A Comparative Study On Chinese And American Refusal-From An Intercultural Perspective

This thesis investigates Chinese and American refusal speech act from an intercultural communication perspective. The author, adopting Brown and Levinson's face theory as a theoretic basis, Kim's conversational constraints as a criterion, and DCT as an instrument, probes into the differences and commonalities between Chinese and American refusal speech act. Altogether 180 valid questionnaires are collected, 90 in each language, to study the influences of social variables on refusal speech act in different culture patterns.The findings show that in different cultures, both commonalities and differences exist concerning refusal speech act: (1) Chinese, featuring collectivism and HCC, are subject and sensitive to relative power when making decisions regarding refusal, while Americans, featuring individualism and LCC, manage time in a monochronic way and thus are less sensitive to relative power when they make decisions. (2) The average number of refusal strategies adopted by Chinese is in proportion to relative power. The finding seems also applicable to Americans, but not in a strict way. (3) When dealing with a closely-related peer, Chinese show more concern for avoiding negative evaluation by the hearer, while Americans display more concern for clarity. When facing a superior with far social distance, both Chines and Americans demonstrate more concern for not hurting other's feelings. When confronting an inferior with far social distance, people in both countries show more concern for clarity.The above findings provide abundant evidence that social factors—relative power and social distance—do exert influence on people's decision-making concerning refusal as well as people's refusal speech acts, and Chinese in particular, are more sensitive to relative power than their American counterparts. This comparative study provide a better understanding of appropriate Chinese and American refusal speech acts in different circumstances, in the hope of enhancing Chinese English learners'pragmatic abilities and awareness of intercultural communication.