Authors: Martom Maiden, Oana Uță Bărbulescu
Summary: In this study we show how the T/V distinction became grammaticalized/pragmaticalized in Istro-Romanian (in comparison with Daco-Romanian) and we use textual and recorded attestations to establish: a) when the distinctions of deference appear and what parameters are involved in the selection of V forms; b) under what conditions the distinctions of deference appeared (is it an internal phenomenon or an effect of language contact?); c) whether there were other systems which were organized differently; d) whether third person plural forms acquire the value /+deference/ and whether they are allocutive or delocutive; e) the syntax of deferential address forms.
The data show that we are dealing with a late phenomenon which appeared in the 19th century due to language contact, most probably under German and Croatian influence. Germanic and possibly Croatian/Čakavian influence explains the use of third person plural to address an individual. The rise of second person plural for deferential address is solely due to Croatian/Čakavian influence. In Istro-Romanian, the preferred agreement is mixed, with the verb having grammatical agreement and the adjectives having referential agreement. Under Croatian influence, speakers also seem to accept uniform grammatical agreement, where adjectives appear in the masculine plural, even when the addressee is one woman.