A Comparative Study On Refusal Speech Acts In Chinese And American Movies: An Intercultural Perspective

This thesis focuses on the speech act of refusal which the writer defines as the refusing act to the speakers'requests, suggestions, invitations and offers. When speakers perform the speech act of refusal, various strategies will be employed. The reason for using those refusal strategies is that the speech act of refusal is seen as face-threatening act, which threatens the hearer's face. Therefore, when speakers try to construct an efficient refusal, that is, to refuse others properly and efficiently, they will try to make the refusal as polite as possible so as to reduce the threatening effects to minimum.The thesis centers on comparing and analyzing refusal speech acts in the chosen Chinese and American movies at the private interpersonal level, excluding the business field and the political level, though the findings of the former may be applicable to the latter; and the influence of social power and social distance of the interlocutors on the choice of refusal strategies are also noted. Twenty-seven social life movies are chosen, including fifteen Chinese movies and twelve American movies respectively. Totally 200 items of refusal speech acts, 100 items of Chinese refusal speech acts (hereinafter CR) and 100 items of American refusal speech acts (hereinafter AR), are collected from the movies.The result of the analysis shows that the Chinese refusal speech acts and the American refusal speech acts have similarities. Both prefer the indirect strategies in most cases and adopt various remedial measures, which means that politeness is what people in both cultures are concerned about. However, the two groups display their respective characteristics as well. The differences can be attributed to cultural differences between Chinese and American cultures. Cultural patterns like large and small power distance, individualism and collectivism, high-context and low-context communication and so on exert influence on people's perceptions of linguistic politeness, which in turn affects the selection and frequency of refusal strategies. The impact can be concluded in two aspects: firstly, Chinese politeness in refusal shows the status discrepancy, while American politeness stresses equality; secondly, Chinese politeness utilizes more indirect and implicit strategies to protect the interlocutor's face and avoid embarrassment, whereas American politeness tends to emphasize direct and explicit face-saving strategies. This thesis may help people understand the appropriate refusal strategies and the different cultural patterns underlying the perceptions of politeness in refusal in China and America, hence to alleviate their uneasiness and barriers in interpersonal interactions and improve their intercultural communicative competence.