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
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Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/1/FBMK%202020%2034%20ir.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/
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Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia
Language: English
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spelling my.upm.eprints.851422021-12-30T07:13:24Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/ Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans 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. 2020-06 Thesis NonPeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/1/FBMK%202020%2034%20ir.pdf Mohd Jalis, Farhana Muslim (2020) Cross-cultural pragmatics of refusal speech acts between Malays and Germans. Doctoral thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Speech acts (Linguistics) Refusal (Linguistics) Intercultural communication
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
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
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
publishDate 2020
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/1/FBMK%202020%2034%20ir.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/85142/
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