Startseite Saying “no” in emails in Mandarin Chinese and Australian English
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

Saying “no” in emails in Mandarin Chinese and Australian English

  • Wei Li

    Wei Li is currently a lecturer in Chinese at the University of Tasmania, Australia. She holds a PhD in Linguistics and Chinese Studies. Her research interests focus on pragmatics, intercultural and interlanguage pragmatics, intercultural communication and technology enhanced language learning.

    EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 1. April 2022

Abstract

The present study examined the differences between Mandarin Chinese and Australian English in email refusals. An email production questionnaire (EPQ) and retrospective verbal reports (RVR) were used to collect data. Results showed that while both groups preferred directness to indirectness at the utterance level, Chinese participants used indirectness significantly more frequently than Australian participants in refusals of requests. In addition, Chinese refusals were more indirect than Australian refusals at the discourse level. Chinese participants chose significantly more supportive moves than Australian participants and tended to put multiple supportive moves before the direct head act in refusals of either invitations or requests. The two groups also differed considerably in the content of refusal strategies. Moreover, both the EPQ and RVR data showed that Chinese were more sensitive to social status than Australians. The findings of this study were broadly consistent with studies on refusals in oral communication despite some differences.


Corresponding author: Wei Li, University of Tasmania, School of Humanities, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia, E-mail:

About the author

Wei Li

Wei Li is currently a lecturer in Chinese at the University of Tasmania, Australia. She holds a PhD in Linguistics and Chinese Studies. Her research interests focus on pragmatics, intercultural and interlanguage pragmatics, intercultural communication and technology enhanced language learning.

References

Al-Issa, Ahmad. 2003. Sociocultural transfer in L2 speech behaviors: Evidence and motivating factors. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 27(5). 581–601. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0147-1767(03)00055-5.Suche in Google Scholar

Allami, Hamid & Naeimi Amin. 2011. A cross-linguistic study of refusals: An analysis of pragmatic competence development in Iranian EFL learners. Journal of Pragmatics 43. 385–406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.07.010.Suche in Google Scholar

Baron, Naomi. 1998. Letters by phone or speech by other means: The linguistics of email. Language & Communication 18. 133–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0271-5309(98)00005-6.Suche in Google Scholar

Barron, Anne. 2003. Acquisition in interlanguage pragmatics: Learning how to do things with words in a study abroad context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.108Suche in Google Scholar

Beebe, Leslie M., Tomoko Takahashi & Robin Uliss-Weltz. 1990. Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals. In Robin Scarcella, Elaine Andersen & Stephen Krashen (eds.), Developing communicative Competence in a second language, 55–73. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.Suche in Google Scholar

Bella, Spyridoula. 2014. Developing the ability to refuse: A cross-sectional study of Greek FL refusals. Journal of Pragmatics 61. 35–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.11.015.Suche in Google Scholar

Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Juliane House & Gabriele Kasper (eds.). 1989. Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Suche in Google Scholar

Brown, Penelope & Stephen Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511813085Suche in Google Scholar

Chang, Yuh Fang. 2009. How to say no: An analysis of cross-cultural difference and pragmatic transfer. Language Sciences 30. 477–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2008.01.002.Suche in Google Scholar

Chang, Yuh Fang. 2011. Refusing in a foreign language: An investigation of problems encountered by Chinese learners of English. Multilingual 30. 71–98. https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2011.004.Suche in Google Scholar

Chang, Yuh Fang & Wei Ren. 2020. Sociopragmatic competence in American and Chinese children’s realization of apology and refusal. Journal of Pragmatics 164. 27–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.04.013.Suche in Google Scholar

Chang, Yu-Ying & Yi-Ping Hsu. 1998. Requests on e-mail: A cross-cultural comparison. RELC Journal 29. 121–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/003368829802900206.Suche in Google Scholar

Chejnová, Pavla. 2014. Expressing politeness in the institutional e-mail communications of university students in the Czech Republic. Journal of Pragmatics 60. 175–192.10.1016/j.pragma.2013.10.003Suche in Google Scholar

Chen, Chi-Fen Emily. 2001. Making e-mail requests to professors: Taiwanese vs. American students. In Paper presented at the annual Meeting of the American Association for applied linguistics [AAAL]. St. Louis, USA.Suche in Google Scholar

Chen, Xing, Lei Ye & Yanyin Zhang. 1995. Refusing in Chinese. In Gabriele Kasper (ed.), Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and target language, 119–163. Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Chen, Yuan-shan. 2015. Developing Chinese EFL learners’ email literacy through requests to faculty. Journal of Pragmatics 75. 131–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.05.009.Suche in Google Scholar

Cohen, Andrew. 1996. Speech acts. In Sandra McKay & Nancy Hornberger (eds.), Sociolinguistics and language teaching, 383–420. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511551185.018Suche in Google Scholar

Cohen, Andrew. 2004. Assessing speech acts in a second language. In Diana Boxer & Andrew Cohen (eds.), Studying Speaking to inform second language learning, 302–327. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Suche in Google Scholar

Crystal, David. 2006. language and the internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511487002Suche in Google Scholar

Ericsson, Anders & Herbert Simon. 1993. Protocol analysis. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/5657.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar

Félix-Brasdefer, César. 2008. Politeness in Mexico and the United States. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.171Suche in Google Scholar

Goddard, Cliff. 2006. Lift your game Martina!”: Deadpan jocular irony and the ethnopragmatics of Australian English. In Cliff Goddard (ed.), Ethnopragmatics: Understanding discourse in cultural context, 65–97. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110911114.65.Suche in Google Scholar

Harrison, Sandra & Diane Allton. 2013. Apologies in email discussions. In Susan C. Herring, Dieter Stein & Tuija Virtanen (eds.), Pragmatics of computer-mediated communication, 315–338. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110214468.315.Suche in Google Scholar

Hatipoğlu, Çiler. 2004. Do apologies in emails follow spoken and written norms?: Some examples from British English. Studies about Languages 5. 21–29.Suche in Google Scholar

Hong, Wei. 2011. Refusals in Chinese: How do L1 and L2 differ? Foreign Language Annals 44. 122–136. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2010.01123.x.Suche in Google Scholar

Kasper, Gabriele & Kenneth Rose. 2002. Pragmatic development in a second language. Oxford: Blackwell.Suche in Google Scholar

Kasper, Gabriele & Merete Dahl. 1991. Research methods in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 13. 215–247. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100009955.Suche in Google Scholar

Kirkpatrick, Andy. 1991. Information sequencing in Mandarin letters of request. Anthropological Linguistics 33(2). 183–203.Suche in Google Scholar

Kwon, Jihyun. 2004. Expressing refusals in Korean and in American English. Multilingua 23(4). 339–364. https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2004.23.4.339.Suche in Google Scholar

Lapp, Susanne. 2000. Using email dialogue to generate communication in English as a second language classroom. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 23. 50–62.Suche in Google Scholar

Lee, Cynthia. 2016. Understanding refusal style and pragmatic competence of teenage Cantonese English learners in refusals: An exploratory study. Intercultural Pragmatics 13(2). 257–282. https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2016-0010.Suche in Google Scholar

Leech, Geoffrey. 1983. Principles of pragmatics. London: Longman.Suche in Google Scholar

Lee-Wong, Song Mei. 2000. Politeness and face in Chinese culture. Peter Lang: Bern.Suche in Google Scholar

Li, Wei. 2018. Pragmatic transfer and development: Evidence from EFL learners in China. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.287Suche in Google Scholar

Liao, Chao Chih & Mary I Bresnahan. 1996. A contrastive pragmatic study on American English and Mandarin refusal strategies. Language Sciences 18. 703–727. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0388-0001(96)00043-5.Suche in Google Scholar

Liu, Jianda & Wei Ren. 2016. Apologies in emails: Interactions between Chinese EFL learners and their foreign peers. In Yuan-Shan Chen, Der-Hwa Victoria Rau & Gerald Rau (eds.), Email Discourse among Chinese using English as a Lingua Franca, 205–228. Singapore: Springer Singapore Pte. Limited. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-888-5_10.Suche in Google Scholar

Merrison, Andrew John, Jack J. Wilson, Bethan L. Davies & Michael Haugh. 2012. Getting stuff done: Comparing e-mail requests from students in higher education in Britain and Australia. Journal of Pragmatics 44(9). 1077–1098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.05.009.Suche in Google Scholar

Morkus, Nader. 2014. Refusals in Egyptian Arabic and American English. Journal of Pragmatics 70. 86–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.06.001.Suche in Google Scholar

Murray, Denise. 1995. Knowledge machines: Language and information in a technological society. New York: Longman.Suche in Google Scholar

Pan, Yuling. 2012. Facework in refusals in Chinese survey interviews. Journal of Politeness Research 8. 53–74. https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2012-0004.Suche in Google Scholar

Ren, Wei. 2014. A longitudinal investigation into L2 learners’ cognitive processes during study abroad. Applied Linguistics 35(5). 575–594. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt019.Suche in Google Scholar

Ren, Wei. 2015. Sociopragmatic variation in Mainland and Taiwan Chinese refusals. In Kate Beeching & Helen Woodfield (eds.), Researching sociopragmatic variability, 72–93. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137373953_4.Suche in Google Scholar

Robinson, Mary Ann. 1992. Introspective methodology in interlanguage pragmatics research. In Gabriele Kasper (ed.), Pragmatics of Japanese as native and target language. Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i.Suche in Google Scholar

Ruytenbeek, Nicolas. 2020. Do indirect requests communicate politeness? An experimental study of conventionalized indirect requests in French email communication. Journal of Politeness Research 16(1). 111–142. https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2017-0026.Suche in Google Scholar

Sasaki, Miyuki. 1998. Investigating EFL students’ production of speech acts: A comparison of production questionnaires and role plays. Journal of Pragmatics 30. 457–484. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-2166(98)00013-7.Suche in Google Scholar

Searle, John. 1969. Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139173438Suche in Google Scholar

Shishavan, Homa Babai. 2016. Refusals of invitations and offers in Persian: Genuine or ostensible? Journal of Politeness Research 12(1). 55–93. https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-9990.Suche in Google Scholar

Shishavan, Homa Babai & Sharifian Farzad. 2016. The refusal speech act in a cross-cultural perspective: A study of Iranian English-language learners and Anglo-Australian speakers. Language & Communication 47. 75–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2016.01.001.Suche in Google Scholar

Soler, Eva Alcón. 2013. Mitigating e-mail requests in teenagers’ first and second language academic cyber-consultation. Multilingua 32(6). 779–799. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2013-0037.Suche in Google Scholar

Su, Yunwen. 2020. Yes or no: Ostensible versus genuine refusals in Mandarin invitational and offering discourse. Journal of Pragmatics 162. 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.03.007.Suche in Google Scholar

Trosborg, Anna. 1995. Interlanguage pragmatics: Requests, complaints, and apologies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110885286Suche in Google Scholar

Wierzbicka, Anna. 2003. Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110220964Suche in Google Scholar

Woodfield, Helen. 2010. What lies beneath? Verbal report in interlanguage requests in English. Multilingua 29. 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2010.001.Suche in Google Scholar

Zhan, Kaidi. 1992. The strategies of politeness in the Chinese language. California: University of California.10.2307/jj.14904984Suche in Google Scholar

Received: 2020-01-14
Accepted: 2021-03-09
Published Online: 2022-04-01
Published in Print: 2022-07-26

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Heruntergeladen am 21.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/pr-2020-0005/html?lang=de
Button zum nach oben scrollen