Refusals In Chinese And American TV Series

On the basis of face theory proposed by Brown & Levinson(1987),present study explores refusals in Chinese and American TV series from two aspects: ostensible refusals and politeness strategies employed,aiming to answer the following two research questions:(1)What differences are there in the ostensible refusals in Chinese and American TV series?(2)What politeness strategies have been used in refusals in Chinese and American TV series? What differences are there in the use of politeness strategies?After answering the above two research questions,some findings are summarized as follows:(1)Ostensible refusals exist in both TV series.However,ostensible refusals take a lower percentage in Desperate Housewives than in Beautiful Daughter-in-Law.Ostensible refusals in both contexts have the same characteristics of pretence and mutual recognition.However,the reasons why ostensible refusals are performed are different in the two contexts.Chinese people compose ostensible refusals mainly because they show considerations towards the hearer or by politeness only.Nevertheless,Americans performostensible refusals just because they do not have the ability to do something.(2)8 types of positive politeness strategies and 7 types of negative one are found in Beautiful Daughter-in-Law.While 7 types of positive politeness strategies and 6 types of negative ones are discovered in Desperate Housewives.Positive politeness strategies are the most frequently used strategies in both cultures.Among these positive politeness strategies,strategy of giving reasons is the most preferred strategy in both TV series.In addition,Americans employ more strategy of noticing,attend to H and strategy of avoiding disagreement than Chinese.Meanwhile,Chinese use more strategy of giving deference and strategy of stating the FTA as a general rule than Americans.This study not only enriches the research of face theory,but also provides reference for cross-cultural communications and foreign language teaching.