Conflictive communication in situations of gender-based violence: detection of features of the aggressor's verbal violence in the victim's testimony

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2013), violence inflicted by an intimate partner is one of the most common forms of violence against women, and constitutes a social problem of which the population must be made aware, for its prevention and detection (Government of Spain, 2004). Despite this, there are not many studies that focus on how language acts as a vehicle of violence in the context of high-proximity relationships, in general, and within the couple, in particular. The objective of this work is to identify, in the statements of a victim, signs of gender-based violence exerted by her partner during the relationship, since language functions as a reflection of the social behaviours of individuals (Fuentes-Rodríguez & Alcaide-Lara, 2008: 9-10). The initial hypothesis is that the victim’s testimony, obtained through an Enhanced Cognitive Interview (Vilariño Vasquez et al., 2012), will include traces of having suffered psychological violence -such as those described by Galán Jiménez et al. (2019)-, as well as techniques of discourtesy, and remarks that damage the victim’s face and show control and abuse of power by the aggressor. For the qualitative analysis of the informant’s statements, the 23 criteria for the evaluation of verbal credibility in victims of gender violence (Juárez López et al., 2007) were followed. In the victim’s testimony, different manifestations of the violence transmitted verbally by her partner are observed, sometimes through explicit messages, and other times with more implicit utterances.