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Saying “no” in emails in Mandarin Chinese and Australian English
Citation
Li, W, Saying 'no' in emails in Mandarin Chinese and Australian English, Journal of Politeness Research pp. 1-23. ISSN 1612-5681 (In Press) [Refereed Article]
Official URL: https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/jplr/html
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.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | email refusals, politeness, intercultural communication, Mandarin Chinese, Australian English |
Research Division: | Language, Communication and Culture |
Research Group: | Linguistics |
Research Field: | Discourse and pragmatics |
Objective Division: | Culture and Society |
Objective Group: | Communication |
Objective Field: | Communication across languages and culture |
UTAS Author: | Li, W (Dr Lucy Li) |
ID Code: | 147173 |
Year Published: | In Press |
Deposited By: | Global Cultures and Languages |
Deposited On: | 2021-10-15 |
Last Modified: | 2021-11-23 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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