«Echar(se) pullas»: un tipo de pelea ritual en los diálogos de Minsheu (1599), Oudin (1675) y Sobrino (1708)

Abstract

«Echar(se) pullas» is a type of linguistic exchange, which is attested especially in the 16th century, in which two or more individuals address each other with discourtesy. In this work, its definition is reviewed from a pragmatic perspective: the pullas are analysed as ritualized forms of banter or mock impoliteness, something documented in many other languages of the world. I argue that impolite speech acts in this interchange have lost the value they would have in a context that was not playful, in which someone would really want to threaten the interlocutor’s image. The speakers improvise on different topics, but they avoid making any personal reference that could truly hurt the listener. When the speakers tell each other something impolite and clearly false, they strengthen the bonds that join each other, creating the appearance that they have such a good relationship that they do not need to be polite with each other. The corpus studied is made up of the dialogues of Minsheu (1599), and also Oudin’s reworking of these dialogues (in his edition of 1675), and the reworking of Sobrino (1708), who introduces significant changes in the Minsheu banter passages, and interprets the pullas as real fights.

Keywords

• impoliteness
• banter
• pulla
• dialogue
• Minsheu John
• Oudin César