French, German, and Spanish distinguish informal (T: tu, du, tú) and formal (V: vous, Sie, usted) pronouns of address. Speakers choose between T or V depending on the addressee and context. This choice may have consequences on the addressee, as it may affect how addressees perceive the speaker and the communicative situation. Yet the effect of pronouns on the addressee remains largely unexplored. This dissertation investigates the perspective of the addressee, showing across several behavioral experiments that receiving T or V impacts addressees unconsciously and differentially across languages. In simulated job interviews, pronoun choice shaped addressees' attitudes toward the recruiter, their motivation to accept the job, their sense of fit with the workplace, and even their expected salary, suggesting that T/V may carry information about workplace conditions. Gender and age of the addressee further modulated these effects. Pronoun choice also mattered in questionnaires ("To what extent do ‘you’ agree…?"). When asked to evaluate their reading experiences, readers addressed with V reported paying more attention while reading than T receivers, suggesting that the pronoun framed the task as more serious or demanding. Together, these findings show that pronouns of address may frame interactions and tasks alike, with important implications for multilingual institutions and companies.
Patricia Sánchez Carrasco was born in Cáceres (Spain) in 1994. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Salamanca in 2016. In 2018 she completed her Master’s degree in Linguistics and TESOL at West Virginia University, where she received an Outstanding Academic Achievement Award. Patricia began her PhD at the Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen in September 2021, completing it in April 2026. Alongside her PhD research, she held a lecturer position in the Department of Language and Communication at Radboud. Since September 2026, Patricia has been a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam.