Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans

Language speakers are oftentimes caught in situations where they are unable to meet the expectations of another speaker in a certain communication situation such as requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions even if the situation is in their language. In such situations, it is somehow inevitable...

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Main Author:	Mohd Jalis, Farhana Muslim
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2020
Subjects:	Speech acts (Linguistics) Refusal (Linguistics) Intercultural communication
Online Access:	http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/1/FBMK%202020%2034%20ir.pdf
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id	my-upm-ir.85142
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-upm-ir.851422021-12-30T07:13:24Z Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans 2020-06 Mohd Jalis, Farhana Muslim Language speakers are oftentimes caught in situations where they are unable to meet the expectations of another speaker in a certain communication situation such as requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions even if the situation is in their language. In such situations, it is somehow inevitable for them to say “no” but they may be hesitant to do so. A refusal is a speech act that is performed to convey reluctance and unwillingness to perform or agree. Successful communication requires a speaker to not only have adequate linguistic knowledge, but also a great level of understanding of how to use the language especially concerning cultural norms and how it is used in daily communication. The mutual acceptance between speakers oftentimes calls for specific strategies. This study aims to identify the refusal strategies preferred by Malay native speakers and German native speakers in situations that prompt them to refuse in their respective mother tongue. A total of 30 native Malays and native Germans working in various professional sectors participated in this study. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) per Beebe et al. (1990) was used to obtain the data for this study. The data gathered from the DCT was analysed and coded according to a combination of the taxonomy of refusal strategies proposed by Beebe et al. (1990) and Al-Issa (2003). The finding shows that Malay and German speakers of the same social class generally used similar strategies when performing refusals albeit with different frequencies and trends. This study also looked into the influence of social variables on the choice of refusal strategies. This study has implications on both learning and teaching German and Malay languages, especially in the field of foreign languages, as it provides explanations relating to cultural behaviour and acceptance. This study may serve as a guide for educators to educate new learners and society about the pragmatics of refusal-making and the underlying cultural reasoning for this speech act to ensure successful communication in future situations that may be encountered. Speech acts (Linguistics) Refusal (Linguistics) Intercultural communication 2020-06 Thesis http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/1/FBMK%202020%2034%20ir.pdf text en public doctoral Universiti Putra Malaysia Speech acts (Linguistics) Refusal (Linguistics) Intercultural communication Abd Jabar, Mohd Azidan
institution	Universiti Putra Malaysia
collection	PSAS Institutional Repository
language	English
advisor	Abd Jabar, Mohd Azidan
topic	Speech acts (Linguistics) Refusal (Linguistics) Intercultural communication
spellingShingle	Speech acts (Linguistics) Refusal (Linguistics) Intercultural communication Mohd Jalis, Farhana Muslim Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans
description	Language speakers are oftentimes caught in situations where they are unable to meet the expectations of another speaker in a certain communication situation such as requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions even if the situation is in their language. In such situations, it is somehow inevitable for them to say “no” but they may be hesitant to do so. A refusal is a speech act that is performed to convey reluctance and unwillingness to perform or agree. Successful communication requires a speaker to not only have adequate linguistic knowledge, but also a great level of understanding of how to use the language especially concerning cultural norms and how it is used in daily communication. The mutual acceptance between speakers oftentimes calls for specific strategies. This study aims to identify the refusal strategies preferred by Malay native speakers and German native speakers in situations that prompt them to refuse in their respective mother tongue. A total of 30 native Malays and native Germans working in various professional sectors participated in this study. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) per Beebe et al. (1990) was used to obtain the data for this study. The data gathered from the DCT was analysed and coded according to a combination of the taxonomy of refusal strategies proposed by Beebe et al. (1990) and Al-Issa (2003). The finding shows that Malay and German speakers of the same social class generally used similar strategies when performing refusals albeit with different frequencies and trends. This study also looked into the influence of social variables on the choice of refusal strategies. This study has implications on both learning and teaching German and Malay languages, especially in the field of foreign languages, as it provides explanations relating to cultural behaviour and acceptance. This study may serve as a guide for educators to educate new learners and society about the pragmatics of refusal-making and the underlying cultural reasoning for this speech act to ensure successful communication in future situations that may be encountered.
format	Thesis
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Mohd Jalis, Farhana Muslim
author_facet	Mohd Jalis, Farhana Muslim
author_sort	Mohd Jalis, Farhana Muslim
title	Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans
title_short	Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans
title_full	Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans
title_fullStr	Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans
title_full_unstemmed	Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans
title_sort	cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between malays and germans
granting_institution	Universiti Putra Malaysia
publishDate	2020
url	http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/1/FBMK%202020%2034%20ir.pdf
_version_	1747813522627100672

Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans

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