"Estas de bo ano": an approach to piropo in Galician seen from (im)politeness

Abstract

The (im)polite purpose of piropos raises debate, since, despite being a praise or positive valuation of the addressee, they are understood as a risky speech act that can endanger the image of both the enunciator and the addressee; besides being considered by many people as an abusive male practice towards women and an act that contributes to the perpetuation of gender inequality. This study approaches the discursive practice of piropos in Galician among young people and analyses in which contexts speakers consider it appropriate or inappropriate to call out a piropo. It also examines what politeness strategies (Brown and Levinson, 1987) they choose to deal with the act of threatening the image that may be triggered by uttering a piropo, as well as the factors that condition such choice. The data analysed come from a DCT (Discourse
Completion Task) questionnaire, of which 100 responses were analysed. This questionnaire is composed of 16 situations in which different variables are controlled that are expected to condition the speakers’ actions (social distance, relative power, degree of imposition, and degree of formality). Our analysis indicates that the practice of piropo in the culture of these young people is perceived as potentially conflictive and requires some mitigating politeness which would place us before a cultural manifestation of distancing. However, the degree of trust between the people who participate in the interaction is a determining factor in the choice of their strategies, which show a strong polarisation: most of them consider that in contexts of low trust, it is a threatening act and prefer to avoid making the speech act; on the contrary, in contexts of trust, they opt for an open and direct strategy, as they interpret it as an act that reinforces politeness and do not perceive it as dangerous.