A Pragmatic Study On The Refusals In Ugly Betty

Refusal as a speech act has been drawing extensive attention in pragmatics andsociolinguistics. This thesis selects the refusals in the first season of Ugly Betty as researchdata. First, it summarizes the characteristics of refusals in American society. Next, it analyzesthe politeness adopted in the refusal strategies. Lastly, it explores the contextual variablesinfluencing Americans to choose the refusal strategies.Refusal strategies include direct refusal strategies, indirect refusal strategies and adjunctsto refusals. By the quantitive and qualitative analysis of refusals in Ugly Betty, the results ofthis study indicate that the refusals take on these characteristics:(1) In micro sense,non-performative statement (such as “No”“I can’t”“I won’t”) in direct refusal strategies isused most frequently by Americans;(2) In broad sense, indirect refusal strategies account forthe higher percentage than direct ones.Based on the speech act theory, polite principle and face-saving theory, this thesisstudies the refusals in Ugly Betty from politeness. The politeness strategies are composed ofbold on record, positive politeness strategies, negative politeness strategies, off record anddon’t do FTAs. To be more specific, each type of refusal strategy has its own formations toembody the corresponding politeness strategy. There are some examples analyzed to prove.Levinson proposes that politeness is a dynamic concept changing with the context, sopoliteness is impacted by the context. The thesis explores the contextual variables behind theusage of refusal strategies in American society. Individualism and low-context are the maincultural reasons. Besides, due to the social variables, especially relative power and socialdistance, politeness has the positive correlation with the degree of indirect refusal strategies.In the end of this thesis, it makes a conclusion concerning the major findings from theresearch. The appropriate refusals should be expressed politely and contextually. They willcontribute to maintaining harmonious interpersonal relationship and promote EFL learners tospeak for their own stand firmly. This is the real successful cross-cultural communication.