Tradwives, épouses traditionnelles, esposas tradicionales auf Social Media im französischen und spanischen Sprachraum

Forschungsskizze aus pragmalinguistischer Sicht

Abstract

This article provides an overview of possible linguistic and, in particular, pragmalinguistic research approaches to the phenomenon of tradwives, especially in Romance-speaking countries. Originally emerging on social media in the United States, the trend is gaining increasing attention in Europe, where it is the subject of controversial debates in both social and traditional media. This can likely be attributed, at least in part, to their polarising self-presentation and differentiation from other lifestyles. The first step is to clarify which accounts in the Romance context – and in particular in Spanish and French – correspond to the image of the tradwife. Subsequently, fundamental linguistic strategies used by tradwives in their posts can be identified, which could be examined in more detail in subsequent studies. In the initial exploratory approach presented in this article, polyphony-based techniques such as staged dialogues or irony, certain narrative patterns, the activation of implicatures, and the use of positively or negatively connoted vocabulary were observed. The multimodal component of the posts also appears worthy of investigation, as does their situation within the larger context of pragmatic interactions on social media.