Estrategias argumentativas y proyección de identidades en los textos periodísticos masculinos y femeninos de Y. Revista para la mujer (1938–1945)

Abstract

Female speech is usually described as more insecure, emotional and polite than male speech, which is presumed to be more assertive, direct and authoritative. According to some scholars (Lakoff 1975, 2005; Fishman 1978), this difference is due to the power disparity that characterises relationships between men (dominant subjects) and women (subordinate subjects). However, on some occasions, men also tend to soften their statements, be polite, and express their emotions (or elicit them in their interlocutors). Such behaviour is often strategic, as it serves to achieve certain communicative goals. Likewise, women can use supposedly typical forms of female speech for strategic purposes. In this study, I aim to demonstrate this through the analysis of Y, a magazine for women published in Spain from 1938 to 1945. Specifically, my paper examines how both men and women use emotions and softened forms to promote a specific feminine identity among their readers and create a benevolent image of the regime and its collaborators. The analysis is based on Fuentes Rodriguez’s Pragmatic Linguistics, on the Theory of Argumentation and its grammar, as well as on studies on image and identity.