Face-Threatening Aspect of Refusal Speech Acts: A Contrastive Study

Professionalism in communication is a matter of concern for speakers of all languages. Awareness about some features such as face-threatening property of refusal speech acts leads language users to apply some specific linguistic forms. Considering the significance of cultural and social variations in performing refusal speech acts and the importance of preserving “face”, this study tried to find differences between native-Persian and English speakers. To collect the data, ۶۰ native Persian and English speakers were asked to complete a two-phase questionnaire, a discourse completions test (DCT) and a self-report, including four different situations and Beebe's classification of refusals, was used. Great tendency toward using indirect forms between both Persian and English participants was taken as an indicator of noticeable consideration of face-preserving in refusals, although Persian speakers seemed more concerned about it. The differences between two groups of participants were inferred as cultural variations’ reflection. Some implications for language teaching were discussed.  

Keywords:

Pragmatic competence , speech act , refusal , cultural variation