A Comparative Study Of Refusal Strategies In American And Chinese Families

Language and culture is inseperable.Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis explained the relationship between language and culture.Languages are the representations of thoughts and in return they affect thoughts to some degree.Refusal acts happen frequently in daily life.People employ different refusal strategies under the same circumstances in the same country,not to mention the different circumstances among different countries.Inappropiate refusal may threaten one’s face directly,so it is necessary to express refusal properly.This thesis analyses the different and similiar refusal strategies between Chinese families and American families.It puts the research field into the family background,emphasizing the refusal strategies taken by couples,parents,and children.Based on the transcripts of two popular TV series in America and China,200 dialogues are chosen,classified,and analyzed according to Beebe,Takahashi,and Uliss-Weltz’s refusal strategies.The results are as follows: both Americans and Chinese incline to use the indirect refusal strategies,while Chinese families are more direct than American families.The most frequently used refusal strategy by both family members is providing excuse,reason and explanation.The second frequently used strategy by both countries is attempting to dissuade the interlocutors.Avoidance is the third strategy frequently used by Americans,while statement of alternative is the third frequently used strategy by Chinese.The final results are discussed in light of Hofstede’s Theory and Face-negotiation Theory.