Refusals in Japanese: Oral and written alternatives elicited by discourse completion task and role play

Since the early eighties, speakers' use of background sociocultural knowledge in verbal communication has been studied as an important aspect of speech acts. Research in crosscultural communication has shown that sociolinguistically conditioned pragmatic differences are crucial determiners of how meaning is expressed and understood in particular languages and cultures. The principle methods of research used in these studies have been: (1) oral role play and (2) written dialogues with missing parts or expressions called discourse completion tasks (DCTs). However, it is not clear to what extent these methods can elicit data consistent with natural speech. In this study, I examine the limitations of these tasks, using refusals in Japanese as my focus. Findings show that neither the role play nor the DCT can fully reflect natural speech which in the case of Japanese entails considerable negotiation of face-saving ambiguity.; Sixteen female native speakers of Japanese were placed in four different situations where each imagined herself to be interacting with another person. While most subjects felt comfortable with the DCT format in which many aspects of the context and language were specified, they felt awkward in role playing since they believed that they had not been given sufficient background information for interacting with each other. In the DCT format most subjects expressed their refusals as follows: (1) reasons for refusal, (2) the refusals themselves and (3) closing remarks. However, this order was not observed in role playing in which subjects had to respond more spontaneously. Furthermore, when role play subjects were "requesters," they showed more signs of hesitation in making request statements than did role play "refusers" in expressing refusals.; In follow-up interviews I found that subjects were aware of certain Japanese sociocultural norms and values when they refused in different situations; they were particularly aware of the importance of harmony with others as a means of developing and maintaining good relationships. Ambiguity in refusals and careful negotiation of meaning were crucial in preserving social harmony.