The commercial success of quinqui films facilitated the learning of expressions and
constructions, previously unknown to the average middle-class teenager, by a
generation of young people, particularly those living in towns and small villages. This
included the use of VOC-tío.
If the late 70s were dominated by quinqui movies, the early 80s ushered in a comic-
centric era. The emergence of comics cannot be separated from La Movida. Starting as
alternative and underground forms of expression sold clandestinely in bars or flea
markets (as seen with El Rrollo enmascarado in 1973), comics eventually achieved
commercial success, particularly through influential publications like Makoki or El
Víbora. Comics played a significant role in accelerating the mass adoption of linguistic
innovations by reflecting the youth slang while simultaneously introducing new slang
constructions to a wider mainstream audience.
4.5.3. Press and TV
In 1976 and 1977, a period marked by weekly revolutionary developments in Spain,
newspapers and magazines were particularly attentive to all signs of the changing times,
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especially those publications that emerged during the early stages of pre-democracy
(such as El País or Interviú). Alongside political affairs, language became a point of
interest. The press quickly began reporting on the new cheli or pasota slang (Casado
1978; Cueto 1979; Lázaro Carreter 1979; Umbral 1978), and slang dictionaries
emerged, including Víctor León's (1980) Diccionario de argot español, followed by
Umbral's Diccionario Cheli (1983), Oliver (1984), and later Ramoncín (1993).
Attitudes towards this language varied, ranging from comedians' mocking approach -
jokes about pasotas enjoyed popular success - to the imitative stance of more liberal
media outlets, such as Radio 3, which incorporated this way of speaking into many of
its radio programs.
Furthermore, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, mass media platforms including
radio, press, and television also served as spokespeople for these new linguistic usages.
Music programs such as Diario pop on Radio 3 and La edad de oro on TVE featured
weekly interviews with pop bands using VOC-tío, as did certain writers like Francisco
Umbral in El País (see 4.6.2). Consequently, the former youth language of pasota or
cheli, now integrated into colloquial Spanish, became more "natural" to the majority of
listeners, even to those who never spoke it, solidifying its spread across the country and
across social classes.
4.6. The weight of the individual
While the sociolinguistic approach emphasizes the influence of individuals as part of
social groups, regardless of their size, the philological perspective recognizes the impact
of individual speakers (and even specific locations!) on the linguistic history of a
language. It not only considers renowned writers such as Manzoni or Cervantes, but
also acknowledges the contributions of popular performers or poets who provide unique
insights into language usage. For instance, playwright Arniches skillfully captured the
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colloquial language of early 20th century Madrid in his plays, introducing new words
that eventually became part of the city's vernacular (Seco 1972). However, this account
would be incomplete without mentioning a specific place and author: the shantytown of
Vallecas (now a working-class neighborhood) and the journalist and writer Francisco
Umbral.
4.6.1. Hoods (Vallekas)
The Rrollo language blended with other slangs like quinqui and cheli within the specific
neighborhoods where interactions took place, notably in Vallecas, a shantytown located
on the outskirts of Madrid. During the period from 1960 to 1980, various social groups
and socio-cultural events played a significant role in the development of VOC-tío
within Vallecas:
- Rural-to-urban migrants, individuals seeking a better life in the city. Among them
were former republicans who sought anonymity in Madrid, as well as many gypsies
from Andalusia or Extremadura.
- Some of these immigrants became trade unionists and members of the Spanish
Communist Party (PCE). They brought the message of social change to the
impoverished households. Accompanying them were the "working priests" (curas
obreros), young Catholic priests driven by a social conscience, who chose the most
impoverished neighborhoods to offer assistance to those in need.
- In the late 70s, poverty in Vallecas attracted gangs, and with them came the drug trade.
Gypsy families became associated with this illicit business.
- Music played a vital role in Vallecas: elderly immigrants would sing traditional
flamenco songs in their modest homes, young gypsies embraced the emerging Vallecas
rumba style, and leftist workers formed rock bands. Interestingly, the rock bands from
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Vallecas (such as Rosendo, Obús, Barón Rojo, and Asfalto) were linguistically
conservative, while the popular gypsy rumba bands (including Los Chichos, Los
Chungitos, and Los Calis) incorporated innovative, cheli-like language into their songs,
including the use of VOC-tío. These songs became the soundtracks of quinqui films
(see 4.5.2). This is the reason why Luis Gómez Escolar chose a rumba rhythm for his
successful ¿Qué pasa contigo, tío? (see 4.5.1).
With almost all the ingredients in place, the cultural blend was set. Elderly immigrants
brought their rural language, where tío served as a respectful term of address among
peers. The presence of various social networks facilitated the exchange of linguistic
elements between different cultural groups, thanks to political and cultural connections.
Journalist Francisco Umbral (see 4.6.3) vividly described this unique atmosphere in
1977:
En Vallecas lo mismo te encuentras al padre Llanos levantando el puño donde no lo
levanta Carrillo, que te encuentras a Rafael Conte en una cantina, como me lo encontré yo una vez,
leyendo a los estructuralistas franceses
In Vallecas you can either find father Llanos raising his fist where Carrillo [leader of the communist party]
does not [dare to] raise it, or you can find Rafael Conte in a canteen, as I once found him reading the French
structuralists.
(Francisco Umbral, El País, June, 1977).
However, all of these developments occurred within the confines of the neighborhood,
and due to its marginalized status, the spread of linguistic change was confined by
physical barriers. For change to diffuse, an external agent was needed to bridge the gap.
This role was fulfilled by young leftists from middle- and upper-class backgrounds who
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ventured into Vallecas in pursuit of cultural experiences and drug use. Once again,
Francisco Umbral eloquently captures this dynamic:
Con Manolo Viola y con Alberto Greco [dos pintores abstractos] íbamos en el Metro de Vallecas años
sesenta, […]a quemar cuadros en la mitad de la calle, a la vista del personal, en un amago de revolución
estética y arte por el arte, que otra cosa no se podía hacer entonces […]
Together with Manolo Viola and Alberto Greco [two abstract painters] we used to go on the Vallecas
subway those were the sixties [...] to burn paintings in the middle of the street, in full view of the locals,
in an attempt of aesthetic revolution and art for art's sake, which was the only thing that could be done at
the time […]
(Francisco Umbral, El País, June, 1977).
Within Vallecas, these young leftists discovered not only drugs but also vibrant social
movements, rock bands, and rumba music. This environment served as a catalyst,
facilitating the exchange of linguistic constructions among social groups that would
have otherwise had minimal communication. Furthermore, the influence of drugs on the
local language scene had transformed the once distinct criminal jargon into something
closely resembling youth slang (Sanmartín 1997). Merely spending time in Vallecas and
engaging in conversations with the locals was sufficient for young leftists to introduce
VOC-tío to speakers who were accustomed to the traditional ADDRESS-tío
construction, and vice versa.
4.6.2. Writers (Umbral)
18
Writer and journalist Francisco Umbral played a significant role in this narrative. As a
journalist, he became a prominent figure during the period of La Transición,
18
https://elpais.com/diario/1978/06/06/sociedad/265932018_850215.html
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contributing to publications such as El País (1976-1984) and Interviu. However, even
before that, Umbral had already developed a distinctive narrative style characterized by
intricately constructed subordinate clauses filled with colloquial expressions and
references to key political and social figures. It was his mastery of slang that led Nobel
laureate Camilo José Cela to encourage Umbral to compile his Cheli Dictionary (see
4.5.3).
Umbral's deliberate choice to embrace this stylistic and ideological trait becomes
evident in the following quote, where he acknowledges that his reflection of colloquial
style serves as a means of giving voice to the people. Notably, this realization is said to
have occurred during one of his visits to Vallecas, emphasizing the influence of the
neighborhood and its language on his writing:
Pero ahora me sentía, entre la gente y la música, en la noche lejana y entrañable de Vallecas, […] lo que
realmente fui o soy, que nunca lo había tenido claro: un jirón de vida española del que el pueblo se había
apoderado, haciéndolo suyo. […] Habían decidido tomarme […]. Sabían íntima y tácitamente que yo era
suyo. Con lo cual, al margen de filosofías abaratadas, mi identidad eran ellos. Esto era al mismo tiempo
ahogante y reposante. Una abrumadora evidencia interior.
But at that time I felt, among the people and the music, in the distant and endearing night of Vallecas, [...]
what I really was or what I really am this has never been clear to me: a shred of Spanish life that the
people has taken over, making it their own. [...] They had decided to take me over [...]. They intimately and
tacitly knew that I belonged to them. Thus, cheapened philosophies apart, my identity was theirs. This was
at once stifling and restful. An overwhelming inner evidence (A la sombra de las muchachas rojas, 102.
1981)
During the period from 1976 to 1984, Francisco Umbral contributed a daily column to
El País. His column was intended to be a gossipy and politically oriented chronicle,
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catering to liberal readers. In these columns, Umbral freely blended slang constructions
with elaborate vocabulary, crafting verbose sentences. VOC-tío was one of the
linguistic elements he incorporated.
These chronicles played a crucial role in spreading Madrid slang in three distinct ways.
First, diatopically, they introduced slang constructions to regions where they were not
commonly used. Second, diaphasically, Umbral seamlessly integrated colloquial
expressions into formal contexts, blurring the boundaries between formal and informal
language. Lastly, diastratically, the chronicles influenced social groups that were the
intended audience for these slang constructions in the provinces. For instance, if young
supporters of the Movida movement in Madrid used VOC-tío, then a young liberal in
the provinces would have ample reason to imitate this linguistic construction. Moreover,
even social groups who would not actively use such language were exposed to it,
developing passive competence in understanding these linguistic innovations.
4.7. A hypothetical reconstruction for the linguistic change?
Much has been discussed about the documented history, yet it is worth considering a
hypothetical and tentative reconstruction of the original environment that could have
fostered the emergence of the new linguistic phenomenon, VOC-tío. This section
aims to consolidate various pieces of evidence and develop a speculative hypothesis
that, although daring, remains within the realm of plausibility. Such an exploration
provides a nuanced understanding, exemplifying the potential for studying linguistic
changes in the 20th century.
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1. The accumulation of data in this study consistently points towards Andalusia as
the epicenter of VOC-tío. It is essential to recall that ADDRESS-tío was
commonly employed in rural areas as a term of reference for individuals of a
certain age. Its prevalence across Spain begs the question: What sets Andalusia
apart from the rest?
2. What made Andalusia particularly significant in the 1950s was the expansion of
impoverished rural areas inhabited by numerous gypsy communities engaged in
itinerant professions, moving from one village to another. Although mobility between
villages was hindered by economic and technical constraints, linguistic interactions
remained confined to immediate surroundings. However, as the economy began to
flourish, and a considerable number of peasants migrated to major cities in the late
1950s, they carried with them their rural linguistic practices, including the usage of
"tío," which had not yet acquired its vocative polysemy. While rural-urban migration
was prevalent throughout Spain, Andalusia stood out due to its substantial gypsy
population, which encapsulated several significant factors associated with this linguistic
transformation, namely their nomadic lifestyle, influence of flamenco music, and later
involvement in drug-related activities.
3. Conceptualizing the historical development of VOC-tío as a cable with two
ends, we observe, on one hand, the nominal use of "tío" meaning "old man,"
predominantly confined to rural contexts, and on the other hand, a novel
meaning of VOC-tío limited to an underground youth group. Both usages share
a referential nature, suggesting a plausible transfer from the former to the latter.
The intermediate stage of nominal/interjective usage (ese tío, ¡qué tío!) acts as
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the adhesive that facilitates this transfer. Effective communication between the
two speaker groups is a prerequisite for such a transfer to occur.
3. 4. In the case of Andalusian members of Rrollo, they either hailed from the
region (Nazario Luque, Manuel Molina) or had lived in rural areas (Gonzalo
García-Pelayo, Gualberto García, Antonio Rodríguez). It is highly likely that
ADDRESS-tío formed part of their active or passive linguistic repertoire.
3. 5. From a pragmatic standpoint, address terms and vocatives share striking
similarities in their linguistic construction. The transition from the former to the
latter necessitates a communicative context where a speaker directly addresses a
single interlocutor who is also a suitable candidate for this formula. In such a
context, the shift from ¡Tío Tomás! to ¡Tío! can only occur if it is not perceived
as impolite or disrespectful. It is this constraint that may have impeded the
evolution of ADDRESS-tío to VOC-tío since the late eighteenth century.
6. However, a relaxation of customs, especially in asymmetrical encounters
(e.g., from the upper class to the lower class), could have paved the way for
change. This is what happened in Western societies around 1960.
Think of the parties at the Espartero estate (see 4.5.1): there, second- and third-
generation gypsy flamenco musicians from the countryside (who would have been
addressed as tíos) spent nights together with first-generation young people and the
organizers, who would have been called señores. This environment provided the perfect
conditions for the change to take place, provided that the flamenco singers did not feel
offended by the new vocative used by the young people. Since there was a certain
tolerance for the strange behavior of "modern" young people at the time, this new
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vocative term could be perceived as an eccentric way of speaking, perhaps something to
laugh at, not to be angry about.
From there, it is only a step to adopting the new vocative as an in-group brand, and the
element that may have triggered this change is humor.
19
In fact, by calling themselves
tíos, Rrollo youngsters were resignifying a traditional sign as a sign of modernity
20
, an
exclusive brand that would expand along the process outlined in this work.
5. The study of linguistic change in the 20th century: a replicable approach?
1. Regarding the geographical aspects of this linguistic change, it is plausible to propose
that the emergence of VOC-tío originated in the southern regions of Spain and gradually
spread northward, following a common trend observed in many Spanish language
changes. Once VOC-tío had established a presence in major cities, particularly Madrid
and Barcelona, its usage extended throughout the country. In terms of its expansion,
Barcelona witnessed the initial stages of this linguistic construction, resulting in a
qualitative rather than quantitative diffusion. In contrast, Madrid adopted VOC-tío
during the prominent cultural movement known as La Movida, leading to a massive
dissemination of the term.
2. The involvement of group languages and slang played a crucial role in facilitating the
diffusion of VOC-tío. Initially utilized as an intra-group marker among Rrollo
members, cheli, a distinctive youth slang, embraced VOC-tío as a significant linguistic
19
The role of humor in linguistic change has been somehow disregarded in the literature. According to
Beinhauer (1929), the most important difference between spoken Italian and spoken Spanish was the
bigger importance of humor as a construction-creating mechanism in Spanish. If the explanation outlined
in this chapter is correct, VOC-tío would be a case in point.
20
This resignifying strategy was a differential mark in La Movida times and affected cultural symbols
such as bolero, bulls, knives or combs, vindicated in Ouka Lele’s pictures, in Ceesepe’s drawings, in
Gabinete Caligari’s songs or in Almodóvar’s movies.
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feature. This adoption and promotion of VOC-tío, replacing the original VOC-macho,
contributed to its widespread usage and established it as a linguistic symbol of the post-
Franco era.
3. VOC-tío demonstrates participation in both bottom-up diffusion and top-down
elaboration processes, as described in the dichotomy between changes originating from
social diffusion and those resulting from conscious elaboration. On one hand, the shift
from an address term to a vocative form is a natural outcome of communicative
situations (see 4.7) in which pragmatic ambiguities are resolved through structural
changes, facilitated by the relaxation of social conventions that previously hindered
such transformations. On the other hand, once this new construction entered the domain
of artists who deliberately employed it as an internal group slogan, VOC-tío became a
prominent symbol of the emerging times. Not only did underground young artists
embrace this linguistic change, but artists from age groups II and III (see 4.6.2) also
adopted VOC-tío as a means of aligning with the new values of democracy.
Subsequently, during La Movida, with the support of the newly arrived political party
PSOE (see 4.3.2), the widespread diffusion of VOC-tío occurred through media
channels, representing an influential top-down influence and alignment, providing the
term with unprecedented reach.
4. In terms of the chronology of contemporary Spanish, the presence and significance of
VOC-tío during this period offer additional evidence to consider the late 1960s to late
1970s as a critical phase in the colloquialization process in Spain. This linguistic
process continues to exert its influence on Spanish language usage to this day.
In conclusion, the convergence of historical, cultural, and social factors acted as
catalysts for the emergence and dissemination of VOC-tío during a pivotal period in the
recent history of the Spanish language.
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