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Article In: Pragmatics and Society: Online-First Articles

Impersonality as a mitigation strategy in Chinese and Spanish Tinder self-praise

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Abstract
On online dating platforms, where first impressions are crucial for successful matches, users often highlight their positive qualities while mitigating self-praise to avoid appearing arrogant. This study compares the use of impersonality as a mitigation strategy in self-praise among Chinese and Spanish Tinder users. Drawing on profile texts containing self-praise, the analysis distinguishes between the impersonalization of “I” as the agent and as the object of praise. Functionally, this strategy helps Tinder users strike a balance between self-promotion and apparent modesty, while also facilitating flirtatious interaction in some cases. The differences between the two communities reflect the influence of sociocultural norms, while some shared tendencies appear to be shaped by platform-specific features and interactional considerations. These findings provide empirical support for the framework proposed by Briz, Antonio, and Marta Albelda. 2013. “Una propuesta teórica y metodológica para el análisis de la atenuación lingüística en español y portugués: La base de un proyecto en común (ES.POR.ATENUACIÓN).” Onomázein 281: 288–319. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and Albelda, Marta, Antonio Briz, Ana María Cestero Mancera, Dorota Kotwica, and Concepción Villalba Ibáñez. 2014. “Ficha metodológica para el análisis pragmático de la atenuación en corpus discursivos del español (es.por.atenuación).” Oralia 171: 7–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, demonstrating how sociocultural and interactional motivations manifest in the specific context of digital dating discourse.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Self-presentation and self-praise as tools for identity construction
  • 3.Impersonality as a mitigation strategy
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Data collection
    • 4.2Data analysis
  • 5.Findings and discussion
    • 5.1Impersonalization of “I” as the agent of praise
    • 5.2Impersonalization of “I” as the object of praise
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (48)
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